A Tale Of The Shipping Time Of Two Small Packages (Letter Size)

Well maybe not a tale but rather a brief observation.

I had two small shipments coming from auctions. One from New Jersey and one from the Ukraine. The NJ package was sent Priority four days ago and has a "delivery exception error" and is still in NJ. Estimated to arrive on the 25th of October. The Ukraine letter size piece mailed International First Class arrived today. It was mailed on the 14th of October.

Hmmmmm

It's actually just Ukraine, not the Ukraine! Common mistake among people born before the fall of the SU.

Fixed

I had a letter arrive this morning that was posted in Sydney 15 days ago.

I am about 200 kilometeres away.....

On a less rude of mine note, I'm in an exchange with someone in Finland. We sent our envelopes on the same day probably about a month ago and I got hers 2 weeks ago and she still hasn't gotten mine. So much for yin and yang at the PO.

Well the NJ Priority package has not moved. Turns out that Raritan is shipping four figure purchases in a Priority Flat Rate envelope.

Raritan will be using FedEx in the future. Way to go USPS. That is how you build and keep customers. Be thankful that you have a monopoly on some of your services.

I bought two letter-sized parcels of postal cards from a Delcampe seller in China, 10 cards on Aug. 30 and 8 cards on Sept. 4. Both were postmarked Sept. 6, and both reached me in California on Oct. 21. They were registered mail (bar coded and paid for as such), but they were left in my box without a signature.



I once tracked a package to the USPS sorting facility in Richmond, California, and it still took another week to reach me. I can walk to that USPS facility in about an hour. This was even before COVID.

Front page of the Business section today Wall Street Journal. "Post Office Beefs Up Facilities for Holidays" .
UPS and FEDX are both restricting volume from customers.
Post Office expects to handle 50.1 million packages/ day. Their volume estimate was completed last January.
Maybe Hope?
The Post Office like the Navy, but not the Army is required by the Constitution.
Cheers

Just got done with a Raritan conversation. They mailed out my lots from their last auction USPS Priority Mail. The package left the local PO but was never scanned. How do they know it left their PO? Who knows. The tracking number shows the package as being at the local PO and having a "delivery exception, delayed" message. What a nightmare. The USPS is a sinking ship. Let private carriers take over and let the barnacles and other aquatic creatures have the hull of the PO. Wow!

PS: This holiday season will likely be an absolute nightmare for shipping via USPS.

Even Fedex has been having some issues recently. I believe that they may be short-handed and somewhat overwhelmed as well.

A recent Fedex letter I got (from Siegel) was initially marked "delayed" - something I've never seen before, then it showed a delivery exception at my house. This indicated that they had attempted delivery but no-one was home. That often happens and I go pick it up. No problem. However, there was no door tag, and I was literally sitting by the door the whole time. The point is - no-one came to my house, yet the tracking indicated that they had.

When I went to pick it up, there was confusion and the lady indicated that they were having system problems... fortunately they found my letter.

This was really the first time after receiving many Fedex's that I've noted that they were obviously disorganized and probably understaffed.

I think criticism is justified. But I think understanding of the problem is required. A quick search turned up that FDX delivered 6.6 million pieces a day. UPS delivered 21 million pieces a day mail/ packages. USPS delivered 173.1 million a day in 1st class mail a day. I think that amount of usage would overwhelm private carriers. In a related note, the logistic nightmares at our ports are partially attributed to everyone staying home (pandemic) and ordering stuff online. And all that stuff has to be delivered. That shows up in our trade imbalance. It would be far easier to fix our current problem with the USPS than to create a new system in my opinion.

But criticism is well justified.
Cheers

Only if there capacity stayed as it is now which naturally it would not.




Record online sales volume last year without the problem at the ports.

Anyway, hard to tie not scanning Priority Mail back to cargo ships.

Rog, hope all goes well with your deliveries...

My favorite nightmare with USPS is when something is scanned as delivered, but you didn't get it. It has happened to me two or three times in the last few years... When it happens with a high-value shipment, it can really get your goat. Fortunately for me, all of these instances resolved themselves, but I have often wondered, what would be the recourse available. I mean, when it was scanned as delivered but it was not?! Doesn't the shipper have to prove receipt with a signature for high-value shipments?

Has that ever happened to anyone?

John

John - That has happened to me frequently. Both USPS and Fedex have scanned items as delivered and they were not. Most times it has worked out although last year Fedex dropped some patio furniture off at the wrong location and a Mr. Chewy delivery was dropped in a snow bank at my neighbors only to be discovered two months later. My neighbors have had wine shipments (cases) logged as delivered but they were not.

It always brings up the question of liability as you point out.

Either scan or don't scan. If you are going to not do it, do it sporadically or "fudge" the scans to make your performance look better (common) than scanning is like ebay feedback. It does not mean much.

Rog, I just checked ebay to see what their requirement is, just on a lark. It is $750, including shipping price and taxes. As a seller (or a buyer returning something), you would have to have signature delivery to protect yourself...

I wonder how other venues would be treated, in the legal sense?

Hmmmmm.

John