Minor things that bother you

[vdeane]

This is probably more than a "minor" annoyance: US Postal Service incompetence.

I sent a package to my boss at his home address containing a form he needs to sign and then send to New York. I sent it Priority Mail from the post office in Merrifield, Virginia, on Sunday; it was supposed to arrive last night. It hasn't. That didn't surprise me because I thought it might take until today. What has me annoyed is the tracking information: It left the Merrifield post office on Sunday and arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center" (which is in the same building) on Monday. Then half an hour later it departed from there and arrived, 40 minutes later, at the "Dulles VA Distribution Center." On Tuesday morning at about 5:12 AM, it arrived at a post office in Springfield, Virginia. Six hours later, it "Arrived at USPS Facility" in Springfield, Virginia. But then, instead of being delivered, it shows today at 10:02 AM it arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center"–right back where it started from!!! WTF!!!!! What the hell are we paying these idiots for???!!!!!!!!

Looks like there might be something wrong with the package and they're sending it back to the return address.

[DaBigE]

This is probably more than a "minor" annoyance: US Postal Service incompetence.

This. Their informed delivery app is a joke. There is a button to click if you did not receive the item. Wherever that goes is unmonitored. If you file a missing mail report, referencing the information on the app is useless, because whoever takes care of missing mail is oblivious to the app service. The app is also hit or miss when it comes to what it will decide to show you. If your newspaper is delivered via USPS, that will never appear.

On that note, has anyone filed a missing mail report and ever received what was missing?

[1995hoo]

This is probably more than a "minor" annoyance: US Postal Service incompetence.

I sent a package to my boss at his home address containing a form he needs to sign and then send to New York. I sent it Priority Mail from the post office in Merrifield, Virginia, on Sunday; it was supposed to arrive last night. It hasn't. That didn't surprise me because I thought it might take until today. What has me annoyed is the tracking information: It left the Merrifield post office on Sunday and arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center" (which is in the same building) on Monday. Then half an hour later it departed from there and arrived, 40 minutes later, at the "Dulles VA Distribution Center." On Tuesday morning at about 5:12 AM, it arrived at a post office in Springfield, Virginia. Six hours later, it "Arrived at USPS Facility" in Springfield, Virginia. But then, instead of being delivered, it shows today at 10:02 AM it arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center"–right back where it started from!!! WTF!!!!! What the hell are we paying these idiots for???!!!!!!!!

Looks like there might be something wrong with the package and they're sending it back to the return address.

Nah, that happened last week before I re-sent it in a different envelope. It now shows it was delivered at 12:56. To some degree, this is government stupidity: I need my boss to sign a reimbursement form for me and they won't accept scanned signatures, nor do they have a way to submit the form electronically.

Still, it's absurd it takes three days for something to travel across Fairfax County, yet if I mail a birthday card to our nephew in Fort Myers it gets there in three days.

[hbelkins]

This is probably more than a "minor" annoyance: US Postal Service incompetence.

I sent a package to my boss at his home address containing a form he needs to sign and then send to New York. I sent it Priority Mail from the post office in Merrifield, Virginia, on Sunday; it was supposed to arrive last night. It hasn't. That didn't surprise me because I thought it might take until today. What has me annoyed is the tracking information: It left the Merrifield post office on Sunday and arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center" (which is in the same building) on Monday. Then half an hour later it departed from there and arrived, 40 minutes later, at the "Dulles VA Distribution Center." On Tuesday morning at about 5:12 AM, it arrived at a post office in Springfield, Virginia. Six hours later, it "Arrived at USPS Facility" in Springfield, Virginia. But then, instead of being delivered, it shows today at 10:02 AM it arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center"–right back where it started from!!! WTF!!!!! What the hell are we paying these idiots for???!!!!!!!!

Looks like there might be something wrong with the package and they're sending it back to the return address.

Nah, that happened last week before I re-sent it in a different envelope. It now shows it was delivered at 12:56. To some degree, this is government stupidity: I need my boss to sign a reimbursement form for me and they won't accept scanned signatures, nor do they have a way to submit the form electronically.

Still, it's absurd it takes three days for something to travel across Fairfax County, yet if I mail a birthday card to our nephew in Fort Myers it gets there in three days.

Sounds like you'd be better off just driving it over there yourself and getting it signed.

Any mail deposited in our local post office, even if it's addressed to another post office box in the same post office, goes to Lexington before it comes back home. I can understand if it went to the lead regional PO (the xxx01 PO) before coming back, but it goes all the way to Lexington.

