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<p>Perhaps some confuse them with UPS that is even worse. But really, how about being more expensive, slower, and having a joke for a tracking system? Not to mention to be bleeding money which will end up costing all of us billions. Perhaps we should send the clueless Postmaster and the friendly US Senate on a study trip to Germany to learn from Deutsche Post. But then isn’t Santa the post best friend? </p>
<p>Could that sum it up nicely?</p>
<p>I didn’t read thru all of the posts, so maybe I’m missing something. I use the flat rate priority boxes all of the time and have never had a problem, but maybe I have just been lucky. I print the label and postage at home- you save something like $.50 per label that way. Just create a sign-in and print; it even lets you keep an address book so it is very user friendly. YOu can pay with a credit card or with PayPal. You can pay extra for insurance, delivery options, etc. The tracking number prints out on the label and a confirmation is sent to your e-mail with all of the tracking info. You don’t have to stand in line at the post office this way- you can either hand it to your mailperson, or go to the post office and hand it to a postal employee with out waiting. Couldn’t be easier. </p>
<p>From there, I have always been able to track my packages in detail, down to the time it is delivered. I think someone here earlier said they don’t deliver priority packages on Saturday, but My D and my sister recently received theirs on Sat. in 2 different states. My D is on the opposite coast and always receives hers in 2 days. The only thing that can delay it is if you ask for a signature.</p>
<p>coolweather, I wasn’t being snarky, sorry it came off that way. I’ve sent dozens of packages over the last 3 years, and have gotten all of that point-by-point information with Delivery Confirmation, every single time. I was wondering what additional information I’d get with Express Mail.</p>
<p>Oh, I now remember an area where USPS was really helpful! It was great to send out applications due at a certain date. All one needed to do was printing the prepaid label the day before the due date and gain a few days before dropping in a USPS box. Nobody would ever question that the item was shipped on time. Well worth the few bucks. Peace of mind.</p>
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<p>lol I always wondered about people doing that. But wouldn’t it be easier to mail the applications on time? :)</p>
<p>Lasma - I did not address to your post. I only responded to post #94. Sorry that my response was next to your response because we both posted at the same time.</p>
<p>Anyway, my responses in this thread can be more clarified by this:</p>
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<p>[eBay</a> Guides - USPS DELIVERY CONFIRMATION is NOT TRACKING mail postal](<a href=“http://reviews.ebay.com/USPS-DELIVERY-CONFIRMATION-is-NOT-TRACKING-mail-postal?ugid=10000000000086945]eBay”>http://reviews.ebay.com/USPS-DELIVERY-CONFIRMATION-is-NOT-TRACKING-mail-postal?ugid=10000000000086945)</p>
<p>insomniarc-
Why do you profess to be such an expert on the ins and outs of the USPS? Do you work for them? What do you do? How can you have sent “thousands” of packages? Are you a student?</p>
<p>As for empty boxes- flat rate boxes can be ordered on line for free and delivered to an address.</p>
<p>The point is…that even WHEN you fill out a tracking slip or have delivery confirmation, sometimes things get lost…or delayed in terms of delivery. </p>
<p>You know…sometimes things like this happen. It’s annoying but it’s a mistake, not done on purpose. With the thousands and thousands of things handled by USPS, UPS, FEDEX and the like, it’s a miracle MORE things don’t get lost. </p>
<p>The only SURE way for something to get delivered is to hop in your car and take it yourself.</p>
<p>from coolweather: “When UPS or FedEx “Tracks” a package, it KNOWS WHERE IT IS AT ALL TIMES. It knows what room of what building it is in, where it came from, who has physical possession of the package, who touched it last, stuff like that.”</p>
<p>At least that’s the goal. My friend shipped (FedEx) an important something that had to be delivered the next day. She paid close to $100 to have it there by 9:30 the next morning. It tracked to the Memphis sorting location … and then nothing. She (costumer) spent her night remaking the item, caught an early morning plane and delivered it herself - later than intended but still within the ballpark. It did her no good to know the item made it to Memphis and the FedEx refund did not assuage her pain. The item did eventually show up, so insurance didn’t come into play.</p>
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<p>That’s true, thumper, and I’m guilty of it: Expecting perfection. The receptionist should never connect me to the wrong extension. The billing department should never make a clerical error. The store should never ship the wrong item. The Post Office should never lose my package. Shtuff happens. If I had a little more perspective about things which, after all, aren’t life-threatening, I think I’d be a happier camper.</p>
