USPS Anxiety

[BonyMontana]

Good Day Everyone!

Anyone experiencing issues with their package arriving on-time via usps? I have 2 orders with the status "In Transit, Arriving Late"
I never had anything shipped during/around holiday seasons so maybe that is the case. Just wanted to know if anyone ever experienced this. My apologies in advance if this is unrelated but I need a peace of mind

[Jolieo]

Yes I have a package arriving late, my daughter had 2. It is a combination of holidays and the new rules at the PO, with the new director

[D.McDutchface]

In the past couple of weeks I've usually gotten USPS packages before their first estimated date of delivery (just today for instance I received Ombre Leather, which first estimates said wouldn't be here until come Friday). I have mostly positive experiences when shippers choose USPS, but it is still the busiest season of the year and, like Jolieo says, the new postmaster general made it a lot harder for postal workers to do their jobs. However, once the package is in the system, you should be good!

[Bonnette]

I've never known USPS to be as inefficient and error-prone as they are now. They have shipped four of my orders to the wrong state this week, alone - including a Priority package. Two parcels have not been scanned at all past the point of origin. I thought things would get better after the election, but no.

[hednic]

I've never known USPS to be as inefficient and error-prone as they are now.

Agree.

[G_Baldini]

Thats funny, I thought stuff was going to get WORSE after the election hahaha

[strifeknot]

Two weeks ago, I sent ten packages containing around $1000 worth of fragrance. They all showed as unshipped until today. The last few orders from Luckyscent sent to me via Priority Mail have taken over two weeks to arrive.

I don't blame the employees at USPS. They're doing the best they can with limited staff, a limited budget, and management that is deliberately sabotaging the agency.

[BonyMontana]

Sorry that some of you are experiencing issues receiving your packages on time. I guess I will just wait it out and hope for the best.

Sent from my SM-N976U using Tapatalk

[Bill Roberts]

Definitely much worse performance from USPS. I had a sent letter lost without a trace, and in incoming tracked package arrive at my local post office, saying scheduled delivery that Friday, but sitting a week and the whole time still giving that now-passed delivery date yet also stating "On Time" or some equivalent expression. I had never seen such. Plus, an incoming First Class that took about 2 weeks.

[The Bark]

They have been absolutely dreadful as of late with the trifecta of budget issues, election issues, and holiday online shopping due to COVID. Package last week was shipped priority from NJ to OH. Ended up in FL before being re-routed. Most of the time, they're not bad - but when they're bad, they're BAD.

[AlphaFrank75]

I have a package that left Boston on Nov. 30 heading to NJ. That's normally a three day delivery that has taken nine days so far. That seems a bit excessive considering it's only 300 miles from Boston to my house. Oh well, this will soon be forgotten once all deliveries have been made.

[Bonnette]

They pulled a new one on me yesterday. They actually delivered a package to my home, and then sent a notice saying that the parcel was undeliverable because "the business was closed."

Companies contractually aligned with the USPS must be inundated with complaints about them. I actually breathe a sigh of relief when something's been shipped via UPS or FedEx, just the opposite of my reaction in the past.

[speckmann0706]

In the beginning of the pandemic big time delays, recently with the holidays coming up have had a few packages arrive a lot later than expected.

[D.McDutchface]

I've never known USPS to be as inefficient and error-prone as they are now. They have shipped four of my orders to the wrong state this week, alone - including a Priority package. Two parcels have not been scanned at all past the point of origin. I thought things would get better after the election, but no.

There is no reason to believe things will get better until at least the inauguration in January. There is no incentive for the current PmG to roll back his changes.

[The Cologne Cabinet]

I used to work for FedEx so I’ve seen this song and dance many times. USPS is notoriously bad at the holidays already and this year should be even worse. They cut a lot of resources this year as they are functionally bankrupt. The other main issue is they have no accountability to delivering your package “on time.” Service commitments mean nothing and that’s just the way it is. I would say if your package is moving within your state then USPS is fine as they will just throw it in a truck. As soon as it needs to be flown on an airplane somewhere prepare to be disappointed. Spend the extra money and use FedEx or UPS as they have much better tracking and logistics in place.

[Bonnette]

Spend the extra money and use FedEx or UPS as they have much better tracking and logistics in place.

