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U.S. Post Office Rant

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U.S. Post Office Rant

lovecheshire

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Hope I have this in the right section.

I input tracking # on the USPS website this morning. It shows expected delivery of today, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. However, it also shows that package is "in transit" from a postal hub on east coast. When I called P.O. and spoke to someone, they said to wait 3-5 days and call back if I still have not received the package. When I asked why expected delivery date of today, Dec. 1 was posted on the website when obviously I wasn't going to receive the package today, the guy really didn't have an answer. It was like he was reading from a script the whole time.

Has anyone else have this problem. And the USPS wonders why they are disliked?
 
Hope I have this in the right section.

I input tracking # on the USPS website this morning. It shows expected delivery of today, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. However, it also shows that package is "in transit" from a postal hub on east coast. When I called P.O. and spoke to someone, they said to wait 3-5 days and call back if I still have not received the package. When I asked why expected delivery date of today, Dec. 1 was posted on the website when obviously I wasn't going to receive the package today, the guy really didn't have an answer. It was like he was reading from a script the whole time.

Has anyone else have this problem. And the USPS wonders why they are disliked?

I'm like a moth to a flame when it comes to "USPS rants," ha. Yes, this happens, and yes, you will get your package eventually, but no, you will not get the kind of satisfaction you are seeking. NOTHING is "guaranteed" except Express Mail (not even Priority, as momin.ator notes) and for everything else, you're pretty much just supposed to be grateful it shows up at all. Ha. OK, it's not quite that bad--I've had plenty of good experiences with USPS--but WHEN it goes bad, it goes spectacularly bad.

The other key thing to bear in mind is that the tracking system, despite being "digital," is cumbersome and overloaded and does NOT update quickly. It takes a while for the system to recognize that if your package is in California today it will NOT be delivered in New Jersey this afternoon. Particularly at this time of year, with holiday shopping and cyber deals, you have no choice but to be patient. It will turn up. It's just not worth the high blood pressure to get fired up about it (although easier said than done and I completely sympathize). I've had items "fall off the grid" for a week in transit (no updates at all), delivery dates scheduled and rescheduled, items that scanned in at a PO in another STATE as "out for delivery." In the end, they all arrived where they needed to go.

I will say, USPS Customer Service is rarely helpful, but if you have--or develop--a good relationship with your local branch, you can sometimes contact them and they will check the system for you and be much nicer and more helpful about it.

Good luck with your wait and your shipping/receiving!
 
I posted this in the past but I had a LBE sent to me lost in the USPS system for 3 years!! BUT, it was eventually delivered!! LOL!!

Mike S.
Figment919
 
Too tired to post my own rants right now!

I posted this in the past but I had a LBE sent to me lost in the USPS system for 3 years!! BUT, it was eventually delivered!! LOL!!

Mike S.
Figment919

How does THIS even happen? Fell behind a desk and didn't find it until the building had a renovation?

:lol:
 
In short- they dont have to be efficient or even guarantee itll be there in any day beyond 'soon'.. C
Unless that assurance is purchased.. Ive had 2 lbe's lost now for 3 months both still say 'expected deliverybof sep 14...' i get the courtesy email every werk saying the search is ongoing but yeah.. Complaining gets you no where but patience will win out
 
I ship a lot of things and I can say the PO is a hassle for sure but the job gets done mostly. Some packages I send I found out later the box is beat up badly but I pack well for this so the item is not harmed. But usually everything is on time and is delivered. I may have had no more than 5 packages out of 1000s get "lost". But still beats driving all the way to the sending location.
 
I mailed two small LBE's from California this past Saturday afternoon. One to Florida, one to Illinois. Both with an estimated delivery date of today (Tuesday).

The Florida-bound one reached its destination a day early (yesterday). The last tracking info on the Illnois-bound one was that it was received by my local distribution center Saturday afternoon.

I told the person I'm trading with that and unless there's an update to the tracking information tomorrow (Wednesday) but I will go to my local USPS branch and ask them to run a internal report. I think I need to wait at least a week before I can open up a formal case with them.

Knocking on wood... I've yet to lose a package after nine years of trading via the mail. But over the last year or so, transit time across country has started to vary from a mere two days to over as a week.
 
Yeah, it keeps on getting worse. I overnighted something for a college application transcript and it was delivered THREE days later. Disqualified me from that school's admission rounds.
 
The Christmas holiday is the biggest season for the USPS and other curriers. They're working on a skeleton crew as it is so give it a few days leeway for peace of mind, I say this as even I await a pin package to arrive.
As for usps horror stories: our local sorting facility(only one in So. Ill) got shut down; which means all of our mail gets sent to St. Louis first and then to their destination, even said destination is a few towns over. Long story short, of the dozen birthday invites we sent out for my daughters birthday party, only two made its destination; one in St. Louis and the other in Peoria, none local...
 
If you need something to be delivered on a specific date do NOT go with the post office. They are unreliable at best. They have relatively cheap shipping for a reason. If you are lucky, a package will get there within a few days or on the day you want it to. At worst you are waiting up to a month. Anything that needs to be overnighted or there by a specific date should go with UPS or Fedex. Both are guaranteed if you go with express for either. Ground is not guaranteed for either but you'll only get the package a day or two late if they don't get it there they day you wanted. Also with the holidays, the post office will be worse than normal.
 
If you need something to be delivered on a specific date do NOT go with the post office. They are unreliable at best. They have relatively cheap shipping for a reason. If you are lucky, a package will get there within a few days or on the day you want it to. At worst you are waiting up to a month. Anything that needs to be overnighted or there by a specific date should go with UPS or Fedex. Both are guaranteed if you go with express for either. Ground is not guaranteed for either but you'll only get the package a day or two late if they don't get it there they day you wanted. Also with the holidays, the post office will be worse than normal.

The shipping time is better, but I've had terrible luck with UPS too unfortunately. Almost every single package that I've received from them has been majorly damaged, opened (This I can't even understand - how do so many of my packages get ripped open and stuff goes missing?), soaked/left in stupid places, etc.. It has gotten to the point where I don't mind my packages being a bit late, as long as they aren't utterly destroyed.

FedEx is the only one that hasn't given me any trouble at all, but we don't have one in my town, so I never use it to ship things myself...

:rofl:
 
The only issue I've ever had were packages not being updated while tracking them to show that they were delivered. However, they did get delivered on time; I just didn't know until I received feedback from the person who I had shipped to. I've never had any major problems, and I hope that I don't in the future. I think you're package will be fine, and like everyone saying, it is the holidays and shipping does get a little crazy. It'll be delivered sooner or later (:
 
The shipping time is better, but I've had terrible luck with UPS too unfortunately. Almost every single package that I've received from them has been majorly damaged, opened (This I can't even understand - how do so many of my packages get ripped open and stuff goes missing?), soaked/left in stupid places, etc.. It has gotten to the point where I don't mind my packages being a bit late, as long as they aren't utterly destroyed.

FedEx is the only one that hasn't given me any trouble at all, but we don't have one in my town, so I never use it to ship things myself...

:rofl:
I agree with you about UPS. I sold an LE 17" Ariel doll. I bubble wrapped her and double boxed. When the buyer got it, the boxes looked like it was dropped from 20,000 feet, hit by a truck, picked up and delivered. LOL
I was beyond furious. I gave her a partial refund and got $50.00 back from UPS, but never again.
 
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