Friday, February 19, 2010

"It's in the mail"

Lord, thank you for the workers of the Postal Service and forgive us for excusing ourselves at their expense when we said it was ‘in the mail’ and we knew it was not.”


— Brother Carlton Puryear, during the Hodgenville, KY, Post Office renaming ceremony

What do you think? Have you ever used the excuse, "it's in the mail?" Comment here.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never have used it!!

It is as believeable as the excuse "my dog ate my homework".

Anonymous said...

Yes, but it was before I came to work for the Post Office 20 years ago. I would never say that now and I let people know that it makes the Postal Service look bad when they say it.

Merk said...

I've never had to say it was in the mail unless it was. What annoys me is when customers come in and say they're looking for something specific and the mailer told them "it would be here today." I explain that unless the mailer sent it Express guaranteed they can't accurately state what day it will arrive. Also, it depends on how they mailed it - First Class, Priority, Media mail. It seems people are so accustomed to immediate gratification they think when they order something it will be here the next day! Often when something shows up they've been waiting on I check the date it was mailed and discover it wasn't mailed when they were told it was or it was sent parcel post & they were told it was sent "overnight."

Anonymous said...

We've certainly been blamed for a lot worse!

Anonymous said...

I've had customers call my Post Office looking for a package that was sent through FedEx...I'm glad they think of us first!

Anonymous said...

I have actually said this on more than one occassion. Once I sent a letter across town from where I worked (as a carrier) and it took 5 days to get there. Another time I sent a package across town and it took 8 days. I probably could have walked it there faster, but in both of these cases I told the person it was "in the mail". I'm just glad this doesn't happen more.

Anonymous said...

Shamfully, yes:(

Anonymous said...

I had some paper work sent from one post office to my post office within the same 3 digit zip. The postmaster sent it priority mail and it took 7 days for me to get it. About 50 miles. When I received the package, it still had the placard she had put on it and the date she sent it (7 days prior.) It sure is hard to sell services that you see fail first hand. I could go on and on with this kind of story, as could we all. It is a pretty legit reason alot of times.

grannybunny said...

Yes, I am ashamed to admit that I once used "it's in the mail" as an excuse, but have since rehabilitated myself and would no longer do so.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it is fair that companies tell customers that their bill/mail must be lost in the mail.... when it is probably in there office on their desk somewhere under a pile of papers. I have had customers come in and tell me that the company did have the letter/bill all along.