I would gladly do that, but it's not usually up to the customer - especially with companies like Amazon, Etsy and eBay. The onus shouldn't be on private sellers to offer a variety of carrier options. Amazon dumped FedEx, and the customer doesn't get to choose between the USPS and UPS, it's all decided by algorithms.

[naylor]

Two weeks ago, I sent ten packages containing around $1000 worth of fragrance. They all showed as unshipped until today. The last few orders from Luckyscent sent to me via Priority Mail have taken over two weeks to arrive.

I don't blame the employees at USPS. They're doing the best they can with limited staff, a limited budget, and management that is deliberately sabotaging the agency.

Yeah, same kind of issues here. It's not just the slow-down of delivering packages ... the bigger problem for me has been tracking info never updating, or taking a week or more to even show as package accepted. As a seller, this is difficult to deal with, since sellers make the assumption that you never gave their package to USPS if the tracking never updates to reflect that.

[hanginglimbs]

I dropped off 4 packages in the bin on Saturday. Two finally showed up as scanned yesterday morning. Two are still showing up as "pre-shipment".

I also dropped one package in the bin on Dec 1st to go from CT to PA. It didn't even leave CT until Dec 6th and finally made it to PA yesterday, though still hasn't been delivered.

[checkmate]

I've never known USPS to be as inefficient and error-prone as they are now. They have shipped four of my orders to the wrong state this week, alone - including a Priority package. Two parcels have not been scanned at all past the point of origin. I thought things would get better after the election, but no.

Same here...

With that said, I have a friend who works for the postal service and with social distancing implemented in sorting areas behind the scenes, they’re not nearly as efficient. He said that the process is always changing and nothing seems to be working as well as everyone would like, not to mention budget cuts...

[Bonnette]

I just had an eye-opening conversation with a postal carrier. Even if the situation isn't quite the same in other locations, and allowing for an element of frustration-induced exaggeration, what she said made sense and might have country-wide application.

Out on a walk, I asked a passing delivery person if things had eased up any at the post office, now that the ballot crisis has passed. She said absolutely not, it's worse than ever, because so many regulars have quit and their positions were either eliminated, or filled by rotating temporary workers with no affiliation at all to the post office, and no prior training. She, herself, is contracted to a company who basically put her behind the wheel of a USPS truck and told her to do the best she can. She is not from the area and is unfamiliar with the streets, so she relies on GPS. Managerial positions have suffered the same fate. I hope there will soon be a new Postmaster General, and if so, that he or she can begin to turn things around. D.McDutchface said something similar in a post earlier in the thread.

[strifeknot]

Based on decisions and appointments made thus far by the incoming administration, I wouldn't expect the situation to improve next year.

[ChuckW]

I just had an eye-opening conversation with a postal carrier. Even if the situation isn't quite the same in other locations, and allowing for an element of frustration-induced exaggeration, what she said made sense and might have country-wide application.

Out on a walk, I asked a passing delivery person if things had eased up any at the post office, now that the ballot crisis has passed. She said absolutely not, it's worse than ever, because so many regulars have quit and their positions were either eliminated, or filled by rotating temporary workers with no affiliation at all to the post office, and no prior training. She, herself, is contracted to a company who basically put her behind the wheel of a USPS truck and told her to do the best she can. She is not from the area and is unfamiliar with the streets, so she relies on GPS. Managerial positions have suffered the same fate. I hope there will soon be a new Postmaster General, and if so, that he or she can begin to turn things around. D.McDutchface said something similar in a post earlier in the thread.

This explains a lot. My packages have been taking the grand tour lately. Overall, still decent considering.

[CT3]

Same here. My USPS packages seem to disappear lately. This last one took an extra 4-5 days. If I see something will be shipped USPS, I know I will be waiting a while.

[The Bark]

To be fair, just about every operation is, excuse my French, shitting the brick right now. FedEx is three days behind just getting updates on their website and e-commerce sites are telling people to expect an extra three days on top of that. I get coffee sent via UPS 2-day shop runner from Peet's and they're a full week behind fulfilling orders - and then shipped USPS (and not two days). By the time I get it, it'll be 2-3 weeks after it's roasted when I usually, e.g. up before Thanksgiving, received it two days from the day of roasting. Recent USPS packages aren't even showing up on Informed Delivery, but appear to be moving through the system. If you're getting stuff via Smart-Post or the equivalent, the transfer to the post office is taking a few extra days making an already long delivery that much longer (I've had one in the general vicinity awaiting transfer to USPS for going on three days now and was supposed to be delivered yesterday and won't make it today, either.)

