maybe I'm just lucky that I've been here 14 years without this ever happening before...?

[cimorene]

In the continuing saga of "Outsourcing postal service functions to this supermarket was a terrible idea!", when I went to pick up a package last week, the lady blithely told me they couldn't find it because whoever gave me the package slip neglected to write a shelf location on it and they'd contact me when they found it.

That's definitely down to the outsourcing. It never happened once before the supermarket took over; now it's happened to us about 5 times in the last year or two.

Possibly due to poor postal service in Finland or possibly from before it reached these shores, when I retrieved the package today, the seal of the padded envelope had been opened and it was now held together with a rubber band, and the "enamel pin" listed on the customs declaration was not in it.

I told my sister, the sender, and because it was a birthday present she ordered me a replacement, so I will eventually get one, supermarket allowing. Meanwhile I think you can make a claim for lost bits of mail like that, so I suppose I should look into it tomorrow.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Argh! All that effort for disappointment.

[phosfate]

They've put a postal station in one of our supermarkets, and expect a bunch of customer service people with no post office training to be able to help me fill out customs forms, make money orders, and track packages. It...doesn't work.

[cimorene]

Yeah, that's one issue, but I've also been told directly by one that there was every possibility they could've returned my package to sender before the collect-by date and to "not leave it that late" (as late as the date the package slip says you can leave it...), so obviously the employees are also aware of some of the flaws in their system.

[saxonvoter]

Ugh, yeah, I totally feel you. The Finnish postal service has been getting worse and worse every year, and I am not happy about it. In fact I'm surprised they're still standing.

Shame about the package though. :c

[cimorene]

In 14 years of frequent care packages from overseas family, I only had one single problem with the post office until they closed the post office branches and replaced them with K Citymarket employees ~2 years ago or so!