<p>coolweather, thanks very much for the information</p>
<p>coolweather thanks so much for posting the details on delivery confrimation and tracking. Very useful!</p>
<p>Whatever they do over at the post office is ok with me…they’re sensitive people and I don’t want them upset with me.</p>
<p>[MadTV</a> “Postal Workers Gone Postal” - YouTube](<a href=“MadTV "Postal Workers Gone Postal" - YouTube”>MadTV "Postal Workers Gone Postal" - YouTube)</p>
<p>Two times in the past few years, FedEx has managed to get envelopes from Maine to Texas late (and we don’t send things down there very often). The shipments were important each time - I was so annoyed. Refunds don’t help much.</p>
<p>Only on CC could the topic of USPS tracking generate 114 separate thoughts! :D</p>
<p>@coolweather:</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. He does have his student ID also. I have a couple of weeks before he flies home so I will see what we can do. Hopefully the box will show up next week or I will contact the DMV about a temporary replacement.</p>
<p>Boy, I guess my thread struck a chord for people</p>
<p>Oops I meant @ Spectrum2 re: driver’s license. Misread the thread</p>
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<p>Obviously, but knowing you have all day on the first or second day of January to work and that you can stay with your family and friends on the 30th and 31th without having to slave over lost commas and typos in your essays is … priceless. </p>
<p>Of course, most people should also realize that most of the thousands of applications that were rushed to a shipper to beat the deadline simply gather dust in the school mailroom for weeks might set aside the worries. </p>
<p>This said, aren’t the posts about the PARENTS rushing to the post or FedEx office to beat the clock not indicative that peole are … usually late? Aren’t we dealing with teenagers after all. And you know that procrastination at our age is a virtue and not a sin. At least, we do think so!</p>
<p>PS Perhaps I should have presented a more compelling case by talking about April 15th and the friendly Office of National Confiscation aka the IRS. Fwiw, people could also file days earlier! :)</p>
<p>xiggi, we are a nation of procrastinators, aren’t we? Applications, taxes… anything that is due by a certain deadline gets completed seconds before everything turns into a giant pumpkin. My boss was telling me stories about rushing to the only open US PO in the area to mail patent documents to the Patent Office minutes before midnight, because his clients dragged their feet with their instructions for responding. US patent laws and rules are pretty strict - if you miss some deadlines, no amount of fees and/or penalties could turn your rotten pumpkin back into a patent application. 
Thank goodness for the USPS Express mail.</p>
<p>Due to recent budget cuts most post offices that used to stay open until midnight on April 15th closed at their regular time, or stayed open for just a few extra hours this year. That is one way to stop a procrastinator.</p>
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<p>Yep, that will teach them a lesson. </p>
<p>And ultimately the lesson will be that rather than arguing about the USPS being available six or five days a week, we will realize that </p>
<p>we can function just as well with service being available 4 days a week, and wonder what the fuss was all about. And then …</p>
<p>we can function just as well with service being available 3 days a week, and wonder what the fuss was all about. And then …</p>
<p>we can function just as well with service being available 2 days a week, and wonder what the fuss was all about. And then …</p>
<p>we can function just as well with service being available 1 day a week, and wonder what the fuss was all about. And then …</p>
<p>realize that express deliveries are the domain of the private sector, and that there is no need for a bloated, inefficient, public service that is more worried about maintaining employment levels than demonstrating its need.</p>
<p>If we want to cling to our need of getting post on a daily basis, the reality is that we do not need those masses of public servants; we need for our government to let them loose and allow to reconvert them in a private enterprise that does not have a sugardaddy (read our moronic Senate) willing to bail them. </p>
<p>Again, take a look at Deutsche Post that is no longer Bundespost. They offer mail services six days a week. </p>
<p>Do they lose as much as 25 millions a week? Nope, they make money :</p>
<p>[Deutsche</a> Post DHL - Interim Report January to September 2011 - Income Statement](<a href=“http://www.dp-dhl.com/reports/2011/interim-report-q3/condensed-consolidated-interim-financial-statements/income-statement.html]Deutsche”>http://www.dp-dhl.com/reports/2011/interim-report-q3/condensed-consolidated-interim-financial-statements/income-statement.html)</p>
<p>And pay taxes! But heck, long live the beloved USPS!</p>