Does the United States Postal Service (USPS) have any obligations to deliver your mail? Do they have any obligations to deliver it in a certain condition?
The answer to both questions is apparently, “No!”
One would assume there is some standard which this constitutionally mandated ( 39 U.S.C. § 201) service (but not government operated) is expected to meet. Not so. The closest thing is in 39 U.S.C. § 101(a), where it states:
(a) The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities. The costs of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people. (emphasis mine)
They take our money. They provide a service. Wouldn’t you think there is a default, a lowest minimum standard, service provided? What exactly does that entail—what is one guaranteed when using such a service? Is one guaranteed that the mail will actually get delivered?
Apparently the only guarantee is that if you put an item in the post, they will take it into their possession. After that, no guarantees. If it doesn’t have the proper postage, they can was their hands of it and have nothing else to do with it. If it does have the proper postage, what then?
If it’s lost, you have no recourse. If it is damaged, you have no recourse.
Unless it is insured.
What does it mean that the USPS shall provide “reliable” service? You’ve heard of “insurance” for mail delivery, right? Is this one of the services they provide, the one that covers the “reliable” aspect?
“Hi, we’re the USPS. We provide you with four services: 1) The we take it off your hands service, 2) The prompt service if you pay for it with overnight, next day or two day delivery, 3) The reliable service if you pay for it with insurance, and 4) The efficient service, in which we promise not to waste any extra time, effort or money in making sure your mail is delivered promptly or reliably unless you pay extra for it. We will take your mail into our possession, but after that, we have no obligation in relationship to it unless you pay extra.”
Doesn’t it seem silly that no matter how inexpensive the item (like my $16.00 poetry book), you must still pay extra to have it delivered reliably?
Anybody else out there with USPS stories?
Hope the small creeks, at least, clear soon so you can get away from the mail bin for a few hours! Our rivers were blown out by the warm weather/high water, but beaver dam creeks are good despite high water (those dams really settle the silt). And yesterday’s snowstorm really cooled things down.
Thanks for stopping by Eco!
I luckily have two main “rivers” (a relative term–definitely streams compared to your rivers) in my valley. One of them (Blacksmith Fork) has been in full spate for a week or so and it drains a much lower elevation watershed, so it clears up considerably quicker than the other river. My favorite small creeks in the main river (Logan) are closed until July for the cutthroat spawn. So I’ll hopefully be hitting the Blacksmith’s smaller tribs in a few weeks if we don’t get too much rain in our current round of storms.
PS – Love your site! We have a little (gutter-wide) creek 150′ from our house that is chock-full of watercress.
Scott, that’s a great book that the post office mangled for you by the way.
We tried using the USPS to ship for a couple of companies that we use and found that they just don’t cut it anymore.
I spent years living in your neighborhood and fished Blacksmith Fork quite a bit with friends, it was nice water back then (late 90s), glad it still fishes well and clears early.
Hey Mark!
Yeah, Blacksmith still fishes well. I like the Left Hand Fork, Curtis Creek and Rock Creek tributaries best because I can get away from the noise of the road (not that it’s all that noisy) and be pretty much guaranteed of not having to worry about seeing anyone else fish it.
I’ll find out how good the book is in a couple of months because I have it in a “book press” at the moment (book press = 20 hardback books sitting on top of it). This is the first real catastrophe I’ve had with USPS, so I probably shouldn’t complain. But still, can’t someone take responsibility? Sheeeeesh!
I reposted this in it’s entirety on a blog that I work on while on hold with USPS, wanted to make sure that’s ok! That’s unfortunate about your book