Asking about other USPS experiences. Or someone in the know.

[romanof]

Facts.
1 - Amazon delivery scheduled for Sunday. Says "package is out for delivery", then "package could not be delivered - contact USPS for delivery instructions"
2 - Other packages out for delivery on Monday, the next day. Orders page says that all packages were delivered, even though nothing arrives.
3 - Now, original Sunday package message is "On the way, but running late"
4 - Porch pirates are not a problem here, far out in the country on a dead end road.
5 - Nobody on the road got mail today. (Monday). Interesting that there was not even a piece of junk mail for any of 8 boxes.

So. Is the Amazon IT system confused. Is the USPS lying to Amazon, maybe to prevent possible penalies for lateness? Is the USPS is understaffed and covered up?

I know for a fact that a UPS driver who is running way late in the day will sometimes mark a package as undeliverable, that the address is wrong (after 40 years the same) or the gate was locked (no gate) or no one was home to accept (retired, always here.)

Our local postmaster is useless, won't even take a report about actually seeing a car running the boxes, although this is not an issue for the above.

Asking about other's experiences in the same vein.

 

[Nermal]

Is the USPS lying to Amazon, maybe to prevent possible penalies for lateness?

Possibly. I'm in a different country, but I've had Amazon orders show up as "delivered" but not actually arrive until a couple of days later. Amazon's own documentation says to wait 2-3 days after a "delivered" notification before filing a "did not arrive" with them, so it wouldn't surprise me if this sort of thing is commonplace.

 

[eyoungren]

I live in a HOA community, so for us that means cluster boxes (big metal boxes with individual mail slots and large sections for packages that won't fit in the smaller mail slots). Depending on where you live in the community is where your cluster box is located. Ours is at the east end of our street, others are at the west end.

Our USPS person delivers mail in her personal vehicle, not a USPS vehicle. We have had items 'delivered' that were not, items that WERE delivered but never marked as such and my personal favorite, 'no access'. No access to a metal cluster box which the postal worker accesses every day for the entire community! Really?!

For a while she was doubling down on 'delivery exception' and then just delivering the following day. She's also lazy. If a package arrives at the local facility anywhere between 7 to 8am she won't deliver it that day, despite mail and packages being sorted into her vehicle around 7am.

I think that they have to have some sort of excuse at the end of the day for packages and it's just easier to mark it 'delivered' and then actually deliver it the following day or so.

I've had to camp out at the cluster box twice because high value packages had been marked as 'delivered' and weren't. The first time she put the key to the package box in the wrong mail slot. The second time around…well. There is another house two streets up that has our same address (but different street). When she's sorting, she doesn't pay attention to the street sometimes and that person gets our mail and packages and vice-versa. She's also not careful. In the last three months I've had to do her job twice by delivering mail and packages to my neighbors because it ended up in my box. Not even the right address or street!

All of this is exacerbated by the fact that we live on the extreme edge of our PO delivery area. That PO is 20 minutes away in street traffic, 30mins at rush hour.

Yet, there is another PO near us that is less than 10 minutes away. But because we don't live in that ZIP code it doesn't serve us.

Our postal person has blamed the people 'helping her', being sick, etc. I really don't care. Aside from the fact that I'd like my mail delivered correctly, I hate having to camp out in 110º heat waiting for her to show up when something's not right.

Your package will get delivered OP. Just not when you thought.

PS. My wife and I have considered a PO Box with that other PO I mentioned. Amazon takes no accountability for USPS deliveries. And I'd just love to hear the explanation for USPS not being able to deliver to their own PO Box!

 

[okkibs]

The problem isn't USPS, it's Amazon. Their order system is straight up giving customers false information and when you contact them about it in chat you get chatgpt translated gems back like "please do not be worried good sir" from the outsourced support where they will say whatever their wrong system tells them.

What happens in reality is that you order something and during checkout the item gets sorted into a "guaranteed" delivery date depending on your location, your Prime membership status, the location of the item, the delivery couriers that service your address, and so on.

This "guaranteed" date has is the reflection of a delivery where absolutely nothing goes wrong. If an airplane or a truck gets delayed by just 2 hours, then the entire delivery chain to your area might already be interrupted and everything rescheduled for a day later. If you live in a big city such a delay won't matter but if there's one truck per night to your area it's a different story.

This initial "guaranteed" date is never updated again no matter the delays. It will keep promising you a sunday delivery even if the courier in your area doesn't deliver on sundays to begin with. Even if the USPS website says the package is coming multiple days later Amazon will still claim it will arrive today until 8PM. At that point the info on Amazon's order tracking website is straight up fantasy.

