USPS Idiots

blksn8k2 · March 8

I decided to replace the front bumper on my '99 Cobra with a reproduction of one from a 2000 Cobra R. I had already installed a Roush body kit on the car several years ago and always wanted to get the front of the car down to the level of the Roush side skirts but I didn't want to use the Roush front bumper cover since it would lose too much of it's Cobra identity, IMO. The Cobra R bumper cover with its lowered splitter solves those problems. Unfortunately, the brackets that attach the ends of the bumper to the front fenders are pop riveted to the inside of the bumper and I didn't want to drill out those rivets on a perfectly good original bumper and they weren't included with the new bumper. Ford also no longer makes those brackets due to the age of the car.

However, Late Model Restorations (LMR) does make reproduction brackets. So, I ordered a pair of their brackets back on 2/26/25. LMR is in Waco, TX. According to the USPS tracking number, the package was in Pittsburgh, PA on 3/4/25. Because I live in west central Pennsylvania I assumed the package would have been here by now. Afterall, today is 3/7/25 and it was less than 100 miles away four days ago. Wrong. Can't do that. Guess where it was today? Santa f'n Clara, California! WTF? Musk can't DOGE these a-holes fast enough!

Here's a photo of the unpainted Cobra R bumper during trial fitting on the car.

Edited March 8 by blksn8k2

blksn8k2 · March 8

My bad. It was actually in Santa Clarita, CA this morning. Not Santa Clara. You can't make this shit up!

I thought it was bad enough that they overshot the target by going too far east to Philly and then too far west to Pittsburgh.

It'll probably end up in Fairbanks, Alaska or maybe back in Texas before it ever gets here...😡

twintornados · March 8

It's more about the automated tracking system that is used to direct packages around their facilities than the actual employees that manage it....no wait, I guess this is idiotic.

GearheadGrrrl · March 8

Problem is the automation, not the employees- USPS top management has closed lots of regional sorting centers so now a package going 5 miles between towns goes 500 miles to a massive sorting center and back. Get a misscan somewhere in there and the package can take a cross country detour. Worked for USPS for 15 years and the workers had to do a lot of workarounds to avoid these mail detours, for example we would manually route mail directly between those adjoining towns so time critical stuff like notices, church bulletins, and ads for local businesses made it to local mailboxes before the event.

blksn8k2 · March 9

I had our local postmaster verify that the package at least had the correct ship to address since that's not something I could see on the USPS tracking website. She also pulled up an image of the package which showed that it was a bubble wrap envelope. Her guess was that it probably got stuck in a larger mailing sack which then got filled with other mail for the west coast. No change on the tracking site from what I posted yesterday.

Regardless of the reason it's pretty hard to defend a package crossing the country at least 2.5 times and it still hasn't reached the destination.

Edited March 9 by blksn8k2

blksn8k2 · March 9

This has nothing to do with the shipment of the fender brackets but it does involve the shipment of the bumper itself. When I received the bumper it was in a really small box compared to it's installed size. When I told the UPS driver that there was supposed to be a complete bumper in that box he just shook his head in disbelief. When he delivered another package two days later I showed him the actual size of the bumper and he was like there's no way that came out of that little box. The bumper is made out of polyurethane which is a high density synthetic rubber-like material. It took over an hour with a heat gun to get it back into the final shape. Believe me, I had my doubts that would ever happen. The reason the manufacturer (KBD) ships them that way is to avoid having to ship something that large via special truck and the accompanying freight charges. The box it came in is behind it in the first photo. As you can see I also stuffed round metal cans and pieces of wood in the openings so they would hold their shapes as they cooled. Talk about a WOW! moment.😗

This style of bumper is also available in fiberglass but I suspect this one will survive minor bumps and bruises without cracking the way 'glass might. I don't intend to race this car but I could certainly see the advantages of using something like this on a track car.

Other than the fender brackets I'm also waiting on the special primer required to paint this stuff.

I also added some metal bracing under the larger opening as well as metal braces to attach the bottom of the bumper to the radiator core support/frame crossmember using the same mounting points as the original bumper. And I'm also re-using the original fog lights and their plastic housings.

blksn8k2 · March 10

Checking USPS tracking just now shows that the brackets are now in New Jersey...

blksn8k2 · March 12

USPS tracking shows the brackets went from New Jersey to Connecticut and they are now back in Pittsburgh exactly one week after they left Pittsburgh the last time. :doh: