TOPIC: USPS follies

Immediately thought of all the STL vortex chatter today when I got this notice on the USPS Mailing Industry alert feed:

Saint Louis, MO Package Support Annex (PSA)

Activation on November 1, 2025

Effective November 1, 2025, the U.S. Postal Service will activate the Saint Louis, MO Package Support Annex (PSA) to process originating packages.

The new facility is part of the modernization plan that realigns the national postal network to meet the mailing and shipping needs of the modern consumer. The Package Support Annex will provide increased processing capacity to support the anticipated holiday shipping season volumes and better serve customers year-round.

A tale of two wildly different USPS experiences:

1) I won some tokens in Flik’s auction. He shipped my winnings on Wednesday from suburban Detroit in a small flat rate box. They arrived in Chicago today (Friday). Two day service as advertised!

2) My husband’s new passport was shipped from Minneapolis in a flat rate envelope on October 24. It went to St. Paul on October 25. It was “in transit” until October 28, when it hit the Chicago International Distribution Center in the early morning. Then, it was marked out for delivery at 10:50 am and delivered to a PO Box at 10:55 am. Note: We don’t have a PO Box.

The package didn’t come to our door or our actual mailbox on October 28. Or on October 29. Fortunately, it was in our mailbox on October 30. But that was an unpleasant 48 hours.

All of this, along with the government shutdown, makes me extremely nervous to mail in my Path Fragments.

BeLinda Mathie wrote: A tale of two wildly different USPS experiences:

1) I won some tokens in Flik’s auction. He shipped my winnings on Wednesday from suburban Detroit in a small flat rate box. They arrived in Chicago today (Friday). Two day service as advertised!

2) My husband’s new passport was shipped from Minneapolis in a flat rate envelope on October 24. It went to St. Paul on October 25. It was “in transit” until October 28, when it hit the Chicago International Distribution Center in the early morning. Then, it was marked out for delivery at 10:50 am and delivered to a PO Box at 10:55 am. Note: We don’t have a PO Box.

The package didn’t come to our door or our actual mailbox on October 28. Or on October 29. Fortunately, it was in our mailbox on October 30. But that was an unpleasant 48 hours.

LOL. Our mail courier was for a while stuffing all our neighbors mail into our box. Like I was the block mailman.

Rob F wrote: All of this, along with the government shutdown, makes me extremely nervous to mail in my Path Fragments.

The Gov stupidity shouldn't affect mail as that is an independent group. But I would insure the hell out of it.

I Insured my Safehold I sent in for the cost of the trade goods to make it. Cost a bunch, but want to be safe in case something happens to it.