USPS Is Broken

[Stuball48]

USPS It's wasn't a guitar but Christmas presents (three separate packages) sent to youngest son, daughter in law, and 18 month old grandson on the 17th of December. Left Burns, TN post office that afternoon. Tracking number shows packages in route to Suwanee, GA. That is all it showed. On December 22nd, one package was delivered and tracking number verified-- and son said it did.
No record of other two other than in transit. December 26th, those two packages show up in Memphis - Suwanee and Memphis both have an "e" in them so easy mix up. Nothing else until Dec 29th and tracking shows in route to next facility. December 30th in Atlanta. December 31st "out for delivery." And they were delivered to son's home.
So Don't Give Up

 

[Antney]

I am in the direct mail business...here’s what I know:

the USPS offers no guarantees on any delivery service. None period.

In 2012 I shipped via USPS regional rate over 4000 8 lb boxes that needed to deliver before Christmas. They shipped between 12/8 and 12/22. Every single one delivered on time.

Two weeks ago I sent two priority mail boxes from Boston to Chicago on two day delivery service. They disappeared from the tracking system and delivered 12 days later. The postmasters response at the accepting post office when I told them the packages were missing after 10 days out: “Hmmm, really?”

 

[HeyMikey]

It isn’t just usps, all carriers are overwhelmed and NOBODY is stopping to collect signatures. I ordered some expensive jewelry for my wife FedEx overnight adult signature required. It arrived in two days, left outside and the driver forged my signature! Had a similar issue with UPS on an expensive item I sold on ebay just before Xmas. Two-day, adult signature, took 5 and was left at the door no signature.

 

[GAD]

I've changed the title because there's no reason to have a huge sentence in all caps.

 

[Default]

It isn’t just usps, all carriers are overwhelmed and NOBODY is stopping to collect signatures. I ordered some expensive jewelry for my wife FedEx overnight adult signature required. It arrived in two days, left outside and the driver forged my signature! Had a similar issue with UPS on an expensive item I sold on ebay just before Xmas. Two-day, adult signature, took 5 and was left at the door no signature.

Every company has orders to not let the customers handle anything that the drivers touch. Signature required is going to be a waste of money, except it *should* let the driver/carrier know that the parcel should be handed to the customer. As a side comment, UPS and FedEx as private companies, can restrict the amount of packages that they take, the Postal Service isn't. I am truly sorry for the service disruptions, and, like I tried to explain to a civilian, my working every day has nothing to do with the money. It has everything to do with trying to get through this war that we have going on with covid. Every bag of dog food or computer desk that I deliver means less exposure risk for my patrons.

 

[Default]

This is the situation in Philly and the five surrounding counties.

USPS Christmas mail delays caused by 'perfect storm' of high package volume, employees out with COVID

A historic amount of packages and rising employee COVID-19 rates are causing significant backlogs at US Postal Service processing facilities before Christmas.

6abc.com

 

[Bonneville88]

Plagiarism! - 6abc stole my highly original description!
Read the article - excellent, explains more in a few paragraphs
than a bunch of different ones I've read - it is one helluva situation.

 

[HeyMikey]

Yeah Default. I feel really bad for you guys. It’s a terrible situation for sure. I’m in a small town and my local PO is awesome and do a great job, but the major distribution center in Springfield is completely overwhelmed and backlogged.

 

[fronobulax]

I would like to remind people that the original problem was reported several months ago, in August, and has been resolved.

Sometime in December media outlets were reporting that the USPS was overwhelmed and people should be prepared for the possibility that items would not be delivered on time. So, anyone who is paying attention should not consider shipping anything "important" until USPS has had a chance to catch up. The delays are similar for UPS and FedEx.

 

[richardp69]

Yeah. lotta love for the USPS workers here. I find it amazing that things get delivered as quickly as they do. That's gotta be a logistical challenge to say the least.

 

[Default]

In a somewhat related topic I bought a case from Ohio. Acorn house shipped it, and it arrived in Philadelphia today but instead of being delivered Monday, it's being delivered Tuesday. So FedEx has got the same issues that we do.

 

[walrus]

Every company has orders to not let the customers handle anything that the drivers touch. Signature required is going to be a waste of money, except it *should* let the driver/carrier know that the parcel should be handed to the customer. As a side comment, UPS and FedEx as private companies, can restrict the amount of packages that they take, the Postal Service isn't. I am truly sorry for the service disruptions, and, like I tried to explain to a civilian, my working every day has nothing to do with the money. It has everything to do with trying to get through this war that we have going on with covid. Every bag of dog food or computer desk that I deliver means less exposure risk for my patrons.

Very well said, Default!

I had a package delivered by UPS the other day, the UPS driver rang the doorbell. Said it required a signature but they weren't doing that but he didn't want to just leave it on the step if I was home. That worked for me.

walrus

 

[Default]

That's a pro!

 

[Bonneville88]

The delays are similar for UPS and FedEx.

Frono, have you shipped a guitar recently?
Or been shipped a guitar?

Several of my recent shipments:
Fedex Ground, shipped Monday 12/28 from Chicago, delivered Tuesday 12/29 Belleville IL
Fedex Ground, shipped Saturday 12/21 from Prescott AZ, delivered Thursday 12/24 Belleville IL
Fedex Ground, shipped Thursday 12/10 from Little Rock AK, delivered Saturday 12/12 Belleville IL
UPS Ground, shipped Tuesday 12/1 from Belleville, IL, delivered Friday 12/4 Long Valley NJ
UPS Ground, shipped Wednesday 11/25 from Belleville IL, delivered Saturday 11/28 Winston-Salem NC

FTR, I have a long and favorable working relationship with all the shipping services.

 

[Default]

Private companies can refuse to take packages. Also, shipping drops off the week before Christmas, as more people opt for expedited shipping. We also contract with FedEx to use their planes for express and Priority parcels. When they get into the season, they leave ours on the tarmac. <shrug>

 

[Default]

Way of the world.

 

[AcornHouse]

Way of the world.

Even though they’re not your favorites..

 

[fronobulax]

Frono, have you shipped a guitar recently?
Or been shipped a guitar?

I was quoting a general article about holiday shipping and associated delays. I stand by my statement that the major carriers - USPS, UPS and FedEx experienced a lot of shipping delays in December 2020 compared to December 2019.

As for anecdotes, we shipped 6 packages from the same post office on December 3. All but one had arrived by December 10. The tracking on the late one showed it had spent three weeks in a processing facility in Northern Virginia, being rediscovered on December 23. It left the facility on December 26 and arrived by December 30. The distance was about 150 miles as a passenger car drives.

That was the first time in a couple of decades that a package sent via USPS during the first week in December did not arrive by Christmas.

 

[Default]

Fron, your late package was in a container with other packages. It probably was stuck behind other containers, hence the lateness.

 

[jp]

Every year we give our postal carriers a little gift like chocolates or something small. There's either so much turnover and/or rotation that we have new ones every year. When they get anything at all, they're so incredibly grateful, which tells me that this doesn't happen so often in the city. They're most likely horribly underappreciated.