What is wrong with the United States Postal Service?
I ordered two different items for my layout from two different hobby shops in two different parts of the country in the first week of February and both were shipped the next day to my home in the Chicago area. But, I have yet to receive either item.
One item actually arrived at the Chicago Network Distribution Center on February 7th, sat there 4 days, then was reported “In Transit To The Next Facility” on February 11th with no further report since that date.
The other item was shipped on February 11th, traveled less than 100 miles in two days and just sat there, then was reported “In Transit To The Next Facility” on February 13th with no further report since that date.
When you call USPS, they no nothing more than I do by simply clicking on Tracking History.
Anybody else experiencing these problems with USPS?
USPS has been making major changes here in Bakersfield (started last summer) and their service has gone down hill. I had one package sit in the Bakersfield Distribution Facility for 5 days about a mile from our house.
I will add that it has improved a bit lately.
EDIT:
The best thing on the USPS site is when it says “Out of Delivery”.
BUT, I have a P O Box for mail, and I have a street address. Having two addresses can be a problem, especially now that UPS hands of items to USPS, I forget what they service they call that, but I have had things I’ve ordered, sent back to the sender as “Undeliverable”.
When I explain my situation to a potential seller/sender, I always get asked: " You mean your mail doesn’t get delivered to your house?" [:|]
Not so much on Ebay, or suppliers, but Amazon is a different story.
I also tried to ask the place that I buy stuff from, how they ship, so I can give them the right address.
With Amazon, that’s not possible, so I have to keep both address on file with Amazon.
I get my on line purchases in a timely manner usually 4-5 days from the West Coast and Florida and 2-3 from the East Coast once the package is picked up by USPS…
This is very stange. USPS is my favorite shipper. In my experience I almost always get my item within a week. In the most recent instance, my ebay item arrived from all the way across the US in 2 days!!! Hopefully this problem is only temperary for you…
Though very few items I’ve purchased from various on-line merchants take an inordinate amount of time to arrive, I’ve often wondered why the USPS uses such vague, meaningless terms as “on the way to next facility” in a tracking service. Just a year or two ago, it was much more common to see an item’s exact location by city and state. It looks like the system has simply been dumbed down, making it nearly pointless.
I don’t believe USPS tracking anymore, since it claimed my package was in some distant city, while it had actually been delivered. Another time, I filed a search request and they got back to me and admitted they could not find the package. I eventually got it, but what is wrong?
Yep, that is exactly my point. When the most recent entry in the USPS Tracking History reads, “In Transit To Next Facility”, that is the kiss of death. Right now, I have two such items. One has been in transit to the next facility since February 11th, the other since February 13th.
So true. A few months back, I had a large order leave the eBay seller and reported by USPS to be on its way from central Indiana to my Chicago-area home. Four days later, it was reported to be “In Transit To The Next Facility”. Days later, it was reported to be in Rochester NY. It took 3 weeks to eventually arrive at my home. Meanwhile, although it was not the seller’s fault, he would not refund my purchase amount so that I could buy the item elsewhere.
Very funny re: the USPS! I had three orders in to the same retailer. One via UPS ground the other two via USPS priority mail. The UPS ground shipment has been delayed from Monday the 18th to Friday the 22nd. One USPS priority was received yesterday, several days before it was scheduled and even though the order was place after the UPS ground order. The second USPS shipment, ordered three days after the UPS ground order is now on its way. Who knows how all this happens.
Funny that this is being discussed. I was at the post office yesterday trying to figure out where my LED lights went. They shipped from California 3 weeks ago, landed in Chicago two days later (I live in Milwaukee, so I figured they were getting close) and then nothing… “In transit to next facility” kept showing until they appeared 2 weeks later in San Francisco. To my knowledge (and the USPS) this is the last known whereabouts of the lights. I want to know how to file a location request like the person who posted earlier in this thread.
My seller apologized and said they were shipping out more lights for me, but it could be months before I get my structures lit up at this rate…[banghead]
Nothing new to me. I had one package leave Maryland, go to NYC, then to Long Island, then back to Maryland then to me in South Carolina. Then a couple of weeks ago, package left Maryland, went to Charleston SC, then to Ridgeland SC, then to Ridgeville SC (where I live), they had the “Ridge” right but not the “ville”. Another time while tracking a package from Walthers, it disappeared for four days and then ended up in my mailbox.
In all seriousness, I personally find USPS to be very good in regards to deliveries in my area. Most delivery dates are met, or arrive earlier than expected. This holds true for shipments from eBay or online vendors. Only once did I notice my package take a somewhat unusual route to make it to OH from FL.
I must be the odd one out. My experience is that USPS tracking is very accurate. Better than UPS. It always updates regularly, shows that it is going to logical locations, and the ETA’s are dead center almost every time… Maybe ebay jsut has a special system worked out with them?
I have similar issues. Just happens that my Regional Distribution Center is the Rochester NY one. Mail going through there is like a black hole. Not sure if a personnel issue or mechanical issue with there scanning equipment. And as a consumer, you’re not allowed to ask questions and to make things worse my post office is in a different region than the distribution center. Complain to my post office and they flat out say it’s not their problem.
I had a package ship via USPS that left the shipper in New York City bypass my home in Kansas and spend two days in Honolulu for two days before I received it.