So yeah when it says that it could not be delivered you can ignore it. If you look at the USPS tracking you'll likely find your package was never scheduled to be out for delivery on that day to begin with. Often because Amazon uses their 2 day delivery service and then hands the package over to USPS the night of delivery day. In many cases USPS will be very quick and deliver it same day, but in the end Amazon should have either handed it over earlier or booked an express option with UPS instead.

In the past that's just what Amazon did, I'd order 2 cheap articles with guaranteed next day Prime delivery and next day a Fedex as well as a UPS courier drop off one article each and the label on it says next day premium or something like that. Nowadays Amazon is looking to reduce cost whenever possible so these stickers now suggest a cheaper shipping option despite the "guaranteed" overnight delivery.

What does your USPS tracking say?

In some cases USPS might have dropped the ball and exceeded their own delivery time promises. But I can count on one hand how often that has happened over the years whereas I waited 5 entire days for my prime day order last week. 5 days. Amazon had handed it over to UPS the night of the same day it was supposed to be delivered and of course it took the 2 days that UPS guarantees. Don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out why that won't work.

The newest thing Amazon does is when you order to a PO box you'll randomly get an e-mail from Amazon saying hey, your package has been picked up, thanks for shopping with Amazon. And that comes at like 6AM before it's out for delivery. The first time it happened I assumed someone had just stolen the item. Turns out the same status that the courier always submits to Amazon is now interpreted wrong by the Amazon system and it's been that way for all of 2024. I have no hopes that it's going to be fixed.

 

[anthony131]

My post office does this too. I recently opened a support ticket when an item was marked 'business not open' early in the afternoon. I'm in a home on a residential street in a city with a front door on the sidewalk. They attempted to call me the same day to clarify the issue but I missed the call. The item was delivered the following day.

If the post office is delivering the item, this has nothing to do with Amazon. You should check usps.com with your tracking number. I would suggest signing up for informed delivery. It's free and you'll get notified by usps about all incoming mail.

So, they just suck, is the answer.

 

[eyoungren]

The problem isn't USPS, it's Amazon. Their order system is straight up giving customers false information and when you contact them about it in chat you get chatgpt translated gems back like "please do not be worried good sir" from the outsourced support where they will say whatever their wrong system tells them.

What happens in reality is that you order something and during checkout the item gets sorted into a "guaranteed" delivery date depending on your location, your Prime membership status, the location of the item, the delivery couriers that service your address, and so on.

This "guaranteed" date has is the reflection of a delivery where absolutely nothing goes wrong. If an airplane or a truck gets delayed by just 2 hours, then the entire delivery chain to your area might already be interrupted and everything rescheduled for a day later. If you live in a big city such a delay won't matter but if there's one truck per night to your area it's a different story.

This initial "guaranteed" date is never updated again no matter the delays. It will keep promising you a sunday delivery even if the courier in your area doesn't deliver on sundays to begin with. Even if the USPS website says the package is coming multiple days later Amazon will still claim it will arrive today until 8PM. At that point the info on Amazon's order tracking website is straight up fantasy.

So yeah when it says that it could not be delivered you can ignore it. If you look at the USPS tracking you'll likely find your package was never scheduled to be out for delivery on that day to begin with. Often because Amazon uses their 2 day delivery service and then hands the package over to USPS the night of delivery day. In many cases USPS will be very quick and deliver it same day, but in the end Amazon should have either handed it over earlier or booked an express option with UPS instead.

In the past that's just what Amazon did, I'd order 2 cheap articles with guaranteed next day Prime delivery and next day a Fedex as well as a UPS courier drop off one article each and the label on it says next day premium or something like that. Nowadays Amazon is looking to reduce cost whenever possible so these stickers now suggest a cheaper shipping option despite the "guaranteed" overnight delivery.

What does your USPS tracking say?

In some cases USPS might have dropped the ball and exceeded their own delivery time promises. But I can count on one hand how often that has happened over the years whereas I waited 5 entire days for my prime day order last week. 5 days. Amazon had handed it over to UPS the night of the same day it was supposed to be delivered and of course it took the 2 days that UPS guarantees. Don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out why that won't work.

The newest thing Amazon does is when you order to a PO box you'll randomly get an e-mail from Amazon saying hey, your package has been picked up, thanks for shopping with Amazon. And that comes at like 6AM before it's out for delivery. The first time it happened I assumed someone had just stolen the item. Turns out the same status that the courier always submits to Amazon is now interpreted wrong by the Amazon system and it's been that way for all of 2024. I have no hopes that it's going to be fixed.

