USPS Service Standards Maps(postalpro.usps.com)
postalpro.usps.com
USPS Service Standards Maps
https://postalpro.usps.com/ppro-tools/service-standards-maps
104 comments
This may be because St. George's seems to have no longer have any municipal government per https://www.nowgrenada.com/2017/05/continued-uglification-ur...
Most post offices have a zip code one higher than the town for the post office boxes.
And since a small post office will have less than 9999 boxes you can identify one by zip+4.
And since a small post office will have less than 9999 boxes you can identify one by zip+4.
I remember testing this theory when I lived in Los Gatos, CA around 1980 and had a PO Box there. Los Gatos has three zip codes: 95030 for the downtown area where I lived, 95031 for the PO boxes at the downtown post office, and 95032 for the east part of town and the hills.
I put a stamp on an envelope and wrote nothing but 95031-nnnn on the envelope, where nnnn was my PO Box number. Mailed it from some other local town, and sure enough it was delivered to my PO Box!
I put a stamp on an envelope and wrote nothing but 95031-nnnn on the envelope, where nnnn was my PO Box number. Mailed it from some other local town, and sure enough it was delivered to my PO Box!
Another bit of zip code quirkiness: Zip code data is copyrighted to the USPS and can not be reused without purchased permission. To get around that, the openly available ZIP Code Tabulation Areas from the US census are a rough approximation of the same data, so it gets used often as a free alternative.
That... can't be true.
First of all, US copyrights can't be registered for mere facts. "This ZIP code corresponds to this location" (and a list with this string for all ZIP codes/locations) is a fact, and therefore not copyrightable.
However, even if one could convince a judge that it is (What arguments they could use, I have no idea) the whole thing falls apart because the USPS is a government agency, and works released by the U.S government hold no copyright protection inside the U.S
First of all, US copyrights can't be registered for mere facts. "This ZIP code corresponds to this location" (and a list with this string for all ZIP codes/locations) is a fact, and therefore not copyrightable.
However, even if one could convince a judge that it is (What arguments they could use, I have no idea) the whole thing falls apart because the USPS is a government agency, and works released by the U.S government hold no copyright protection inside the U.S
The USPS is an independent federal agency not funded by tax dollars and its employees are not federal government employees. Since works produced by the USPS are not produced by federal government officers or employees they are copyrightable.
Wait why shouldn't our tax dollars fund the USPS? I'd love for my fungible tax dollars support timely and speedier mail service
The republicans for some reason really really hate the USPS. They've been looking to privatize it for decades now
Well tbh who can blame them? the service stinks, the employees <at least at my local> are so rude as to border on the psychotic and they refused to allow us to put our mailbox at the end of our drive...we are the only house in our development where this is the case. they routinely refuse to deliver our mail and even when they do its ripped, dirty (at least i hope its dirt) or purposefully missing (yo anybody seen my socks i ordered over a month ago?) and its a never ending saga. she (the local pm) is awful to us all the time. whole checks have gone missing and needed to be reissued.
i had hopes of Thiel/OUTBOX but they went about the implementation a*backwards. the machines the invented to scan the mail: check. the mail they wanted to scan: fail. instead of scanning the important mail (bank statements, insurance etc) they should have been scanning the junk and making the marketers pay for enhanced delivery to [email protected]. customers could then just go through digital versions of offers etc and set it up to purge at various intervals. the pizza place, valpak now no longer need to print things thereby saving money and trees and we throw away less paper etc. they already have the EDD software and zip code db this was just one little step and it would have released the full value of the USPS. The royal post in the Uk and the Japanese post both posted record profits at at time when last mile logistics are a BIG deal...and we cant even deliver a postage stamp without problems.
i had hopes of Thiel/OUTBOX but they went about the implementation a*backwards. the machines the invented to scan the mail: check. the mail they wanted to scan: fail. instead of scanning the important mail (bank statements, insurance etc) they should have been scanning the junk and making the marketers pay for enhanced delivery to [email protected]. customers could then just go through digital versions of offers etc and set it up to purge at various intervals. the pizza place, valpak now no longer need to print things thereby saving money and trees and we throw away less paper etc. they already have the EDD software and zip code db this was just one little step and it would have released the full value of the USPS. The royal post in the Uk and the Japanese post both posted record profits at at time when last mile logistics are a BIG deal...and we cant even deliver a postage stamp without problems.
