Anyone Else Experiencing Mail Delays From Dallas Post Office?

[BayouCityGirl]

I am late on paying a phone bill to Dallas (DAMN SBC or POST OFFICE!) because it took 7-9 days to get deleivered to SBC!

When does it take 7 DAYS TO GET TO DALLAS VIA MAIL!

My brother lost a car payment going to Dallas!

WTF is wrong with the post office lately?! We TRUST THEM WITH OUR MAIL!

I have had mail going out to NY through Dallas arrive 3 months late (And it was my artwork!)

Bills I have NO control over though.

[sevfiv]

ahhh don't tell me that - a car payment goes there, and i don't get any notice of receipt...

[MidtownCoog]

Yes, my Visa goes through Dallas and arrived late.

They tried to slap me with a late fee, but I told them they charge me, and I'll take my business elsewhere.

(FYI - Chase + Bank One = Satan)

[sevfiv]

(FYI - Chase + Bank One = Satan)

agreed - and alot of my debt is with them

but not my bank account anymore - switched to a credit union the minute i could

[Talbot]

Yeah, I think a lot of lazy people work at the post offices. Where I work we get tons of mail everyday and there is always wrong address(when the building is right down the road no less.) and then I have to waste gas to take the mail back to the post office.

Also they sent this same letter to us god knows how many times and we tried rewriting the address and even highlighting it and sending it in one of our own packages, but still no luck.

Also one of the post carriers that delivers our mail almost always has an attitude and the ladies working at the counter at the post office have attitudes.

[BayouCityGirl]

I think I got one of our mail carriers at my apartment fired (and I don't care) ...I told her, "I haven't gotten my mail in 2 days!" and she looks at me like "like I care, how?" and she was on her cel phone listening to her "friend" or something. She then goes into the apartment mail sorting room and ignores what I said. So I called the number to 1-800-ASK-USPS (I think that's the number) and told them that this lady doesn't do her job, I'm constantly getting other people's mail, my Reader's Digest my dad gets at his house got there 2 weeks before I got mine, as well as now my bills are arriving late.

I told them "I don't care if you fire her, she's not doing her job." Mail carriers job isn't to listen to their walkman all day and throw mail in slots hoping its the right one.

I talked to SBC and they told me "they haven't had experience with Dallas mail being slow and it was Houston"..I told her, I don't care where its coming from how come when a bill was posted on Oct 15 to be sent to me I just got it 2 days ago? (the 26th of Oct?). I don't care if its Houston or Dallas's fault. I just want them to stop going Pony Express on us and get the mail delievered.

Sorry but it get infurating. The reason I left this in the Dallas topic is b/c my bill is sent to Dallas, TX for SBC and I wasn't sure if it was Dallas or Houston who had the slow mail. There really is no inbetween the two locations.

[editor]

One day I got 53 letters in my mailbox that weren't mine. 53! And it wasn't junk mail -- these were bills, cards, personal letters, letters from lawyers, etc... I put them in a box and sent them certified mail to the local Postal Inspector's office with a letter explaining what happened and how I suspected that the mailman was probably running late and decided to stuff them all in one box instead of sort them for the whole building.

Two weeks later that mailman disappeared. I never saw her again. And the mail was never wrong again.

[WesternGulf]

(FYI - Chase + Bank One = Satan)

What about Chase - Bank One?

[BayouCityGirl]

I think we know what happened to that mail carrier!

Perhaps they are putting anything in our boxes to get the day over with and go home early. YET they want the Government benefits and holidays.

[RedScare]

I think I got one of our mail carriers at my apartment fired (and I don't care) ...I told her, "I haven't gotten my mail in 2 days!" and she looks at me like "like I care, how?" and she was on her cel phone listening to her "friend" or something. She then goes into the apartment mail sorting room and ignores what I said. So I called the number to 1-800-ASK-USPS (I think that's the number) and told them that this lady doesn't do her job, I'm constantly getting other people's mail, my Reader's Digest my dad gets at his house got there 2 weeks before I got mine, as well as now my bills are arriving late.

I told them "I don't care if you fire her, she's not doing her job." Mail carriers job isn't to listen to their walkman all day and throw mail in slots hoping its the right one.

I talked to SBC and they told me "they haven't had experience with Dallas mail being slow and it was Houston"..I told her, I don't care where its coming from how come when a bill was posted on Oct 15 to be sent to me I just got it 2 days ago? (the 26th of Oct?). I don't care if its Houston or Dallas's fault. I just want them to stop going Pony Express on us and get the mail delievered.

Sorry but it get infurating. The reason I left this in the Dallas topic is b/c my bill is sent to Dallas, TX for SBC and I wasn't sure if it was Dallas or Houston who had the slow mail. There really is no inbetween the two locations.

Why don't you pay on the SBC website? I get my (three!) SBC bills emailed to me. I log onto their site, review the bill, select a day to pay it, select the bank account to pay from and confirm it. Done. Saved 37 cents each for the 3 bills. Same with Reliant Energy and DirecTV. The only bill that shows up in my box is the City of Houston, and every other month it fails to show. I always have to pay it 2 months at a time. Even that one I pay online through my bank.

[westguy]

The workers at my Post Office are pretty good. They are very hard-working people actually. However due to staffing cutbacks, some are required to make multiple rounds every day, sometimes making the mail very late. The manager at my PO also transferred out, while new management changed everyone's shifts, resulting in only one or two clerks during the busiest hours.