I have taken to only purchasing items on Amazon that have either same day or next day delivery. And I've told my wife to do this too. The chances that Amazon is going to pass off an item to USPS on a same day or tomorrow delivery are extremely low.

Doing this has meant that Amazon either had to send a courier (probably an employee dropping stuff off after work) or an actual Amazon delivery driver. Either way the delivery is on/by Amazon and they have to take accountability for it. I live in Phoenix, not some rural town so this is typically an option for me/us.

For everything else (not time critical) I am shopping eBay. Yeah, it comes USPS, but I've had less issues with USPS and eBay items than I've had with USPS/Amazon items.

 

[Macky-Mac]

unfortunately, what the OP describes happens all the time. Amazon, people who sell on Amazon, USPS and all of the various delivery companies and their drivers can be the guilty party......alas, it's a "get used to it" situation.

There are a number of reasons why packages don't arrive when they're supposed to. Amazon even warns that some delivery companies mark items as delivered before they're actually delivered.

Some sellers on Amazon simply lie to Amazon and customers about when things have shipped and what the delivery date will be. And Amazon passes the false info along to the customers.

USPS and delivery companies don't want to pay overtime so they have very strict schedules for drivers. Drivers can lose their jobs if they don't meet the schedules and this leads to items being reported as delivered when they haven't been. Drivers resort to the "could not be delivered" or "no access" excuse to avoid trouble when they're running late....or want to leave early

And packages do get mishandled and sent off in the wrong direction by mistake even though they've already been scanned which creates tracking info that will suggest it's moving towards its delivery address when it isn't.

It's annoying to us customers.......but it happens frequently enough

 

[romanof]

Looking back over my records, I find that it is almost always Sunday deliveries that get screwed up. First, it is out for delivery, then unable to be delivered for (insert) reason. The next day it is set to "On the way, but delayed." Finally, it usually gets here on Tuesday or Wednesday.

But... Stuff that was scheduled for Monday delivery, and ordered a day AFTER the Sunday package, shows up on Monday. Usually, not always.

???

So, I will not allow Sunday delivery from now on. If that is the only option, I will wait for the next day to push it into Monday.

 

[eyoungren]

Looking back over my records, I find that it is almost always Sunday deliveries that get screwed up. First, it is out for delivery, then unable to be delivered for (insert) reason. The next day it is set to "On the way, but delayed." Finally, it usually gets here on Tuesday or Wednesday.

But... Stuff that was scheduled for Monday delivery, and ordered a day AFTER the Sunday package, shows up on Monday. Usually, not always.

???

So, I will not allow Sunday delivery from now on. If that is the only option, I will wait for the next day to push it into Monday.

Do you live in Loma Linda, CA? I ask because that's the only place I know of that USPS delivers on a Sunday. But they don't deliver on a Saturday in that town.

I can count on my hand twice that I've had USPS deliver on a Sunday. Which is a day that they just do NOT deliver on. Either the shipper had paid big bucks to have the postal worker come in on their day off or there was some sort of guarantee that had to be met. But it's highly unusual.

Unless you live in Loma Linda, or some other Seventh Day Adventist locale.

 

[Herdfan]

Do you live in Loma Linda, CA? I ask because that's the only place I know of that USPS delivers on a Sunday. But they don't deliver on a Saturday in that town.

I can count on my hand twice that I've had USPS deliver on a Sunday. Which is a day that they just do NOT deliver on.

Back when I lived on the east coast, we did not have any "Amazon" van deliveries. All Amazon deliveries were either UPS or USPS. And we did get USPS Amazon deliveries on Sunday. All they delivered were packages, no First Class Mail.

Now here in AZ, we get Amazon deliveries on Sunday via an Amazon van or personal vehicle of someone working for Amazon.

 

[eyoungren]

Back when I lived on the east coast, we did not have any "Amazon" van deliveries. All Amazon deliveries were either UPS or USPS. And we did get USPS Amazon deliveries on Sunday. All they delivered were packages, no First Class Mail.

Now here in AZ, we get Amazon deliveries on Sunday via an Amazon van or personal vehicle of someone working for Amazon.

Oh yeah, I get Amazon deliveries on Sundays. That happens all the time. But I think OP was more referring to delivery by USPS (even though it was handled by Amazon). And in that instance I've only ever had two deliveries on a Sunday by USPS. Anything else delivered on a Sunday was strictly Amazon itself.