Copyright law doesn't say anything about the federal employee standard though
> 17 U.S. Code § 105 - Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works
(a)In General.— Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
> 17 U.S. Code § 105 - Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works
(a)In General.— Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
If you look a few sections above in 17 U.S. Code § 101 which contains the definitions applicable to the copyright code "work of the United States Government" is defined.
> A “work of the United States Government” is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties.
> A “work of the United States Government” is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties.
It is indeed true. Here's the order form: https://postalpro.usps.com/Standardizeyouraddresslist/AISOrd...
Facts are copyrightable in bulk.
For instance, if I collate all the horse race results of the 19th Century into a single book, I could copyright it.
For instance, if I collate all the horse race results of the 19th Century into a single book, I could copyright it.
What you are referring to is the “sweat of the brow” doctrine. This is not correct in the USA. A work must show at least some creativity in order to qualify for copyright protection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_of_the_brow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_of_the_brow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....
Thank you - I knew there must be a name for this doctrine but I could never find it.
here's a neat bit of address and zipcode esoterica that isn't esoteric at all, but apparently the people who code mailing address software (some of whom I hope read HN) don't bother to learn how USPS addresses work.
Here is a hypothetical New York City address (that I have faked/obfuscated). Note that a penthouse is not an apartment. Note also how the APT or the PH (or suite or floor) goes on the same line as the street address, not a line by itself.
Here's where you can confirm how it is recommended that addresses be printed:
https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action
Here is a hypothetical New York City address (that I have faked/obfuscated). Note that a penthouse is not an apartment. Note also how the APT or the PH (or suite or floor) goes on the same line as the street address, not a line by itself.
750 5TH AVE PH 1
NEW YORK NY 10002-2590
Here's where you can confirm how it is recommended that addresses be printed:
https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action
Why does putting PH 1 on another line mess up the delivery? (I assume the other issue is that there's an APT 1 and a PH 1 in the building)?
Not the poster you asked, but a lot of times the address boxes will "help" you buy parsing what you write and correcting it. Maybe his penthouse address gets corrected to the second line and USPS delivers it incorrectly.
My personal issus are the apartment selectors. I live in a complex with about 300 units and having to scroll all the way to the bottom is a huge pain in the ass. lol
My personal issus are the apartment selectors. I live in a complex with about 300 units and having to scroll all the way to the bottom is a huge pain in the ass. lol
I don't know if this would be useful in your case, and it's desktop only, but in the UK because the convention is to have the house/apartment/anything number at the start of the line when I need to choose my address from a dropdown box I select the field, then type my numbers and it selects the right one. This works for dropdown boxes in general where you know the first letters/characters you are looking for (but I can imagine scenarios where it would be no hope, like if all the addresses are written with the differentiating number/detail at the end not the start). Page down / end keys are also useful for long lists (again, not so helpful on mobile).
USPS does parse address#2 on the same line now in the recommender - which was news to me
It's so sad to look at. 5 days for first-class mail? Remember when we were a first-world country where you could get first-class mail delivered from coast to coast in 3 days or less? That was 6 months ago.
Remember when we had a postmaster general who wasn’t actively trying to undermine the USPS and wasn’t under investigation by the FBI?
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/04/1003172114/fbi-investigates-p...
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/04/1003172114/fbi-investigates-p...
All under the pretense that USPS has to be fiscally responsible. We don't expect the military to be profitable, it's a money sink since it's a service!
Not to mention, the USPS _is_ pretty fiscally sound. Until they were sabotaged for political purposes
https://theweek.com/articles/767184/how-george-bush-broke-po...
Not to mention, the USPS _is_ pretty fiscally sound. Until they were sabotaged for political purposes
https://theweek.com/articles/767184/how-george-bush-broke-po...
Delivery standards are being loosened in many countries due to significant reduction of non-package mail during the last decade, this is not US-specific.
E.g. here in Finland the standard stamped mail service has been reduced from mostly 1 day to 4 days, and in many areas they are only being delivered on every other business day (so one carrier alternates between two routes, I think).
There are also significant yearly increases in stamp prices, which US has not yet seen I believe.
