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Postal Packages

I have not had one package arrive late that was sent priority mail.

First class packages always get a little more travel time, but that is not unexpected.

It has always amazed me the ability of the USPS to routinely deliver so many parcels with such a high success rate.

best

mqqn
 
mqqn said:
I have not had one package arrive late that was sent priority mail.

First class packages always get a little more travel time, but that is not unexpected.

It has always amazed me the ability of the USPS to routinely deliver so many parcels with such a high success rate.

best

mqqn
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Until recently, I was the same. Now, priority is taking forever. Like 2 weeks forever. Priority mailed by the same person, from the same PO in Oregon got beat by a first class letter by a week. I've had packages from China get here quicker than flat rate boxes from the west coast. Shipped at the same time even!

This isn't a one off bad experience. This has been consistently unacceptable for over a month.
 
My experience matches yours. I don't live way out in the country, but I don't live within 20 miles of a huge metropolitan area, either.

I ordered a birthday present for my adult daughter. It was sent via Priority Mail. It arrived three weeks to the day from the time it was shipped. That is the worst case, but right now I have four Priority Mail packages enroute to me - all domestic CONUS 48 - that were shipped more than four days ago.

craytab said:
Until recently, I was the same. Now, priority is taking forever. Like 2 weeks forever. Priority mailed by the same person, from the same PO in Oregon got beat by a first class letter by a week. I've had packages from China get here quicker than flat rate boxes from the west coast. Shipped at the same time even!

This isn't a one off bad experience. This has been consistently unacceptable for over a month.
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Customer Information

Items can be shipped within, among, and between to these Freely Associated States and United States Territories and Possessions as Domestic mail items:

  • American Samoa (AS)*
    • Manua Island*
    • Swain's Island*
    • Tutuila Island*
  • Guam (GU)
  • Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (MP)*
    • Rota Island*
    • Saipan Island*
    • Tinian Island*
  • Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (PR)
  • U.S. Virgin Islands (VI)
    • Saint Croix Island
    • Saint John Island
    • Saint Thomas Island
  • Wake Island Atoll (HI)
 
So I went back to USPS tracking to get details about the four Priority Mail packages I mentioned in my last post.

I made a mistake, I was wrong - only 3 of the 4 have been enroute for longer than 4 days.

Here they are:

1. Priority Mail received by USPS on November 23 - Smithville, TX - 11 days ago
(last scanned in Austin TX on 11/25 - status: "In transit, arriving late")
2. Priority Mail received by USPS on November 27 - Kearny, NJ - 6 days ago
(last scanned in Hyattsville MD on 11/29 - status: "In transit, arriving late")
3. Priority Mail received by USPS on November 28 - New York, NY - 5 days ago
(last scanned in Greensboro NC on November 30 - 40 miles from me! on 11/30 - status: "In transit, arriving late")

actually the one below is not late, and may possibly arrive within 3 days of shipment IF it gets here tomorrow:

4. Priority Mail received by USPS on December 1 - Cottonwood, AZ - 2 days ago
(last scanned in Greensboro NC on December 3 (today) status: "In transit")

These are just routine examples of the mail service here where I live - suburban area in between Durham NC and Greensboro NC along Interstate 40/85 - for the past few months.

EDIT/UPDATE: None of these are oversize, heavy, hazmat or any of that to slow them down. Two or three are knives, one or two are Christmas presents I ordered.
 
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I'll just add that Amazon is delivering packages next day or in two days without fail. I'm more likely now than ever before to go with something fulfilled by amazon over retailers that use USPS. If this is how USPS is going to run, retailers are going to notice. And again, this doesn't seem like it is Holiday, covid, or election related. Seems like a deliberate slow down in key spots in parts of the country. Sad because my experience was always that USPS was the best of the big three over the last decade. Not any more IMO. A company that isn't even a shipping company has them all beat.
 
I didn't want to broach the subject of a deliberate slow down - but now that it has come up, I must say I can't help but wonder...

The Postal Service is running in the red and needs a huge cash infusion ... what better way to try to FORCE a bail out than to point and say "See what happens if you don't...?!?!" I hope that's not the case, but if so, it's a bad strategy that could backfire. Or it might work?

craytab said:
And again, this doesn't seem like it is Holiday, covid, or election related. Seems like a deliberate slow down in key spots in parts of the country. Sad because my experience was always that USPS was the best of the big three over the last decade. Not any more IMO. A company that isn't even a shipping company has them all beat.
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rje58 said:
I didn't want to broach the subject of a deliberate slow down - but now that it has come up, I must say I can't help but wonder...

