Problems with process and delivery of U.S. Mail

angelburst29

The Living Force
Since the middle of March, I've been coming across reports of delayed or lost mail in Local News Reports, mainly in the Tri-state area of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The Reports are generally brief, (one short paragraph or a few sentences) and that the problem is being investigated.

Due to financial problems, there was some changes and mergers in the Postal Services in January of this year and many smaller, rural Post Offices were closed.

This Report comes out of Richmond, Virginia - which is typical of many of the reports I have come across.

Woman loses checks in the mail, calls 12 for help
http://www.nbc12.com/story/29277783/mail-problems

June 19, 2015 - RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) -
Nearly two weeks ago, Temika Brown handed off letters to her mail carrier. Those letters included two checks and a money order, all for bills that needed to be paid. None of those letters arrived at their intended destinations.

"I had to call cancel and do new checks and everything," Brown said.

This cost her $80. With her bill money missing, Brown went to her area post office on Hopkins Road in South Richmond to get answers.

"I was told they were having problems at the Richmond processing. But I couldn't get a number to the processing, and that was basically it," Brown said.

That's where we stepped in. I reached out the U.S. Postal Communications director and got this statement that reads in part:

"Let me apologize on behalf of the Postal Service for any service concerns our customers experience. I can assure you postal officials are looking into the possible reasons for any delays and will work to resolve this quickly."

I was also told that postal standards changed nationally in January, which resulted in longer delivery times. The USPS also says there have been some hiccups during the transition.

Temika says from now, on she will use Priority Mail to make sure her checks and other personal information aren't compromised. She has a warning for others who choose not to: "Be careful," Brown said.

Postal officials are looking into what may have caused Ms. Brown's mail to be delayed.

Comment section

* Here's a simply solution, stop paying by mail, most bills can be paid over the internet or setup automatic payments via your bank! You'll get confirmation of the payment and all is good!

* Paid $25.00 today to stop check mailed inside of Ampthill Post Office on 13 May 2015. Called several Post Office phone numbers, most would not answer or reply. Ones that answered said it was not their problem and gave me phone numbers that would not answer or call back.

* There are tons of delays in the Richmond plant. But the employees are getting tons of overtime. I was told employees are taking home 5-10,000.00 checks bi-weekly. This does not promote better work ethics. It needs to really be investigated. 30 days is ridiculous for a deliver standard and if they changed that should have been "news" reported.

* I mailed five checks inside of the Ampthill Post Office on 13 May 2015. Four of the checks were delivered. One is still missing in the Postal service. I also know of another person in the same situation. The only reply from the P.O. has been that mail is no longer delivered in 2 to 4 days. The expected time was changed in January. It now takes up to 30 days to deliver local mail. I suggest you allow at least a month for your bills to be delivered. Postal officials are telling the public fairytales concerning this problem, or simply not answering the phone. A fish rots at the head first.

* My niece lives in south Richmond. She mailed a card Jan. 1 of this year, addressed to me for Charlotte, NC. It arrived June 8 of this week. It looked battered and had what appeared to be coffee stains on the unopened envelope. My understanding is that a Richmond postal carrier trashed a lot of mail earlier this year. So, that card could very well have been in that recovered batch. Even in Charlotte, NC we have had a few instances where the carrier decided to trash the mail rather than deliver. I feel particularly sorry for the people struggling to pay already late bills and to discover their payments never went through. As a result, they could lose EVERYTHING. We are at the postal service mercy. Some very bad decisions are being made in that organization with bad consequences. It seems they answer to no one but themselves. Yet, we keep throwing our tax dollars their way.

* I have had several issues with my post office on Franklin Ave in Petersburg. I called spoke with a lady who wasn't very pleasant and when I got no where with her asked to speak to the post master. He was also no help by any means and I still have problems getting my mail.


The delay in Postal Service, especially where checks or money order's for payment is concerned, reminds me of when the Social Security Administration advertised an end date of January 1st, 2015 for Postal Mail checks and everything was switched over to electronic payment to a Bank Account. Might be part of the reasoning behind the Postal Service changes - to force electronic payments for Bill's, etc.?
 
Might be part of the reasoning behind the Postal Service changes - to force electronic payments for Bill's, etc.?

Maybe, but I don't really see much difference between an electronic payment and a paper check. I can understand reasons why they want to/are trying to do away with actual cash transactions, but does anyone actually send cash in the mail? though I suppose they may use cash to buy a cashiers check or something...