These non-US measures were also briefly explored in USPS Office of Inspector General report RISC-WP-20-004 in 2020 (https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library...).
E.g. here in Finland the standard stamped mail service has been reduced from mostly 1 day to 4 days, and in many areas they are only being delivered on every other business day (so one carrier alternates between two routes, I think).
There are also significant yearly increases in stamp prices, which US has not yet seen I believe.
These non-US measures were also briefly explored in USPS Office of Inspector General report RISC-WP-20-004 in 2020 (https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library...).
What's interesting is that this is how long it used to take, till around about 10 or 20 years ago. The USPS increased speeds during the early days of email to try to stay relevant.
Maybe it worked for a while, but it no longer matters now - no one sends stuff by mail if they are in a hurry.
People seem to have forgotten that faster mail was only like that for a (relatively) short time.
Maybe it worked for a while, but it no longer matters now - no one sends stuff by mail if they are in a hurry.
People seem to have forgotten that faster mail was only like that for a (relatively) short time.
I remember letters taking 2-3 business days from the East Coast to California in the 1980s. Is this faulty memory? I wouldn't put it past myself! :)
Huh, this is interesting if true, but doesn't match my memory either. Can you find a cite for it?
A reminder that Louis DeJoy is somehow still the postmaster general.
I've been working at usps for 18 years...DeJoy is the best PMG over that entire span.. i really don't get what the hate is about
I'm not sure what your criteria for "best" is. But others' concerns stem from this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Postal_Serv...
As an employee, what do you like about what he's done? I am actually curious.
he's doing long term work for many fixes that need to be done in terms of logistics and processing that many PMG's put off to instead make stuff like teen apparel and other ridiculous forms of revenue. Some fights he can win, some he can't unfortunately.. many many politics at play.
Have you been sleeping while he’s been dismantling the USPS and blatantly been sabotaging ability to reliably send absentee ballots in time?
he has not been dismantling anything that wasn't already in the works
Genuinely curious what you find "best" among his maleficent sabotage, and the undeniable benefits he's been reaping from his conflict of interest with XPO logistics
there is no sabotage everyone keeps saying that, but I've seen nothing but false information about it...and conflicts of interest people act like that something new at USPS. Here check this guy out
https://washingtontechnology.com/2007/10/otto-joins-agilex-t... one of many, guess who agilex had large contracts with after otto joined agilex? who got usps paid and agilex paid?? Guess who cashed out big time when accenture scooped up all those agilex usps contracts? this type of stuff is rampant. And while perhaps dejoy is reaping benefits, he's also improving things not been improved in a very long time. In the political hellscape that is usps i'll take what i can get
Could you advise how best to submit feedback ? The font on usps labels is comically small and leads to numerous package misdeliveries in my area, have tried submitting feedback, cases go dark in the middle of conversations etc
i never felt like it was small, but i can ask the team responsible for generating labels about the size
He's doing what he was hired to do: Keep the USPS solvent.
Every single decision I've seen him make had just one goal: Save money.
It somehow because a political thing, because that's what we do these days, but it never actually was.
Every single decision I've seen him make had just one goal: Save money.
It somehow because a political thing, because that's what we do these days, but it never actually was.
I, and many others, disagree with that premise which is part of the reason he is not popular.
That USPS needs to be profitable (it's a us govt service for the people). And that there were (bill just fixed it) onerous requirements that made 'profit' basically impossible.
For me it's also political. It's hard for me to separate his political agenda from things that materially impact elections.
That USPS needs to be profitable (it's a us govt service for the people). And that there were (bill just fixed it) onerous requirements that made 'profit' basically impossible.
For me it's also political. It's hard for me to separate his political agenda from things that materially impact elections.
Unfortunately the law doesn't align with that view. USPS is not being funded by government, but by postage. Unfortunately, the volume of mail has dropped by about 50% in the last two decades.
And since USPS can't cut unprofitable routes and can't raise postage prices above inflation, again because of legislation, there are only few options left.
Unless the Congress decides to directly fund USPS, or let them raise more money, the cost cutting is the only way forward.
And since USPS can't cut unprofitable routes and can't raise postage prices above inflation, again because of legislation, there are only few options left.
