Not paid survey related, but a rant about mail service, services, and a follow up surveys

[melbourne_yankee]

I'm sure that most everybody here has experienced some sort of delay or lost mail as a result of the pandemic and all the problems it has caused.

Here in the magic land of Oz we have had all sorts of problems with mail service.

They stopped daily mail service and went every other day which meant some weeks we had mail delivery twice a week. They kept the Express Mail service for domestic packages and charged Express Mail prices, but got rid of the guaranteed delivery date. Finally started up regular mail delivery after about a year.

Packages would go from a suburb 20 kilometers away from us all the way to Sydney (1000 kilometers plus) and then back again to Melbourne because there was no capacity to handle the mail here at some Melbourne mail centers. Packages by Australia Post would take 6 or 8 weeks to be delivered from across the country and sometimes even a month across the city.

During our lock downs we were restricted from traveling more than 5 kilometers from our house, only essential service shops were open, and we could only make one trip per day.  So it was impossible to zip over to the shop buy something, and bring it back home. People stopped buying stuff online because it took so long to get it.

That was the domestic mail situation.

We buy lots of stuff from Japan and Japan Post stopped ALL airmail service to Australia including letters.  After 9 months of that stoppage they started up the airmail letters service again, but there is still no Japan Post service for airmail packages to Australia because this time Australia Post has told Japan Post (according to Japan Post) that they won't process them.  So the only alternatives are sea mail which takes between six to eight weeks or private package services such as DHL which costs a fortune and only takes a week or so. Unreal that after two years mail service is still screwed up.

The last airmail letter I got from Japan took about 3 weeks to get to Australia and the last one from the UK took about a month.

And at one time the USA stopped all package service to Australia as well.

Lost packages as well.  I had one take three weeks to get out the USA, one week somewhere in the ether, and then it sat at the Sydney processing centre for over two weeks with no movement.  Sent in an inquiry which took another week to get the initial answer and then another week for them to tell me that they lost the registered packaged. And then a couple of more weeks after that to get the refund from Ebay.( "We are doing this a courtesy for you..................... Well gee thanks!!)

Which brings me to the surveys. In many of these cases the entity wants to know "how they did" and send out a survey to find out about how they handled the matter. At first I would fill them out and give them a realistic assessment. 

Now I don't even bother as IMO they make no difference and I've never, ever heard back from them once.  Bad service from a shop or a fast food place?  Fill out a survey form with your complaint.

Waste of time IMO.

Do you fill out these requests and have you ever heard back?

 

[Sandy21]

Wow! And I thought  the USPS was bad! What a total mess for you for so very long all the way around. In comparison to Australia we surely had it good here in the US.. I do hope things have improved for you as of late. 

Nope. I used to take these surveys just as you did. But I also believe that they make no difference so why waste my time?

Again, good luck to you! Life surely wasn't easy!!

 

[schludermann]

Oh, it's awful in the US. The USPS is so understaffed they are accepting carriers with a pulse and an attitude. I've been living at the same location for forty years and the mail box has been on the same side of the house for this period. Because I repurposed the side walk from the street to the house to grow plants, a concrete surface is superior for root control on Agave plants. The carriers won't walk from the side of the house, the mail box is between the houses. I have to monitor the mail delivery daily using "informed delivery". and inform the USPS when stuff isn't delivered. if I don't, mail is returned. I've even  watched Bluetooth headphoned, vaping carriers pass by my place and I follow them to the delivery van and ask for my mail. didn't make a difference in the long run. USPS is geared to optimize their delivery metrics and if that means skipping your address, which means better performance, so be it. they then tell all their other carrier buddies to stop delivering. I lost a week of mail and parcels, until checking informed delivery every day and flag undelivered mail.

[Sandy21]

2 hours ago, schludermann said:

Oh, it's awful in the US. The USPS is so understaffed they are accepting carriers with a pulse and an attitude. I've been living at the same location for forty years and the mail box has been on the same side of the house for this period. Because I repurposed the side walk from the street to the house to grow plants, a concrete surface is superior for root control on Agave plants. The carriers won't walk from the side of the house, the mail box is between the houses. I have to monitor the mail delivery daily using "informed delivery". and inform the USPS when stuff isn't delivered. if I don't, mail is returned. I've even  watched Bluetooth headphoned, vaping carriers pass by my place and I follow them to the delivery van and ask for my mail. didn't make a difference in the long run. USPS is geared to optimize their delivery metrics and if that means skipping your address, which means better performance, so be it. they then tell all their other carrier buddies to stop delivering. I lost a week of mail and parcels, until checking informed delivery every day and flag undelivered mail.

I monitor my mail via informed delivery as well and have done so for years  Our mail is constantly misdelivered where I live. I've considered getting a post office box but it's too expensive and too far away  and there is a long long waiting list. It's  a constant battle getting my important mail, carriers are constantly changing and most mail delivery people just don't care. 

