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- lowridah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It takes a bit more than just a drug test to get a job at the USPS. It requires a written and oral test, a federal background check, and a drug screening. Once hired, the employee is given a 90 day probationary period. Less than half the people hired make it past this nowadays. The USPS has a million employees. Care to guess how much theft we have per capita compared to the private sector?
If you know your mail is being stolen and you know it's your letter carrier, there is a particular form you can fill out at your local delivery office. It requires attention from the supervisor of that facility. They're required to inform postal inspectors of any reputable information regarding theft.
It's ***** that it does happen, but it happens a hell of a lot less than you would think.
topey: hmmm...is that the USPS's fault, or Netflix for mailing your DVD in a crappy little piece of paper. Would you expect that if you mailed a disc off like that, that given the millions of pieces of mail that are automated today, that it would arrive in it's proper condition? If you do, you're pretty silly =) If all you had to do was take a piss test to get your job, you're a casual and you're not a "postal employee" you're a temporary worker. You're only there for seasonally high mail volume. - AnotherName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2USPS employees get paid very well for the work they do, especially the retirement plan.
- topey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I had a Netflix come in the mail in an official USPS plastic bag... the dvd was broken in half with a sorry note written on the bag... *****
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Postal employees that get caught stealing mail should get a minimum of 10 years in prison. It's such an easy crime to commit (and so hard to catch them at it) that there really need to be massive penalties for getting caught.
- lowridah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2anth: actually the postal rates more accurately reflect fuel costs and the constant cost of automation. If it weren't for automation, every man, woman, and child in the states would have to sort mail by hand for an hour to two per day in order to keep up with the mail volume.
You guys really have no idea =) - tryferos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Plain and simple...we need to start lopping off hands when someone steals. Problem solved.
- pixelmatrix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If only Netflix didnt package them in their netflix papers! They could put them in a priority mail style wrap and the postal service wouldnt know the difference!
- jeraboam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1staticten wrote:
"I don't quite understand the "looping" part that he said, how can it loop back if the address on the red envelope showing is only my address to begin with?????"
The main cause of "looping" is when the optical character reader in the automation equipment reads the return address instead of the to address. - saywhatUwant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1postal employees steal a lot more than just dvd's. Of course, you can't really say that just because one postal employee steals something that they should all be banned, but I've had a number of things stolen from my mail and I am convinced that that many things didn't just "get lost"
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http://www.saywhatYOUwant.org - Legion303, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I (stupidly) sent cash by registered mail once....think I got it back? Dishonest/imoral scumbacks!"
If you send it registered mail and it's never delivered, the Postal Inspection Service investigates, fires and/or presses criminal charges against the last person to sign for it (every piece of registered mail has a "chain of evidence" paper trail associated with it, and registered mail is shipped in bags locked with padlocks equipped with a counter that increments whenever it's opened). In addition, you pay extra postage for the "declared value" of the mail, and there is no limit to the insurance value. $31 will insure you for $25,000 worth of losses. Are you sure you sent it via registered mail? - staticten, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1WOW, I thought I was the only one thinking about this!!!!!!
I placed "Serenity" and "The Wedding Crashers" in my queue and expected them to arrive last Wed. Suddenly, I got an email saying NETFLIX received them on Friday.......
I NEVER GOT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
WOw, someone should report this!!!!!!!
DUGG, double DUGG!! - leebrownusa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you steal, the question is, "How cheap will you sell your job?" Evidently these particular Postal Employees are selling their jobs cheap!
- Anth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"USPS employees get paid very well for the work they do, especially the retirement plan."
And thats why stamps go up to 39 cents tomorrow - to pay for their pay and retirement. - Heymoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If Postal employees steal Netflix DVDs, they'll get caught quicker than if they stole just about any other product. The Netflix Director of Security is a former Postal Inspector who worked internal crimes. He's good at teaching his employees how to trace losses to a specific type of employee (clerk/carrier/driver) at a given location on a given day. The more an employee steals, the clearer the pattern.
If an employee "borrows" a DVD being returned to Netflix, copies and remails it, the penalty for obstruction is exactly the same (up to 5 years / $250,000 fine for each offense) as for plain theft.
