USPS Package Routed To Puerto Rico

I purchased an item on ebay from a seller in the midwest and I live in the western united states. When I check tracking, the item arrived and departed a USPS facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Why did it go to Puerto Rico, completely in the opposite direction of where the package is supposed to be ultimately delivered to?

Blame it on COVID. Everything else is.

Probably a simple typographic error. Start the zip code with a "0" instead of an 8 or 9 and it will head east instead of west.

USPS has some serious problems with Covid going on. I sent a package to Staten Island, NY. It took 3 weeks from Milwaukee to Detroit(?) and when it finally reached Brooklyn it took a week to make it to Staten Island. I sent a package from Milwaukee to Des Moines, IA and it went by way of Pennsylvania.

Perhaps the masks that the sorting machines are wearing are interfering with the sensors/readers.

Happened to me a few years ago. I was sending a package from Florida up north and a couple of days later the tracking showed it in Puerto Rico.

Back in May I purchased two lots on ebay from a seller in New York. They shipped separately. One arrived in a couple days.

The second was last scanned in New Jersey on May 13th. As of today there is still no sign of it.

I understand staffing issues and the need to delay some packages, but six weeks for a priority mail box seems excessive.

Dale

I suspect this type of thing happened in the past too, but now we can trace the tracking history minute by minute through the processing hubs - just like humans changing planes at Atlanta or O'Hare or DFW, hubs do make sense. 20 years ago we knew approximately when a package was shipped and when it arrived and had no idea of any circuitous journey. I'm not sure posting the increased scanning makes the service any better.

I'm awaiting a package right now. Traveling from Missouri to Florida, last spotted in California 5 days ago.

Robert

20 days and counting for a 1st class letter to go from outside Wash.,DC to Ozone Park NY.

A few years ago, I had a package coming in from Japan and tracked its arrival in San Francisco. I expected it to go from there to the East Bay, where I live, but for some reason it got routed to the Los Angeles area. Then back to S.F. Then back to L.A. Then (finally!) back to the Bay Area for delivery.

My package arrived on Monday. What's impressive is that it came from Puerto Rico to the western United States in one day.

Was the zip code right?

bobby131313: Yes, zip code was correct.