PIGEON FORGE (WATE) – New books meant for Tennessee children are being thrown away by local post offices for the second time.
Back in February, 6 News first reported the problem of books provided by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library returned to the United States Postal Service ending up in the trash.
About two percent of the books sent out to children each month from Imagination Library are returned to the post office because they are undeliverable, usually because the family has moved and not notified the organization or post office.
For years, volunteers were able to come by and simply pick those books up, but the USPS says the organization was receiving a service that other businesses pay for.
USPS continues to throw Imagination Library books in trash
And thats why it is important that you do a change of address when you move so that the USPS CAN get your books to you… Don’t blame the USPS for your laziness.
Michael K. Osborn, If that “godfathering” thing works so well, then when I fill in at other offices and someone comes in and asks for their box mail and I have never met them before and ask to see their ID and they have none but they say, the regular people have been giving me my mail for years, should I just hand over the mail the ask for with no questions asked?
Bulk mailers don’t pay for forwarding so they should not get the service, period. If you give them that service for free, then everyone should be paying a lower price.
One final thought then I will go on to another windmill. Hypothetically, Dolly’s non-profit mails 1000 books but 250 of them are undeliverable as addressed. We toss them into empty box(es) and every now and then her volunteers stop by the post office to retrieve 250 perfectly new books. The books are then readdressed and mailed a second time. It doesn’t take an online college degree to realize that these orphaned books create a continuous income stream for the USPS. To Sue Me allow me point out that if the delivery of the books was not profitable the USPS would seek a rate increase. The only problem with non-profit rates is the failure of that Den of Thieves known as Congress that has failed to honor their committment to subsidize non-profit rates.
I stand by my position. The organization Dolly runs to get reading matter into the hands of your children is a successful non-profit.It makes no difference that as an individual she has reaped enormous rewards based upon her talent and business savy. Good for her. Perhaps if you charged her non-profit a caller fee long ago you would not have ended up with egg on your face. You set a precedent by providing the service at no cost. We have long time firm callers who continue receiving firm service yet they have never paid one cent. They were “grandfathered” from an era in which there were no such fees. Go back to the individual who authorized the free service and ask why! Seperate your jealousy from your logic. You are making us all look like jerks. I guess that the USPS just wasted too much money on a real hero who perfected lying and cheating while fooling us into thinking that he was a world class athlete. The APWU needs to capitalize on this and pursue the establishment of a full-time clerk whose entire tour of duty is dedicated to disposing of Dolly’s undeliverable mail. Put those hours in your budget boss!
As I said last time this came up, the mailer does not pay for return service. Why should we give them the service for free and make others pay for it?
Those of you that are bashing the management for putting those books in the recycle bin instead of delivering them, you are wrong. In this case, management is doing exactly as they are supposed to do.
If we give this service free to this one company, how can we say no to other customers who also don’t want to pay for forwarding?
So glad I don’t work for these imbeciles anymore.
Simply embarrassing, if some one asks I make up a story about where I worked rather than admit I was associated with these low lifes.
Perhaps Imagination LIbrary can work on getting a Negotiated Service Agreement that would allow them to have the books returned. Amazon, Capital One and Netflix have managed to get special treatment deals that only apply to those companies.
“Fahrenheit 451… just sayin’!”
The books are return to the post office; for years volunteers were able to come by and simply pick those books up; what service is the postal service providing?;post office uses electricity, manpower to destroy and trash books vs letting volunteers come pick them up; really you people can’t read it is quite a shame.
Maybe the Postal Service needs to explain the reg’s to the ignorant public better, the mailers and etc. This is making us look bad. They do need to pay for the service if they want them returned and the employees are only doing as they are instructed and supervision are doing the same , they would be fired otherwise.
Hello?! Our tax dollars DO NOT pay for the USPS in any way, shape or form. The only money they get for all their employees, gas costs for so many deliveries, is all form the sale of postage and stamps. So delivering mail for free is absurd…. Do you know how much fuel costs? and how much additional mail bogs down the system? Is this “business” of dollys non profit??? We know she makes enough money to buy these books in one go. if this were done for free, every company would be demanding it, and then you would have the postal service go even more broke….and then government would step it and force you all to pay for the usps with your tax money.
Mr Olson,
If Dolly and company want the books back they should pay for this service just like everyone else. As we all know in life if you give an exception to one you have to give an exception to everyone i.e. Gamefly.
The USPS is not a charity. It’s bad enough the rate charged to mail these books doesn’t make us a penny, nevermind giving them free return service.
Just when I think that USPS management has sunk to the lowest levels of greed and bureacracy they kick us in the nuts again! Dolly’s campaign to fight illiteracy should be imbraced by the USPS in Tennessee but then maybe management cannot read either. To the douche bag supervisors who refuse to hand over the undeliverable reading mail let me ask. Have you taken the time to figure the cost of disposing of the books as prescribed by the USPS vs the cost of handing over the books to the volunteers with a “Thanks for using the USPS.” Miss Dolly, I will always love you!