When a company has about 700,000 employees, even if 99.9% are honest, there are still 700 active crooks at any one time. - TimmyK., on 10/12/2007, -0/+1>>>> posted by Chompy "Postal employees that get caught stealing mail should get a minimum of 10 years in prison. It's such an easy crime to commit (and so hard to catch them at it) that there really need to be massive penalties for getting caught."
I don't know 100% for sure, but I can't see how this wouldn't be covered under the mail tampering laws, which are felony offenses. Yes if you mess with someone elses mail it is a felony, so I would think that a postal worker stealing someones mail would also be covered under that. Imagine how stupid these women were to do this in the first place, and especially the second one who kept stealing so many after the first one had already been caught. Idiots. Like no one is going to wonder where the thirty missing Netflix DVDs from one office went, and investigate it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The only thing about this that surprises me is that this sort of story hasn't already been all over the news.
- EricTheGrey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"As far as i can see you cant really E-mail netflix, they just send you to some stupid ass FAQ"
That's strange, at the top of my queue, right under the list of titles I have out, there is a link that says "Report shipping problem" which takes you to a list of your movies, and options on what happened. Click on report problem for one of them, and you have options on what to choose. I've used this a couple of times for bad/scratched disks and once for a DVD that didn't show up for a week.
As for the topic at hand, I've not had any DVDs not show up at all, but there has been some strange delays, like disks showing up late, but never open, or simply missing. I guess I'm lucky since I live in the Denver area.
EtG - JoeDonH, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just signed up for Netflix, and on my second shipment, one DVD never arrived, and another came with the end perforation where the DVD is was opened and taped back together. Guess the postal worker didn't want "The Brothers Grimm". Don't blame them - it wasn't that great of a movie lol. But seriously, if this continues to happen to me, I'm going to be forced to cancel my subscription to the service.
- staticten, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hey guys, remember i said above that i emailed them about this problem......I guess netflix is nice enough not to mention anything about USPS workers stealing their DVDs..
Here's the reply that i got: At least they gave me a bonus DVD!! :-)
Hello (my name), Thanks for your message. We appreciate you letting us know that you never received the movie, yet it was checked back into our warehouse. It is the policy of the USPS to return mail that is undeliverable. The most common reasons are: the mail was damaged in processing and the label was illegible, the mailer cover became separated from the rest of the envelope, or an error with the USPS known as "Looping" occurred where the movie was returned to us in error instead of being delivered. There are some things you can double check in case your problem is not related to the examples stated earlier. Please be sure the name on the account is on file with the USPS for that address. If you live in an apartment complex make sure the account name is listed on the mailbox, this is a requirement of the USPS. Also make sure your address is correct and complete according to the USPS standardized address format. You may verify your address at the following link: http://www.usps.com/zip4/ Please note that your regular carrier can correct for wrong or incomplete information but a replacement or new carrier may not be able to do so. As a courtesy I have issued a bonus disc outside of your plan allotment, in the hope of accommodating you for the trouble you have experienced. Please keep in mind this is a temporary release of an additional title. Titles in transit do count towards the total number of titles checked out. Your account indicates you currently have very few or no titles in your Rental Queue. To fully enjoy the Netflix service, we recommend having at least 10 titles listed in your Rental Queue. To rent a movie, browse around Netflix and click "Add". This title will then be added to your Rental Queue. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Thanks,Chung,Netflix Customer Service .
I don't quite understand the "looping" part that he said, how can it loop back if the address on the red envelope showing is only my address to begin with????? - G-RaZoR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, that stuff pisses me off. There should be a better system for hiring USPS employees. If they had a somewhat decent tracking system, it could eliminate problems. UPS and Fedex are top notch, you can track your package in almost real time. If something happens, you know exactly where it was at.
- freonchill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1cant trust the corporate companies
cant trust the government
cant trust the post office
who can you trust these days? - bodybuilder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I live in Oklahoma and work at USPS. Some of the people being hired now seem to have the intelligence level of a rock. And this socalled background check does not stop sex offenders and other criminals from being hired. And the oklahoma usps employees are really bashing each other on the www.postalforum.com website. On a thread called CSI OKLAHOMA they make fun of each other's teeth and body odor. Look at that site and be shocked.
- MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ok, can all the stupid asses with pitch forks and crazy madness in their eyes please back up. How many netflix customers are there? How many Postal Workers are there? I think this is unfortunate but the point is that not everyone at the USPS is into racketeering.
And yeah, everyone at the USPS is making big money. Now thats a misnomer if I ever heard one. Yeah, all the carriers and window people are living in mansions in my area. Frickin dolts. - missusdee2005, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My husband had to stop sending his Netflix discs back through his company's mailroom because an unusually high number of his discs "went missing." When Netflix changed from their distinctive red envelopes to white, suddenly all of the discs made it back to them. The envelopes can now fit in our condo complex's outgoing mail so we can send them right from our home.
Guys like these thieves ruin the wonderfulness of the Netflix system for all of us! - lowridah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Huh, the pay is *****...at 40 hours a week of work I get paid what the average IT worker gets paid for 50-60 hours of work...not to mention I get 4 weeks of paid leave a year, 2.5 weeks of paid sick leave, and a benefits package nobody else can touch =)
Maybe your mom is a temp worker? - CO_Vandal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I saw this story. The postal inspectors were actually doing an investigation. They were trailing one of the drivers that was eventually caught.
- aquax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've had Netflix for at least 3 years, and have had a whopping 1 DVD never show up.
I also Netflix about an average of 15 DVDs a month and have never seen the mysterious throttling.
Perhaps I'm lucky. - cswank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Guess it was postal inspectors who worked it. One of the articles I read said it was local police and never mentioned teh postal inspectors office. Hey I guess they got one right!
- BenStockwell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"USPS employees get paid very well for the work they do, especially the retirement plan."
Um, no. My mom works for the USPS and the pay is *****. - silent1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've been a Netflix subscriber since they launched (I should get a discount or something ...). I have had two DVDs not get back to them. The first time it had gotten lost in my company's mail room (then found and mailed). The second time, it got lost in my *own home*. I had that one "out" for nearly a *year* before I found it stuffed between several magazines in my den (that were on a table in the living room then got put away). Both cases were my fault. As soon as they received the movies, that was that. I've had *no* problems (I didn't cause myself) with Netflix. Very happy customer here. Now if only Hollywood would stop churning out absolute *****, I'd have more interesting things to rent!
- Maagic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"I used to get my magazines all banged up and torn. Amazing what a small gift such as a giftcard inside of a greeting card can do. No more banged up magazines."
So I'm supposed to bribe my damn mailman to do his damn job? - Linuxrocks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It could be the throttling, could be USPS workers, but I have never
got even two weeks of movies on time. Either I get one later than the
others, or they don't recieve mine - there's always a problem. Then
there's the scratches from paper envelopes/abuse, and them not
sending the movies in the order of the queue. Neverending pile of sh..
Some movies take longer to arrive because they are sent from further distances. I don't think I've ever had a movie that doesnt work though. - schlagzeuger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3i agree about japan - much more moral and honest. I once threw a defective camera away in a hotel trash. The hotel thought I had screwed up and tracked me down and rushed the camera back to me in a neat little padded package. I then tried to throw it away at the next hotel. Same thing. I finally had to throw it away in the street so they wouldn't keep trying to send me back my "lost" camera. Honest *****, you gotta love them. I don't think that type of ***** would happen here in the US.
- Namingishard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wait, i have a question, how do they even have FAQ if there is noway to even ask them questions...
- knightmare, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0must be where my gamefly games went for my 360....bastards
- mrkwst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My USPS sorting crew (at the Post Office) were just "borrowing" my Netflix dvds. Those mailed at the po would take between one and two weeks to be returned. Those discs mailed at the office arrive THE NEXT DAY! Also had to change the delivery address for my WIRED magazine subscription. Someone at the po was just stealing the copies. Also I'm on a first name basis with my delivery person. Hopefully this helps.
- gs191, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Damn, just when I subscribed back with Netflix and Gamefly I hear a story like this...
