When it has to get there...
Late Tuesday night I realized that I unexpectedly needed a physical piece of paper by Thursday afternoon that was currently 45 miles away.
First thing Wednesday morning I spoke to the person who had the piece of paper and we discussed our options. The mail hadn't gone out yet. One day delivery in the same distribution system would probably work. So could taking two hours to go fetch it in person. We left it that she would mail it.
My mailman comes fairly late, between 3 and 4 pm. I timed my lunch break to go home then. I found that the mailman had come early - as they do when they have special delivery. But instead of leaving the urgent (but not otherwise special) package, they left me a slip to pick it up at the post office.
At this point I only had about 45 minutes until I had to have the package, so I skipped lunch and ran back to the post office. I waited in line and handed them my slip and they told me it was at a different facility and wouldn't be available until tomorrow morning. What? Why didn't they deliver it? Because it needed a signature. Why not deliver it when my mailman usually comes and I was on hand to sign for an expected urgent delivery? The guy shrugged. He felt bad for the trick (priority mail would have been left to and ordinary first class mail would have gotten there on time. Only the extra expensive "next day" wouldn't be delivered.) He gave me a phone number and said I could try to call for an extra delivery, but it was 4:15 and too late.
I know that the person sending the package did not ask for a signature. I also know they paid extra money to make sure it got to my house 45 miles away within one business day.
But I didn't receive it. And by the time the post office was done messing with me, it was too late to drive down and pick up another one.
I write this out so people will not make the mistake we made, thinking if you spend extra money the post office will deliver the next day. No they won't. They just get extra chances to screw with you.
First thing Wednesday morning I spoke to the person who had the piece of paper and we discussed our options. The mail hadn't gone out yet. One day delivery in the same distribution system would probably work. So could taking two hours to go fetch it in person. We left it that she would mail it.
My mailman comes fairly late, between 3 and 4 pm. I timed my lunch break to go home then. I found that the mailman had come early - as they do when they have special delivery. But instead of leaving the urgent (but not otherwise special) package, they left me a slip to pick it up at the post office.
At this point I only had about 45 minutes until I had to have the package, so I skipped lunch and ran back to the post office. I waited in line and handed them my slip and they told me it was at a different facility and wouldn't be available until tomorrow morning. What? Why didn't they deliver it? Because it needed a signature. Why not deliver it when my mailman usually comes and I was on hand to sign for an expected urgent delivery? The guy shrugged. He felt bad for the trick (priority mail would have been left to and ordinary first class mail would have gotten there on time. Only the extra expensive "next day" wouldn't be delivered.) He gave me a phone number and said I could try to call for an extra delivery, but it was 4:15 and too late.
I know that the person sending the package did not ask for a signature. I also know they paid extra money to make sure it got to my house 45 miles away within one business day.
But I didn't receive it. And by the time the post office was done messing with me, it was too late to drive down and pick up another one.
I write this out so people will not make the mistake we made, thinking if you spend extra money the post office will deliver the next day. No they won't. They just get extra chances to screw with you.