Unless the Congress decides to directly fund USPS, or let them raise more money, the cost cutting is the only way forward.
"The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. *This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation*." [1]
[1] https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis...
[1] https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis...
>This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation."
Pensions for retired employees are, generally speaking, paid by the contributions of today's employees. No other federal agency has a business that is guaranteed to continue declining in volume and revenue. Congress recognized this in 2006; this is why said law was passed near unanimously. Better a decade of pain, than to not have USPS pensions fully funded in the future.
And as for the private companies that are also guaranteed to be declining in revenue, I bet a lot of retirees of newspaper publishing companies wish that their employers had been required to similarly bulk up their pension plans c. 2005.
Pensions for retired employees are, generally speaking, paid by the contributions of today's employees. No other federal agency has a business that is guaranteed to continue declining in volume and revenue. Congress recognized this in 2006; this is why said law was passed near unanimously. Better a decade of pain, than to not have USPS pensions fully funded in the future.
And as for the private companies that are also guaranteed to be declining in revenue, I bet a lot of retirees of newspaper publishing companies wish that their employers had been required to similarly bulk up their pension plans c. 2005.
Find it hard to believe mail has declined. We're shipping packages at record rates through online shopping, which at the unit level can be charged more than pennies like letters were.
First, the USPS as a US service need not be profitable. They were also fiscally sound _until_ the Bush administration abruptly changed the rules of establishing pension liabilities as current https://theweek.com/articles/767184/how-george-bush-broke-po...
First, the USPS as a US service need not be profitable. They were also fiscally sound _until_ the Bush administration abruptly changed the rules of establishing pension liabilities as current https://theweek.com/articles/767184/how-george-bush-broke-po...
The election thing with the post office was never real. It was fictional drama created by the media because Trump.
The number of people who believe it's real is astounding.
As proof his policies are continuing exactly as they were before, no change now that the election is over. He's tying to reduce expenses, that's it.
The number of people who believe it's real is astounding.
As proof his policies are continuing exactly as they were before, no change now that the election is over. He's tying to reduce expenses, that's it.
I'm not sure I'd agree that "it's still happening" is synonymous with "it's harmless"
Nor am I clear what you think is real and what fictional. Service reliability, speed, and cost have all demonstrably and intentionally worsened under his helm. This went into effect at the end of last year, for instance: https://archive.ph/snCSy
> Seventy percent of first-class mail sent to Nevada will take longer to arrive, according to The Post’s analysis, as will 60 percent of the deliveries to Florida, 58 percent to Washington state, 57 percent to Montana, and 55 percent to Arizona and Oregon. In all, at least a third of such letters and parcels addressed to 27 states will arrive more slowly under the new standards.
If you feel the Washington Post to be an unreliable source, here's one from a supply chain focused outlet: https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/usps-postal-service-fir...
Nor am I clear what you think is real and what fictional. Service reliability, speed, and cost have all demonstrably and intentionally worsened under his helm. This went into effect at the end of last year, for instance: https://archive.ph/snCSy
> Seventy percent of first-class mail sent to Nevada will take longer to arrive, according to The Post’s analysis, as will 60 percent of the deliveries to Florida, 58 percent to Washington state, 57 percent to Montana, and 55 percent to Arizona and Oregon. In all, at least a third of such letters and parcels addressed to 27 states will arrive more slowly under the new standards.
If you feel the Washington Post to be an unreliable source, here's one from a supply chain focused outlet: https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/usps-postal-service-fir...
dejoy and usps did delay changes until after the election - and usps service has greatly reduced (see other comment sources below)
The big changes that would have exasperated this were no overtime, shutting down and moving the bulk sorting machines, changing/closing processing facilities. there was reporting/evidence and photos of some of those large machines being taken out and thrown away.
Even if there were no - or small but inconsequential - material delays in delivery, it's a very common tactic of intimidation and fear/doubt to get what tend to be more democrats to not vote by mail.
spread rumors there will be delays in mail, that it might not get there. or that it is pure fraud.
Builds on old tactics (which still happen) that started with race profiling. police or bugalo whatever at polling stations for 'security,' intimidation that if you make a mistake you will go to jail (even if told by the sos staff you are eligible). so much more.