The Postal Service is running in the red and needs a huge cash infusion ... what better way to try to FORCE a bail out than to point and say "See what happens if you don't...?!?!" I hope that's not the case, but if so, it's a bad strategy that could backfire. Or it might work?
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Probably right to not broach the subject and I apologize for mentioning it. Last I'll say and then I'll shut up and go back to just hitting refresh on the tracking pages......We've been in this pandemic for a while and it wasn't this bad even going back to when we had a full shutdown in most places. We've had elections in the past and the state I've had the most issues has been all vote by mail for 20 years now. We've had the holidays in the past, I'm pretty sure. Other services are working fine. What ever is happening, I've never seen the postal service this bad before. I hope for everyone's sake, they get it "sorted" out quickly.
 
i just sold a knife and the buyer shows that the package has been delivered but he claims that it was not. What is the best way to resolve this?
 
Unfortunately, it may have been stolen from his mailbox or front porch. This leads to a very dicey situation. Since the post office says "Delivered", then technically you are probably off the hook, BUT... I had one case when the post office showed DELIVERED and actually my package had been delivered! About a mile and half away to a wrong address... I did receive the package in good condition, eventually.

Best wishes to both buyer and seller that this can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. If it was stolen from a mailbox or porch, that is probably the worst case scenario.

Steve Engelbrecht said:
i just sold a knife and the buyer shows that the package has been delivered but he claims that it was not. What is the best way to resolve this?
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Just checked tracking on a package I'm expecting, and it arrived in Springfield MA yesterday morning, then arrived in Providence RI (which is only like 20min away from me) yesterday afternoon, but then went the wrong way and arrived in Stamford CT this morning, which is further away than Springfield:confused:. But barring further detours, should have it tomorrow, which is only a day later than originally estimated.
 
Current outstanding packages for me:

1 First class package from AZ last scan on 11/9 arriving late
1 Priority envelope from Oregon last scan on 11/22 arriving late
1 Priority flat rate box from FL last scan 11/25 arriving late

Recent late packages:

Forum knife was 4 days late first class
Knife from Oregon was 14 days late Priority
Priority envelope from Oregon was 13 days late
First class letter took 10 days from Oregon and was beat by another first class envelope mailed after

For everything that has been late, the PO is getting .5 items to me on time. In the latest promo from TKC they have a huge yellow banner warning of shipping delays. Something is very wrong. I suspect there will be millions of disappointed Americans this Christmas when packages they have sent for years during the holidays do not arrive when they normally would have.
 
Mine have all been late, which is understandable considering I live in a rural area. I do kind of wonder whats going on in Columbus, OH because every one of my packages that end up there sit for 3-4 days before moving to my local office. It used to be, at most, 12 hrs. I would assume that's why all of my stuff has been late.
 
nikoknife48 said:
My packages are starting to trickle in!
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I've had several at least get scanned at my regional distribution center, including one from AZ that is 29 days in the system. Fingers crossed it gets delivered and the rest start showing up!
 
Packages that I have sent on out Dec 2. Still show in transit. These were sent priority shipping small boxes. Prior to that had another priority small box take about 7 business days to get to TN, from Albuquerque NM. I’m reading reports from other online forums and social media that USPS are experiencing up to a week delay.

Edit- now I’m seeing reports of over a week and more. Packages I sent Dec 2 still display late arrival as of 12/10/2020.
 
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Sirquest2k said:
Packages that I have sent on out Dec 2. Still shows in transit. These were sent priority shipping small boxes. Prior to that had another priority small box take about 7 business days to get to TN, from Albuquerque NM. I’m reading reports from other online forums and social media that USPS are experiencing up to a week delay.
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Up to a week! That would be great! I'm at 30, 19, 15, and 11 days for packages I currently have in the system.
 
Sirquest2k said:
Wow, didn’t think it could get that bad..
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Oh yes. Had 3 other packages from the west coast take over two weeks each. The 30 and 11 days in packages just showed up today. Still now scans from a priority box out of FL that was last seen 11/25. If it had legs it could have walked here faster...
 
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