That's a long way from when you used to be able to just address something to Person,  PO Box XXX, City (and by that I mean, literally, writing the word "City" instead of the name of the town), and it would get delivered.

[jeffandnicole]

This is probably more than a "minor" annoyance: US Postal Service incompetence.

I sent a package to my boss at his home address containing a form he needs to sign and then send to New York. I sent it Priority Mail from the post office in Merrifield, Virginia, on Sunday; it was supposed to arrive last night. It hasn't. That didn't surprise me because I thought it might take until today. What has me annoyed is the tracking information: It left the Merrifield post office on Sunday and arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center" (which is in the same building) on Monday. Then half an hour later it departed from there and arrived, 40 minutes later, at the "Dulles VA Distribution Center." On Tuesday morning at about 5:12 AM, it arrived at a post office in Springfield, Virginia. Six hours later, it "Arrived at USPS Facility" in Springfield, Virginia. But then, instead of being delivered, it shows today at 10:02 AM it arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center"—right back where it started from!!! WTF!!!!! What the hell are we paying these idiots for???!!!!!!!!

Looks like there might be something wrong with the package and they're sending it back to the return address.

Nah, that happened last week before I re-sent it in a different envelope. It now shows it was delivered at 12:56. To some degree, this is government stupidity: I need my boss to sign a reimbursement form for me and they won't accept scanned signatures, nor do they have a way to submit the form electronically.

Still, it's absurd it takes three days for something to travel across Fairfax County, yet if I mail a birthday card to our nephew in Fort Myers it gets there in three days.

Sounds like you'd be better off just driving it over there yourself and getting it signed.

Any mail deposited in our local post office, even if it's addressed to another post office box in the same post office, goes to Lexington before it comes back home. I can understand if it went to the lead regional PO (the xxx01 PO) before coming back, but it goes all the way to Lexington.

That's a long way from when you used to be able to just address something to Person,  PO Box XXX, City (and by that I mean, literally, writing the word "City" instead of the name of the town), and it would get delivered.

I have 2 friends that have yet to get our address fully correct for the house I have lived in for 20 years.  The mail (Christmas cards) still get delivered. 

Technically, if you write the house number and the ZIP+4 code, it should make it just based on that.  Everything else is fluff.

[wxfree]

This is probably more than a "minor" annoyance: US Postal Service incompetence.

I sent a package to my boss at his home address containing a form he needs to sign and then send to New York. I sent it Priority Mail from the post office in Merrifield, Virginia, on Sunday; it was supposed to arrive last night. It hasn't. That didn't surprise me because I thought it might take until today. What has me annoyed is the tracking information: It left the Merrifield post office on Sunday and arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center" (which is in the same building) on Monday. Then half an hour later it departed from there and arrived, 40 minutes later, at the "Dulles VA Distribution Center." On Tuesday morning at about 5:12 AM, it arrived at a post office in Springfield, Virginia. Six hours later, it "Arrived at USPS Facility" in Springfield, Virginia. But then, instead of being delivered, it shows today at 10:02 AM it arrived at the "Merrifield Distribution Center"–right back where it started from!!! WTF!!!!! What the hell are we paying these idiots for???!!!!!!!!

Looks like there might be something wrong with the package and they're sending it back to the return address.

Nah, that happened last week before I re-sent it in a different envelope. It now shows it was delivered at 12:56. To some degree, this is government stupidity: I need my boss to sign a reimbursement form for me and they won't accept scanned signatures, nor do they have a way to submit the form electronically.

Still, it's absurd it takes three days for something to travel across Fairfax County, yet if I mail a birthday card to our nephew in Fort Myers it gets there in three days.

Sounds like you'd be better off just driving it over there yourself and getting it signed.

Any mail deposited in our local post office, even if it's addressed to another post office box in the same post office, goes to Lexington before it comes back home. I can understand if it went to the lead regional PO (the xxx01 PO) before coming back, but it goes all the way to Lexington.

That's a long way from when you used to be able to just address something to Person,  PO Box XXX, City (and by that I mean, literally, writing the word "City" instead of the name of the town), and it would get delivered.

There's a small town in west Texas where they took out the processing equipment in the post office.  Instead of sending mail to a (relatively) nearby larger post office for processing, it's sent to the regional facility in El Paso, 300 miles away.  There are letters that travel 600 miles just to end up in a box 10 or 20 feet from the drop.

[Beltway]

You can easily tell the difference between a quarter and a dollar coin (2000 or later) by feeling the edge.

They also have a noticeably different "ring."