The big changes that would have exasperated this were no overtime, shutting down and moving the bulk sorting machines, changing/closing processing facilities. there was reporting/evidence and photos of some of those large machines being taken out and thrown away.
Even if there were no - or small but inconsequential - material delays in delivery, it's a very common tactic of intimidation and fear/doubt to get what tend to be more democrats to not vote by mail.
spread rumors there will be delays in mail, that it might not get there. or that it is pure fraud.
Builds on old tactics (which still happen) that started with race profiling. police or bugalo whatever at polling stations for 'security,' intimidation that if you make a mistake you will go to jail (even if told by the sos staff you are eligible). so much more.
>The election thing with the post office was never real. It was fictional drama created by the media because Trump.
It's hopeless. I've also tried to point out the logical flaws in peoples' USPS conspiracy theories (<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24290622>), with little success. It's just as hopeless to tell people that Congress forcing the USPS to prefund pensions was a) bipartisan and b) a good thing, as opposed to yet another GOP anti-USPS plot.
It's hopeless. I've also tried to point out the logical flaws in peoples' USPS conspiracy theories (<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24290622>), with little success. It's just as hopeless to tell people that Congress forcing the USPS to prefund pensions was a) bipartisan and b) a good thing, as opposed to yet another GOP anti-USPS plot.
>Every single decision I've seen him make had just one goal: Save money.
I fail to see how buying gas guzzling vehicles over electric ones will save money in the long term.
I fail to see how buying gas guzzling vehicles over electric ones will save money in the long term.
It's right in the Post Office press release, explaining how they are cheaper.
And they are not gas guzzling. They get slightly better gas millage then the current vehicle with the A/C on. The entire freak out some people are having is over that.
With the A/C off they do way better than the current ones.
The Post Office has become so politicized it leaves people unable to do basic math.
And they are not gas guzzling. They get slightly better gas millage then the current vehicle with the A/C on. The entire freak out some people are having is over that.
With the A/C off they do way better than the current ones.
The Post Office has become so politicized it leaves people unable to do basic math.
I'd be happy to get my mail delivered, period. Just yesterday my neighbors dropped off two more items that were addressed to me but had been delivered to them by USPS.
[deleted]
Does it really matter now? You can pay for faster shipping and regular old letters are obviously antique.
yes, immensely
many people still pay bills by mail. they may not have access to the internet or know how to pay bills online (i.e., the poor and elderly). They still exist and this makes their lives harder and more complex and more uncertain.
many people still pay bills by mail. they may not have access to the internet or know how to pay bills online (i.e., the poor and elderly). They still exist and this makes their lives harder and more complex and more uncertain.
First class encompasses more than just letters.
One interesting thing I've noticed is that for my zip (central NC), originating and destinating first-class letters show different areas -- for example, for mail I send, none of it is scheduled for 2-day to Virginia even though I'm very close to the border (50 miles?), but for mail I receive, half of Virginia is in the 2-day zone.
I'm a huge fan of the USPS and really want them to succeed. For my personal stuff, it's really hard to beat Priority (typically I use the flat-rate packaging) for packages that need to cross the country in a reasonable time compared to the Big 2's "ground" services.
I'm a huge fan of the USPS and really want them to succeed. For my personal stuff, it's really hard to beat Priority (typically I use the flat-rate packaging) for packages that need to cross the country in a reasonable time compared to the Big 2's "ground" services.
> for mail I send, none of it is scheduled for 2-day to Virginia even though I'm very close to the border (50 miles?), but for mail I receive, half of Virginia is in the 2-day zone.
I think the sweet spot for sending is to be in an area that is busy enough that the USPS is essentially running 24/7 behind the scenes, but not busy enough that they can't keep up with mail volume.
I used to live in downtown Chicago and (pre-pandemic at least) the main post office had a manned counter open until 11pm every day. You could drop off a package at 10:30pm, check the tracking info when you woke up the next morning, and discover that it arrived at the giant sorting facility near O'Hare 45 minutes after you dropped it off, was put on a truck an hour later, arrived at a facility out of state at 3am, and was already on another truck heading to its final destination.
I've been eyeballing a number of locations. It looks like Wichita, KS might be the best sending location. Not a single spot in the continental US that is more than 4 days. Kansas City has a tiny spot in Northern California that is 5 days. As far as the really large cities go, Dallas, Chicago, and Denver are really quite good.
