THE Idiots at USPS

[PatMarlin]

Once again- USPS has changed their ClickNShip website, and now I have so far not been able to get 3 of my web browser on my Mac to work with it, and dead in the water here.

Maybe they should hire programmers who understand businesses need to have the same operating systems they can count on to work.

NOT everyone has the latest operating systems, and computers.

Hell, why stay with a very well working system? The ignorance in government knows no bounds... :roll:

I've got to find another solution.

[scrapcan]

Pat,

What broswer and what MacOS are you running? Have you tried to clear the cache in browser to see if it will help?

[garym1a2]

"Maybe they should hire programmers who understand businesses need to "

These types don't exist in very large numbers and most places can't afford to hire tthe few that do. Plus a lot of programming is outsourced to India.

[montana_charlie]

I see nothing (obvious) in the Click N Ship process that indicates you should use a particular OS or browser.
I am still using XP, and the whole Click N Ship thing (in it's new clothes) works fine for me.

CM

[bowfin]

That is what we IT guys do...improve a product or process to the point of uselessness!

Seriously, it has always been a weakness in software development that no one can resist the urge to change stuff just for the sake of changing stuff. Most IT people lack basic people skills and don't realize that we make software to help people, we don't hire people just to run their software. In that same vein, computers don't have problems, people have problems with their computers. A computer is perfectly happy performing and endless loop or throwing up a cryptic fatal error, no different than fetching your e-mail or web page. The difference is in the guy wanting his e-mail and getting a Blue Screen of Death.

Time and again our instructors tried to beat into our pointy heads that the biggest problem with IT people is that as a group they have zero people skills. I see it all the time. Having spent time as an electronic tech answering an 800 number for people to vent on why their electronics don't work, I have heard this frustration about 20 times a day for years and years.

The only thing I can imagine worse than regular IT software hacks would be IT software hacks for the UPS or U.S. government.

I can only give you my sympathy, PatMarlin.

[felix]

Amen on all counts! ... felix

[IIJSavoy]

Hmmm....

Sounds like headspace and timing.

[PatMarlin]

I about got a label to work here. Wow- it's only about 10 times slower than the old site ...:roll:

Geez... that's productivity.

I need a a browser to access the internet and the great USPS website.

[geargnasher]

"Any significant technology is inconceivably MAGIC!"

Gear

[bowfin]

By the way, when I had my first rinky-dink web design class, we had to time how long it took to load in THREE different web browsers. It was interesting to see the differences just between Internet Explorer 6 and the later versions (this was a few years ago).

Right now, I use Opera, as I like the Speed Dial function. I will have to say I see more "odd" web pages in Opera, my theory being that whoever puts up the web pages check them out only in the latest version of Internet Explorer.

[white eagle]

you don't have there system and your system isn't compatable
how does tat make them idiots

[redneckdan]

Most IT people lack basic people skills.....


Thats putting it mildly....though you can probably add engineers of all flavors to that list...

[PatMarlin]

OH yeah...

I just thoroughly enjoy sitting here spending 10 times longer in my day working with the"NEW" USPS website trying to print labels and ship orders. It's so nice to look at such a great freakin' designed website.

[PatMarlin]

you don't have there system and your system isn't compatable
how does tat make them idiots

It makes them freakin' idiots when they change a perfectly fast good working design on existing business.

That's what makes them freakin' idiots.

Or unless the thinking is- make it harder, for your customers? How bout' even though you're broke, let's send more paying customers to the competition.

But hey- it's a great new look ...:roll:

[leadman]

My wife loaded Foxfire on her Mac for those sites that don't like her Safari.

[thehouseproduct]

Thats putting it mildly....though you can probably add engineers of all flavors to that list...
It's cause us engineers working with regular people is like everyone else working with mentally handicapped. Here's a link:
http://www.alifeofthemind.com/2011/02/13/mensa-iq-the-30-point-gap-and-the-outsiders/
:-)

[PatMarlin]

My wife loaded Foxfire on her Mac for those sites that don't like her Safari.

I run all the latest browsers that work on the last system I can run on this computer.

I guess I just have to keep buying new computers and keep paying USPS as well.

I just try to save customers money on shipping. Now I get to spend more of my valuable time doing it.

