USPS problem updated
 

Priority mail accepted 4/5/21, 12:57 pm, arrived at regional Ft Myers fl 5:20 pm. 4/5/21, departed regional Ft Myer 10:07 pm. 4/5/21,
Arrived Ybor City Dist center 4/6/21 2:10 am. In transit arriving late 4/10/21. That’s it went to po, supervisor says it is moving. Can’t see that in tracking today April 17, still not delivered. What now? Thanks in advance. Joe. Opened a case with po in by email last week. Received email today case resolved. Ha!!!! Ha !!! Your package is lost or stolen. Now have to jump thru hoops to to get insurance claim approved. And my customer does not get his merchandise. Mailed 2 packages last week 1st class, no insurance From Fl to Ca arrived in 2 days, Fl to Il. 5 days. Seems priority mail is part of the problem. Not happy. Joe

Sadly this is pretty normal. Have you signed up for text and email alerts? Weirdly that helps usually.

A few weeks ago, I had something that showed In Transit Arriving Late for over 3 weeks. Then one day, it magically arrived at a distribution center near me and was delivered a few days later. If you wait, it will probably show up eventually.

Thanks guys.

I hate to rain on your parade, but...

I have been a huge fan of the USPS...until this past year. As examples, they delivered Christmas cards (which we sent on December 10) of ours to the Atlanta area on February 5 and to the Chicago area on March 10. They "lost" a request for death certificates I sent to the Cook County Vital Records Office (for genealogical purposes) on January 14. On March 14 I sent a duplicate request via Registered Mail so I could track its travels beginning-to-end. It made it to the destination Post Office and completely fell off the radar even though the Cook County Vital Records Office address is a Post Office box! I sent all kinds of nastygrams (the response to one of which was that the issued was "resolved," which in USPS-speak means "we can't find what you sent.")

Finally, last week the check I sent with the first request was deposited and three days later I had my documents. I have no idea where the second set of requests is nor do I care. I stopped payment on the second check.

Bottom line is - right now service by the USPS is generally shite! :mad:

Be glad all you had were delays and the loss of valueless/easily replaceable ephemera. You came out of it extremely fortunate.

This package was going less than 100 miles, all in Georgia. I finally received the package March 6th or 7th

Mar 3, 2021
4:39am
ARRIVE USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30369
Mar 3, 2021
12:47am
ARRIVE USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30369
Mar 3, 2021
12:04am
DEPART USPS FACILITY
NORTH METRO, GA 30026
Mar 2, 2021
11:34pm
DEPART USPS FACILITY
NORTH METRO, GA 30026
Mar 2, 2021
9:09am
ARRIVE USPS FACILITY
NORTH METRO, GA 30026
Mar 2, 2021
8:05am
DEPART USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30354
Mar 2, 2021
7:10am
DEPART USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30354
Mar 2, 2021
5:11am
ARRIVE USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30369
Mar 2, 2021
3:16am
ARRIVE USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30354
Mar 2, 2021
2:47am
DEPART USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30320
Mar 2, 2021
2:24am
DEPART USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30320
Feb 28, 2021
10:14am
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30320
Feb 27, 2021
4:50am
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
ATLANTA, GA 30304
Feb 26, 2021
3:00pm
DEPART POST OFFICE
OAKWOOD, GA 30566
Feb 26, 2021
12:24pm
PICKED UP
OAKWOOD, GA 30566
Feb 25, 2021
8:39am
PRE-SHIPMENT INFO SENT USPS AWAITS ITEM
OAKWOOD, GA 30566
Feb 25, 2021
8:37am
SHIPPING LBL CREATED USPS AWAITS ITEM
OAKWOOD, GA 30566
Feb 25, 2021
5:37am
Tracking number provided

I will be sending a package to California from Florida next week. Not sure what will happen. My original post package was mailed from Florida to Mo, still not resolved not delivered. 13 days.

I overnighted a card on Friday at 3:19 pm, just before the deadline, guaranteed noon delivery to NY on Saturday, arrived at 12:44. I also had an overnight that took well over a week last month. So at this point hit or miss.

April 17, 2021
In Transit, Arriving Late
Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.
April 13, 2021, 6:12 am
Departed USPS Regional Origin Facility
LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 13, 2021, 6:10 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 13, 2021, 4:55 am
Accepted at USPS Origin Facility
LOS ANGELES, CA 90025
April 12, 2021, 4:25 pm
Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
LOS ANGELES, CA 90025

Sounds like a ringing endorsement. Think they'd use this as their advertising tag line?

