The Postal Service - A New Ripoff

Recently, the US Postal Service devised a new way to screw the public. For years they have picked up Priority Mail and other higher priced packages at your door at no extra charges. Now, they have added a new "service level" where you can request the packages be picked up at a different time than the normal carrier pickup time, which they state is between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM. The charge for this new "service" is $20 and while you can request a specific time, the Postal Service gives themselves a two hour time window to accomplish this.

BUT...and this is directly from the USPS agreement you click on when you accept the terms of that service:

"Payment - No Refund or Guarantee
You acknowledge and agree that You must pay for the service with a valid credit card or debit card at the time of submitting Your application for the Service. This Service is intended to be time specific, but not guaranteed. Users are only eligible for a refund if the carrier fails to show up during the specified day for a pickup . While the Postal Service agrees to make commercially reasonable efforts to pickup Your item within the two-hour window, the success of meeting the window is not guaranteed.
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT THE ITEM WILL BE PICKED UP WITHIN THE SELECTED TWO-HOUR WINDOW. YOU MAY APPLY FOR A REFUND IN THE EVENT THAT A PICKUP DOES NOT OCCUR ON THE SPECIFIED DAY FOR PICKUP.

SO...the Postal Service basically makes no guarantee that you will pay $20 and the carrier will pick up your packages anytime during your requested time at all. So why the hell even have a service like this when their current record is so damned poor anyway? You never know when they will pick up your packages. One day it's 11:30 and the next day it's 2:00. Some days you have to call the local post office to have the carrier come back and get the parcels they didn't pick up at all!

And, the people at the post office like to blame the carrier but in truth, the blame is just as likely to rest with the inside post office personnel as with the carrier. When you initiate a Carrier Pickup request, it generates a computer request for the local post office. If that is not given to the carrier, they have absolutely no idea you have packages to pick up. So each can point fingers at the other but we know, depending on the carrier, where the blame usually rests.

Another example of your quasi-governmental agency in action.

Don't fall for clicking the $20 box. It's a scam to get your money on a pretense that we would not put up with from a scammers e-mail! Better buy Lottery Tickets than bet your packages will be picked up on time!