I think the sweet spot for sending is to be in an area that is busy enough that the USPS is essentially running 24/7 behind the scenes, but not busy enough that they can't keep up with mail volume.
I used to live in downtown Chicago and (pre-pandemic at least) the main post office had a manned counter open until 11pm every day. You could drop off a package at 10:30pm, check the tracking info when you woke up the next morning, and discover that it arrived at the giant sorting facility near O'Hare 45 minutes after you dropped it off, was put on a truck an hour later, arrived at a facility out of state at 3am, and was already on another truck heading to its final destination.
I've been eyeballing a number of locations. It looks like Wichita, KS might be the best sending location. Not a single spot in the continental US that is more than 4 days. Kansas City has a tiny spot in Northern California that is 5 days. As far as the really large cities go, Dallas, Chicago, and Denver are really quite good.
Portland Oregon has a post office right at PDX and that one was/is 24 hrs. Packages there basically go right on a plane. The back of the building is literally the tarmac. I’d say that one is up there. Stuff to east coast would often beat packages going to California. Oddly those would end up on a truck instead of flying to lax.
Wow, that is outstanding if you are a shipper!
[deleted]
For lightweight packages, I think first class is a better value, though it's more difficult to print postage at home.
Check out https://www.pirateship.com/. I think I heard about that site here first. It offers discount rates on USPS and UPS. I think it even offers some USPS services that normally require a trip to the post office.
That's an incredibly sketchy website. Looking through all their about pages all I see is FREE and nothing about how they get discounts and how they make money.
Help > Getting Started > How does Pirate Ship make money?
https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/1860717-how-does-...
They get discounted rates from UPS and USPS, keep a small percent of that discount for themselves, and pass the rest of the savings between the discounted rate and full retail rate on to the customer.
I have no relationship with Pirate Ship except that I'm a happy customer. It makes shipping via UPS and USPS easier than using the UPS or USPS sites directly, and it's cheaper. I only wish I'd discovered them sooner.
To give an example of one nice touch on their web site. When entering an address, you can fill out all the annoying individual fields, or you just click "Paste Address" and you get a box where you can paste the full address which it parses into the right fields.
https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/1860717-how-does-...
They get discounted rates from UPS and USPS, keep a small percent of that discount for themselves, and pass the rest of the savings between the discounted rate and full retail rate on to the customer.
I have no relationship with Pirate Ship except that I'm a happy customer. It makes shipping via UPS and USPS easier than using the UPS or USPS sites directly, and it's cheaper. I only wish I'd discovered them sooner.
To give an example of one nice touch on their web site. When entering an address, you can fill out all the annoying individual fields, or you just click "Paste Address" and you get a box where you can paste the full address which it parses into the right fields.
I use PirateShip all the time if I do want something shipped UPS, it's great.
PayPal will allow purchase of shipping labels.
That’s how I do it.
That’s how I do it.
flat rate packaging is the best. it's not always the cheapest, but it's the easiest!
It looks to me like "First Class Parcels" includes Priority Mail, since there's no other category that could reasonably cover Priority Mail ("Package Services" can't since it shows much slower delivery from one side of the contiguous US to the other than is advertised).
I used to ship a ton of First-Class parcels and Priority parcels about 10 years ago, and learned that they had roughly the same delivery speed (2-3 days anywhere in the contiguous US) with First-Class just having a higher chance of delay.
As I never paid attention to letter delivery speed back then, I didn't realize that letters are much slower (except local). So seeing these maps today is informative.
I used to ship a ton of First-Class parcels and Priority parcels about 10 years ago, and learned that they had roughly the same delivery speed (2-3 days anywhere in the contiguous US) with First-Class just having a higher chance of delay.
As I never paid attention to letter delivery speed back then, I didn't realize that letters are much slower (except local). So seeing these maps today is informative.
The maps show the standards only for services, such as First Class Mail, that are classified as “market dominant.” Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express are “competitive” products.
If you click the text in the second paragraph at the top (that doesn’t look like a link), you can find the projected transit time for a specific shipment and service.
I did a ton of eBay up until this last year and there isn’t much difference between first class and priority other than priority gets well priority during sorting but usually they all end up together. Important to note for those unaware that first class parcels are limited to up to one pound.