[frkelly74]

on the other hand.... I had some trouble with the old system a few days before Christmas with getting some labels printed. Probably due to the Christmas rush, granted. Then I saw the new site and had a package to send out so I tried it with some trepidation,( I Hate new Stuff after all, you can ask my wife). But it worked without a hitch and the package is on the way. I hope it stays the way it is now and doesn't undergo another change for a while.

[scrapcan]

Pat,

You did not answer or I did not see it. What OS and what browsers? What exactly are you seeing when you try to print.

We gotta get past the anger and on to the what and when so we can help. We have a system here where I work that is reliant heavily on MS IE7 ( almost to the exclusive point). I am not IT don't want to play one on TV either. However I get to help lots of people trouble shoot what is going on. and I can tell one thing for sure, they are not going to roll back the system. SO WE GOTTA MOVE FORWARD.

Tell us what you are using and what you are seeing.

[Katya Mullethov]

Or unless the thinking is- make it harder, for your customers? How bout' even though you're broke, let's send more paying customers to the competition.

But hey- it's a great new look ...:roll:


More of the innovative thinking that is driving our national economic recovery .

Riddle me this : If the Post Office is a stand alone self supporting entity , how can they continue to lose a billion + a quarter sans their own money plates ?

Compare their losing billions as " understandable and inevitable" to our own plight . I struggle to juggle inventory and expenses whilst being ground between the millstones of taxation and inflation , and if I somehow manage (through Herculean effort) to break even too many times in a row , I am then a common thief , a cheat , in the eyes o the eye are ess.

[PatMarlin]

I got it working as best as it's gonna get with my OS. I'm just going to have to get a newer computer that can load a newer OS. Thanks for letting me rant.

[BeeMan]

It's cause us engineers working with regular people is like everyone else working with mentally handicapped. Here's a link:
http://www.alifeofthemind.com/2011/02/13/mensa-iq-the-30-point-gap-and-the-outsiders/
:-)

Very interesting article...

[montana_charlie]

Riddle me this : If the Post Office is a stand alone self supporting entity , how can they continue to lose a billion + a quarter sans their own money plates ?
It's a "psuedo-government" entity. It doesn't use government money, but it must operate according to government rules and regulations.
The reasons for it's inability to break even are many and complicated, and I probably don't even know what half of them are. But, I saw a few during the fifteen years I worked there, and some of them are (pretty much) insurmountable as long as USPS remains tied to (controlled by) government.

First, there are the concessions made to unionized labor over many decades.
While beneficial at first, the current result is an amazing degree of highly-paid personal inefficiency. That's inefficiency that new technology is 'not allowed' to compensate for, even when it is capable of doing so.

The 'union problem' also results in a bloated and inefficient management structure which is more 'overbearing' than 'capable'.

And ... a universal money loser that is pretty unique to the USPS ... it is required to keep small town offices open.
I don't have exact figures, but this gives you the idea.

The Post Office in Podunk, Montana serves 200 dwellers of the town and 100 outlying rural customers. The office must be staffed all day, so there is a Postmaster (who earns 'management-level' money) and a rural carrier who is also well paid. There is also a stand-in 'relief' for the Postmaster to cover Saturdays, holidays, and vacation time.

Taking just the salaries, and forgetting about utilities, building maintenance, and transportation costs for moving mail into and out of that office, USPS pays three people (like) $160K to keep that office open six days per week, year in and year out.

Sales - postage, money orders, whatever - might come to (like) 20% of that. So, 80% of 160 K is "loss' to USPS, and then there are the expenditures we left out.

How long do you think YOU could last when 10 percent (or more) of your offices are 80% losses, and the percentage that does break even isn't much higher?

Or, to count in the opposite direction, How would you fare if 20% of your 'outlets' were losing money, and the orther 80% ranged from break-even to mildly profitable?

I won't even get into other serious problem areas like 'transportation' or 'wasted resources'.

CM

[Blammer]

I can run the new USPS on my browser, but that is not what I'm complaining about.

they totally screwed up the click and ship. The address book is what they really botched up. No sort sequences at all.

They took something that requires about 1 screen to hold all relevent data and stretched it out to 3. More wasted time trying to get the same job done.

It is painfully obvious that the person who wrote the program is sitting in a dark room with a candle and clueless to the real world of making money or making things happen quickly.

I have filed about 3 or more complaints with "suggestions" and "improvements" with the usps.

ideas like "get your head out of your dark nether regions"

"really? why do I need to confirm what I just confirmed AGAIN!"

