Flushing the Post Office

The USPS is circling the drain and those in charge don’t seem to care. Unless something is done about the poor service the Post Office is doomed.

Our local postal carriers and post offices do a good job for the most part. However, it seems that those in charge of the Post Office are determined to destroy the USPS.

The carriers might not let “rain or snow or gloom of night keep them from their appointed rounds” but the USPS management appears to be determined to undermine the postal service.

I have a theory that most businesses that fail are victims of sabotage from within. Usually this is caused by poor decisions, lack of dedication of employees or putting personal interests in front of the survival of the business.

Apparently the upper management of the USPS thinks my mail needs a tour of the country before being delivered. Last week I got a call from the Treasurer’s Office. They received my tax payment on June 13. That was fine with me but I mailed it in Keysville on June 5th. With taxes it isn’t a problem. Taxes are considered paid on time if they are post marked on time.

On June 5th I mailed tax payments to three counties. Lunenburg (15 miles away) got theirs in two days, Prince Edward (22 miles away) in three and Charlotte County (only 8 miles away) in 13 days.  Pony Express could have done it faster, a guy on foot could have done it in one day, I could have crawled to Charlotte Court House on my hands and knees-backwards-with a bad knee and back to Keysville faster than USPS.

If this were a one-time thing I wouldn’t even be writing this, mistakes happen. But then I had a check mailed to me from McKinney that took 20 days to arrive. We get daily calls from subscribers who didn’t receive their papers on time.

It takes from 7 to 10 days for newspapers to travel from Dinwiddie to Richmond or from Keysville to Brookneal- that is if they arrive at all. Last January we mailed our invoices.  None of them arrived. After not receiving a single check for several weeks we were forced to reprint and resend our invoices which cost us several hundred dollars.

This wasn’t our local Post Office’s fault. That bag of mail apparently vanished while on tour of the county.

My little business is one of the larger postal customers in Keysville. We spend over $15,000.00 a year in postage for the possibility our mail and newspapers might be delivered.

I have always considered a stamp to be one of the best deals in America. For less than a half a buck I can send something anywhere in America. That’s great- but only if it actually makes it to its destination in a reasonable time.

In order to survive I have had to make some changes. I no longer make any payments by mail. The interest and fees on late payments and the potential damage to my credit rating makes it too risky.

We have added an E-edition so people can receive our newspaper in its entirety in a timely manner.

We are not the only ones either. USPS must be seeing a drop in customers which means a drop in revenue which means costs will be cut resulting in reduced service which will result in poorer service which will….

Whoever is responsible for USPS is sabotaging the Post Office. They should be fired and replaced with someone who can do the job.