One interesting thing is that First Class Parcels have noticeably faster delivery times than First Class Letters (as long as you both start and end in the continental US).
Interesting that a letter sent from NYC will take 1 day longer to arrive in Fairbanks or Juneau vs what I presume are the oil fields on the eastern north slope near ANWR. Yet a letter sent from Fairbanks takes a day longer to arrive in the same oil fields area than the rest of the interior and the quite remote NW.
Some odd things can happen when the destination is close (relatively speaking), but not too close.
A recent example is USPS Parcel Select packages from the SF Bay area to Sacramento being routed through Los Angeles (!). I have seen this twice in the past couple months. This does not happen with Priority Mail.
A recent example is USPS Parcel Select packages from the SF Bay area to Sacramento being routed through Los Angeles (!). I have seen this twice in the past couple months. This does not happen with Priority Mail.
In interest of putting things in perspective I've found couple of sources comparing USPS and other national post carriers. Report by Universal Postal Union from 2020 [0] and an old (1996) report from GAO about post system reforms undertaken world wide.[1]
Especially the UPU report is ... surprising. I never would have guessed about some of the rankings. But it appears to be well researched, and methodology section seems sound.
[0]https://www.upu.int/UPU/media/upu/publications/2020-Postal-D...
[1]https://www.gao.gov/assets/t-ggd-96-60.pdf
Especially the UPU report is ... surprising. I never would have guessed about some of the rankings. But it appears to be well researched, and methodology section seems sound.
[0]https://www.upu.int/UPU/media/upu/publications/2020-Postal-D...
[1]https://www.gao.gov/assets/t-ggd-96-60.pdf
I felt the urge to create these images as one big GIF
~80 MB: https://github.com/philshem/usps-maps-gif/blob/main/usps-map...
scripts: https://github.com/philshem/usps-maps-gif/
~80 MB: https://github.com/philshem/usps-maps-gif/blob/main/usps-map...
scripts: https://github.com/philshem/usps-maps-gif/
In SCF 770 and others, there's a small section of Wyoming that gets 3 days. The same section (single Zip code?) in SCF 810 gets 4 days, despite being right next to the 2 day sections.
I mean, it could be some sort of data entry thing, but now I wonder what's going on with that section.
I mean, it could be some sort of data entry thing, but now I wonder what's going on with that section.
We moved about half a mile and lost the ability to get the scanned mail, even though every step is literally the same down to the carrier, so who knows the esotericism of the buearucracy.
It's now throwing a permissions error, guessing they don't want you to know their standards ;)
You do not have permission to access this page If you have found this page in error, please contact support Reference:1096925678761587964184320227559749541820034968299102359
You do not have permission to access this page If you have found this page in error, please contact support Reference:1096925678761587964184320227559749541820034968299102359
All I know is FEDEX ships packages to my house. UPS ships packages to my house (with a smile).. USPS either stuffs everything they can into my mailbox like they are packing a mortar tube; or more often than not, they simply tell me to suck it and come pick it up.
Is this map showing expected delivery times based on realized deliveries, or based on intended schedules?
I wonder what the p95 latencies looks like, along with failure rates, and most challenging ZIP Codes, volumes, etc. Can USPS even log all this data?
I wonder what the p95 latencies looks like, along with failure rates, and most challenging ZIP Codes, volumes, etc. Can USPS even log all this data?
Anybody care to hazard a guess why White River Junction, VT has ten prefixes and Cleveland, OH has two?
I trust I'm not going to get a [[citation needed]] when I make the claim that Cleveland is somewhat bigger by any conceivable measure.
I trust I'm not going to get a [[citation needed]] when I make the claim that Cleveland is somewhat bigger by any conceivable measure.
I can't believe WRJ came up on HN. But, where are you seeing that? WRJ only has one zip code (that I know of), 05001.
WRJ (population between 2,000-3,000) is not only smaller than Cleveland, it is not actually a town. WRJ is a village of the town of Hartford, VT and probably would not be known at all without the railroad station.
Found it: WRJ mail sorting plant is a "sectional center facility" for a lot of NH and VT.
