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USPS Package Travels 2,449 Miles to a 279 Mile Destination

Today, I want to discuss radical shipping issues. I've noticed this is becoming a problem, but a recent package that was mailed to me is the worst yet. So, I had to write about it. A lady mailed an envelope to me on 2/15/2024. The mailing distance between the city the lady mailed the package from and my city is only 279 miles. However, the package went west past my house by 80 miles (so, 359 miles for the first trip), left that facility and traveled 752 miles north, left that facility and went past my house again, on a 979 mile journey to a facility that is 329 miles south past my house. From that location, it traveled 232 miles to the city that is 80 miles west of me AGAIN then 105 miles to a city 22 miles south of me and finally to my post office. Arrival date was 2/20/2024 for a package that was shipped 279 miles from my home. Is it any wonder postage and shipping prices are outrageous? I can't imagine how much jet and automobile fuel was used to transport that envelope 2,449 miles. It's ridiculous! 

shipping envelopes
image courtesy of Mediamodifier via Unsplash

I'm not picking on just the USPS. This is the way it is with all the shipping companies. But my personal opinion is that we need to concentrate on how to get packages to their destinations in fewer trips, using less fuel. 

Here is the simplified mileage:

359 miles

752 miles

979 miles

232 miles

105 miles

22 miles

2,449 miles total

Before the USPS "improved" their network, this package would have been delivered overnight, because it was shipped from only 279 miles away. Now it takes several days, and it costs quite a bit more money than it should so it can travel up and down the entire eastern region of the United States for 2,449 miles to get to a very nearby destination. All this in a time where the rest of society is asked to drive EVs, which have environmental faults and dangers of their own, or to drive less, which I do. If I go out at all, I drive 30 miles round trip or less per week. There are many weeks that I don't venture out. Then I track a package that was shipped from 279 miles away make a 2,449-mile journey. That's 2,170 miles further than it needed to travel. Does this annoy anyone else?

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