I use the postal service a lot since I have been buying and selling on ebay. Of course with the rates the postal service charges they have just about killed that situation!
Anyway I sold some books and when I was looking for something to mail them in I found an old used priority mail box. The 2 books fit perfectly so I wraped the box, addressed it and mail it as media mail. Well lo and behold about 5 days later I get a threatening letter in the mail (no return address except "United States Postal Service" logo upper left hand corner, likewise no signature).
It was scolding, cited codes and essentially stated I had misused U.S. Priority mail products and my name was being forward to the postal inspector. (What does that mean? Will jack-booted thugs burst into my home in the middle of the night and search it for used "priority mail boxes"?) Some of the letter was typed, some hand written. Also how would they (the postal employees) know that there was a used priority mail box under that wrapping unless they opened the package?
Of course I am also thinking where is this package that I just spent $2.91 to mail? Did the person receive it, will it be returned to me, what?
Today, 08/11/04 I received the package back, which I had mailed on 07/15/04. It looked as if it had been run over by a truck. Written all over it in big letters "POSTAGE DUE, CUSTOMER USED PRIORTIY BOX AND SENT IT BPM", (Oh MY GOD! Drag me out in the street and shoot me right now!!!)
Can you beleive the crooks (USPS) wanted an additional $6.39 to ship two books simply because they were put in a USED priority mail box! How trite! ($2.91 $6.38=$9.29 postage to mail two books, I don't think so!)
I WANT TO SUE THEM! If there are any legal guys out there reading this and want to take on the U.S. Postal service, contact me!
They opened my mail, isn't that a volation of my constitutional rights, invadsion of privacy or something.
I was told by a postal employee that the post office policy is they can open any and all media mail (just to make sure it really is media mail). Well who gave them that right, not me! I did not sign anything saying they have the right to open my mail! Also if a company can go around making up arbitary policy with out notifying the public, then where does that leave the consumer? I mean what next, will the USPS make up a policy where they don't have to deliver my mail (even though I have paid them to do so) if they happen not to like the color of my envelopes? If the USPS is afraid people are abusing the media mail service they offer, why don't they just stop offering it?
I will tell you why, because billions of corperate dollars come to them every year by offering media mail service. The problem is they do not want John Q public to bother them by using the service. Beleive me, they don't want to give John Q public any breaks at all! Our function is simply to pay and pay and pay! So they pick on John Q. This is true. How many times have you heard of them opening or even threatening to open the tons of bulk mail sent by corperations every year? Not once!
Also while I am getting to gripe I might as well let you know. The guaranteed 2-3 priority mail service they offer is nothing but false advertising. That guarantee apply's only to mail over 16 ozs. That means if you trying to get that bill payment there quick, you would do just as well to stick a 37 cent stamp on it. Forget the $ 4 dollars and something USPS charges to send priority mail. If it takes longer than the 2-3 day delivery they advertise, what do they care, it's not like it's guaranteed or anything.
Lastly my romance with the USPS is over. I will pay all my bills online, I will contact friends and family using email (and any other business I need to conduct). Likewise I will mail packages using UPS or Fed-Ex, even if it happens to cost more. All I can say is this huge unaccountable conglomerate has to be stopped. First the USPS, then the politians!
Paullet
Chickasaw, Alabama
U.S.A.
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