A destination sectional center facility (SCF) is a processing and distribution center (P&DC) of the United States Postal Service (USPS) that serves a designated geographical area defined by one or more three-digit ZIP Code prefixes. A sectional center facility routes mail between local post offices and to and from network distribution centers (NDCs) and Surface Transfer Centers (STCs), which form the backbone of the network.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectional_center_facility
WRJ (population between 2,000-3,000) is not only smaller than Cleveland, it is not actually a town. WRJ is a village of the town of Hartford, VT and probably would not be known at all without the railroad station.
Found it: WRJ mail sorting plant is a "sectional center facility" for a lot of NH and VT.
A destination sectional center facility (SCF) is a processing and distribution center (P&DC) of the United States Postal Service (USPS) that serves a designated geographical area defined by one or more three-digit ZIP Code prefixes. A sectional center facility routes mail between local post offices and to and from network distribution centers (NDCs) and Surface Transfer Centers (STCs), which form the backbone of the network.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectional_center_facility
It's listed on the dropdown for 035, 036, 037, 050, 051, 052, 053, 054, 057, 058, and 059. Being relatively new to the area, I haven't the faintest idea where any of those (besides 050) are. Thanks for shedding some light on yet another interesting aspect of our postal system.
If you're in WRJ, hello neighbor! And if you're not, but are nearby, happy mud season :-)
If you're in WRJ, hello neighbor! And if you're not, but are nearby, happy mud season :-)
Five days for a first class letter is pretty pathetic, really.
How the mighty have fallen. What happened that caused Congress to suddenly support the post office this year after decades of abuse?
How the mighty have fallen. What happened that caused Congress to suddenly support the post office this year after decades of abuse?
In case it was not clear, I meant abuse of the postal service by Congress.
Covid-19
Vote-by-mail
Vote-by-mail
Pick any 2xx series ZIP & First-Class Letters & Flats.
Why is there a tiny portion of the center of Wyoming that is 3 day service when the surrounding area for hundreds of miles has 4 day service?
Why is there a tiny portion of the center of Wyoming that is 3 day service when the surrounding area for hundreds of miles has 4 day service?
It looks like that yellow (3-day) spot is a bit of land with no assigned zipcode, per this site:
https://zipmap.net/Wyoming.htm
And there's this odd thing there (turn on satellite view):
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wyoming/@42.6903821,-107.5...
Might be the remains of an airfield or something.
Perhaps it was an missle silo.
Perhaps it was an missle silo.
There appears to be a white disc at the end of the removed runway with unnatural dirt patterns. Maybe that's a launch silo? It almost seems like there used to be a runway there to bring in materials and build an underground structure (white disc). The structure does not appear to cast a shadow, potentially indicating that it is flush with the ground.
Interesting according to the map, the standard for first class mail from New York will reach the most northern part of Alaska in 4 days versus 5 days for Los Angeles.
These stand out:
009 SAN JUAN PR
096 NY MILITARYAlso:
340 FL MILITARY
962 SF MILITARY
They’re zip codes.
Or the first 3 digits, which denote which facility mail addressed to that zip code is sorted at.
The default when you open the page is an interesting one- "005 MID-ISLAND NY". Almost all New York zip codes start with a 1, but the Mid-Island facility in Melville, which serves codes beginning 117, 118 and 119, also sorts mail addressed to the IRS processing center in Holtsville with the zip code 00501- which happens to be the lowest zip code in current use.
The default when you open the page is an interesting one- "005 MID-ISLAND NY". Almost all New York zip codes start with a 1, but the Mid-Island facility in Melville, which serves codes beginning 117, 118 and 119, also sorts mail addressed to the IRS processing center in Holtsville with the zip code 00501- which happens to be the lowest zip code in current use.
Which came first, the IRS facility or the zip code?
I believe the IRS facility in Holtsville existed first. Then, due to mail volume, a ZIP Code was created to facilitate routing of letters.
Each embassy has a unique nonexistent house number and street name within the 20521 zip code.[2] For example, the embassy in Paris is "9200 Paris Pl, Washington, DC 20521-9200".
Oddly, the only duplicated number in the list is "3180 Grenada Pl" and "3180 St George’s Pl"; St George's is the capital of Grenada.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code#Scope_and_internation...
[2] https://www.state.gov/official-addresses/