The Post Office’s looping problem is crazy. It is totally ridiculous. It needs to be remedied now. I experienced this frustrating problem first hand when I mailed initial copies of my memoir, A Streak of Dakota Dust, to destinations across the country.
What exactly is the problem? Thanks to using the tracking numbers provided by USPS , I discovered that some of my books wandered through absolutely bizarre pathways. For example, one book was sent to Pierre (in the middle of South Dakota) but it ended up in Aberdeen in the northeastern part of the state. It finally came to its senses and looped back to the address on its label. It arrived in Pierre a couple of days late.
Even more frustrating is the continuing journey taken by a book I mailed to Missoula, Montana on August 24. Where did it end up? In Portland, Oregon, where it apparently fumbled around for about a week before being returned to where it had started from, a distribution center in Kansas City, Kansas (I live just south of there in Overland Park, Kansas). Apparently, the book now has jumped across the state line. I just checked the tracking this minute and read the following information on the USPS tracking site: Your item arrived at our KANSAS CITY MO DISTRIBUTION CENTER origin facility on September 3, 2026 at 8:08 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination. So this means the book, mailed a week and a half ago, is again headed to its destination. I hope this time that means to Missoula, Montana, and to the correct address.
These insane events are not rare. A neighbor of mine sent a package to her son in Portland on August 14th. The package made its way to Portland, but it wasn’t delivered. Nope. It bounced. It came back to the Kansas City distribution center before coming to its senses and heading back west again to Portland. That package finally made it to her son on August 26. The post office’s looping problem is real.
How can this happen?
It’s worth knowing that these wacky examples happened even though the packages were correctly addressed; each package also carried a bar code (as does all priority mail). Both of these methods tell the Post Office exactly where the package is to go. What in the hell is going on?
Why is the Post Office sending a number packages on three journeys (to the destination, back to the origin, and again to the destination) when a single trip would be far less costly and less labor intensive for its workers – not to mention far less frustrating for its customers?” Where is the leadership? What is Postmaster General David P. Steiner doing these days?
Rank and file postal workers know about this fiasco. They even have a name for it. When I told a postal clerk today about these mishaps and asked her whether she had heard of similar cases, she said, “Yes, the looping problem. it happens too often.”
Remember the good old days? “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds”
Memoir note:
The hardcover version of my newly published memoir, A Streak of Dakota Dust, was delayed by a formatting problem, but that has been solved so now it, along with paperback and eBook, is available for purchase in any bookstore and on Amazon. If you missed my introduction to the book, it can be seen here. Initial feedback from readers has been extraordinarily positive.
