USPS embargo on live animals (chicks) through Feb 26, 2021!

[sfchixn]

Does anyone else have a shipment of chicks next week that is now embargoed? What happens to the chicks??

 

[Folly's place]

It's about delays in shipping, weather and ongoing issues with mail service generally. Nobody wants dead or dying chicks, so if stopping shipments is what's necessary right now, fine.
Contacting representatives would relate to improving our damaged USPS, and it would be good to get that situation improved.
Mary

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

They probably want a raise in wages.

That's definitely not what's going on. The current Postmaster General seems to have done everything in his power to make them as inefficient as possible. It's absolutely ridiculous. Whoever comes in after him is gonna have one hell of a mess to clean up.

 

[sfchixn]

Hey everyone! I'm the OP. I just got notice that my chicks arrived at the Post Office !!!!!!!

 

[sfchixn]

I am super glad they all made it to you!!

The one not doing great may perk up.

Super stinking cute!

Just lost the one sick chick. I've been warming her up since she got here and she just let out her final cheep. RIP little one.

 

[BleuSaphir]

Isn't there also that thing where they took away all of the mail sorting machines? Can that be undone or?

I have worked for USPS for 3 years. Almost 4. I don’t understand management brains of how they operate and create more headaches than efficiency. And this is one of them. They took out sorting machine. Not all though. It was also on the timing of our recent voting election.
That was BAD move on management thinking. That CAUSED backlog of letters to be late due to incoming election mails during back then. This is still causing backlog of delayed mail.
TBH majority of the sorting machine used are so outdated that they lost their efficiency and sophistication. It dated machines from the 1990’s. Sheesh these sorting machine I run everyday breakdown!
They have money issues. They don’t know how to cut down expense cost down. It largely paying retired employees pensions and healthcare. This is fault from congress mandated from the 1980’s.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

Privatizing is definitely not the way to go with the USPS, for one simple reason--business in the US is all about profit (y'all might scoff, but it didn't used to be that way; sure, there were always those in it for the money but the primary drive was to provide a needed service for the community, but the extension on corporate charters put an end to all that...they used to be limited to 10 years). It is not profitable to deliver to many rural locations in this country. If they were to go private, such places would pay out the...well, you know...to get service, if they were able to get service at all. The whole point of USPS is that citizens have a service that they know that they can all access, and yes it is a necessary one. We all need to be able to receive and ship mail. One of the reasons so many packages still get sent via USPS despite their struggles and the competition of FedEx and UPS? Because they are consistently cheaper, ie more affordable for the average American. We privatize, that goes right out the window. It shouldn't have to be profitable. It is a necessary service that we all need access to! To require profitability is to cause crises just like this embargo--they can't implement everything that would be necessary to keep things running smoothly because *gasp* it'd cost more. But that's the price we pay if we want something to always be dependable.

What we need to do is run it like the government service it is and stop allowing partisan bickering to destroy what used to be a great and fantastic service. We need to repeal all of the crap that is pulling it down (such as requiring them to fund pensions 75 years in advance, I think it is? No one else has to do that. It's INSANE) and get people in there that are interested in getting it back to function instead of making it so useless that people don't think it's worth saving. If we can do that, we won't have to deal with nonsense like these embargoes...but it's gonna take a heck of a lot of effort at this point because a lot of damage has already been done.

 

[Burdi]

Good shipping news. I got 20 chicks shipped to CA from MS Today. Arrived in 36 hrs, all in good shape. The small hatchery, Bressefarms was great with communication and were truly concerned for the welfare of the chicks. Figure they deserve a positive review since everyone complains when things are not as they should be.

 

[R2elk]

However, there is no way to know what is in packages. Doesn't Amazon either deliver their own or use FED-EX or USP anyway? Never seen an amazon package come thru the USPS. The chicks are in a "safe place" where they ARE. I understand that the hatcheries likely aren't set up for house them, Not as many as they hatch! but that isn't the USPS's fault either. SOMETHING needs to happen to try to get the USPS un-screwed! If this is what it takes, it is what it is.

Amazon uses Amazon, USPS, FedEx and UPS. I have had many packages come through USPS from Amazon including UPS SmartPost where UPS hands the package off to USPS for final delivery..

 

[ATRoos314]

"THEY" think live animals should take priority. But I would imagine everyone else that has mail "lost in space" would prefer to get their mail! USPS has SUCKED off and on for a few years at the very least as far as how long it takes even "regualr" mail to go from point A to point B. The farther it has to go, the FASTER it gets there. How does THAT work? One month my check would take 1 day from the time it was sent to the day I got it. Other months it would take 7 DAYS and it only had to go less than 150 miles! I've sent things to the east coat and the other side of my state at the same time. The one going to the est coast got there DAYS quicker! Live animals are SAFER staying where they are until this mess is fixed!

The problem here is, though, that they aren't telling other companies they can't ship their product because of the backlog in undelivered packages. The live chicks are a product just like anything else you would order online and ship to your house. It isn't fair to tell hatcheries that they can't ship their product, essentially destroying their small businesses, while every other business that relies on shipping packages is allowed to keep shipping, including two-day shipping packages. The only way this would be fair is if USPS stopped shipping packages entirely from any company until the backlog is cleared.

The issue we have here in middle Tennessee is still weather. I haven't received any of my mail since this past Saturday. 6 days!!! Every business here in our smaller town has been closed including the government buildings. Government meetings have all been cancelled. Even the Walmart is closing at 6pm instead of the usual 11pm and opening late. I'm very glad I got my baby chick shipment 2.5 weeks ago. Now, is it the end of the world if I had to wait until April or something to get a baby chick shipment? No. But I wouldn't want them shipping them now. I probably wouldn't get anything alive. A lot has to do with the individual post office managers in local offices, too. My parents live in a neighboring town 15 minutes away and they have been getting their mail every day. Their city is also unincorporated and somehow they are still getting mail even with the same weather we have. But I happen to know that the post office manager at our town's USPS makes poor decisions.