USPS Is Allegedly Faking Delivery Times And Its Employees Are Not Allowed To Talk About It

USPS customers have complained about late deliveries for quite some time now. Recently, a report was published that may explain why the United States Post Service is marking its packages as delivered before they reach customers’ hands.

CBS46 in Atlanta alleged that the local USPS was marking packages as delivered on purpose. According to the news report, USPS carriers were ordered by their supervisors to scan all their Amazon packages as delivered to prevent them from being marked late.

A former post office employee told CBS46 that Amazon customers are entitled to free perks if their packages aren’t delivered by 8 p.m. the day it is due to arrive. The source chose to remain anonymous because all postal workers sign a form prohibiting them from talking to the media. It appears that the form is in effect even after a person leaves the USPS’ employ.

According to the ex-postal carrier, customers whose packages come late will get a free subscription to Amazon Prime for one month. She suggests late packages could risk the contract USPS has with Amazon.

All USPS mail carriers are ordered to scan any undelivered Amazon packages at 7:15 p.m. to mark them as delivered to prevent any late packages from arriving. A mail carrier — currently working for the postal service in a different county — confirms the ex-postal carrier’s story.

“Basically, we have to falsify the timing, and a lot of carriers don’t want to do that, but we’re mandated to with a direct order,” said the current USPS employee.

My2ndr posted CBS46’s article on Reddit, and a lot of USPS customers came forward with their package delivery experiences. Many members of the online community believed the report to be accurate.

“Yep, this happened to me to me a few weeks ago. I ordered a bed frame off Amazon and USPS marked it delivered a minute before it was supposed to be with a note saying it was put in the mailbox. It was nowhere to be found,” commented xgelite.

“I live in an apartment, and I had a digital note saying ‘left on front porch.’ We don’t have a porch. No one at the front office had it. I assumed it was stolen if they left it at my door. Turned up DAYS later,” replied deadlypinfish with his/her own story.

Amazon has blamed the postal service for late deliveries in the past, reported Recode. The online store accused the United States Postal Service for the failure of Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service. USPS allegedly failed to deliver the food on time and sometimes even failed to deliver the groceries altogether. As a result, a number Amazon Fresh services shut down in nine states.

Amazon may not be the only client USPS has failed. Some of the commenters on My2ndr’s post claimed that late or missed deliveries with USPS are quite common.

“Is it only an issue with Amazon? I ordered from Newegg, and the same thing—tracker showed ‘delivered,’ and I had to file a complaint,” asked AnimeIsJustBadHentai.

Additionally, eBay seems to be another client that the postal service has failed.

“Mine was actually from a small seller on eBay. She flat out accused me of fraud until I told her to look up my address on street view to show her there’s no porch,” wrote BlackWidow221B.

“I sell on eBay, and I’ve had buyers accuse me of fraud over that, demanding a refund since it was not delivered. Since all I have to go on is tracking, and it shows delivered, and they are hostile I wind up thinking they are trying to scam me. This gets both buyer and seller mad at the other believing the other is a liar,” replied Langly to BlackWidow221B’s comment.

According to a USPS five-year plan, the company’s vision is to focus on customer care to provide better services in the coming years. Based on the customers’ comments on Reddit, the United States Postal Service has a lot of work to do to fulfill its vision.

[Featured Image by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images]