Never guaranteed!
I sent 2 packages of cookies to either side of the country! I had them picked up on the 3rd, therefore expected delivery by friday at the latest. One box arrived on the 6th. Great. The second box, to my dad did not arrived until monday. I sent email to the USPS customer care complaining about the service.
" Package xxxxxxx was mailed on the 2nd of january, picked up for deliverly on the 3rd, priority, but not delivered until the 9th today. That is very much outside the 2-3 day delivery. Please advise on how to go about getting a refund.
Thank you"
Response:
"Dear USPS Customer,
Thank you for contacting USPS Internet Customer Care Center. I regret that your mail was overdue. The Postal Service shares your disappointment in our performance and assures you that we are very concerned with reports of delayed or lost mail.
We maintain a high service reliability standard for Priority Mail and our usual performance is a two-three day delivery to major destinations within the contiguous United States. However, we occasionally experience difficulties that can result in a delayed package. We know this does not relieve us of our responsibility to meet your expectations for service, but we hope you can understand that we are making every effort to provide a high level of service to all of our customers. To reduce such incidents, we have upgraded our mail processing equipment and through training with employees renewed the importance of devoting proper care and attention to each piece of mail.
If your package was merchandise from a vendor, and the delay has been longer than 2 weeks, we suggest that you contact your vendor and ask for a replacement. As the original shippers, they, of course, are the people that would file an insurance claim, had insurance been purchased. They will likely complain to their USPS Business Representative, and that complaint, along with your email to us, will work to further increase our efforts to reduce incidents like this down to a zero level.
I am sorry that we failed to meet your expectations, or our operating standards. I hope this was an isolated incident that will not happen again. I hope your package will soon arrive.
Thank you for using the Postal Service."
My response to their sunshine up my butt…..
"It seems that you did not read my email.
I said that it was indeed delivered, but the package was delivered on the 9th. That is not 2-3 days, that is 4-5 days.
I feel I should not have to pay priority prices to get regular service.
If you are going to send a form letter attempting to appease unsatisfied customers you should at least taylor it to the current situation."
Their final repsone:
" Our delivery standard for Priority mail is a delivery in 2-3 days. We try very hard to meet that standard. Occasionally, however, deliveries may be delayed because of unforeseen circumstances. Priority Mail, unlike our Express Mail service, is not a guaranteed or a trackable service. Although it is one of our fastest growing services – a 100% on-time performance is not yet a reality. Therefore, we can’t tell you exactly where your package is, or exactly when it will arrive, but our overall delivery record convinces us that your item is most certainly still in the mail stream, and we ask your continued patience."
Cracked me up – my dad has already eaten the cookies that have yet to arrive! Gotta love their up to data, cutting edge package scanning ability!