USPS - seriously?

[Jennings]

I rarely gripe about the USPS, simply because 99% of the time they do a marvelous job of delivering almost anything, anywhere, and at a fairly reasonable price by world standards.

But seriously guys. A small padded Priority Mail (sic) envelope was mailed to me in southern Virginia from Allentown, Pennsylvania (497 miles STRAIGHT down Interstate 81) on 4 September. Since it left Allentown, it's made its way to Secaucus, NJ (the opposite direction), then back to Breinigsville, PA (about 5 miles from Allentown). From there it went to Forest Park, Georgia (Atlanta), which is six hours the OTHER way from me. It was scanned there on 8 September. It's now 11 September, and the package is still six hours away in the wrong direction.

These guys wonder why they're losing billions every quarter?

[niart17]

Not necessarily saying in THIS case but in some cases it's cheaper to bulk send stuff to a few points in a chain then it is to break it down to smaller groups going to more direct points. Again, your case seems to be pretty extreme so it's probably a very dumb way for them to process it. But often sending a group out of the apparently faster route is actually cheaper then breaking it up more specifically. It's all about manpower and time.

Bill

[Jennings]

I know that's the case, but still, Allentown, Secaucus, Allentown, Atlanta, then it sits for 3 days? I've sent Priority Mail from here to my sister in Tucson that got there the next day. At least 8 days (if it gets here tomorrow) to go 497 miles is a little ridiculous. I'd hate to see something that wasn't "priority" mail...

Edited September 11, 2014 by Jennings

[dnl42]

Yeah, I paid extra for priority mail for a package last month and it I was rewarded with a similarly absurd transit time.

As for a hub system to route packages--sure--most airlines subject their cattle, er, passengers, to the same. But the clue that Jennings' package ran amuck was the multiple stops in Allentown. That silliness is never ever part of an optimal route using any basis.

[SonyKen]

Jennings,

I feel your pain, brother. I sent a package to DONG in Canada a couple of weeks ago and I encoutered the same thing. Now I live in north-western Alabama. On the USPS tracking, instead of going through a USPS hub like Memphis, St Louis, or Chicago, instead the package went south. Its first stop was in Birmingham, Alabama almost three hours south on my location. Instead of turning back north in Birmingham, the journey south continued. The package didn't turn back north until it reached the farthest southern most point in the United States in Miami, Florida. Which is 800+ miles south of my location. The package had already traveled 800 or so miles over three days before it finally did turn north to go to Canada.

Jeez! USPS! Who is charge of these things?

Best Regards,

Ken Bailey

(SonyKen)

[Spectre711]

Had some decals coming from Nebraska a few weeks back take a week and a half to get to NJ. There was tracking number and it followed a southern route to Alabama or something like that to Binghamton NY, then to Philadelphia right past me on the NJ Turnpike to Jersey City, to Harrison and then to my town of Sayreville. I also had another set of decals recently that zig-zagged and stalled a bit recently but don't remember all the details.

I've sent stuff to California in the past and if I hit it right the person received it the next day.

Jennings, you could try their customer service and provide the tracking and that might give it a bump start.

[TaiidanTomcat]

That is really peculiar, Jennings. No idea here man

[strikeeagle801]

I live in a small town, and ALL of our local mail here gets sent to Yakima (35 miles south of here) to be sorted before being sent back up here to get delivered. I know about the hubs and stuff, but you would figure it would eventually get cheaper to build a sorting system here in town then send everything down to Yakima and back.

Aaron

[Jennings]

They're shutting down many sorting centers and consolidating them. My local mail goes to Knoxville (2 hours away) if I send it next door.

[breadneck]

Tracking is also an aviation related term. Sometimes it tracks and sometimes it misses its target completely !

[alien]

Hijacking the topic a bit, but still complaining about the USPS, I am Canadian. I realize that postal rates had to go up in 2013, but some of the new rates are RIDICULOUS. I use to buy a model kit, before 2013, and in general I would pay shipping between $7 to $11 US for a kit that cost $10. Today I am quoted prices Like $17.95 for the same kit (that is the low price) but quite often I am quoted $29 - $36 (Priority mail). There is no way I am going to pay $46 for a $10 kit. But then again I am not sure if it is the USPS or the seller who is not willing to send the package by the cheapest method. I just checked the USPS site and found that a package weighing 1 pound with dimensions of 16" x 6" x 4" can be mailed to Canada by First Class International Mail for $10.95 or $9.50 if done on the web. Decals that weigh 8 ounces can be sent in a large envelope for $3.75. So what gives? Is there something I don't understand?