Now I had good service with Netflix in the past but Gamefly is taking too long to get my game out. I'll wait until Monday to see if it has gotten to my house. Yeah I asked for the game 2 days before New Years Eve, It finally shipped on 1/3/06 and I'm still waiting for it. Don't tell me it takes a week to mail something from LA. - Phoghat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've been a NetFlix user for about 2 years and have rented TONS of movies. On the whole. I have not recovered about 2 discs.It may be a problem, but I haven't had the problem.
- shotgun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My friend has netflix and gamefly, he's never had a problem with netflix but he always has problems when receiving or sending games. I'm surprised gamefly puts up with it, I guess they know they're a target?
- MediaShipper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The postal service delivers alot of LETTER style mail. Fed-Ex and UPS do not do alot of this. Do you know how much a stamp would cost you if you wanted all your mail tracked?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0imagine, I use NetFlix because I like watching older movies. Bittorrent is made for huge transfers of things that hundreds of people want. I wanted to download Robocop, and it has 1 seed and 22 peers. It would take less time for me to add it to my NetFlix queue, send back one of the DVDs I have, and get it in the damn mail.
Plus, there's the ability to play it on any TV in your house. And that you're wrong about it not being illegal to download stuff.. Well, it isn't illegal to download, but if you use BitTorrent, it's illegal to UPLOAD... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Same crap happened to me...two were mysteriously 'lost' during their return. I believe in the Saudi Arabian method on this one...ya get caught, yur hands become severed from your arms with a rusty hatchet!
- jswinth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Broken DVDs are common when your local sorting center still uses sorters with an 8" wheel. The disc gets bent around the wheel and snaps. Some DVDs are resistant to this better than others. It all depends on if there is enough DVDs going to the same zipcode so they can be bundled at Netflix rather than machine sorted later.
- teamparadox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0my post office used to steal my OXM demo disks and my Gamefly rentals...which is why I no longer receive either.
- Stopher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"And thats why stamps go up to 39 cents tomorrow - to pay for their pay and retirement."
You know, all things considered, 39 cents isn't a whole hell of a lot to pay for someone to take your letter and bring it anywhere in the United States.Seems like a fair deal. I guess those bright red envelopes are really tempting for the postal employees. They know what's in them and they know that no one will do anything as long as they don't take too many. Anyone who get's caught taking one should be fired and prosecuted. The mail is a public trust and Netflix's livelihood depends on that. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I placed "Serenity" and "The Wedding Crashers" in my queue and expected them to arrive last Wed. Suddenly, I got an email saying NETFLIX received them on Friday.......
I NEVER GOT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
Well, at least the friendly little buggers sent them back for you! That was very kind. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I worked at UPS. We had to go through a guard shack and metal detectors to get out of the place after our shift. They tell all new employees stories that a box of tootsie rolls broke open while unloading a truck. The guy shared some with others who didn't know they came from the box. They all got fired. Cameras and supervisors everywhere are watching, plus there are posters up that offer a reward as incentive to rat out your buddies.
- techbuzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0At one address I lived at, every christmas, birthday or similar looking 'card' arrived with the corner ripped off. Postal employee trick: Rip the corner of the envelope+card off, press sides to flex the card open a bit and peek inside for cash. Not that anyone sent me cash in cards, but I reported it, and just continued to get postal employee rifled cards. *****.
- InvisionUK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"There is no point in paying and waiting for weeks to get it, watch a whole bunch of forced ads, and then just watch the movie once!!!!"
Of course, because there really is no point in the creators of the movies getting paid for their work. By the way, there is ALWAYS a problem with downloading movies illegally. Whether you're showing them to your neighbours, or just your cat. - RKON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0" by the way, the plural of DVD is "DVDs", not "DVD's"
(this ***** is starting to really piss me off)
APOSTROPES are EASY to figure out."
Umm ... if you are going to be so picky ... You spelled APOSTROPHES Wrong
Netflix sucks.. I had them on and off and I goth throttled. Blockbuster has been better with the delivery and the 2 free coupons a month are real cool. I can't wait for the stores to start taking the returns. Real nice !! -
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