USPS Question (OT)

[buymycards]

The Feb 26th date is the date that he printed the shipping label and the shipping info was then transmitted to the Post Office.

The March 3rd date is the day that he actually dropped off the package at the Post Office. Things have been very slow lately because of plant closings, and the tracking system is pretty bad. I would guess that you will have it on Monday or Tuesday.

[Fred]

I've had stuff indicate it's supposed to show up on a certain date and it showed up two weeks late. This was within the last couple of months. I think I've only had a couple of packages not show up out of hundreds over the past several years.

I bet it shows up soon.

[KCRfan1]

I've had this happen before, and it can make you anxious. Eventually my card arrived, after about two weeks ( seemed like two years ). It got misrouted, and given how much mail the postal service handles I am surprised they have as few errors as they do. Easy for me to say, hard for you to do, but be patient and give it more time.

[swarmee]

was sitting in a post office in Washington for a week as well according to the lack of tracking updates. I finally got it yesterday. Sometimes things don't get scanned, but lately it seems like there are a lot of Newmans out there not actually delivering/transferring the mail or scanning it along the way.

Did you have him send it Priority Mail with insurance? If so, it should NOT have taken this long. And if you're buying a card for $1000 but not spending $15 to mail it Priority or Express, you're doing it wrong.

[kailes2872]

Originally Posted by swarmee

was sitting in a post office in Washington for a week as well according to the lack of tracking updates. I finally got it yesterday. Sometimes things don't get scanned, but lately it seems like there are a lot of Newmans out there not actually delivering/transferring the mail or scanning it along the way.

Did you have him send it Priority Mail with insurance? If so, it should NOT have taken this long. And if you're buying a card for $1000 but not spending $15 to mail it Priority or Express, you're doing it wrong.

Thanks - negotiated it (a
Lot of 55's in EX less Clemente, Killebrew, Banks, Aaron Kaline, Mathews, and Williams) for $985 delivered. On the tracking it said priority insured. But I did not explicitly state that.

[buymycards]

All Priority Mail now includes $50 of insurance at no additional charge. That is why your receipt says Priority Insured.

[trdcrdkid]

I've had a couple of B/S/T transactions on this board recently where the package disappeared from tracking for up to a week or more, causing some mild panic, but eventually showed up. One of these was the transaction described by LukeLyon, where I was the recipient. I also had an item bought on eBay that hadn't shown up after two weeks, so I sent a message to the seller asking when they had sent it. In their reply, they said they've had numerous problems with the USPS recently, with packages sometimes taking several weeks to be delivered, but they've had very few things totally lost. Then that package showed up in my mailbox the next day. So as others have said here, USPS tracking can be unreliable; give it a little more time, and your package will probably show up.

[qed2190]

I have had several packages take ten days or more to be delivered especially when the Kent PO in WA is involved.

[D. Bergin]

I had a few packages recently that were picked up by the mailman on a certain day and took a bit longer then usual to get where they were going. When I checked on them they showed no scans in the system accept for the fact I printed the label out. Not even an acceptance scan. Then mysteriously on the day they were finally delivered, all the scans along the way populated into the system.

It was a little weird, but they got where they were going.

[earlywynnfan]

As we speak I'm waiting for a small package from CA. It got to the Cleveland facility on Feb 28, and sat there until yesterday. Hopefully I'll get it early this week.

[mybuddyinc]

Being that I work evenings, I am home when my mail comes. I'm usually sitting at my desk, which is 20 feet from front door. Just the other day, the mail came, and I forgot I was expecting a fairly big item (~$500). No knock, just my rusty mail box opening and closing. I while later I go get mail, and there was the priority tracked package, with signature required !!!! I checked the tracking number a few days later, and the tracking still said "out for delivery."


I have come to the conclusion that PO employees, especially delivery, hate tracking. I mean, for goodness sake, they have to wear a 4 oz. scanner on their hip (oh my !!), then they have to reach for it (oh dear !!), and then, if that weren't enough, they have to press a little button to scan it (gracious !!!).



................ just pure laziness

[buymycards]

Scott, I don't appreciate you putting all postal employees in the same category, as lazy and don't care, when 1 employee missed 1 scan. I would love to get you out on a route when it is 10 below zero so you can walk 8-10 miles and deliver to 600 homes. Then we could see how scans you missed.

Rick

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

As we speak I'm waiting for a small package from CA. It got to the Cleveland facility on Feb 28, and sat there until yesterday. Hopefully I'll get it early this week.

Lucky you! My item left the sorting facility (about 15 miles from my home) on March 7, and it STILL isn't here.

[buymycards]

Hi Kevin, I'm glad your package arrived. One of the problems with people printing their own postage is that it can really throw off the expectations. Your guy printed the label on the 26th, so the label showed an expected delivery date of the 28th. The problem is that he didn't take the package to the Post Office until the 3rd, so there is already a 5 day delay.

So, the expected delivery date should have been the 6th or 7th, but it looks like you didn't receive it until the 11th, so is still pretty bad service.

I'm glad it worked out.

Rick

[lharri3600]

Originally Posted by buymycards

The Feb 26th date is the date that he printed the shipping label and the shipping info was then transmitted to the Post Office.

The March 3rd date is the day that he actually dropped off the package at the Post Office. Things have been very slow lately because of plant closings, and the tracking system is pretty bad. I would guess that you will have it on Monday or Tuesday.

that's the ticket Rick

[Jewish-collector]

He should have sent it registered. Never a problem with registered mail.

[autograf]

The mail, like Seinfeld says about fruit, is a gamble.........

All the carriers have issues...I'm a 30 year UPS employee, owned a UPS Store and ship stuff primarily by the USPS since the cost/size fits better but also UPS and the occasional FedEx. All are pretty good overall. There are exceptions though.

At UPS, we deliver about 15 million packages a day in the US. If only 1% has a problem, there's 150,000 packages in limbo with 300,000 customers upset. The USPS has made huge strides in the last 10 years to improve their service--helped much by FedEx and UPS who carry most, if not all, their Priority and Express mail from city to city. They handle pickup and delivery, we handle the in-between. And the normal passenger airlines as well.

One way where the USPS can improve is with more intermediate scanning. It seems like they only scan many of the packages when it's received in the post office and then upon delivery. Some get some intermediate scanning, so I'm not sure about that. I do know that my local post office is getting new equipment all the time and just got a new printer which prints both the tracking labels now as well as the postage strips, so they're working hard.

Congrats to Kevin on those 1955's. Glad they made it. You're a good guy as we've dealt before.....now I have to get to work on my 1955 set since my 1956 is just about finished......

[Leon]

I just got back from our fairly large and very busy local Post Office. They said they got new software today and had 2 hours to learn 60 screens. It was a real treat in there today.

[buymycards]

Hi Guys,

Tom, I agree 100% with what you said.

Leon, my PO is going live with the new software next Wed. 2 hours of online training this week, and then open the window at 9 on Wed. Should be quite the mess.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by buymycards

Hi Guys,

Tom, I agree 100% with what you said.

Leon, my PO is going live with the new software next Wed. 2 hours of online training this week, and then open the window at 9 on Wed. Should be quite the mess.

Went back again yesterday. The fastest lady in there was probably less than half as fast as before. No doubt it will speed up with time but the training, or lack of, should earn someone a demerit.