So this is sort of a “before” and “after” story. That being before and after Louis DeJoy (U.S. Postmaster General) made his “improvements” (fucked up) the U.S. mail system.
We’ve been RV snowbirding in Florida for 2 years now. Six months south and six months north. Each time we make arrangements to have our mail forwarded to our Florida RV address.
The first year (2022), before DeJoy made his changes, we went to our hometown post office up north and filled out a simple form indicating where we wanted our mail forwarded to and when we wanted the forwarding to start and stop. When we got down to our Florida RV park, which took a little over a week of travel time, we found our forwarded mail waiting for us. We continued to receive our forwarded mail the whole 6 months we were in Florida with no problems, albeit slightly delayed (usually a week) due to the forwarding process. When we got back home, we found that they stopped forwarding our mail as scheduled, and it was there when we arrived. An added bonus to the old forwarding system was that they did not forward junk mail (mail addressed to “occupant” or “resident”). So all around a good working system. A system where the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” should have been applied. But apparently DeJoy didn’t hear of that adage and proceeded to fix a perfectly functioning system. This leads me to the second part of my story after the “DeJoy fix.”
So the second year of snowbirding, (2023), after DeJoy made his changes, we again went to our hometown post office and filled out the mail forwarding form. This time we were told that due to policy changes, they would not be able to start forwarding our mail on the date specified. We would have to first go to our Florida post office and show ID to prove we had arrived I guess. So after we arrived in Florida, about 2 weeks later, we went to the Florida post office, showed ID and watched the postal employee tap on her computer, after which she said we were all set and our mail should start being forwarded.
After a week without mail (now 3 weeks total), I went back to the Florida post office to see if they received any of my forwarded mail, thinking they maybe were not delivering it. Nope, they hadn’t gotten any of my mail. They suggested I give it more time and that others were also having problems with the new system.
After another week went by with no mail (now 4 weeks total), I called my home town post office to see if they were forwarding my mail to Florida. They said they had recently started forwarding my mail, so give it a little more time. No explanation why it took almost 2 weeks to start forwarding my mail from the time the electronic instruction was sent from the Florida post office. But they did tell me I could have done the whole sign up process on-line myself which might of helped speed things along. Too late now.
So after another week without mail (now 5 weeks total), I went back to the Florida post office determined to get some answers. When I started questioning the first employee at the counter, she immediately decided she had no answers and went to get the local postmaster. The postmaster frankly told me that I was not alone and the new system was all screwed up. I asked if going on-line and again signing up to have my mail forwarded would help. She advised against that since she said it could make matters worse. Then when I asked when I could expect to get my mail, she said she had no idea and that I might never get it. Although I appreciated her honesty, I was flabbergasted. When she left, another older, more experienced postal worker said that I would eventually get my mail. So I decided to wave the white flag and leave before I went postal!
About another week later, I saw my first piece of forwarded mail, which took over 6 weeks to get to me, HURRAY!
At that point, I thought my mail problems were over.
WRONG!
I signed up for the postal services free online mail tracking system. I thought I would then be able to see when my home town post office got my mail so I could estimate when I might get it. That turned out to be totally useless. Mail that was shown in the electronic system never showed up in Florida, while mail not shown in the electronic system was showing up. Still other mail I was expecting was not shown in the system and never showed up.
Fortunately, I do most of my important financial transactions on-line, avoiding a lot of mail disasters. But here are a couple of examples of my snail mail problems.
I was waiting to receive my car insurance policy and proof of insurance for the year. It is usually received a month or more before its April 1st expiration date. So in late March when it didn’t arrive, I had to contact my insurance agent to have them email me a copy of my insurance cards. I never did receive them by snail mail.
I also was waiting to receive my W-2 from my part time employer that I needed for taxes. Since it wasn’t showing up, I had to contact my employer to get a copy emailed to me, which I did get after a few weeks of bugging the financial manager. Funny thing, I did get the snail mail copy on April 25, 10 days after the tax filing deadline and more than 3 months after the January 24 post mark date on the envelope. Sending by pony express would have been faster.
So that’s my Louis DeJoy / U.S. Mail F.U.B.A.R. Story.
Feel free to post your own in the comment section.