If they stay with the brass color, they will look different even at casual glance.

[kphoger]

Technically, if you write the house number and the ZIP+4 code, it should make it just based on that.  Everything else is fluff.

When I was younger, my mom was a nurse in a small town in western Kansas.  She cared for a patient once who was from out of state.  When that patient returned to her hometown, she sent my mom a thank-you note in the mail.  Because she didn't know our address or even our last name, she addressed it to "Nurse Sue / Atwood, KS".  It was successfully delivered to our house.

Then again, that was a town in which, if the UPS driver didn't catch you at home, he'd deliver your package to you at work instead.

[1995hoo]

Technically, if you write the house number and the ZIP+4 code, it should make it just based on that.  Everything else is fluff.

When I was younger, my mom was a nurse in a small town in western Kansas.  She cared for a patient once who was from out of state.  When that patient returned to her hometown, she sent my mom a thank-you note in the mail.  Because she didn't know our address or even our last name, she addressed it to "Nurse Sue / Atwood, KS".  It was successfully delivered to our house.

Then again, that was a town in which, if the UPS driver didn't catch you at home, he'd deliver your package to you at work instead.

Walter Gretzky said his son used to receive fan mail from kids addressed simply to "Wayne Gretzky, Kanada." It got to Edmonton correctly. But I guess celebrities, especially well-known pro athletes, are a bit different from the rest of us.

I once thought about seeing whether mail would get through if I addressed it in the old style to my relatives' street address followed by "Brooklyn 9, NY" instead of "Brooklyn, NY  11209," but I never got around to it.

[roadman]

My latest experience with UPS was - to put it mildly - frustrating.  First day, the driver left the "tried to deliver - first attempt" notice was left on by back door with "will leave if signed" notation.  Signed the slip and left it on my back door.  The driver who came the second day left the "tried to deliver - second attempt" notice on my front door.  So I signed this notice as well, and left one notice on the front door, and the other one on the back door.  The driver who came the third day ignored the signed notice on my back door and left a "tried to deliver - final attempt - returning to sender" notice.

When I got home and saw this, I called the UPS number and took forever trying to get out of the seemingly endless loop from the main menu to "Contact us" back to the main menu.  As I recall, at one of the prompts I yelled into the phone something like 'I want to speak to A HUMAN!!!"  Was connected to somebody, explained my situation and what had happened with the notices.  They told me that, despite what the first driver had indicated on their notice, I had to sign for the package in person.  They then said they were forwarding my issue to the local UPS dispatcher.  UPS dispatcher called me back shortly thereafter - she'd managed to get my package off the truck headed back to the package's origin.  Drove over to the UPS distribution center the next morning to pick it up, so things worked out OK in the end.

But, it a package requires an "in-hand" signature, then perhaps UPS should give the customer a "heads-up" before they make the first delivery attempt?  Especially given that there is no checkbox on the delivery notice indicating that the customer needs to be there in person to sign for the package.  As for different delivery drivers leaving notices on different doors, I could sense the dispatcher wasn't happy when I explained that to her.

[roadman]

You can easily tell the difference between a quarter and a dollar coin (2000 or later) by feeling the edge.

They also have a noticeably different "ring."

If they stay with the brass color, they will look different even at casual glance.

"Feel the edge" is far less effective than "feel the weight'.

[kphoger]

"Feel the edge" is far less effective than "feel the weight'.

Either one only matters if I'm rooting around in my pocket without looking.  In that case, I definitely feel the edge to see if something is a dime or quarter.

[texaskdog]

This is my theme for Toastmasters tomorrow

[DaBigE]

This is my theme for Toastmasters tomorrow

Minor things that bother you or problematic coin designs?

[texaskdog]

Hopefully I didn't already post this...but I ordered 5 packages. 4 arrived just fine.  the 5th was confirmed delivered Tuesday. Wednesday I called for replacement.  Saturday it shows up on my doorstep written on it "misdelivered, key in wrong box"   My wife also didn't get a package and the company didn't want to refund her because the USPS said they delivered it. Well she didn't have it. USPS is pretty incompetent where I live.  Finally having packages sent to work.

[mgk920]

The other thing it would do is open up a coin compartment in the cash registers for $1 coins - so they might be more acceptable in circulation.

For one dollar coins to gain greater acceptance in circulation, they need to be more noticeably different in weight and size from other coins than they are now.  When digging into a pocket of change, a dollar coin feels too much like a quarter.  Other countries figured this out years ago, like when Britain introduced their one pound coin (denomination, not weight) .  But the US seems more intent on making coinage as inexpensively as possible instead of considering human factors like these (witness the 'copper' penny that now has almost no copper in it).

