USPS fakes delivery?

[redfis98]

Interesting article https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2017/12/05/postal-workers-claim-theyre-being-forced-to-fake-pack...

[the_fancy_fox]

Yep it happens. I wouldn't say as a rule for the entire postal system but a rogue office or two I believe.

i am a prime member, can't tell you how many times something is scanned as delivered to meet the deadline but doesn't get delivered till the next day.

Its the sort of thing that happens when you promise unrealistic consistent delivery times.

[uvmmmdu]

It has happened a couple times here and when I call they say they will look into it. Then it gets delivered next day. Seems to happen mostly with bad weather like they are scanned ahead then oh no we got snow...

[lja440]

I will say that this is not intentional for the most part.

What usually happens is the carrier misses marking a package for delivery and goes past the address finding the package when they are too far away to get it. This happens more during rush times when we hand off a small portion of the route to a sub so we can get done on time. For me the parcel markers that I use are more of a reminder or a precaution in case I break down. (my route has the reputation of being the most brutal in several counties, I have actually had the motor mounts fail in my old Jeep one week and two weeks later lost a strap on my gas tank). 

In our office missed packages still must be scanned, there is no missed package scan, the attempted scan requires that we scan the barcode on the back of a notice left at that location which of course can't be done. We scan them delivered but must report this to the Postmaster and they MUST be delivered the next day. My Postmaster will forgive one or two packages a month but more will have him doing a ride along to see why this is happening so often. Really no carrier wants to miss packages, it just adds to the next days work load.

[tofu107]

we have many newbie postal carriers who do not realise mail delivery is not easy when they sign up,when it gets too dark or too cold ,they just go home and deliver the packages the next day.

[fourwhi94]

Yep, Ive had it happen. When I complained I got told it was standard with any package that showed an eBay or Amazon label.

[muttlymob]

---

@lja440 wrote:

In our office missed packages still must be scanned, there is no missed package scan, the attempted scan requires that we scan the barcode on the back of a notice left at that location which of course can't be done. We scan them delivered but must report this to the Postmaster and they MUST be delivered the next day. My Postmaster will forgive one or two packages a month but more will have him doing a ride along to see why this is happening so often. Really no carrier wants to miss packages, it just adds to the next days work load.

---

Not all offices operate this way.  Not all carriers falsify delivery scans.

There are somewhere around 300,000 mail carriers.  Over 100K are rural.  The personal anecdotes of one should not be taken as the standard for all.

[couldabeenworse]

One of the initial USPS Inspector General reports after implementing GPS showed that 25.5 million scans (out of 2 billion during the six month time period) were made between the hours of 7 PM and when the carrier clocked out for delivery the next morning.  Of those, 1.9 million "stop-the-clock" scans were done at the delivery unit, rather than the delivery location. 

The report did not address scans that were made during the proper time period, and also mentioned an additional 105 million scans performed under some redacted procedure that management has since corrected.

USPS is relatively new to meaningful tracking, and I'm sure it will take some time to get everybody on board.

[lja440]

---

@muttlymob wrote:

---

@lja440 wrote:

In our office missed packages still must be scanned, there is no missed package scan, the attempted scan requires that we scan the barcode on the back of a notice left at that location which of course can't be done. We scan them delivered but must report this to the Postmaster and they MUST be delivered the next day. My Postmaster will forgive one or two packages a month but more will have him doing a ride along to see why this is happening so often. Really no carrier wants to miss packages, it just adds to the next days work load.

---

Not all offices operate this way.  Not all carriers falsify delivery scans.

There are somewhere around 300,000 mail carriers.  Over 100K are rural.  The personal anecdotes of one should not be taken as the standard for all.

---

True, but I have worked in some larger offices (hated it) nothing inner city but ones that you practically need a guide to find your way around. They all have pretty much worked the same. The only difference between the largest I have worked in is the large one had a separate area to hold these missed packages overnight and ours we just return them after notification to our own case area. But true, I am making an assumption that all offices work this problem is a somewhat similar fashion.

[chrysylys]

My carrier doesn't do the scan until he's at my mailbox.  I know because I can sometimes hear the 'beep beep' if I'm in the yard close by.  I get the ID notification within a few minutes.

[lja440]

---

@chrysylys wrote:

My carrier doesn't do the scan until he's at my mailbox.  I know because I can sometimes hear the 'beep beep' if I'm in the yard close by.  I get the ID notification within a few minutes.

---

Absolutly, that is how the vast majority are scanned. We are talking about the occasional package that is missed from time to time.

[chrysylys]

But a missed package would not have a 'Delivered' scan.  It may have an 'Out For Delivery' or 'Arrival at Unit' scan, then nothing else until the next day.

A package scanned as 'Delivered' when it wasn't seems deliberately deceptive.

[muttlymob]

My carrier doesn't do the scan until he's at my mailbox. 

If it is being delivered to the mailbox, that is how it is supposed to be done.  The delivery scan should be done AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY.  When it is put in the mailbox, handed to the recipient, or left on the doorstep.  At the time and place it is actually delivered.  Not at the office before leaving for the route.  Not a mile or two ahead of the delivery.  Not in the truck before getting out to deliver to the door.

But a missed package would not have a 'Delivered' scan. 

A missed package should not have a delivered scan.  But they sometimes do.  While just as false, it would seem that an attempted delivery would at least not mislead anyone into thinking the delivery actually happened.  But the actual event - that a package was missed either by the carrier or by the sorting clerks - does not have a scan.  So something else must be entered, whether it really happened or not.

A package scanned as 'Delivered' when it wasn't seems deliberately deceptive.

It is.  It is done entirely for a carrier or local management to avoid getting spanked for missed scans by those above them.

[rolenboy01]

---

@muttlymob wrote:

A package scanned as 'Delivered' when it wasn't seems deliberately deceptive.

It is.  It is done entirely for a carrier or local management to avoid getting spanked for missed scans by those above them.

---

I think the part that makes people more angry than usual about it is when they are can litterly see the lie play out IE being outside and there is no delivery attempt as they claimed or in the house and again no delivery attempt, if you aren't home you can give them more benefit of the doubt but seeing it in real time really hammers the deception home.

[jklfindings]

My carrier I have now is absolutely wonderful, but I've had similar issues in the past.  In my last location I would always receive a tracking update of "delivered" around 8am, and would have the package at around 3pm.  I asked my carrier about it one day and he said " oh yeah, I scan all my packages before I leave".   Lol glad I'm not at that location any more...