USPS Shipping Delays: March 2021: Should I Be Concerned?

[U_Stormcrow]

If the leadership and policies of the Postmaster General is resulting in the death of our sweet little baby chicks in transit, then discussion of those policies absolutely should have a place here.

I grew up in a USPS family. I have four family members either currently or formerly employed by the post office. We don't always see eye to eye on politics, but everyone in my family believes Louis DeJoy is dismantling an American institution.

and I believe that the USPS has been on a collision path with mathematics for most of 30 years, but inescapably, undeniably so for the past 20. I further believe that those most loudly claiming otherwise are, much more often than not, deeply blue pro-union families who have opposed needed cuts while re-electing again and again representatives who have done substantially nothing to place the USPS on a more sustainable course, instead advancing what seems to be a policy of running it so deeply into the ground that a bailout will gain national support.

So, perhaps it best we leave politics out of this??

and no, before you start slinging accusations, I didn't vote for the last PotUS, a man "not famous" for paying his debts, and certainly no statistician or economist. Either time.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and if there is a specific USPS policy targeting poultry (or live animal) shipments generally which has recently changed that you want to discuss, I'd be happy to do so with you.

But the March stoppage of live animal shipments, for a brief period, during a pandemic, and a historic national weather emergency, does not seem to fit that bill.

More concerning (to me at least) is the ignorant actions of legislators such as the representative in New York seeking to end all USPS live animal shipments in the State - laws which would leave most backyard owners without much source of poultry for their own flocks if the legislation was copied by other states across the Nation.

 

[TOPChickens14]

I ordered 10 Americana's, on Sunday from Hoover's Hatchery through TSC and they arrived today, the tracking said they would arrive on Saturday. I'm glad they arrived today as I couldn't wait. I think you should be fine because they are shipped as priority and they are a live animal so no one's going to leave a box of baby chicks behind.

 

[doughouse]

and I believe that the USPS has been on a collision path with mathematics for most of 30 years, but inescapably, undeniably so for the past 20.

Funny, no one ever talks about whether public libraries are profitable. Or whether the Departments of Defense or Education are profitable. Sometimes societies fund things because the services they provide are deemed important. USPS had the distinction of being able to completely fund itself through postage for a very long time, but the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act put an end to that. Yet somehow the three Postmasters General who preceded DeJoy since the passage of this law managed to maintain the public's faith in the services of the USPS. It's only since DeJoy took office that we all started worrying about our chicks dying in a box in a postal processing center somewhere. That's not a coincidence.

 

[primatologica]

My five mail-order chicks hatched yesterday in California and are home here in the Midwest today. I ordered them from California Hatchery and they all seem to be in great health so far.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

2006

2014

also 2014

2015

can't leave out 2016

2017 dead chicks in shipping

more 2017

yet more 2017

how about some 2018?

Trivially easy to fill this page with dead chick links.

Every major hatchery has a USPS dead chicks policy. The 2016 article casually mentions, (about half way down) one hatchery's expectation of about 26,000 chicks dead in shipping each year. Senator Grassley, with others, has repeatedly made efforts to tinker with USPS shipments of live animals, particularly poultry, for at least two decades, including efforts to restrict the temperatures in which they can be shipped (0-100) and also to force other carriers (airlines, for instance) to accept chicks as freight for USPS.

That you are unaware of it does not mean its not occurring. DeJoy has plenty of faults, but chickens didn't suddenly start dying under his watch, nor did the USPS start suddenly losing money under his watch, neither did he wave his hand and create a multi-day multi-state historically cold weather event that brought this nation to a virtual halt, at a time when travel was already severely curtailed. Nor did Congress open the piggy bank for unlimited overtime...

DeJoy may well be soon removed and replaced - but USPS will keep killing chicks, losing mail (even chicks), and making delayed deliveries. and losing money - the first class mail volume on which they used to rely is half what it was in 2000, and the USPS doesn't get to set its own rates. Your complaint is with Congress.

 

[doughouse]

Trivially easy to fill this page with dead chick links.

This is an excellent counterargument to an argument literally no one is making.

 

[oellian]

If the leadership and policies of the Postmaster General is resulting in the death of our sweet little baby chicks in transit, then discussion of those policies absolutely should have a place here.

I grew up in a USPS family. I have four family members either currently or formerly employed by the post office. We don't always see eye to eye on politics, but everyone in my family believes Louis DeJoy is dismantling an American institution.

And I hasten to add that our local postal service is excellent, and the carrier on our route is great. It seems to be the interconnecting systems that have been dismantled or otherwise damaged.

And thanks for saying what I was going to say. I wasn't talking partisan politics, but rather pointing to bad policies and personnel who do things that are affecting us chicken folks in a negative way. I'm an equal-opportunity critic, as well. Party won't protect you from my scorn. ;-)

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Well, I have an order from Cackle hatchery that is supposed to ship out on Monday, all the way to Hawaii. I have not ordered from them before, but did have two rather large chick orders last Summer (July and August) from Murray McMurray, that took just under 3 days to get here. Had some losses, and the chicks did require extra attention upon arrival, but overall did well. It is nerve wracking in the least waiting for them, as the tracking is not updated, so you really don't know when/if they will arrive until the phone call from the local post office saying the chicks are ready to be picked up.

 

[oellian]

2006

2014

also 2014

2015

can't leave out 2016

2017 dead chicks in shipping

more 2017

yet more 2017

how about some 2018?

Trivially easy to fill this page with dead chick links.

Every major hatchery has a USPS dead chicks policy. The 2016 article casually mentions, (about half way down) one hatchery's expectation of about 26,000 chicks dead in shipping each year. Senator Grassley, with others, has repeatedly made efforts to tinker with USPS shipments of live animals, particularly poultry, for at least two decades, including efforts to restrict the temperatures in which they can be shipped (0-100) and also to force other carriers (airlines, for instance) to accept chicks as freight for USPS.

That you are unaware of it does not mean its not occurring. DeJoy has plenty of faults, but chickens didn't suddenly start dying under his watch, nor did the USPS start suddenly losing money under his watch, neither did he wave his hand and create a multi-day multi-state historically cold weather event that brought this nation to a virtual halt, at a time when travel was already severely curtailed. Nor did Congress open the piggy bank for unlimited overtime...

DeJoy may well be soon removed and replaced - but USPS will keep killing chicks, losing mail (even chicks), and making delayed deliveries. and losing money - the first class mail volume on which they used to rely is half what it was in 2000, and the USPS doesn't get to set its own rates. Your complaint is with Congress.

Of course chickens die in transit. They're only a day old, if that, when they ship, powered by their yolk, and perhaps some gel feed, and kept warm by the others. They're put in boxes, jostled by many hands; they're kept in environmental conditions that aren't particularly well controlled; they have precious little in the way of food and water, and they don't get any added heat. It's an unavoidably stressful thing to experience as a baby bird.

But you simply can't deny that the USPS is having novel, protracted problems. That fact was discussed yet again today in my local paper here in Baltimore.

I've received chickens in the mail many times, and fully expect that one or two out of a couple dozen might perish. But when the shipment takes 33% longer than ever before, and I lose six out of nineteen as a direct result, one with a broken leg, something new is afoot. And in any large organization, it all starts at the top. 'Nough said.