The Canadians fixed that in 1987.  Their C$1 coins are the exact same dimensions as the USA version, but with the mistakes corrected.

The *big* mistake made by the USA, besides mucking up the color and overall design in 1979, was to not stop issuing $1 banknotes.



Mike

[Big John]

^^ Prior to 1979, there was an Eisenhower dollar coin that was 1.5 inches in diameter.  The design of the SBA dollar too closely resembled the quarter in size and weight.  The "Carter Quarter" was widely panned and production ended in 1981.

[texaskdog]

The other thing it would do is open up a coin compartment in the cash registers for $1 coins - so they might be more acceptable in circulation.

For one dollar coins to gain greater acceptance in circulation, they need to be more noticeably different in weight and size from other coins than they are now.  When digging into a pocket of change, a dollar coin feels too much like a quarter.  Other countries figured this out years ago, like when Britain introduced their one pound coin (denomination, not weight) .  But the US seems more intent on making coinage as inexpensively as possible instead of considering human factors like these (witness the 'copper' penny that now has almost no copper in it).

The Canadians fixed that in 1987.  Their C$1 coins are the exact same dimensions as the USA version, but with the mistakes corrected.

The *big* mistake made by the USA, besides mucking up the color and overall design in 1979, was to not stop issuing $1 banknotes.



Mike

Americans refuse to adopt change unless forced.  The metric system would have made so much sense.

[mgk920]

^^ Prior to 1979, there was an Eisenhower dollar coin that was 1.5 inches in diameter.  The design of the SBA dollar too closely resembled the quarter in size and weight.  The "Carter Quarter" was widely panned and production ended in 1981.

The original design patterns for the smaller $1 coin were for a multi-sided brass coin - just like the how the Canadians did their 'Loonie' (C$1 coin) in 1987.  USMint Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro's 1977 design was totally fantastic (see: http://www.smalldollars.com/dollar/page04.html for the design and some discussion on it) - until it was totally mucked up by the PC politicians of the day, led by Wisconsin's own USSenator William Proxmire.



The previous 'Ikes' were just too big and bulky to be usable in everyday commerce and as such tended to mainly circulate around the slot machine rooms in Nevada gambling casinos.

Mike

[formulanone]

^^ Prior to 1979, there was an Eisenhower dollar coin that was 1.5 inches in diameter.  The design of the SBA dollar too closely resembled the quarter in size and weight.  The "Carter Quarter" was widely panned and production ended in 1981.

The original design patterns for the smaller $1 coin were for a multi-sided brass coin - just like the how the Canadians did their 'Loonie' (C$1 coin) in 1987.  USMint Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro's 1977 design was totally fantastic (see: http://www.smalldollars.com/dollar/page04.html for the design and some discussion on it) - until it was totally mucked up by the PC politicians of the day, led by Wisconsin's own USSenator William Proxmire.



The previous 'Ikes' were just too big and bulky to be usable in everyday commerce and as such tended to mainly circulate around the slot machine rooms in Nevada gambling casinos.

Mike

I think the easy solution is to make the $1 coin significantly thicker, like the 1980s One Pound coin from Great Britain.

But we have dollar coins in circulation that just aren't used very often. Like $2 bills, they aren't used very often. Many thousands of vending machines would have to be modified, and lots of people would probably stuff two coins together and jam it. Lastly, we're just moving onto plastic...it took about 20-30 years, but roughly half the vending machines I see now take credit cards.

[mgk920]

^^ Prior to 1979, there was an Eisenhower dollar coin that was 1.5 inches in diameter.  The design of the SBA dollar too closely resembled the quarter in size and weight.  The "Carter Quarter" was widely panned and production ended in 1981.

The original design patterns for the smaller $1 coin were for a multi-sided brass coin - just like the how the Canadians did their 'Loonie' (C$1 coin) in 1987.  USMint Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro's 1977 design was totally fantastic (see: http://www.smalldollars.com/dollar/page04.html for the design and some discussion on it) - until it was totally mucked up by the PC politicians of the day, led by Wisconsin's own USSenator William Proxmire.



The previous 'Ikes' were just too big and bulky to be usable in everyday commerce and as such tended to mainly circulate around the slot machine rooms in Nevada gambling casinos.

Mike

I think the easy solution is to make the $1 coin significantly thicker, like the 1980s One Pound coin from Great Britain.