I think you are saying that because it's Amazon, USPS made deliveries on a Sunday. Right?

I'm probably restating the obvious. But there have been times where an Amazon delivery via USPS was supposed to happen on a Sunday and I did not see my package until Monday. USPS just wouldn't do it. Which is why I tripped about the two times they did. Amazon must have had something on them to make them. Because I know the mail carrier and she doesn't go out of her way for anyone unless she has to.

 

[Boyd01]

I don't order much from Amazon anymore, but picked up a couple t-shirts from them last week because I couldn't find them anywhere else. They used the USPS - which makes sense because they easily fit in a soft envelope. However, I never got any alert that they were delivered. That struck me as odd, but perhaps info does not flow smoothly between Amazon and the post office? No big deal for me, also in a rural area and it was just two cheap t-shirts. Would not have been so happy if it were something expensive though. My order was sold by and shipped from Amazon, FWIW.

 

[Herdfan]

I think you are saying that because it's Amazon, USPS made deliveries on a Sunday. Right?

I'm probably restating the obvious. But there have been times where an Amazon delivery via USPS was supposed to happen on a Sunday and I did not see my package until Monday. USPS just wouldn't do it. Which is why I tripped about the two times they did. Amazon must have had something on them to make them. Because I know the mail carrier and she doesn't go out of her way for anyone unless she has to.

Yes. But it was never my normal carrier. It was someone you only see on Sunday. Probably contracted.

 

[romanof]

For whatever reason, we can have USPS deliver Amazon on any Sunday. Started a couple of years ago or more. And it one of those Jeep like white trucks with the USPS logo. And we are out in East Texas country, 15 miles from any town - very low population density. If I order on Friday, there is almost always a Sunday option, and deliveries (assuming they show up) are usually before noon on that day, but almost always after 15:00 on a weekday. Why a rural area gets it and a city does not doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Beerstalker]

USPS has been doing Sunday deliveries for Amazon for quite a while now. From what I remember they asked all the companies and DHL/FedEx/UPS said they weren't interested and the USPS took the deal. It started in certain markets at first, but now I think it is pretty much the whole USA. I know I have been getting them for quite a while now. A lot of the time it appears to be USPS workers in their personal vehicles working overtime. I'm wondering if your local driver signs up for the deliveries/overtime and then just marks them all delivered so they get paid, then actually delivers them later in the week on their normal shift/route?

Why USPS is delivering Amazon's packages on Sunday

Wasn't the money-losing U.S. Postal Service just trying to get rid of Saturday delivery?

theweek.com

 

[phrehdd]

I have had items delivered from Amazon by their service and what I believe was USPS. Both were okay in my last residence but where I am now...(eye roll).

I have Amazon Prime and I order things that say "delivered by tomorrow" and that means only for 2/3 of all orders with 1/3 delayed. USPS is not much better.

 

[Flamingdeathbolts]

A few months back I saw the video below from a news station in Seattle about how Amazon is overwhelming rural USPS offices and drivers.

 

[okkibs]

Of course, Amazon wants to advertise Sunday deliveries so delivery companies eventually agree since Amazon can build up immense pressure, they are the biggest retailer and dictate the terms. Who wants to work on a Sunday to deliver packages that customers themselves say they don't even need delivered on a Sunday, just because Amazon's system forces a Sunday delivery that then doesn't happen half the time anyways.

Don't blame USPS, there was some interview with a delivery guy on Christmas who said that due to his workload he needs to work 7 days a week morning to night and doesn't get a single free minute with his family because all he can do is sleep when he is home. It's back breaking work.

He said in the interview that technically nobody forces him to work a Sunday shift and he could just do it on Monday. But he followed that up explaining that the amount of packages mean if he misses a single shift he can never catch up again and it will be on him and his colleagues to work even longer shifts to make up for it.

And then imagine being a worker there and now you're asked to do Sunday shifts all year long. There's not more workers to pick up these shifts, it's the same people. Maybe they add a few people but in the end everyone has longer work hours.

Be mad at Amazon instead: For forcing a service down customer's throats that doesn't work as advertised with no option to choose the date and skip Sunday. It doesn't matter what USPS does, you have a contract with Amazon for a Sunday delivery and if that doesn't work it's on Amazon.

If I promise my boss to show up for an important work meeting and then miss it without explanation, I don't tell him to take it up with my car dealership for not fixing my car in time as promised. And my boss would expect me to call ahead at the very least and tell him I won't be able to make it.

Amazon promised you a delivery they can't make half the time.

