[MaxPower2k3]

I'm getting really frustrated with the terrible level of service from the USPS. I've been a GameFly member since August of last year (8 months) and in that time I've only rented about 10 games (even if I keep a game for a month, it's still cheaper than buying it). In that time, the USPS has lost three of those games. One was back at the end of august (the very first game I returned) at a mailbox near my house, the second one was in the city near my dorm in December, and now it looks like they lost another one, also sent back from my dorm.

The thing is, every time I send back games, I'm dropping 3 Netflix DVDs and 2 GameFly games in the mailbox all at once, yet one of those things manages to not get there, while the rest arrive fine. Are USPS employees stealing the games, or what? So far, GameFly has been understanding and hasn't charged me for either of the first two lost games, but I haven't reported the third one yet.

Can I file a complaint with the USPS or something? It seems ridiculous that, out of only 10 games sent, a full third of them would be lost.

(as a side note, in almost 2 years and ~150 DVDs from Netflix, I've lost maybe 2 DVDs, so for some reason the games seem to be much worse)

[meelk]

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

I'm getting really frustrated with the terrible level of service from the USPS. I've been a GameFly member since August of last year (8 months) and in that time I've only rented about 10 games (even if I keep a game for a month, it's still cheaper than buying it). In that time, the USPS has lost three of those games. One was back at the end of august (the very first game I returned) at a mailbox near my house, the second one was in the city near my dorm in December, and now it looks like they lost another one, also sent back from my dorm.

The thing is, every time I send back games, I'm dropping 3 Netflix DVDs and 2 GameFly games in the mailbox all at once, yet one of those things manages to not get there, while the rest arrive fine. Are USPS employees stealing the games, or what? So far, GameFly has been understanding and hasn't charged me for either of the first two lost games, but I haven't reported the third one yet.

Can I file a complaint with the USPS or something? It seems ridiculous that, out of only 10 games sent, a full third of them would be lost.

(as a side note, in almost 2 years and ~150 DVDs from Netflix, I've lost maybe 2 DVDs, so for some reason the games seem to be much worse)

My parents both work for the post office, and no, people at the post office dont steal things, and the few exceptions that do get caught. You would have to work in a post office to understand mail volume and how the machines work.

Basically, if your discs are in some kind of netflix style paper package, they probably arent being picked out by manual labor because people dont know what they look like. they are then being fed to the machine which is chewing them up as it tries to sort letters.
Again: you might think "well, how is that possible, people must be stupid, etc etc" but until you work at a postal sorting facility you cant even grasp how much mail is going through and how hard it is to be perfect.

I'll tell you why the netflix stuff is getting through and the gamefly stuff isnt: people pulling the netflix out are identifying it as netflix by labeling etc, they know it on sight. They dont know Gamefly and miss it, its that simple.

I realize this didnt really explain things so I'll give you an example.
take a single letter envelope, look at it *on edge*
now imagine that being stacked with other envelopes into a tray about 2 feet long
now imagine those trays being about 27 to a standing cart (if i remember correctly in my minds eye)
now you're standing at a machine and all people do all night long is bring you mail from various places that gets fed into a thick bad that shoots them down a line and the machine sorts them.
so all you do all night is bend over, pull out these trays, grab 2 feet of mail and throw it on the machine.
you're running through 2 feet in about 30 seconds
and you do that all night long, 6 days a week, and some people do it 10 and 12 hours a day
Its back breaking and mind numbing, and as you are stacking 2 feet of letters and another 2 feet of letters you miss things
people put pens in their mail, sand from the beach, lapel pins, buttons, you name it.
in a stack of 4 feet of letters you simply cant see it, something the width of a cd certainly does no draw any second looks, as a lot of mail is that thick.

And thats at a rural sorting facility in south carolina, not even a major city.

[MaxPower2k3]

alright, so there's not really anything I can do? I mean, GameFly is a great service, and I'd hate to have to give it up just because the post office, for whatever reason, (like you said, I don't know how it works) can't get the games where they're supposed to go.

[meelk]

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

alright, so there's not really anything I can do? I mean, GameFly is a great service, and I'd hate to have to give it up just because the post office, for whatever reason, (like you said, I don't know how it works) can't get the games where they're supposed to go.

call or write Gamefly and tell them how youve lost packages and ask them to get in touch with the post office for an educational campaign on what their mailers look like. They might want to consider changing their mailers color or scheme if it does not already stand out. Can you take a picture of one? I'd like to see it.
Basically *they* have to work with the post office to make it harder for postal employees to miss the discs among a ton of other mail thats being sorted.
To my knowledge netflix did exactly this at one point.

[Rumor]

Give the games to a postal worker. The three games that have been lost since I've been a member, were lost when I put them in Big Blue.

[Landos Mustache]

I find UPS to be the worst.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally Posted by meelk

call or write Gamefly and tell them how youve lost packages and ask them to get in touch with the post office for an educational campaign on what their mailers look like. They might want to consider changing their mailers color or scheme if it does not already stand out. Can you take a picture of one? I'd like to see it.
Basically *they* have to work with the post office to make it harder for postal employees to miss the discs among a ton of other mail thats being sorted.
To my knowledge netflix did exactly this at one point.

Thanks, I'll definitely do that.

here's a picture of the gamefly envelope (apologies to this site for linking to their image)


Rumor, I live in an apartment building, so I never see a postman. I guess I could go into the post office and hand it over manually, but doesn't it still just go into a bin with everything from the mailbox, etc.?

[itai195]

Sure it's not GameFly's fault? I was a member for 3 short months, in which time apparently 2 games got lost and it took ridiculously long (nearly 1 week) to get new games from them even though they're in LA and I'm in San Jose. I wasn't very impressed with their service, especially compared to Netflix.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally Posted by itai195

Sure it's not GameFly's fault? I was a member for 3 short months, in which time apparently 2 games got lost and it took ridiculously long (nearly 1 week) to get new games from them even though they're in LA and I'm in San Jose. I wasn't very impressed with their service, especially compared to Netflix.

I hadn't really thought about that, but maybe you're right. Generally they're pretty quick with turnaround times, although this time they're waiting an awfully long time to send me my next game (listed as "In Progress" since monday). I like the service, I just wish it was more reliable.

itai, did you find a different game rental service instead, or just give up on the idea?