But we have dollar coins in circulation that just aren't used very often. Like $2 bills, they aren't used very often. Many thousands of vending machines would have to be modified, and lots of people would probably stuff two coins together and jam it. Lastly, we're just moving onto plastic...it took about 20-30 years, but roughly half the vending machines I see now take credit cards.

The easiest solution is to stop making $1 banknotes.  Then the coins will work just fine, like they have been since the late 1980s in Canada.

Mike

[GenExpwy]

I was a coin collector in the '70s. I have a vague recollection that an important reason for that particular size of the smaller dollar was that it needed to be different from every foreign coin, so that they couldn't be used as slugs. With many hundreds of different coins worldwide, there weren't that many sizes available.

The previous 'Ikes' were just too big and bulky to be usable in everyday commerce and as such tended to mainly circulate around the slot machine rooms in Nevada gambling casinos.

As I understand it, with rare local exceptions (like Vegas casinos) the big "cartwheel"  dollars were never a popular coin to walk around with, going all the way back to about 1800 when they were first minted in non-trivial numbers.

[SSOWorld]

^^ Prior to 1979, there was an Eisenhower dollar coin that was 1.5 inches in diameter.  The design of the SBA dollar too closely resembled the quarter in size and weight.  The "Carter Quarter" was widely panned and production ended in 1981.

The original design patterns for the smaller $1 coin were for a multi-sided brass coin - just like the how the Canadians did their 'Loonie' (C$1 coin) in 1987.  USMint Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro's 1977 design was totally fantastic (see: http://www.smalldollars.com/dollar/page04.html for the design and some discussion on it) - until it was totally mucked up by the PC politicians of the day, led by Wisconsin's own USSenator William Proxmire.



The previous 'Ikes' were just too big and bulky to be usable in everyday commerce and as such tended to mainly circulate around the slot machine rooms in Nevada gambling casinos.

Mike

I think the easy solution is to make the $1 coin significantly thicker, like the 1980s One Pound coin from Great Britain.

But we have dollar coins in circulation that just aren't used very often. Like $2 bills, they aren't used very often. Many thousands of vending machines would have to be modified, and lots of people would probably stuff two coins together and jam it. Lastly, we're just moving onto plastic...it took about 20-30 years, but roughly half the vending machines I see now take credit cards.

The easiest solution is to stop making $1 banknotes.  Then the coins will work just fine, like they have been since the late 1980s in Canada.

Mike

Why do that when machines accept $1 banknotes?  That's change!

Cutting $1 banknotes cuts jobs - a no-no (but that's a topic not for this forum)

[1995hoo]

^^ Prior to 1979, there was an Eisenhower dollar coin that was 1.5 inches in diameter.  The design of the SBA dollar too closely resembled the quarter in size and weight.  The "Carter Quarter" was widely panned and production ended in 1981.

They did in fact make Anthony dollars again in 1999. That was around the time when vending machines, especially at post offices, started giving dollar coins in change. Initially they used all the leftover Anthony dollars from the Carter era, but when supplies ran low and the new Sacagawea coins weren't ready yet, the Mint decided to make more Anthony dollars because they still had the authority to do so.

I have some 1999 Anthony dollars somewhere. I remember the first time I got some in my change back in 1999. One guy I worked with back then was a coin collector and a real know-it-all type who would ridicule you if he thought you were wrong (reminds me of certain people on this forum, but I won't name names). He told me how stupid I was, there was no such thing as a 1999 Anthony dollar, they stopped making them in 1981, etc. This was in front of about six other people at lunch. So I reached into my pocket and placed one on the table in front of him with the year facing up. Dumb SOB wasn't even embarrassed to be proven wrong in that manner.

[jeffandnicole]

But, it a package requires an "in-hand" signature, then perhaps UPS should give the customer a "heads-up" before they make the first delivery attempt?  Especially given that there is no checkbox on the delivery notice indicating that the customer needs to be there in person to sign for the package.

1) The shipper is the one requiring UPS to get the signature.  Why didn't you blame the shipper for never telling you in the first place that a signature was needed?  (Or if they did tell you, did you miss that requirement?)  2) UPS has an app/email feature you can sign up for, that will notify you when and where your package will be delivered, and if a signature is required.

You can easily tell the difference between a quarter and a dollar coin (2000 or later) by feeling the edge.

They also have a noticeably different "ring."

If they stay with the brass color, they will look different even at casual glance.

"Feel the edge" is far less effective than "feel the weight'.

Think of the coin edge as one of the original ADA requirements, which allowed blind people to know which coin they were handing, and how to tell the difference between a penny and dime, and nickel and quarter.