[sevfiv]

Why don't you pay on the SBC website? I get my (three!) SBC bills emailed to me. I log onto their site, review the bill, select a day to pay it, select the bank account to pay from and confirm it. Done. Saved 37 cents each for the 3 bills. Same with Reliant Energy and DirecTV. The only bill that shows up in my box is the City of Houston, and every other month it fails to show. I always have to pay it 2 months at a time. Even that one I pay online through my bank.

good call...i pay all bills online except two (which i could probably set up through my online banking if i took the time).

[Talbot]

I thought Postal Service employee's couldn't be fired?

[westguy]

Why do you think that? It's an independent company, except for the services it is required to provide.

[editor]

Why do you think that? It's an independent company, except for the services it is required to provide.

Good point. Remember, it's the U.S. Postal Service now, not the U.S. Post Office.

A very important legal distinction.

The workers at my Post Office are pretty good. They are very hard-working people actually. However due to staffing cutbacks, some are required to make multiple rounds every day, sometimes making the mail very late. The manager at my PO also transferred out, while new management changed everyone's shifts, resulting in only one or two clerks during the busiest hours.

I don't see why they shouldn't come around more than once a day.

In England they get mail in the morning and in the evening as well.

In Japan people get mail two, three, four, even five times a day. Whenever a letter arrives at the local post office it goes out. There's no waiting until the next day.

The U.S. used to have morning and evening mail service. That's where the magazine the Saturday Evening Post got its name. People could count on it being delivered at that time and they would read it after dinner.

The crapper the service we get from the USPS, the more people are going to go online for bills and stuff. Too bad you can't have a house without getting any mail delivery.

[BayouCityGirl]

For some reason I don't trust bill paying online. I know y'all do but its no problem sticking a stamp on a bill. I just don't understand why bills just can't arrive on time. Now I probably have to send out bills the day I get them to be out on time.

[JasonDFW]

I'm personally shocked people pay SBC, Chase, or Bankone bills via snail mail.

[Talbot]

Good point. Remember, it's the U.S. Postal Service now, not the U.S. Post Office.

Hmm.

[editor]

I'm with Bayou City Girl. I only pay two bills online. Both because the companies make it really really easy to. Other credit card companies make it such a hassle it's not worth the effort to sign up, let alone make the payment.

Also, I don't like the idea of these companies having my bank account number. I used to have the automatic payment thingy with State Farm. One month instead of deducting the usual amount, they withdrew for the entire year. I ended up bouncing my rent and a bunch of other checks because of their screw-up. State Farm covered the bank fees and the late payments to my landlord, but the bounced checks to the credit card companies screwed up my credit some. Even though I told the card companies what happened and even sent them letters from State Farm explaining it was their fault they still raised my interest rate from 5% to 24% or more. It took about six months for everything to settle down.

I'd rather lick a couple of stamps than go through that mess again.

[BayouCityGirl]

i had an automatic payment with my apartment and they deducted twice one time out of my account. I paid my rent EARLY before going on vacation to Toronto when I came back I noticed the rent amount was deducted again and I figured NEVER again will I go through this mess. BTW, the apartment wouldn't refund my money instead gave me credit on rent for one month. I later noticed I hardly had money for my saved vacation b/c of what my apartment did.

Only statement and money processing I go through online is Paypal and sometimes even them give me some trouble (you forget your password with them your screwed but its a good safety measure!)

I send my mail out of Sugar Land-bill paying. I do all my bill paying up at work. Since my dad owns the company and I'm bad at math he helps me control my checkbook. Sounds a bit controlling but he does all the calculations and check book balancing only b/c as I said I have dyscalculia (problem processing numbers) (and my dad is having problems with missing checks through the post office) so its not just Houston apparently who is having problems with the post office.

[editor]

I have dyscalculia (problem processing numbers)

There's software for that. My accountant told me about it. She has a client who uses it. After a couple of training sessions it starts switching numbers and letters around on the screen so you brain sees what it's supposed to see, not what's actually on the screen. Fascinating stuff.

[JasonDFW]

I see a lot of the kinds of fears you see upon any technology shift. I think the odds of having trouble with an electronic transfer are less than having trouble with the post office. I see errors with the post office several times a week in my mailbox. Between my wife and I, we have 21 electronic payments each month, and they've all gone flawlessly since the day they were established.

I can understand a fear of having your bank account number saved on a server somewhere. The lack of protection of bank accounts makes them a big risk whether online or in the real world. A good portion of our accounts can be either paid with credit card (all the utilities for instance) or you can choose to not have the account info stored on the server. There are a few exceptions to that though.

Jason

[nmainguy]

We pay all our bills through ebills at WellsFargo.com. We pay the mortgage, house and car insurance, all utilities, cable/internet and our only credit card. In more than 2 years we've never experienced a problem.

Maybe we're just lucky but it works great for us and I don't have to write a check or lick an envelope or a stamp. And it's always on time and free to boot.

[editor]

Washington Mutual offers free bill pay. Maybe I should try it. Maybe it's safer that way through one web site instead of having stuff scattered all across the internet.

I won't touch Fargo, though. I had an account with them and cancelled it after they took a bunch of cash out of my account for no reason. I deposited $400 cash into the West Gray ATM. It appeared on my online statement as a credit. The next day the same ammount was deducted in a separate transaction. All I could get on the phone and from the people at the especially the snotty people at the branch was "we don't know why it happened, but we're going to assume we're right and keep the money."

After a three-month Fargo "investigation" they discovered that the guy who was emptying the ATMs pocketed the cash. Took them another two months to give me my money back. After that I bolted.