People waiting to shop online at the last minute are going to be in for some extremely rude awakenings.

[scenting prey]

It’s the perfect storm between infectious disease and unprecedented e-commerce. Is there an infrastructure left that is not strained? Even before all this our post office routinely delivered our parcels to the “other” ethnic family in the neighborhood. Tried to gently remind them but gentle wasn’t necessary. They straight told me two they had a hard time telling us apart from one another. After that I purchased paid annual accounts with both UPS and FedEx with options to upgrade out of USPS when available.

[ChuckW]

To be fair, just about every operation is, excuse my French, shitting the brick right now. FedEx is three days behind just getting updates on their website and e-commerce sites are telling people to expect an extra three days on top of that. I get coffee sent via UPS 2-day shop runner from Peet's and they're a full week behind fulfilling orders - and then shipped USPS (and not two days). By the time I get it, it'll be 2-3 weeks after it's roasted when I usually, e.g. up before Thanksgiving, received it two days from the day of roasting. Recent USPS packages aren't even showing up on Informed Delivery, but appear to be moving through the system. If you're getting stuff via Smart-Post or the equivalent, the transfer to the post office is taking a few extra days making an already long delivery that much longer (I've had one in the general vicinity awaiting transfer to USPS for going on three days now and was supposed to be delivered yesterday and won't make it today, either.)

People waiting to shop online at the last minute are going to be in for some extremely rude awakenings.

Can you imagine how long a shipment from Fragrancenet would take now? A month?

[Bonnette]

To be fair, just about every operation is, excuse my French, shitting the brick right now. FedEx is three days behind just getting updates on their website and e-commerce sites are telling people to expect an extra three days on top of that. I get coffee sent via UPS 2-day shop runner from Peet's and they're a full week behind fulfilling orders - and then shipped USPS (and not two days). By the time I get it, it'll be 2-3 weeks after it's roasted when I usually, e.g. up before Thanksgiving, received it two days from the day of roasting. Recent USPS packages aren't even showing up on Informed Delivery, but appear to be moving through the system. If you're getting stuff via Smart-Post or the equivalent, the transfer to the post office is taking a few extra days making an already long delivery that much longer (I've had one in the general vicinity awaiting transfer to USPS for going on three days now and was supposed to be delivered yesterday and won't make it today, either.)

People waiting to shop online at the last minute are going to be in for some extremely rude awakenings.

It's almost surreal. I hear you about the coffee, we buy ours from a small company in New Mexico and it takes 2 weeks to get here, one state away.

Amazon ought to suspend its Prime fee for customers who only use it for shipping perks, since guaranteed 2-day delivery is a joke.

Even before all this our post office routinely delivered our parcels to the “other” ethnic family in the neighborhood. Tried to gently remind them but gentle wasn’t necessary. They straight told me two they had a hard time telling us apart from one another. After that I purchased paid annual accounts with both UPS and FedEx with options to upgrade out of USPS when available.

Wow. That is absolutely awful.

[Cook.bot]

before all this our post office routinely delivered our parcels to the “other” ethnic family in the neighborhood. Tried to gently remind them but gentle wasn’t necessary. They straight told me two they had a hard time telling us apart from one another.

Huh? They go by address, not by the way the resident looks, right? I don't understand how this could even happen.

[myhaiku]

I've been hearing through businesses that their packages aren't being scanned in on acceptance and disappearing, never showing up at the destination point. One company had 80% of their shipments end up missing in one day (the log shows the employee gave it to USPS but it was not scanned in on acceptance with USPS). USPS went to their facility to investigate and they basically said there's nothing they can do about it other than file the insurance claim (requiring customers to participate in the claim that they didn't receive their items). Ufdah!

[The Bark]

A couple of packages sent via FedEx were finally picked up and supposed to be delivered tomorrow. They were about 3-5 days late picking them up. The one waiting transfer from UPS to USPS that was supposed to be delivered on the 9th is still in limbo with no update other than it was awaiting transfer to USPS on the 8th. My coffee? Still not picked up almost two days later (Peet's said it would ship Wednesday at the latest.) Alas, creating a shipping label is NOT "shipping." I wish these e-commerce sites would stop notifying your items have shipped when they haven't.