I agree it's not the best service right now, but it seems like it is the current reality. Overall, delivery has been much better for me than it was in December and January when most things were taking several weeks to get to me. Over the past few months, almost everything has been on time (or within a day of original expected delivery date). However, there have been one or two packages that have taken significantly longer, but so far, they have all eventually shown up.

......
 

USPS tracking has gone off the rails!

i had a package from Alabama to Ohio go through Reno, NV before finally arriving in Ohio. Crazy stuff!!

I had something rerouted to Jakarta! Took six months to finally get here.

The average to slightly below average "norm" of service that the USPS has had for at least the previous decade dipped to new lows last year, and that is what you are continuing to see now in 2021. All of these stories are very familiar. I've paid a lot extra for Priority insured packages that took longer to get where they were going than First Class. Over the 2020 holidays, multiple eBay purchases just fell off the radar for days or weeks at a time, before eventually all magically showing up. The local postal workers in NC (Triad region) will tell you they are sorely understaffed, and cannot keep new hires. I think in terms of personnel, they have union problems. I'm not sure how to put a point on it, but I've always felt that no postal worker, even the nice ones, truly gave a damn about anything because in their situation they don't have to. Their continued employment is not based at all on customer satisfaction.

Covid of course took even more wind out of their sails; the regional facility 30 miles down the road here in Greensboro I think even shut down for a few days in December.

It's not a good situation, but if you want to mail run of the mill cards without spending a fortune, it's your only choice as it's always been. I know it's a painful answer right now, but the old "most things do get there eventually" is basically true, from what I can tell. If I have to mail a card over $2-300, I will usually just suck it up and pay FedEx a lot more to get it there quicker with (much) better tracking. I don't sell a ton anymore, and peace of mind is more valuable to me than it used to be.

USPS problem info in above posts
 

Opened a case by email last week. Received an email today from Po. Resolved your case ha !!! Ha !!! Your package is either lost or stolen. So, now have to try to get insurance case approved. Mailed 2 packages last week 1st class no insurance. California 2 days, Ill. 5 days.. seems priority mail is one of the problems. Not happy. Joe

Good luck with that. I haven't had to deal with it in many years, but rumor would have it you need something close to forensic evidence on your package and exactly what was inside it and what happened to it in order to get a USPS insurance payout. I know that I have gotten such a payout in the not so-recent past, but I don't remember the details. The system is so broken with the USPS. I don't know how you can take people's money for insurance and not ask the first question about what you are insuring, but then refuse to pay out. But apparently that happens all the time.

I recently filed a claim for a priority package.

got approved in 1 day, had the check 4 days later.

all I did was attach a copy of the invoice to the claim.

easy and surprisingly quick.

That's great to hear!

I was happy. heard from others that they were having a hard time with the claims being rejected.

as long as you give them the info they want they are quick to pay.

26 days delivered today nice priority mail. 3 emails from po today. Tracking was useless still in transit.

Good news. These days, not much more you can do other than wait and hope for the best.

The USPS must be very pleased. They have a new excuse for terrible service. A gas shortage!

usps
 

Yes, and with 200,000 vehicles, it could turn out to be a big problem.

I was rather thinking the same thing. Why on earth would USPS want to incur higher fuel expenses and (likely) spend additional time dealing with gas shortages?

Seems like USPS would be very displeased with this.

USPS-gotta love ‘em
 

Tracking details
USPS tracking #9400108205496694649963
May 13, 2021
9:19am
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
STAMFORD, CT 06910
May 13, 2021
12:48am
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
UNKNOWN, 01153
May 10, 2021
11:11pm
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
SAN JOSE, CA 95101
May 10, 2021
9:56pm
ORIGIN ACCEPTANCE
SALINAS, CA 93912
May 10, 2021
5:55pm
SHIPMENT RECEIVED ACCEPTANCE PENDING
SALINAS, CA 93907
May 7, 2021
7:56pm
SHIPPING LBL CREATED USPS AWAITS ITEM
SALINAS, CA 93912
May 7, 2021
11:15pm
PRE-SHIPMENT INFO SENT USPS AWAITS ITEM
SALINAS, CA 93912
May 7, 2021
7:56pm
Tracking number provided

From San Jose to Ct...3000 miles...with the destination being Sacramento!

Yikes! If that package could talk.

