USPS cut 100,000 workers — what does that mean for us?

LabRatBarbie

LabRatBarbie

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Placed an order with JKL on 4/30. Tracking came through on 5/1, and the same day it got scanned at the post office. It was shipping out of Oregon with 5/4 as the expected delivery date. Since that 5/1 scan, though, there's been nothing.

So I stopped by the post office, and they gave me 2 explanations for why it's just sitting there. 1. USPS pushed over 100,000 employees into early retirement. 2. Mail services across the board have slowed because gas prices are so high.

Bottom line: if you can choose expedited shipping, or go with ups, fed ex, and so on… spend the few extra dollars and do it.

On the 15th day JKL will file the insurance claim. That way they get paid for the “free reship”.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on — I just wanted to pass the info along to y’all. ☺️
 
LabRatBarbie said:

Placed an order with JKL on 4/30. Tracking came through on 5/1, and the same day it got scanned at the post office. It was shipping out of Oregon with 5/4 as the expected delivery date. Since that 5/1 scan, though, there's been nothing.

So I stopped by the post office, and they gave me 2 explanations for why it's just sitting there. 1. USPS pushed over 100,000 employees into early retirement. 2. Mail services across the board have slowed because gas prices are so high.

Bottom line: if you can choose expedited shipping, or go with ups, fed ex, and so on… spend the few extra dollars and do it.

On the 15th day JKL will file the insurance claim. That way they get paid for the “free reship”.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on — I just wanted to pass the info along to y’all. ☺️
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Well damn, I bought something from China, it shipped on the 29th, and it showed up at my place on the 8th via a carrier I'd never come across before named Gofo? Maybe USPS ought to hand off work to Gofo?
 
I heard the number was 10,000 cut. On top of that, they made packages slower. Take local packages: what used to arrive in 1-2 days now takes 1-5 days. One recent order that was like 20min away from me was quoted 6 days, though it actually showed up in 4.

You'd expect things to modernize & speed up rather than go backwards (all the more so since rates go up 2x a year now. 1st for the holidays, then the rates don't come back down & they go up again once the new year starts). They moan about letters getting slower/losing money on that, but packages bring in so much more money since everyone shops online now, so it doesn't add up. China is lucky they have SF & they ship packages overnight for $3. I wish we had their mail system!!
 
One of my packages is currently lost in the USPS system... headed to Utah.

On May 5, they took it in at NY.

May 7 it was in Dallas, TX.

May 9 it hit Pennsylvania.

Right now, no one knows where it is.

Still, I suppose that beats the order I made from PA that somehow routed through Guam... at least so far.
 
From what I came across, packages now must go through sorting machines, and manual sorting has been eliminated entirely. So even when that means a package travels way off course, that's the process they're following. Still, it seems like this will end up being more expensive down the road.
 
ktg123 said:

One of my packages is currently lost in the USPS system... headed to Utah.

On May 5, they took it in at NY.

May 7 it was in Dallas, TX.

May 9 it hit Pennsylvania.

Right now, no one knows where it is.

Still, I suppose that beats the order I made from PA that somehow routed through Guam... at least so far.
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Had a comparable situation. My parcel arrived in NYC from China, then traveled to Chicago, then Miami, then Dallas — where they concluded the postage was fake. Tracking stopped at that point. By then I would have happily done COD and absorbed the loss from the vendor's screw-up, but nobody ever gave me that option. The package never reached me.
 
LabRatBarbie said:

Placed an order with JKL on 4/30. Tracking came through on 5/1, and the same day it got scanned at the post office. It was shipping out of Oregon with 5/4 as the expected delivery date. Since that 5/1 scan, though, there's been nothing.

So I stopped by the post office, and they gave me 2 explanations for why it's just sitting there. 1. USPS pushed over 100,000 employees into early retirement. 2. Mail services across the board have slowed because gas prices are so high.

Bottom line: if you can choose expedited shipping, or go with ups, fed ex, and so on… spend the few extra dollars and do it.

On the 15th day JKL will file the insurance claim. That way they get paid for the “free reship”.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on — I just wanted to pass the info along to y’all. ☺️
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USPS is absolutely a mess right now, and service quality keeps sliding downhill. That said, I haven't been able to locate any evidence of a drop in staffing anywhere near that scale. Looking at the data linked below, head-count actually increased by over 35,000 between 2020 and 2025. My impression is that 2026 has brought additional cuts and natural attrition, but a reduction reaching 100k would be far too significant to stay quiet.

I divide my time between 2 states, so I have mail forwarded from one address to the other several times annually. What used to cause a 5-7 day delay in reaching the new address now regularly takes 3-4 weeks. I'm with you on choosing UPS or FedEx whenever that option exists.




Number of Postal Employees Since 1926 - Who we are - About.usps.com



The number of USPS employees per year from 1926 to the present.

5328029c3c2c114db129dc8f69e4d0c666be6e76bbd8afe67dd1e79afc39bfdb.png



about.usps.com
 
USPS has my affection, though I won't pretend it's flawless. Across the years, I've sent hundreds of packages, and 99% arrived when expected and without getting lost. Still, when there's that ONE shipment where timing is critical, it's pretty disheartening.
 
