Since one of my children works for the post office I have to chose my words carefully while I'm slandering the institution. During two holiday seasons I have had two Priority Mail outgoing packages lost by the USPS. Since "tracking" is included in Priority Mail shipments we were able to track the first package as far as San Fransisco before it astral projected itself into another dimension. The second package was not scanned by the mail carrier when it was picked up at my front door so it is lost forever. FYI: this happens more than you would anticipate and the tracking number on the postage label that you print from home is useless if it is not scanned. I have proof that I printed a postal label from my home computer but no proof I ever mailed the package. I think it was thrown away although my daughter, "the postal worker," informs me that the post office DOES NOT throw away mail! I've done a little research and I've come to the conclusion that this is a true statement. They actually come up with more creative means of ridding us of our mail. For instance, one postal worker in Michigan had thousands of pieces of mail including 988 first class letters with post marks dating back to 2005 in a rented storage unit. She pleaded guilty in federal court to "deserting the mail" stating that she was "unable to deliver all the mail." I find the charge of "deserting the mail" totally inappropriate. How can you desert something when you've taken the time, effort and expense of renting it it's very own storage unit and kept it safe for years? They need to cut her some slack already. In North Dakota, one postal worker delayed mail for 10 years accumulating tons of mail in his home. Four tons to be exact, including 3,000 pieces of first class mail. In North Carolina four trucks removed third-class mail that had been stashed in a mail carriers garage for six years. This mail carrier stated that it was a "relief" getting caught. I'll bet it was! He probably couldn't get to work any longer because he couldn't find his car and was afraid he might be fired by the post office. If you live in North Carolina you might want to switch from snail mail to e-mail as yet another carrier in North Carolina, admitted to keeping junk mail buried in his backyard. My question is why go to the effort of burying it? Does junk mail makes good compost? In Indiana 21,000 pieces of mail were found in a postal workers home. Can you imagine? My dining room table and coffee table are buried under mounds of useless junk mail and bills as it is. If I was hoarding everyone else's mail on a daily basis what would my house look like then? I'd have to rent a storage unit. My favorite, however was the case in Colorado where a postal employee stole 503 Netflix dvd's. 503? Oh, come on people! What was your first clue? 502 missing dvd's? I guess my missing priority mail packages and the fact that our mail in the neighborhood is consistently being delivered one house off or the fact that our outgoing bills are being placed in our next door neighbors mail box are minor issues in the grand scheme of things. From now on, however, I'm taking my Priority Mail shipments to the post office and watching them scan them in front of me. So much for the convenience of "clicking and shipping." In the meantime, please enjoy the above photo of my son. I think he was eating the mail. I am excited to know that he will most definitely qualify for a career at the post office in the future. I hear the benefits are great.
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