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Comment by aNoob7000 | Hacker News Reader

Comparing US Postal Service to UPS is not fair. USPS doesn't have all the flexibility that UPS has with regards to price and whom they will service. The US Postal service has to pickup and deliver mail to all Americans, UPS doesn't.

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People don't complain about USPS because they suck at delivering to my "island" home in the middle of a swamp. They complain about USPS because somehow they seem to get a lot of employees who just don't try.

In my experience, Fedex and UPS deliver when they say they will. USPS "attempts" deliver all the time only for the package to fail to arrive. I live in the urban part of a small city/big town. There is essentially never a reason a package can't be delivered.

My latest gripe concerns the USPS person that delivers my daily mail. She loves to catch me outside and let me know that she doesn't "legally" have to deliver my mail if there is snow on my steps. I live in New England. Everyone has fucking snow on their steps.

I live in New England too, back when I lived in a suburb the first thing we did when it snowed (and even while it snowed) was clear a path and the steps for deliveries. I could understand not being home a few times to clear them, but I also know I wouldn't want risk walking on snow covered steps if I could avoid it...

Snow can and will cover up ice. That makes walking those steps inherently dangerous. She's being a bit of a jerk about it, but really she just wants her safety to be assured.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

(Written above the postal HQ in Manhatta)

What about broken hips?

Ive had this issue to.. I live in RI. In 2013 there were a bunch of huge snow storms and my roommates and I were lazy college kids and dont go the extra mile shoveling out the front of the house where the mailbox was. We dint get mail for a month, until the post office told us that we had mail waiting at their location.

She walks up and down snow covered steps all day every winter. She can't do her job if she slips and injures herself. The policy makes good sense.

Huh? Where does UPS not ship to? I'm pretty sure they ship everywhere.

I am confident UPS does not ship to certain countries where they have no presence. No web sources at the moment, but heard this from my shipment broker.

edit: and they charge more for hard to reach places. really.

Yeah, I think only DHL services North Korea for example.

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