VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

mcm · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:36 pm Post subject: USPS Customer Service

I recently did a postcard mailing. Some postcards are straggling back to me bearing tales of incorrect addresses. It's a relatively small number - I spent a good 6 weeks making the address list and double checking for accuracy. What floors me is that most of the returns have a yellow sticker with the correct address on it, along with the directive to Return to Sender.

If the USPS actually has the correct address on record, would it kill them to deliver the mail to it? I keep thinking of the old joke about the guy who swam half way across the English Channel, got too tired and swam back home. Except this is even more ludicrous - the postcard was almost at its destination. In one case the correct address was like one building away. I guess I don't understand commerce, but it seems like it would have been way cheaper for them to just deliver the mail to its destination rather than carry it all the way back to me.

glittlefield · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

...and in the end, they still kept your money. Explode

_________________
Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

todd ellis · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:08 pm Post subject:

last summer i bought a few books of stamps - was obviously brain dead when i wrote the check and wrote it for .17 cents over the amount. the following week i got a check in the mail for .17 cents ... in an envelope with a .42 cent stamp.
_________________
"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

Mandy Nelson · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject:

Ah, the usps, so right and so wrong. I love that if you order the stamps from their website they charge you extra (at least the used to) and sent them in the mail. And my mailman has to mail me a thank you card for the holiday goodies we give him. This year I added stamps to the basket b/c it just seems wrong that he has to do that.
_________________
006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband

anthonyVO · 14th Avenue Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 1470 Location: NYC

Hey Mary,

Most people don't know this, but your 42 cents for First-Class stamps pays for one of two services:

1. Return Service - your postcards probably said RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED under the return address

Or

2. Forward Service - FORWARD SERVICE REQUESTED

You choose. However, Return Service helps you keep your database clean and accurate. So this is a good thing.

If you'd like to save money, you can buy Postcard Stamps - like 27 cents or so each - but you can't use them on oversized postcards and your cards get chucked if the address is incorrect.

-A

mcm · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:56 pm Post subject:

I suppose I can't have it both ways - learn of the new address AND have it sent along to them.

Sigh. I guess this means I can't make fun of the postal service for this anymore. My mellow is duly harshed Anthony Rolls Eyes

Bruce · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:13 pm Post subject:

I have some props for the Post Office. I've been parcel posting various things back and forth to family, friends and clients using their red, white and blue boxes, and those parcels always take just two days, sometimes just one to the Pacific Northwest from Arizona, and packages from LA are almost always here in one day. They're just as reliable as the big shippers and cost a lot less! Score one for them.

Speaking of service, I was just reminiscing over the holidays about holiday mail when I was a child. We used to get two deliveries of mail each day at home in the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. Either they cared more about service then, or they were just over staffed.

B
_________________
VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:53 pm Post subject:

I remember several years ago when I was Production Director at a radio station, I received a package containing tapes of the new flight of commercials promoting the U.S. Postal Service's relatively new Express Mail service. The ad agency, Young & Rubicam, sent them by FedEx.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

I feel your pain, MCM, in a different way,...I too just finished a postcard mailing, 500+ recipients.....took FOREVER to put it all together.

Been almost two weeks. So far ONE tangible response. Mello

Oh well, back to the cold calling, I suppose...

mcm · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:51 am Post subject:

Lee, what a classic tale of irony!!

Rob, for many of your recipients, the postcard may be the first time they've really sat up and taken notice - even though you've emailed or called before. It does take repetition!

The first response I got from my mailing was from someone I'd been in touch with for the last two years, the audio guy at a large toy company not too far away. He emailed after getting my postcard and said, I hadn't realised you were so close by. He invited me to visit so that, when VO jobs came up, he would be more likely to think of me because he had met me. I'm having lunch with him today and getting a tour of the company. This alone made that mailing worthwhile. But I have a lot of following up to do as well, since I sent cards to a number of agents.

The road goes ever, ever on....

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

Yeah, I know I'm actually not upset by it...I know from marketing efforts in this and past lives (radio, real estate) as well that you never know when a seed you planted will sprout, so I am eternally (but usually cautiously) optimistic Smile

ChrisMezzolesta · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:18 am Post subject:

glittlefield · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:04 am Post subject:

Like everyone else, however, the USPS is considering tightening their belts as well.
_________________
Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:26 pm Post subject:

I'm hoping the HDTV tuner I bought on eBay Tuesday arrives here via Priority Mail by Saturday, but I'm not counting on it.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

CarynClark · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:51 pm Post subject:

I generally love the USPS... they're reasonably priced! I have shipped things UPS and WOWEE... it's mucho moula!!

But here's a funny little story about my mailman.

One day, he told me that if there were reports of a lightning storm coming, or it looked like rain, he would not deliver my mail. I asked why, and he pointed to the flag pole, with the glorious American flag flying, my husband has attached to the mailbox..."That is a lightning rod."

Hello, we live in Florida. It rains almost daily most months. I'd never get my mail!!

I couldn't believe he was saying this. I explained to him that first off, my house is much taller than the flag pole (two stories my house is) as are others on my street, and there are tall palm trees, etc. The chances of lightning striking the flag pole are... well, you see where I'm going.

Not to mention, he's in a postal truck on four rubber tires!!!

One quick visit to the local po to explain my confusion af his request, and I never heard another thing about it. We have a good relationship with him. He must've just had a weird moment or something.
_________________
Caryn Clark... The Hip Chick Voice!

"A positive mental attitude and having faith in your ability is quite different from being irresponsible and downright stupid." - Dave