I don't want deliveries on weekends. It's the 2 days of the week I don't have to be up at 6AM so imagine how happy I am when there's a delivery ringing my doorbell at 7:15. The burden is always on me to order with the clairvoyance at just the right time to avoid a weekend delivery. And the few times I pay express shipping fees to get a guaranteed weekend delivery and wake up early for it they don't end up delivering.

 

[eyoungren]

Of course, Amazon wants to advertise Sunday deliveries so delivery companies eventually agree since Amazon can build up immense pressure, they are the biggest retailer and dictate the terms. Who wants to work on a Sunday to deliver packages that customers themselves say they don't even need delivered on a Sunday, just because Amazon's system forces a Sunday delivery that then doesn't happen half the time anyways.

Don't blame USPS, there was some interview with a delivery guy on Christmas who said that due to his workload he needs to work 7 days a week morning to night and doesn't get a single free minute with his family because all he can do is sleep when he is home. It's back breaking work.

He said in the interview that technically nobody forces him to work a Sunday shift and he could just do it on Monday. But he followed that up explaining that the amount of packages mean if he misses a single shift he can never catch up again and it will be on him and his colleagues to work even longer shifts to make up for it.

And then imagine being a worker there and now you're asked to do Sunday shifts all year long. There's not more workers to pick up these shifts, it's the same people. Maybe they add a few people but in the end everyone has longer work hours.

Be mad at Amazon instead: For forcing a service down customer's throats that doesn't work as advertised with no option to choose the date and skip Sunday. It doesn't matter what USPS does, you have a contract with Amazon for a Sunday delivery and if that doesn't work it's on Amazon.

If I promise my boss to show up for an important work meeting and then miss it without explanation, I don't tell him to take it up with my car dealership for not fixing my car in time as promised. And my boss would expect me to call ahead at the very least and tell him I won't be able to make it.

Amazon promised you a delivery they can't make half the time.

I don't want deliveries on weekends. It's the 2 days of the week I don't have to be up at 6AM so imagine how happy I am when there's a delivery ringing my doorbell at 7:15. The burden is always on me to order with the clairvoyance at just the right time to avoid a weekend delivery. And the few times I pay express shipping fees to get a guaranteed weekend delivery and wake up early for it they don't end up delivering.

I'm not mad at Amazon. This is an option I rarely come across and typically a Sunday delivery if one happens is actually done by an Amazon delivery driver or one of their employees in a personal vehicle - not USPS. Amazon hasn't rammed this down my throat because they aren't bothering me about it. I see it if I order something for delivery tomorrow on a Saturday and that's usually the only time.

As to USPS on a weekend, I used to work nights so I understand. But our USPS postal carrier delivers between 1pm and 5pm depending on her work load. And she never knocks - just leaves it on the porch. Typically I have to rely on Amazon/USPS tracking to even know she's been here. So a Sunday delivery isn't going to wake me up. And if I'm asleep at 5pm you can be sure I'm sick.

A Saturday delivery ('cause you said you don't want weekend deliveries)? Same thing. 1 to 5pm. Delivered to the package bin of my clusterbox at the end of the street - just like any other day. Too big? She'll take it back to the PO and give me one of those slips to pick it up so I gotta drive 20-30 mins to go get it. If she actually has to deliver it and it won't fit in the package box, she'll drop it and run - no knock.

You're defending USPS and that's all good, but I'm not really happy with our mail carrier. We've lived here in our home for over six years now and she's still delivering the previous owner's mail. I've had to play mail carrier for her several times because she's left other people's mail in my box. And other people get MY mail because she's just looking at the numbers in the address and not the street. And of course, it's the OTHER mail carrier's fault - the ones helping her. Not actually her, herself.

It seems our mail carrier experiences are quite different.

 

[romanof]

My first post may appear to be a rant about lousy delivery service, which it really wasn't intended to be, rather just a query to see if irregularities in Amazon schedules are common.

In actuality, younger readers have NO idea of just how good we have it.

Way back, and I am talking about when children walking to school had to be protected from dinosaurs, a kid would want to mail-order something. It would be an item in a catalog or magazine, or even the back of a cereal box. The procedure was a little different than click and wait a few seconds for the Amazon ding that it was accepted.

No generic credit cards before the late 60s, so one of his/her mother's checks was used.
Mail took about 5 days across country, unless you sprung for Airmail postage.
On arrival, the check took 5 days to clear.
How long the company took to fill and package the order could vary - days usually, or weeks if they were waiting for enough orders so THEY could order the product.