Also Paypal guarantees delivery or your money back, but E-bay allows sellers to ship by Priority International mail (around $30 for a small package) which in effect means the buyer is paying for the guarantee. I believe that E-bay also has this Global shipping which is in the range of $36 plus Import fees which are based on the final purchasing price. How come there is a import fee when the seller is exporting? All this is for the protection purchaser? How would you like to pay $50 for a $10 decal?

Maybe by living in Canada I don't understand the system.

Again sorry for hijacking the topic and forgive me for ranting.

Stephen :bandhead2:/>

[Jennings]

eBay is useless for that sort of thing. The USPS is bleeding money like there's no tomorrow because the US (or rather, useless) Congress won't allow them to do what they need to do to reign it in. They have to do what they can to keep from collapsing under their own weight. Be that as it may, the USPS is still far and away the best bang for the buck out there for shipping almost anything almost anywhere, and far more reliable than 98% of the world's other postal systems.

[Flankerman]

Going off at a slight tangent - but still mail related......

How do you guys address your mail ???

It has always fascinated me that when I send mail to friends in Russia, the address convention is.....

Country, County/Region, City, House/Flat, Person... e.g.

Russia,

Moscow Region,

Moscow,

Flat 12,

Andrei XXX

Here in the UK it is the complete opposite.... Person, House/Flat, City, County, Country.. e.g.

Ken Duffey Person,

House/Flat,

Malmesbury town

Wiltshire County

UK Country

There's usually a zip/post code in there as well.

The first style seems the most logical - as that is the route it is taking - it's going to the country first etc.

The UK style looks most odd - the person first... country last

But, as we invented the postal system, I suppose we're entitled to be different ??

Ken

[Jennings]

It's always been the UK style in the US. In the machine age, the machine reads from the bottom up.

Surprise!! My package arrived today. Only 8 days to go 497 miles :)/>

PS: Ken - British addresses have way too many lines in them. In America it's city/state/ZIP Code (Zone Improvement Plan, ca 1963), street address, name. And frighteningly few British postal addresses have actual house number addresses. We don't name our houses, we number them. Our 911 emergency response system is set up on a house number/street name/ZIP Code system. I've always heard the Brits name their airplanes and number their cars, and Americans name their cars and number their airplanes (and houses). :)

Edited September 12, 2014 by Jennings

[11bee]

It's always been the UK style in the US. In the machine age, the machine reads from the bottom up.

Surprise!! My package arrived today. Only 8 days to go 497 miles :)/>/>

PS: Ken - British addresses have way too many lines in them. In America it's city/state/ZIP Code (Zone Improvement Plan, ca 1963), street address, name. And frighteningly few British postal addresses have actual house number addresses. We don't name our houses, we number them. Our 911 emergency response system is set up on a house number/street name/ZIP Code system. I've always heard the Brits name their airplanes and number their cars, and Americans name their cars and number their airplanes (and houses). :)/>

When they start using automated drones to deliver our mail, it will just be your name and a 30 digit grid coordinate. But by then the USPS will have been long dead and we will be using Amazon's global delivery network for everything from letters to packages to pizzas.

[dnl42]

When they start using automated drones to deliver our mail, it will just be your name and a 30 digit grid coordinate. But by then the USPS will have been long dead and we will be using Amazon's global delivery network for everything from letters to packages to pizzas.

Letters? Bah! Email! Who knows, maybe some day we'll also learn how to routinely deliver larger documents.

Hopefully 3D-printer design files will handle some packages...