Your situation with the mail is utterly ridiculous and I totally  understand your frustration. Wish there was a REAL solution for you. I wish you luck with this idiocy you experience  day in and day out.

Melbourne_Yankee and apparently so many Australians have it a lot worse than we do since the problems there since the beginning  of the pandemic go way beyond their horrible mail delivery. At least we have had less to contend with than they do. 

 

[melbourne_yankee]

Hi All,

 

Well we are doing better in Oz as we don't have any more lock downs. As far as new cases and deaths we are a lot worse off.

Some of the crap they pulled during that time was ridiculous.

For example, we had to wear masks outside when walking at any time and anywhere, but people running or jogging didn't have to wear one.  Figure that out. Cops were happy as "pigs in s***"  being able to lord over everybody.  Telling pregnant women that they couldn't sit down to rest while out walking or checking to make sure there was coffee in  the coffee cups when people were out walking and had their masks down while drinking. (Used to work as a civilian for the police here so it doesn't surprise me one bit.) They closed the big park near our house so as to prevent the 'spread of the virus' while out walking and the local council employed people to walk around the central park and village CBD area wiping things down outside.

Our little piece of paradise (north part of our suburb) made it though the first couple of waves and lock downs without many cases and as far as I know no people dying. We have lots of age care facilities and retirement villages in our area and not one old person died during that time and only one facility had cases as far as I know.

It was different for the south part of the suburb which had a huge number of cases and the other city council areas where there were a lot of cases. Most of those other areas are low income areas with lots of immigrants. Our city is now leading the state in number of total new cases and it probably has to do with the above characteristics and the big shopping centre in the next suburb over which is now open.

From a postcode point of view which encompasses the entire suburb, From 1 January last year until 26 May last year our postcode didn't have one new case at all. Around the middle of September last year the cases starting increasing a lot and at the start of this year they exploded.

Now that we are some 95% plus double vaccinated here in Victoria we have 10 times as many cases per day here in Victoria (yesterday there were 9595 new cases) and a lot more deaths.  Twenty people died yesterday from the virus here in Victoria. Some 58,000 active cases in the state right now.

Melbourne had the majority of cases during the pandemic and lots of areas outside the city didn't have one case and they were still subject to lock downs, but not as severe as in Melbourne. The cops had road blocks on the major roads and were checking people if they had permission to travel into and out of Melbourne as well.

The better half and I still don't go out very often and wear masks when in crowded areas, but not in the supermarket, for example.  We haven't been to a sit down restaurant since the whole mess started. (The food is too expensive and not that good in most places anyway!!)

The main reason for that is that I have a serious health issue with my lungs and getting the "crud" wouldn't be in my interests nor would it be if the better half got it or passed it on to me.

[Sandy21]

Melbourne_Yankee, you have so much to contend with. I am hoping that it might just be possible for you to move back to the states in the not too distant future. Things are not ideal here by any means but surely better than your plight!! Stay safe!

[melbourne_yankee]

Hi Sandy21,

 

Well first of all we'd have to go the visa route to live in the USA legally and we are interested in that at all.

Second, why would we want to live in the USA as the overall quality of life here in Australia is 10 times better than the USA.  It used to be 20 times better though.

If you want I  can give you many examples why we have a much better quality of life here in Australia compared to the USA.

 

[dawn_b_adams]

On 6/8/2022 at 8:48 PM, melbourne_yankee said:

Hi Sandy21,

 

Well first of all we'd have to go the visa route to live in the USA legally and we are interested in that at all.

Second, why would we want to live in the USA as the overall quality of life here in Australia is 10 times better than the USA.  It used to be 20 times better though.

If you want I  can give you many examples why we have a much better quality of life here in Australia compared to the USA.

 

Unfortunately, I have to agree with you here. I just shake my head at the stuff going on in this country. At times, I'm ashamed to say I'm an American.

[Sandy21]

On 6/8/2022 at 6:48 PM, melbourne_yankee said:

Hi Sandy21,

 

Well first of all we'd have to go the visa route to live in the USA legally and we are interested in that at all.

Second, why would we want to live in the USA as the overall quality of life here in Australia is 10 times better than the USA.  It used to be 20 times better though.

If you want I  can give you many examples why we have a much better quality of life here in Australia compared to the USA.

 

I totally agree with you, I am sad to say.( I  misunderstood what you said about the mess with the post office in Australia, thought you might be wanting to move back to the good old USA and I surely understand why you don't). Agree with Dawn too. 

[melbourne_yankee]

Geez,

I should proofread what I write!!

Must be old age catching up to me.

"Well first of all we'd have to go the visa route to live in the USA legally and we are interested in that at all."

Should have been:

"Well first of all we'd have to go the visa route to live in the USA legally and we are NOT interested in that at all."