"I don't need a picuture of the stinking box I'm shipping, I know what it looks like!"

"why do you have a small itty bitty button to click on instead of the whole 2" wide bar you allotted for this choice of shipping?"

I have more....

[PatMarlin]

Yea- Blam... 3 steps forward and 15 backward. Lets take up 5 slow pages what got done in seconds on just one... :roll:

I've been on tech supports ****...

Here's a good volley...

Customer (Pat Marlin) - 03/22/2012 05:25 PM
The site takes forever to click the "Create another label" button to create
another label.
Business people do not have time to sit and sit. We don't get paid by the
hour. Obama doesn't do a damn thing but take our money.
Please speed the site up.

Response (Durrel B) - 03/22/2012 05:33 PM
Dear Pat,

Thank you for contacting the USPS® Internet Customer Care Center. I will make sure to forward your request to the Webmaster for review. Although it would be impossible to implement all of the suggestions that we receive, we encourage our web users to notify us when they have a suggestion.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact us again.

Thank you,

Durrel B
USPS Internet Customer Care Center
uspstechsupport@esecurecare.net

Here's the numb nuts email:
"uspstechsupport@esecurecare.net " <uspstechsupport@esecurecare.net>

[PatMarlin]

3 hours to do 25 labels (copy and paste addresses) and on the last 5 the site died and went down, so only got 20 done today.

Wow- that's some productivity ...:roll:

[TNFrank]

I feel your pain. I have an 11 year old iMac, still runs like a champ. Installed OS 10.3.9 on it a couple years ago and recently my internet company switched to Yahoo Mail and I can't get into it with my browser. I'm running Firefox 2.0.0.20 and it's the newest browser I can run with my OS. Wish they'd stop changing stuff all the time. I think they're just trying to get us to buy a new computer.

[Stick_man]

The idiocy at the USPS does not stop with their website. Just the other day I had an experience that simply makes me scratch my head and wonder ***. I have had a PO box for over 10 yrs now for my mail delivery. My daughter recently made a couple purchases online and they were shipped via USPS. One order was for approximately $10, the other was for approx $150. She receives mail regularly, including packages. Well, the 2 most recent packages arrived to the post office on the same day. One was delivered (notice and key in the box), the other was returned to sender as "undeliverable" because my daughters name was not on the PO Box agreement. Guess which package was "undeliverable". Oh, and we still receive mail addressed to my MIL (died nearly 3 yrs ago now). Her name was on the box while she was still living (lived with us for the last 8 yrs of her life) and the USPS was notified of her passing (along with death certificate etc.)

[Old_School]

Once again- USPS has changed their ClickNShip website, and now I have so far not been able to get 3 of my web browser on my Mac to work with it, and dead in the water here.

Maybe they should hire programmers who understand businesses need to have the same operating systems they can count on to work.

NOT everyone has the latest operating systems, and computers.

Hell, why stay with a very well working system? The ignorance in government knows no bounds... :roll:

I've got to find another solution.

Somebody got an award....
:wink:

[MikeS]

The problem comes from the fact that software is usually designed to work with the newest & bestest versions of the various operating systems, often using features that are not available in earlier versions. Apple is really bad in this regard. I recently upgraded to their newest version of the OS, only to find out that one of the features of the earlier version, the ability to run older software, has been removed from the latest version! And on top of that, now that I have the newest version, my system has gotten much slower than it was before.

Pat: Is your Mac running an Intel processor? If it's running a PowerPC chip, then at this point in time I think Apple doesn't even want to admit that Macs with PPC chips ever existed! So that should tell you how much luck you're going to have finding new stuff to work on it. I had several programs written for the PPC chip, and even tho my Mac has an Intel processor I was able to run them using Apple's 'Rosetta' feature, something that they saw fit to remove from the latest OS! I was going to recommend you try Google's Chrome browser, it's what I use, but it's only available for Intel processors, so if you're on a PPC, forgetaboutit!

[Nazgul]

Daughter #2 graduates this year from a major university with a computer tech degree. Was hired for one of the jobs Bowfin was talkiing about. She has the computer skills and people skills. The job is specifically to translate between the IT "Techies" and us normals. They are paying her about twice what I make after 25 years at my mechanical job.

Don

[SciFiJim]

Pat,
Did you find a way to import an address list? Trying to get a group buy list ready is frustrating.

edit-
Found a way, but it's about 5 levels deep.