[kenlilly106]

Hijacking the topic a bit, but still complaining about the USPS, I am Canadian. I realize that postal rates had to go up in 2013, but some of the new rates are RIDICULOUS. I use to buy a model kit, before 2013, and in general I would pay shipping between $7 to $11 US for a kit that cost $10. Today I am quoted prices Like $17.95 for the same kit (that is the low price) but quite often I am quoted $29 - $36 (Priority mail). There is no way I am going to pay $46 for a $10 kit. But then again I am not sure if it is the USPS or the seller who is not willing to send the package by the cheapest method. I just checked the USPS site and found that a package weighing 1 pound with dimensions of 16" x 6" x 4" can be mailed to Canada by First Class International Mail for $10.95 or $9.50 if done on the web. Decals that weigh 8 ounces can be sent in a large envelope for $3.75. So what gives? Is there something I don't understand?

There is no tracking with First Class International, Priority Mail is the cheapest option with tracking for international packages.

As a seller using Paypal you're protected from a buyer claiming non-delivery by using a trackable shipping method.

Ken

[Jennings]

And having learned my lesson recently (a buyer whom I'm 99% certain actually got the model I sold, but claimed he didn't, but I hadn't kept the tracking number), I've started taking a photograph of the package with the postage on it before I had it over to the PO clerk.

[wright2626]

sent a package from texas to washington one time and it went through alaska.

[Spruemeister]

UPS is doing it too. I had a large bulk order from a farm supply house this spring go from Kentucky to Ohio, back to Kentucky, to Ohio to Omaha, BACK to Kentucky, to Omaha to me. I cold have driven there and back faster.

Rick L.

[Flankerman]

FedEx once took FOUR YEARS to deliver a package from Memphis to a lady in Sunray, Texas.

It went onto a desert island in the Pacific ocean via Malaysia and was finally delivered by Tom Hanks to its sender who lives on a remote farm along a dusty road......

Sorry..... I'll get my coat....

Ken

[famvburg]

I'll add my 2 cents about USPS Tracking, aka, Delivery Confirmation. For sellers who are protected from a buyer claiming not delivery, don't call the buyer a liar so fast. I have had a number of items over the years that I didn't get, yet tracking showed it was delivered. I have even received packages to other addresses and the tracking info shows it was delivered to the address on the package. OK, why is it in my grubby paws? When that happens, I photo copy and/or photograph the package/label and go to USPS' website and print the tracking info showing where it was supposedly delivered before I put it back in the mail for pick up and re-delivery, hopefully they get it right that time. I have 5 or 6 of those in a folder. I have probably lost a dozen or so things that Delivery Confirmation says I got, but didn't. Thanks to Tracking/DC, I have no recourse. That is a very, very, flawed system and I wish the USPS would do away with it. Even by their own admission, Tracking/Delivery Confirmation only confirms delivery "somewhere", but does NOT guarantee delivery to the correct address.

[Matt Shropshire]

.

Edited September 13, 2014 by Matt Shropshire

[Flyboyf18]

Let me add my $00.05; this is copied directly from their tracking page:

September 6, 2014 , 3:29 am Departed USPS Facility MIAMI, FL 33112

September 5, 2014 , 8:12 am Arrived at Sort Facility ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

September 5, 2014 , 7:42 am Arrived at USPS Facility MIAMI, FL 33112

September 1, 2014 , 2:40 am Departed USPS Facility ATLANTA, GA 30320

Just look at the times & locations. Don't know it the computer went beserk or if it is operator malfunction??!!??

Now I haven't been to Atlanta or Miami lately but is there a lot of construction on the highway in between these two??

[alien]

There is no tracking with First Class International, Priority Mail is the cheapest option with tracking for international packages.

As a seller using Paypal you're protected from a buyer claiming non-delivery by using a trackable shipping method.

Ken

Its cheaper to loose it than to pay Priority post.

As regard to the sellers' protection, you are making the buyer pay for insurance. In business, it is better to jack up your selling price a few percentage points on everything you sell and then absorb the loss the loss when an item is lost. Also when you force a buyer to take Priority Post, an international buyer will likely not bid on the item when the shipping is $36 for a $5 item. But, if the shipping was say $10, the international buyer might pay $20 for the item.Ship by Priority Mail the seller gets $5, USPS gets $36. Ship by First Class Int Mail the seller gets $20, USPS gets $10. I guess these sellers like working for USPS.

Stephen

Edited September 13, 2014 by alien