This was the agenda of the hearing:
And the hearing did wrap up with Key takeaways:
The U.S. Postal Service's financial condition remains poor. Postmaster General DeJoy must implement cost-effective measures to achieve financial self-sufficiency.
Despite improvements made by Postmaster General DeJoy, the U.S. Postal Service's delivery operation is still largely inefficient and unreliable for the American people.
The House Oversight Committee will continue to work bipartisanally to ensure that USPS is successful and operates like a 21st-century business that provides reliable service to all Americans.
But can they? Will they?
My story begins with an order from my Etsy store for 1,100 Seed Paper Trees. This is a big order. I've been selling sets of 25 for about eight years, and never had I ever gotten an order of this size. But I was ready to make it happen, and I did. I had to hand-punch these trees out of a heavy seed paper. I also had to stack them in groups of five and tie them with jute --something else I had never done before. It was time-consuming. The buyer needed them by the following week for an event, so I needed to get them out by the next morning's priority mail. She only lives a few states from me in Louisiana, and I'm in Florida, so I was going to get this done, and I did! It was a lot of work. My palm was bruised, and my fingertips were numb from tying 220 packets.
I closed the box, packaged it, and went to the UPS store to drop off this USPS package because, in the past, the USPS would pick up packages for them at the UPS store. It was a convenience and made it so that one could get the mail out in a safe place in the evening. That night, I was told that USPS would no longer pick up drop-offs at the UPS store. So I went home and put the package out the following day for the USPS. It was picked up early, and I didn't think about it again until I received a note from the buyer this past Tuesday:
The first dot means the label was created, but the package had not been dropped off or picked up. I stood in silence. WHAT?? That package was picked up Friday morning and it was now Tuesday afternoon. She should have received it by now, I thought to myself. My first thought was that my package had not been picked up from outside my front door but stolen by someone. But I live in a neighborhood where that is unlikely to happen, and I have left out packages plenty of times since I have lived here for the past 9 years. But still, how could this notice say it was never picked up? NOW...the thing is that not having this scanned means I have no proof it was ever sent, so no matter what happened, it looks to Etsy like I did not send it. This was bad. Very, very bad.
This customer was a lovely, very understanding woman, and we put our heads together to figure out what to do. She needed these favors by Thursday evening for the event, and it was now Tuesday afternoon. She asked if I could get another order out and send it overnight. Honestly, I didn't think I had it in me to do this again, and the clock was ticking. ALSO.... this is not my only job. I actually have a real job working as a business manager for UncoverDC, and I have the most understanding boss in the world, Tracy Beanz, and I still have my regular work to do. But I could not leave this lovely woman in the lurch, so I started cutting paper. I was mentally numb, but I began to do it, and lo and behold, 6 hours later, I had cut out and boxed another 1,100 seed paper trees and tied them into 220 packets. I did it.
In the meantime, I'm still frazzled thinking about what happened to the package—wondering if it would be delivered to her and if I could stop punching out trees sometime on this horrible day. Then I texted my husband to ask if we had a video from our Blink doorbell camera from Friday morning so I could see if the package was ever picked up or stolen. Well, guess what? Our camera only kept three days' worth of video, then deleted them from our phones, so we could not check, and I would have to wait for him to come home and get it off his computer. So there I was, punching out trees until the finish line.
I did it. I boxed everything, and with 20 minutes to spare, I made it to the UPS store to overnight this package so she would receive it by Thursday morning in time for her event. How much is that, sir? Did you say $175.00 to mail a box of paper? OMG! But yes, I had to do it. I had to go into our bank account and withdraw $175 for shipping. I was distraught.
When I got home, my husband pulled up the video I needed. YES! It was actually picked up by the USPS on Friday morning and NOT STOLEN! So now I have proof that I sent this item, which was NEVER SCANNED. I took a breath, went on X, and made a spectacle of this event by posting the video and explaining what I'm explaining now. I needed to vent and tag the USPS to get some mental restitution -- but of course, I was ignored by the USPS. Lots of people gave their USPS stories, but the USPS stayed silent.
This is not the end of this story lol....
It's Thursday. The event is tonight. And I got notice from UPS (yes, not USPS, but UPS) that the overnight delivery had been delayed and would not arrive until Friday. No, I'm not kidding. The package is $175.00, delayed, and she won't get this one either. I almost keeled over. This was unbelievable.
Let me reiterate that this customer was a lovely, lovely woman. She understood that none of this was my fault and stayed kind and caring to me the entire time—something you don't see too often. She asked me if I could think of any ideas to replace the trees as favors for this event. Someone I work with, Sharon Black, came up with a great idea, and it was settled. Knowing she would receive these favors on Friday, she could use them to send out thank you cards after the event. She was happy, I was delighted. I could breathe again, and everything was going to be okay. I had made a new friend, and though I had lost money, time, and product, I felt relief.
In the meantime, I was not going to let this go with the USPS because this package was STILL missing, and it STILL said I never sent it. By not scanning my item, this mail person had created a domino effect of disaster. So I went to the USPS, where the line was literally out the door -- it's Christmastime, after all, and everyone is sending something somewhere. In a civil tone, I asked to speak to the postmaster and was directed to him. I didn't want to appear like a raging lunatic, so I kept my composure, which was very hard. I asked the gentleman if he knew the woman in the video who had picked up my package. He claimed to know who she might be but wasn't sure. I told him that this woman failed to scan my package, so now it appears I did not send it according to Etsy. I must admit he had a face of something between fear and panic and asked for the tracking number. I looked it up and gave it to him. As I said, it would say nothing was shipped because this woman did not scan it. He said he would check it and then went into the back room to his computer. He came out again, and then another woman came out. They kept checking the tracking number on my phone because they couldn't seem to bring it up on their computer. Finally, I was asked for my name and phone number and told they would call me when they figured out what had happened to the never-scanned package. I'll tell you what happened --either this woman took it home, or it's crushed in some backroom somewhere, but it's not been delivered in 6 days and nowhere to be tracked. No one has called me, and I feel like they are also boxing their ears and eyes!
After that visit to the USPS, I went to the UPS store to ask about my package, for which I paid $175.00 to ship overnight, which was delayed until Friday. It took them two minutes to fill out a form on my behalf and ask for my address and where to send the reimbursement check. Hello! This is how things are supposed to work. You screw up; you make it right. And guess what? The U.S. Government is not subsidizing the UPS. What does that tell you? The CEO is not boxing his ears in a congressional hearing, either!
So, to end this story, a miracle happened. I got a note from my buyer that the UPS item that was delayed until Friday was DELIVERED!!!!
The moral of this story is—yes, the USPS is a terrible company. Christmas time has just begun, and already they can't handle it. No one at the post office, not even the Postmaster General, seems competent enough to make it to Christmas this year. Private companies and corporations usually work harder because if they don't, they will go out of business, unlike the USPS, which gets the mommy and daddy government to take care of it even when it's been useless. Not doing your job can significantly affect others. Try to do your best and be your best because you have no idea how your mistakes might affect other people.
