Is my Post Office Full of @#!& (hatcheries ship "illegally"?)

[6Happiness]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

We went to the Post office today, bringing with us the 2 boxes. First thing the guy behind the counter said, before we even walked halfway to the counter was "Those go express mail!"

Told him we received these boxes, how they ignored the directions for pick up, and that we were charged double on postage; he insisted we were wrong. So asked for the next higher up, who again, insisted we were wrong- and that they called the district office after the first box was delivered and were told they were supposed to go express.

I told her to go get their manual and we'd read the section on shipping poultry together. She just huffed and said, "fine, what do you want, a refund?". Well YES. So she gave us the refund.

So it turned out fine for us, but I suspect they'd just try to get away with it again with the next person who tries to order chicks.

I am so glad we are moving to a more rural area in a couple weeks!

 

[blitz1027]

Glad you got it worked out. Sorry to hear that the post office was such a pain

 

[darkmatter]

Wow!....this makes me appreciate my local rural post office in the Midwest. They've called me early in the A.M. for Chicks and Bees to come pick them up. They were use to Chicks, when they called me for the Bees, I had to go in the back to pick up the package, they were afraid to pick the package up. (there's always a few hitchhikers bees on the outside of the screen package)

 

[EweSheep]

I got a response from my friend, the postal inspector of Illinois and he said you would have to go to the upper management (like you did) and read the brochure. It says in there very clearly that hatcheries can ship their chicks and no one should be paying extra for it.

The employee or employees should be reprimanded and it is illegial to pay anything up front if you DO know it should not be paid like this example you showed. Even at the doorstep, you can call on his supervisor and upper management on that call.

 

[6Happiness]

Quote:
Thanks EweSheep. If we weren't panicked about getting the chicks inside and in the brooder, we'd probably have been thinking cleared... refused to pay and gone down the PO then.

Since the Upper Management didn't seem to believe it or be interested in it, and she said they called whoever was above them (branch or regional office? I forgot the exact words), is there a higher up after that that I should write a letter to? Or would that be your friend, who is now aware of it anyway?

 

[briteday]

It's sad to hear about these types of problems. Our area is more suburban than rural now. And when I call each Spring to check at my local post office (they review the arrival schedule of the distribution trucks to our local PO with me so we can anticipate the time of day the boxes will arrive) they are always so excited to know that chicks are coming again! I always open the box to check on the chicks before I leave the post office. You can usually tell by the amount of peeping that things are ok, but it's better to know before you leave the post office if there are any major problems and have a supervisor note any problems. But mostly, I think the postal employees just get the biggest kick out of seeing the little peepers!

Our distribution trucks generally arrive around 5-6AM so I normally get a call by 6. And to find out the current schedule I try to call the local post office after lunch, they are busy sorting mail in the morning, and usually one of the supervisors answers phones. When I arrive to pick them up they have always moved them in from the dock where the other mail is awaiting processing, and put them inside in a warm place up off the floor. I have wonderful postal people and I am grateful!