I do think they have been trying to destroy USPS so that it can be fully privatized. I get very frustrated when I see statements like this:
Some very bad decisions are being made in that organization with bad consequences. It seems they answer to no one but themselves. Yet, we keep throwing our tax dollars their way.

The USPS is fully funded by its own revenue through postage sales, but their budgets have been hobbled because in 2006 congress required them to prefund future liabilities (ie, healthcare & pensions) for the next 75 years rather than pay as you go, as they always had in the past. No other private or public organization has such a requirement. I think revenues may have also lessened because the digital age generates less paper mail, though its possible this is offset by an increase in online shopping and package shipment, IDK. It has been said that without the prefunding of liabilities the USPS would be running a billion dollar surplus instead of having to downsize and cutback. There are additional restrictions that congress has placed on the USPS as well that has prevented them from responding as any normal business would to changes in the market. Its been a long time since I read about the topic so I forget some, but for instance, in the past I believe the PO offered other services like check cashing, cashiers checks, etc but can no longer do that. Also, I know that delivery of certain items such as alcohol has given the private sector an edge over the USPS.

At the end of the day, this news story is the very sad, very inevitable outcome of the concerted effort by congress to destroy the postal office. Its a pretty similar process to what they've done to the public school system- starve them of funds and turn them into cesspools so that the public will *beg* to have them replaced with private all-for-profit institutions.
 
Yeah, I think I remember reading on SOTT a few years ago about the agenda to destroy the Postal Service. FWIW.
 
Amazing! It took the Postal Service around 6 months to discover what happened to a horde of missing mail, packages and magazines and another 6 months or so to make it known to the public? And .... if the Postman is convicted, the Federal charge only carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison or a fine.

Philadelphia postman charged after 22,500 pieces mail found undelivered
_http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/23/us-usa-pennsylvania-mail-idUSKCN0PX26H20150723

About 22,500 pieces of undelivered mail are making their way to their intended recipients this week, more than a year after a Philadelphia postal carrier began hoarding them in his home, federal authorities said.

In a case that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "snail mail," Patrick D’Ambrosio was accused of stashing the mail in his car and in garbage bags in his garage between May 2014 and January 2015, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

D’Ambrosio, 48, was charged on Tuesday with obstruction of mail for blocking deliveries, the release said.

If convicted, the federal charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison or a fine.

The cache was discovered after a United States Postal Service manager complained that mail in the Philadelphia area was not being delivered.

The Office of the Inspector General recovered the missing mail from D'Ambrosio's home in January.

Chris Allen, an assistant special agent with IG's office, said on Wednesday that the office is working with the U.S. Postal Service this week to ensure the mix of letters, magazines and packages are delivered.

D'Ambrosio, who could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday, has been placed on non-duty status by the Postal Service.

His next court date has not been scheduled yet, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia.


Laws on Federal Mail Fraud
_http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/federal/Federal-mail-fraud.htm

Mail fraud must be committed intentionally, which means that using the mail to accidentally or unintentionally cause someone else to lose money or property is not mail fraud. Federal law requires that a person engage in some kind of scheme or plan to defraud someone else of something valuable, and must have an intent to defraud. However, prosecutors do no have to actually show the state of mind of a person in order to prove mail fraud. Intent is almost always shown by the circumstances surrounding the case.

Mail fraud penalties are potentially very significant. While the specific penalty a court imposes will differ significantly based on the circumstances of the case, any mail fraud conviction can result in high fines, long prison sentences, and other penalties.

• Incarceration. The potential prison penalty for a federal mail fraud crime is very stiff. Each offense can result in a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. However, the penalty can be harsher if the crime involves specific victims or elements. When, for example, a fraud scheme involves federal disaster relief or where the victim is a financial institution, sentences of 30 years per offense are possible.

• Fines. Mail fraud fines are also very high. A conviction for a single count of mail fraud can result in a fine of up to $250,000. For fraud involving financial institutions or federal disaster relief, fines of up to $1 million per offense are possible.

• Probation. Mail fraud convictions can also result in a probation term. Anyone sentenced to probation has to spend a specific amount of time, typically one to three years or more, abiding by specific court conditions in lieu of serving prison time. These conditions limit the person's liberties, such as by requiring the probationer to regularly report to a probation monitor, submitting to random home searches or random drug tests, not associating with known criminals, and not committing other crimes.

• Restitution. When a mail fraud scheme succeeds in defrauding someone of property or causes harm to a victim, courts make restitution a part of the sentence. Restitution payments are made to the victims so they can recover what they lost as a result of the fraud. Restitution payments must be made in addition to fines, and when probation is given, are made a condition of the sentence.
 
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