I once had a guy overnight fish to me (pet fish, they die if not received the next day) and he was an hour away, one city over. Anyways they sent the package to Louisville Kentucky instead and well RIP fish


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

after about of year of buying and selling and sending via USPS, a bad experience has finally caught up to me.

dropped a package off at USPS, registered priority on May 21st. this was an SGC submission. The clerk took the package stamped it about 100x (which protects it from being opened unknowingly). all seemed normal. asked me how much the package was worth. I told him that I did not need insurance. He said " well we need still need to know what is in it ". this is where i made a mistake. I told him "$2500". I was never asked this question before, not sure why I told him. the reason I got a CIS insurance policy was so i did not have to tell the clerks the value of the package. Anyway, the only scan I have after 6 days is "USPS in possession of item", the initial scan by the clerk. Any day I check the tracking, I get a generic "in transit, arriving late". it has not been scanned at all. I am pretty sure the guy stole it. even if a package is slow, it should have been scanned "left the post office" and should have arrived at the main NYC hub.

the post office where i dropped it is useless. they tell me, they can't do anything because it is in transit. and they give me nonsensical reasons for why it was never scanned. I called the 1-800 number, and they have been helpful opening a case, but it has not gone anywhere so far. the people i have spoken with both said that something is wrong. they escalated some sort of inspection. who knows what CIS pays. i will be out a bunch of raw cards that took me forever to find in a nice gradable condition.

this has soured me on collecting.

It sounds like it was shipped registered mail. If so, it is very possible it has not moved from the initial post office. It is a very slow process and I have had packages stay in one location for more than a week. Did he give you a registered mail receipt? If so, you are likely fine and it will move along the USPS process. Registered mail is the only one they stamp like you described and it does require a declared value. Hope this helps. I would be very surprised if it is lost or stolen. The clerk who shipped it has to sign as responsible agent and the registered packages are held on one location. The Priority Mail aspect means nothing on registered mail. It is also signed for at each location along the way. It is the safest way to ship valuable packages among all the carriers. I once had one I got worried about. It took almost 3 weeks to get to the west coast from NC but it eventually made it safely. One thing for sure, the clerk did not steal them. Could have put the package in the wrong location and it has not been noticed yet but not stolen by him. Talk to the local postmaster and inform him it was registered mail. They will find it or the declared value will be honored. Will $2500 cover the value of the raw cards?

Go down and talk to the Postmaster in person, they will be able to provide internal records of the package's movement.

yes, I shipped via Registered Mail, and I have the receipt. your comment gives me some hope. if it does end up lost, I do have private insurance that will the loss, probably at a haircut for raw cards. But no one can compensate me for the time and effort it took to find the cards.

It will get there, Registered Mail is 99.9999% dependable.

Agreed. May take a few weeks though.

Has anyone here ever had to collect on a lost Registered Mail package? If fo, do they automatically pay you the amount that it was insured for or do you additionally have to prove what the value of the item was?

Never had a registered mail package lost so no claims filed but I would guess you still have to provide proof of the value of the package to collect. Always keep a picture of the item and proof of value just in case but the chances of them losing a registered package is very low.

Registered
 

Always insist on talking to the Postmaster. Not the clerks, not the supervisor. Talk to the Postmaster in person.

Well, I guess cooler heads prevail... the package is moving, so hopefully will get to SGC and get logged without a problem. Good thing that I did not take my irrational frustration out on the good people at USPS.

one thing I learned is that different POs operate on completely different timelines. I had sent my last few registered mailings out from a small PO in the burbs, so I was used to fast movement and consistent updates. Maybe it is a different story in cities

Priority Mail seems like it's moving slower than first class for me lately.

Same for me

Registered Mail....pony express!
 

Check this out:


Your item arrived at our USPS facility in BOSTON, MA 02205 on June 4, 2021 at 4:15 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

May 28, 2021, 6:08 pm
Departed USPS Facility
JAMAICA, NY 11430


May 25, 2021, 3:47 pm
USPS in possession of item
WITTENBERG, WI 54499

So......I've been waiting for a high value item now for 11 days.........ughhhhh

Let's hope it actually reaches Vermont! ugh!

Mike

Registered Mail is the safest way of shipping via USPS, as each employee has to sign for the package whenever it changes hands. Not only can they track its movements, but they know each employee who has handled it. Also, Registered packages are always held under lock and key.

I once had a very valuable Registered shipment never show up. I had to make three different calls to finally reach an employee who wasn't too lazy to do their job and the package was located within the hour. For no reason whatsoever, it had been sitting undelivered in a locked cage in Chicago for three weeks. Meanwhile, the recipient was freaking out and some of that was wearing off on me. I hate the USPS.