Freaking Post Office

[huminski]

Bought something on ebay over the weekend. Seller shipped Tuesday morning 11:30am, November 8. Dropped off about 1 hour from my house. Leave it to the good old post office to anticipate this delivery taking almost a full week to make the 1 hour trip....... sorry just venting.

Label/Receipt Number: -----------------------------
Expected Delivery Date: November 14, 2011
Class: Package Services
Service(s): Delivery Confirmation™
Status: Acceptance

Your item was accepted at 11:33 am on November 08, 2011 in MIDDLETOWN, NJ 07748. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

Detailed Results:

Bullet Acceptance, November 08, 2011, 11:33 am, MIDDLETOWN, NJ 07748
Bullet Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 07, 2011

[Coelacanth]

I complained about the same thing when RCScrewz insisted on charging me over $13 to ship a tiny little screw set using USPS Priority instead of just putting the damn thing in a bubble envelope for $6. I ended up waiting over 3 weeks ANYWAY, and the tracking info was absolutely useless--it said just as yours did, all it revealed was that the item was picked up. No info on where it was, either in USA or Canada...was it at a depot somewhere? Customs? On which side of the border, even?? It doesn't help that there's no way to actually contact USPS to inquire with a human being; their phone system is completely automated for tracking inquiries.

What's the point of paying more than double for shipping something if it doesn't arrive any sooner and the tracking info is anything but informative?

[kaiser]

thats why i ship ups 9 times out of 10, sure it costs more, but it gets there when they say it will.
plus the tracking is actually accurate.

the only time i ship usps is when the buyer wants/begs for extra cheap shipping. don't come crying to me when it takes forever or gets lost.

[Coelacanth]

thats why i ship ups 9 times out of 10, sure it costs more, but it gets there when they say it will.
plus the tracking is actually accurate.

the only time i ship usps is when the buyer wants/begs for extra cheap shipping. don't come crying to me when it takes forever or gets lost.

There's a problem US shippers might be unaware of when shipping via UPS to Canada; we recipients get stung by UPS's B.S. brokerage fees (I believe there are 3 in all) for a minimum of $19. That might not matter much for a big-ticket item, but trust me, you do *not* enjoy having to pay $19 more for something worth $30 or so after paying UPS's already-high shipping cost.

[Coelacanth]

thats why i ship ups 9 times out of 10, sure it costs more, but it gets there when they say it will.
plus the tracking is actually accurate.

the only time i ship usps is when the buyer wants/begs for extra cheap shipping. don't come crying to me when it takes forever or gets lost.

And regarding my previous post, the point is that I prefer cheap shipping and patiently waiting 2 to 3 weeks, than paying more than double for supposedly more expedient shipping--and ending up waiting just as long or longer ANYWAY.

[LTO_Dave]

I've noticed that the USPS tracking numbers through ebay have been totally innacurate for the past few items I've purchased.

When I check the tracking status through ebay, it shows that either there's no record of the item or that it hasn't been shipped yet. But when I check it through the USPS website, it's been in transit for a few days and will be here in a day or two.

[kaiser]

I've noticed that the USPS tracking numbers through ebay have been totally innacurate for the past few items I've purchased.

When I check the tracking status through ebay, it shows that either there's no record of the item or that it hasn't been shipped yet. But when I check it through the USPS website, it's been in transit for a few days and will be here in a day or two.

i've noticed that too, tracking says it will show up in a few days, yet i already have it.

back to previous comment, i only ship ups domestic, for international usps, unfortunatley, is the only smart way to go.

[klavy69]

Sounds like you have the same issues I have around my area. I can drop a letter in the mail to go next town over at about 4 miles but it has to travel to the distribution center first since they 'streamlined' the postal service awhile back. The distribution center for me is DesMoines IA which is about 5 hours away. So my letter or package travels about 14 hours round trip to go 4 miles. We all know the post office is only an 8 hour day so there is 2 days if no hiccups occur. If they didn't have these kind of delays we would be paying UPS prices for the extra personel and care that UPS delivers. It sucks but its better than the pony express
Todd

[SRTracer121]

its funny everyone has problems with usps. tracking almost always works for me (the exception being a recent amazon order) stuff gets here on time and arives at my byers house on time when i ship, even overseas. the local PO is great too, way out in the sticks and rarely a line. i know all the desk employees by name and go out of my way to go through them instead of through pp or the usps website as the guys behind the counter make commission even if it costs me a buck more.

that said the usps website SUCKS!!!!! and the phone service is about as effective as a bunch of idiotic college kids trying to shut down wall street

i will not use ups, im comfortable with usps and since i do a fair amount of canahdialand deals i have even less reason to use them (yes i was aware of the surcharges to them canahdias).

[Seabass]

I am not sure what the deal is right now. So far in the last two weeks two packages have been lost which were sent to me. In fact one was sent from a destination about 45 mins from the house. I have a thrid that was sent a week ago and should have arrived by now as well. Not feeling too good about the USPS right now. I have never had these problems until recently.

Jake

[SRTracer121]

wonder if its the fact that usps is in the red 10 billion or some insane figure like that

[huminski]

Yeah guys I noticed the same thing with ebay a while back, you click on the tracking link in ebay and get one answer, then go to usps.com with the tracking number and get more up to date results.

Looks like my item will get here tomorrow after all, so it only took 4 days (3 if you count the veterans day holiday) to go less than 60 miles. And yes, it got routed thru the Philly sorting center which is why there was the delay.

Thanks everyone for feeling my pain with me.

[EvolutionRevolution]

To offset all the negative news, I just had an Ebay item take just 4 days from the US to the Netherlands by regular Air Mail Fastest ever.

[Coelacanth]

To offset all the negative news, I just had an Ebay item take just 4 days from the US to the Netherlands by regular Air Mail Fastest ever.

Same here, the fastest thing that ever arrived here from USA was a vintage snare drum shipped good ol' plain Jane USPS--back then (about 3 years ago) it was a very cheap $20 or so shipping cost. I think I won the auction on a weekend and the drum arrived in less than 3 business days!

I'm not a believer in so-called "Priority Post" these days--at least for small-ticket items. You pay double or triple the cost and chances are it arrives *slower* than with First Class Air, the tracking info is useless and unless the package is delivered, doesn't tell you a damn thing about where it is other than the package was picked up, and there's no way to call and talk to a human being.

[Lowgear]

Sometimes it really feels like a crap shoot.

How about UPS not delivering small packages but handing them off to the post office to deliver. Actually I think DHL does it as well. I've found that it tacks on an extra day to the delivery time.