Postal (or - the postal service vs comcast, I hate both of them, I have good reason to, and more referencing)

Haven't written in a while.  I guess I haven't really had anything to write about.  That and I've been busy with work and the what-nots.

But now I have something to talk about.

Let's talk about the US postal service.

Sorry, I just gotta rant about this for a few minutes.  It will accomplish nothing.  But I want to do this anyways.

So I order a package, Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor for PS4, on Amazon on July 16th.  It is now August 6th.  I still don't have it.

I don't get my package, don't get my package, don't get my package, so I check the Amazon account and see that it has been forwarded and "may be delayed because of a problem with your shipping address."  Ok, I was out of town and so I sent it to my parents place with my name on it.  They get my mail all the time so I didn't think it would be a problem.  And I'm not joking.  We swap mail once a week because the post office has NO IDEA which of us lives at which address.  Despite the fact we have contacted them three separate times to try and get it figured out.

So I try to contact the postal service.  Wow...I would rather call Comcast.  And again, I'm not joking.  One of the people I finally talked to gave me some numbers to call and some people to talk to but said that trying to get this figured out would be like "slamming my head against the wall."  This is the opinion of someone who works for the postal system about the system she works for.  Awesome.

So, after calling a series of numbers I eventually hit the loop where everyone has no idea what's going on and just keeps repeating the exact same worthless information (your package has been forwarded to a different address because of a problem with the shipping address and or zip code) and keeps referring me to the same circle of people who also know nothing.  There's about five different numbers to call.  3 of them are the same automated system.  1 is a fake number that asked me for my "external access code" (felt like Borne calling into treadstone).  1 is for the local shipping place that never answers the phone (litterally called them 17 times straight in a row and didn't get a hold of anyone at 11:00 on a Thursday morning) and their message machine is usually full so you can't leave a message.  Got lucky today and was able to leave a message.  We'll see if that works.

So the postal service keeps telling me my game was forwarded to a different address but they don't know/can't tell me what that other address is because 1) that's a local office thing and this is the national support number 2) they are contractually obligated to NOT give out relevant information to people who can't find their packages 3) apparently they can't read or something.  Worth noting, the first two are legitimate reasons they gave me.  I didn't make those up.  I'm just speculating on the 3rd.

The automated system gives you the most generic possible information they have.  And then when I hit the button to talk to customer service (it's a 0 by the way.  I had to figure that one out.  They don't bother telling you) it said that customer service wasn't available and rambled off a list of other useless automated options.  It is now 11:30 same Thursday morning.

And this is the third day I have personally tried to do this.  My dad tried and had the same issues two weeks ago.

So I called the company that sold the item through Amazon and they gave me some helpful info.

So here's what's up: The postal service found this one package that had my name at an address I used to live at (my parent's place).  I had a different forwarding address from when I moved.  But they can't forward there anymore because I moved over a year ago.  They don't forward after a year.  That's important.  So they just have my package in the system as "forwarding" to a "different address" but either no one knows what that address is, they aren't allowed to tell me what it is, or they just won't answer the phone.  I call the seller and they give me the address that it has been forwarded to.  I did not give the seller any address other than the first one that failed.  The postal service just threw it at them but kept me in the dark.  Turns out it's being forwarded to, get this, my new address.  Yes, that one they aren't supposed to forward it to but should have done two weeks ago.

Now someone trying to be reasonable would say, yes but they do this so they don't leave something important/expensive like a package at someone else's house.  They want to get the package to the right owner.  To that I would say, that's great but then how come my parents get my bills in their mail bow with my name on it.  Bills are pretty gorram important (50 shiny points for the reference).  Oh and another thing.  I ordered a Playstation 4 the same day as the game.  I had it sent to the same address.  With the same name on it.

Sooooooooo, a 30$ game the post office be like, "Whoa!  We can't have that going to the wrong house!!!  Look here, it says he's moved.  Quick, let's hide it in the 'forwarding' system and not tell him where it's going!"

But for a 400$ game console the post office be like, "Yes, that's the address.  Best just to leave this outside and not ring the doorbell.  It's in a box.  It'll be safe."

Awesome...

Sigh.  So there it is.  My woes with the postal service.  I guess they re-sent it to my actually address on July 31st which is great.  But it apparently takes 3 TO 15 DAYS to ship a tiny package ACROSS TOWN!!!!!!!

Whatevs...

Til then, at least I have Bloodborne!  But only cuz the postal service sent it back because of the same address issue the seller returned the money and I walked into a local Gamestop and bought a used copy for only 5$ more.