What The Heck Is Going On With The USPS Regional Hub In Chicago?

This started about 6-8 weeks ago. Roughly 40% of my outgoing packages end up ping ponging between the Chicago regional hub and my home post office before moving onward, and some have just disappeared outright.

I've spoken with the workers at the local post office and they say that when one of my parcels comes back from Chicago, there are no markings on them at all that are indicative of any problem. They send them back out again.

One of the postal supervisors ran a "USPS Tracking Intranet Tracking Number Report" that shows that somehwere in the system, the destination address of the parcels have been switched to be associated with my return address, not the actual destination address.

Since I use postage stamps on my parcels, not printed labels, it's as if there's been an AI update to the camera/scanning systems at the hub that have borked things up massively.

I've tried moving my return address to the back of the parcels, but that hasn't fixed it.

At this point my only option seems to be to NOT put a return address on the parcels, which is against USPS rules.

Some may say "well just pay for printed labels, duh!" But I have a surplus of postage stamps, and USPS is obligated to honor them. I'm happy to no longer use stamps if the USPS will let me turn in the stamps for equal credit, but of course they are not permitted to do that.

Right now the USPS is a train wreck.

Deliveries like yours cost the USPS money. No wonder they are going to run out of money, by next year.

Yes you are right on!
Definitely a mess

I question that it may be purposeful

Conspiracy theory or not? Idk

But lots of forces looking to end the USPS, privatization of shipping and an end to paper bills and checks.

You can use stamps on the parcel that cover let's say 80% of the delivery cost and place a label covering the remaining 20% .this way the label will be scanned..

I gave up on sending packages through the USPS over a couple of years ago.

"But lots of forces looking to end the USPS, privatization of shipping and an end to paper bills and checks."

So you're positing that folks are simply trying to sabotage the USPS, as opposed to the USPS having reach the point of being a frequently inefficient, financially-challenged organization? And, if only these folks would just get out of the way, the USPS would revert to being the model of efficiency and financial stability that it has been for the past few decades? Just trying to understand.

Yes

I believe banking system and government do not care anymore about postal service. They are letting it tank

Paperless is future

Recently I had a personal check "washed". My bank will not refund me nor the company I was paying the bill to. So easy with digital deposits from your house. Out 2500$

Response by banks was to stop paying bills by mail and stop using "paper"

No one cares imho

I can't remember the last time I used a cheque - and the bank account I switched to doesn't use cheques (although I could pay in incoming cheques if I went to one of the surviving branches). Bigger payments - mostly to auction houses - are mainly via bank transfer. Regular bills are all paid by direct debit. I find it much easier.

Yes Europe has moved away from government postal service, and is much more progressive in terms of "mail", electing to explore privatization and going "paperless". USA is way behind

Cheques? We use online banking including QR-codes.

Buy (now also abroad), open banking app on phone, scan QR, authorise payment, wait for shipment. For very large amounts, open banking app on phone, enter IBAN and amount, confirm transfer, wait for shipments.

The U.S. banking system has not embraced bank transfers the way the banks outside the U.S. have. They are used mostly for institutional transactions or high-dollar transactions. The fees are incredibly regressive.

If I want to send a bank transfer DOMESTICALLY, the fees start at US$15 and go up from there, even if the amount being sent is $1. To receive one is a minimum of a $10 fee, so you pay at both ends. International bank transfers are even more expensive.

They're just not an option.

"Bill pay" and ACH transfers are an option, but the fees and policies vary widely by bank or credit union, and if your recipient (person, business) doesn't accept them, you're SOL.

Also, there are still local businesses (around here anyway) that do not accept electronic payments of any kind. It's check or cash only. This is VERY much the case at U.S. stamp shows, by the way. Checks are used FAR more than electronic payments.

Yes we are way behind
I think US is obsessed with Zelle and Venmo and PayPal as means to move money
Wire transfers can cost $$$ here
Older business owners don't use many of these apps.. I asked the guy who mows my grass if he takes Venmo. Nope. He is in his 60s and owns a lawn service. He only takes checks (or cash). Renovated my bathroom. Checks or cash only.

I will tell you now that my college age kids will NEVER pay anything by paper check when they get to that point in life when the bills come or need to pay for something
Like a paper newspaper, typewriter, or a telephone booth … they won't even know how to write a check. Collectible yes, useful no!

Crazy how technology moves one step forward and two back. When I found out about my check being washed, I thought of my stamp collection and all those old US stamps with pen cancellations removed.
Check washing so easy now that you can just digitally deposit a tampered check on your phone. At least a bank teller could inspect the check. Not anymore with mobile deposits. I think they are trying to g to use AI to detect tampered checks but have not been successful

That is not progressive. Progressive is moving away from transactions that can be government tracked and thus cannot be forcibly taxed. Likewise transactions outside of normal banking systems help hide activities. Even Iran demanded the ship toll payments in sent electronically in cryptocurrency.

Likewise progressive is hiding any and all activity from government prying eyes. Going paperless means all the information can be captured electronically and reviewed (or blocked) by the government.




How do you unbanked and poor people pay the bills if no access to electronic money?

Here (USA) in some areas it is against the law to refuse cash as being a discrimination against poor people who have no means for electronic credit payments.

Check washing is a modern problem. There is a reason the phrase "cut a check" exists.It is due to the fact machines for making checks did in fact cut into the check paper in the areas of amount information.

What are those people?

People who have trouble paying their bills are not big spenders.

In most EU countries, there is social security. You need a bank account to receive payments in most of those countries. You, also, need a bank account to pay bills. In rare cases public utilities may allow cash payment. But let's face it. If you can pay for petrol or buy a bus ticket to get to that counter, you can pay for a bank account many times over.

You can pay with cash in most high street shops. Here, there is a discussion to make it obligatory for high-street shops to accept cash. In Sweden, however, they tend to go the other way. This is to solve the problem with the elderly who are digitally illiterate.




Illegally, governments can always hack the payment system, but they do not control it. Neither a national government, nor the EU itself controls the bank's payment system. We, however, are trying to find alternative to the usual US providers of payment services. Cheques do not keep the government out of the loop as anti money-laundering legislation means suspect transactions, even cash ones, must be reported.




Our police love criminals thinking crypto is untraceable and let their guard down. They have recovered a lot of criminal crypto money.

I apologize for using the term "progressive" as it has political division overtones.

I meant modernization and going paperless: whether that means untracked crypto transactions or paperless global digital banking… that's up to you to decide what is "progressive"

But paper checks and paper currency will be almost obsolete in 20 years as the younger generation becomes the dominant economic driver.