Update: I wanted to give everyone the latest. The post office still has no idea where my package is. In the end, JKL gave me my money back. A reship would have been fine by me, but they didn't offer one, and getting responses from her is a real struggle. All in all, I won't be buying from them again because they barely communicate. The package going missing isn't on them, but I'd steer clear of the Oregon warehouse.
 
sheilarae74 said:

That is rough. FedEx and I have never gotten along. Every time, they chuck the boxes toward my garage and take off.
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The FedEx courier I get will leave a package on my porch, just 6" away from a parcel box that has "Parcel Box" written on it in plain sight. My FedEx account preferences even say to use the Parcel Box. Nope, apparently flipping a lid open is too much work. Sheesh.
 
A year behind schedule, and 1k short. Service from USPS had already gone downhill back in the DOGE days. Every test group I took part in needed UPS, because USPS was already running slow for us.
 
spanky2026 said:

sheilarae74 said:

That is rough. FedEx and I have never gotten along. Every time, they chuck the boxes toward my garage and take off.
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The FedEx courier I get will leave a package on my porch, just 6" away from a parcel box that has "Parcel Box" written on it in plain sight. My FedEx account preferences even say to use the Parcel Box. Nope, apparently flipping a lid open is too much work. Sheesh.
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At least the delivery went to your place. The very first time I bought grey, Fedex dropped it at the home of my jerk neighbor next door, even though my house has huge numbers on it.

If the notification hadn't included a photo showing a house that obviously wasn't mine, and if that neighbor hadn't spotted me standing outside his place with my phone and its camera within 5 minutes of delivery, I'm sure he wouldn't have hurried out carrying the stolen but not yet opened properly-addressed box. Police!!!
 
The same 4 individuals handle all my deliveries, and that's been the case for more than a year, with a few around even longer. That covers USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex and Amazon. Sure, occasionally someone else steps in for them. Every one of them will leave packages inside the garage when it's open. If rain is a possibility, they set things in the front entry, right against the door.
 
Personally, USPS has never given me ANY trouble... but UPS and FEDEX? Those two are the worst. FEDEX routinely promises delivery days earlier than what actually happens.. that's if the package shows up at all. And the way they toss boxes around, you'd think their ex was packed inside.
 
My order also came from abroad, and it only took 4 days from the moment I placed it until it landed in Chicago! That's quick, especially compared to how long earlier orders took. The tracking status reads "Clearance processing completed-import," and every LLM I've asked says that indicates customs has been cleared. GOFO is shown as the last-mile carrier. Since May 8 it's been parked in Chicago with zero updates. (sigh). They can GOFO off.
 
ktg123 said:

One of my packages is currently lost in the USPS system... headed to Utah.

On May 5, they took it in at NY.

May 7 it was in Dallas, TX.

May 9 it hit Pennsylvania.

Right now, no one knows where it is.

Still, I suppose that beats the order I made from PA that somehow routed through Guam... at least so far.
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Update:

May 13: Denver.

May 15: SLC.

Now let's hope they manage to put it in the correct box.
 
LabRatBarbie said:

Placed an order with JKL on 4/30. Tracking came through on 5/1, and the same day it got scanned at the post office. It was shipping out of Oregon with 5/4 as the expected delivery date. Since that 5/1 scan, though, there's been nothing.

So I stopped by the post office, and they gave me 2 explanations for why it's just sitting there. 1. USPS pushed over 100,000 employees into early retirement. 2. Mail services across the board have slowed because gas prices are so high.

Bottom line: if you can choose expedited shipping, or go with ups, fed ex, and so on… spend the few extra dollars and do it.

On the 15th day JKL will file the insurance claim. That way they get paid for the “free reship”.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on — I just wanted to pass the info along to y’all. ☺️
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Update: after clearing Florida, my package is sitting in Puerto Rico now. Lmao 😆 can anyone explain how that even happens?
 
LabRatBarbie said:

LabRatBarbie said:

Placed an order with JKL on 4/30. Tracking came through on 5/1, and the same day it got scanned at the post office. It was shipping out of Oregon with 5/4 as the expected delivery date. Since that 5/1 scan, though, there's been nothing.

So I stopped by the post office, and they gave me 2 explanations for why it's just sitting there. 1. USPS pushed over 100,000 employees into early retirement. 2. Mail services across the board have slowed because gas prices are so high.

Bottom line: if you can choose expedited shipping, or go with ups, fed ex, and so on… spend the few extra dollars and do it.

On the 15th day JKL will file the insurance claim. That way they get paid for the “free reship”.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on — I just wanted to pass the info along to y’all. ☺️
Click to expand...
Update: after clearing Florida, my package is sitting in Puerto Rico now. Lmao 😆 can anyone explain how that even happens?
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What probably happened is that someone strapped it under a boat heading back to Cuba once the illegals had been dropped off, and then a Florida hurricane pushed it the wrong way, sending it into Puerto Rico.
 
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