Maybe it’s just me. But in the last, say six months, I’ve been noticing more delivery problems with the USPS. Here are a couple examples.

On March 3rd, I mailed a certified letter to someone in Colorado (the letter was for one of the stamp clubs I belong to). The letter was refused by the recipient on March 12th. I didn’t get the letter back until March 30th. Why did it take over 2 weeks to return it to me?

A customer in NY sent me his order. He called to see if I received it because he never got his material. I received his order on March 12th. It took nine days to get from NY to Murrysville, PA. What happened to three day delivery of first class mail?

When I mail out my pricelist, I get a few returns from people who moved. The forwarding order has expired. Returns take up to a month, sometimes longer, before they come back to me. Shouldn’t it be out and back within two weeks at the most?

Over Christmas 2011, I mailed a package to a customer. It was “damaged in handling” by the USPS. Yes, just like in 2010, someone went Christmas shopping early. They damaged my package and remove the contents. I’m trying to find a balance between wrapping the package up so tightly that a thief can’t easily break into it versus not having the customer be too inconvenienced by removing mounds of tape and packaging.

Sorry, but I see the service level declining for the USPS. I don’t like what I see. I think it will drive mailers towards other alternatives like email or the use of other companies like FedEx and UPS.