Then...
No UPS, FEDEX, or such. The package was turned over to the tender mercies of the dreaded PARCEL POST. That transit never took less than two weeks and almost always three or four. Or 25. Sometimes it was delayed so it could go through the crusher.

I can remember an order for a box of HO model railroad cars. From NYC to Tulsa. I got home from school one day and my mom told me that I had a package waiting and I had no idea what it might be. The time from ordering to delivery had been so long that (even with the anticipation of a kid to get his hobby stuff) I had completely forgotten about my order. Maybe three or four months or more.

Now, my packages always arrive, even if late by a day or three, and I have had only a very few in all the years of the Internet that never did show up. So, our modern life is tough, but I guess we can live through it until that time when all orders appear almost instantly in the output chute of your home 3D printer.

 

[eyoungren]

My first post may appear to be a rant about lousy delivery service, which it really wasn't intended to be, rather just a query to see if irregularities in Amazon schedules are common.

In actuality, younger readers have NO idea of just how good we have it.

Way back, and I am talking about when children walking to school had to be protected from dinosaurs, a kid would want to mail-order something. It would be an item in a catalog or magazine, or even the back of a cereal box. The procedure was a little different than click and wait a few seconds for the Amazon ding that it was accepted.

No generic credit cards before the late 60s, so one of his/her mother's checks was used.
Mail took about 5 days across country, unless you sprung for Airmail postage.
On arrival, the check took 5 days to clear.
How long the company took to fill and package the order could vary - days usually, or weeks if they were waiting for enough orders so THEY could order the product.

Then...
No UPS, FEDEX, or such. The package was turned over to the tender mercies of the dreaded PARCEL POST. That transit never took less than two weeks and almost always three or four. Or 25. Sometimes it was delayed so it could go through the crusher.

I can remember an order for a box of HO model railroad cars. From NYC to Tulsa. I got home from school one day and my mom told me that I had a package waiting and I had no idea what it might be. The time from ordering to delivery had been so long that (even with the anticipation of a kid to get his hobby stuff) I had completely forgotten about my order. Maybe three or four months or more.

Now, my packages always arrive, even if late by a day or three, and I have had only a very few in all the years of the Internet that never did show up. So, our modern life is tough, but I guess we can live through it until that time when all orders appear almost instantly in the output chute of your home 3D printer.

No offense to you, but what you describe is a primary reason that I hated rural living as a teenager. I knew, because I attended school in the city, that things could be acquired much faster than through the mail if I could just get to a store. Radio Shack, the comic book store, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, KB Toys, the Mall! But all of that was 30 mins away by car and until I turned 16 (September 1986) I had no car to get there. I was entirely reliant on my parents good moods and my father rarely had any good mood to go anywhere on a weekend.

At 16 life opened up and I was no longer reliant on waiting for stuff in the mail. Of course, if a store didn't have it I did have to wait, but chances were they did. Now, at 53, Walmart is visited at least 4-5 times a week, sometimes 2-3 times in a day. Because they have stuff. eBay or Amazon is simply for the stuff I can't get in store.

And again, no offense. But I will NEVER return to rural living. I got out, moved to a large city (Phoenix, AZ) and good riddance to rural.

 

[romanof]

Totally opposite. When I go to the big city (very seldom) it is almost always just to get to the Apple Store or Micro Center, and after concluding my purchases my only concern is how to get out of Dallas, both as fast as possible (and still alive) and back to the wonderful emptiness of my way-out country house, where even the closest dollar store is a 50 mile round trip and three pickups in a row is a traffic jam.

 

[Chuckeee]

Still better than UPS, where the driver solicits for “tips” to insure my packages will be delivered undamaged and the UPS shift supervisor whose response was “our drivers would never ask for tips, but they certainly deserve them”.

 

[Ledsteplin]

The USPS app has quit working for me. It worked last week. Not now though on iOS 18 beta 4.

 

[Boyd01]

My family sort of "alternates" between country/city. Grandmother lived in a small, rural midwestern community and my mother couldn't wait to get out so I grew up in suburbia in the 1950's. I raised my own family in the country and am now retired to a place out in the woods. But my daughter just celebrated 20 years in NYC, she moved there right after college. I suspect my granddaughter will break the mold and remain in the city, as she has already conquered New York. 😁

Deliveries are a problem for me, my home is well-hidden off the road with an un-intuitive address. And since it's back in the woods, if you look at Google Street View, it shows a neighbor's home which is on the road but in a line-of-sight to my (hidden) house.