Package Delivery Problems

[jollystomper]

Check out all the news items regarding the huge volumes delivery carriers are experiencing and how it is negatively impacting delivery times. Misery loves company.

+1 so far we have not had problems, but I look at it as the exception and not the rule. I cannot remember the last time an Amazon delivery (we are Prime members) was late, they are more often earlier than expected. Our biggest issue with receiving USPS shipments are not lateness but delivering our stuff to a different address in our zip code with the same street number but totally different name. We got that settled earlier this year, but will not be surprised if that issue comes up again.

The nerd in me is tempted to start tracking the different types of vehicles delivering Amazon packages. We are relatively close to several warehouses/distribution centers but rarely have our items been delivered by an Amazon truck. One recent day I turned into our driveway and an unmarked, unknown car followed me in. I chose to stop before getting near the house to check things out, turns out it was an early Amazon delivery.

 

[MRG]

Amazon hasn't been a problem, mostly shipped UPS. The USPS managed to deliver most of our mail in October to someone else in the area. DW got suspicious when our major CC bill didn't show up. We paid that via Fidelity to avoid interest but forgot about gas and some minor others.

I went to the store yesterday and some woman stuck our mail under the door mat and took off. DW went outside to ask what was going on and the woman said she'd had it for a month as she took off! WTF is wrong with people?

 

[harllee]

OP here--Eureka! I cancelled that items I never got from Amazon and instead ordered them from Walmart.com and got them in ONE DAY!!! The delivery was from Fed Ex so I guess the problem was with Amazon rather than Fed Ex. Maybe this is the solution to my problem--order from Walmart.com instead of Amazon. Plus on most items Walmart.com was cheaper than Amazon.

Curbside pick up from Walmart has been very bad recently but home delivery from Walmart.com seems to work great. Strange.

 

[skipro33]

I have Amazon Prime and I don't think it really matters. Amazon doesn't honor it's 2 day shipping far as I can tell. If sent via USPS, I can assure you I won't be seeing anything for a week. I have a lot of Amazon 'subscribe and save' items that deliver on a fixed schedule. Pet food, for example, every month on or near the 21st. Last month they didn't ship at all, said they were out. I ordered it anyways from Amazon, just from a different vendor, not Amazon Prime. I need my 'subscribe and save' items on time. Dishwasher soap, vitamins, food items, etc. are all time critical. Lately they either don't have them or send them USPS with delays.

I mailed a package, cost me $62, from California to Mississippi. It took 8 weeks! Just mailed a package to Idaho. Before Thanksgiving. USPS shows it will arrive tomorrow, the 6th of December. Covered wagon was faster!

 

[retire-early]

OP here--Eureka! I cancelled that items I never got from Amazon and instead ordered them from Walmart.com and got them in ONE DAY!!! The delivery was from Fed Ex so I guess the problem was with Amazon rather than Fed Ex. Maybe this is the solution to my problem--order from Walmart.com instead of Amazon. Plus on most items Walmart.com was cheaper than Amazon.

Curbside pick up from Walmart has been very bad recently but home delivery from Walmart.com seems to work great. Strange.

Where I am, Amazon delivers in a van clearly marked Amazon.
I know because of my neighbors' deliveries.
If you are having problems with Amazon deliveries, it could be they are swamped.
Some things on Amazon can be more expensive than other online websites. It always pays to compare.

Don't you have Target near you? I know their prices are more than Walmart, but still they are another option.
For clothing and home goods, Kohl's curbside is good. Their website is fairly accurate what is available.
Walgreens also has curbside pickup.

.

 

[harllee]

Where I am, Amazon delivers in a van clearly marked Amazon.
I know because of my neighbors' deliveries.
If you are having problems with Amazon deliveries, it could be they are swamped.
Some things on Amazon can be more expensive than other online websites. It always pays to compare.

Don't you have Target near you? I know their prices are more than Walmart, but still they are another option.
For clothing and home goods, Kohl's curbside is good. Their website is fairly accurate what is available.
Walgreens also has curbside pickup.

.

Thanks for the idea of Target. There is a Target nearby --I will see if they stock any of the things I need. I don't think we have a Kohls but we do have Walgreens that I might could use for a few items.

I have always comparison shopped for price and tried to get the best deal but now I guess I need to shop less for price and more for will I ever get the delivery.

 

[retire-early]

The item I ordered off Ebay was fairly unique and not available locally. I always pay with PayPal and my addresses are correct. The local post office admitted that my Ebay delivery was returned due to "human error." This is not the first time something like this has happened with my local post office. They are know for their incompetence around here. Ebay has told me I cannot get a refund because the Post Office tracking show the item was delivered (but it also shows it was returned to sender--how can that be?)

When something like this happens wait for the tracking information to sort itself out including the return to sender movement.
You have 30 days to claim with eBay and 6 months with Paypal.
Since eBay has already denied your claim, your next stop is with Paypal.

In my small town there are not many options for curbside pick up of non food items and I have resisted driving to a larger town for curbside pick up of items but I may have to.

Depending on how urgently you need the non food items, I would drive to the next larger town.

 

[Aerides]

When something like this happens wait for the tracking information to sort itself out including the return to sender movement.
You have 30 days to claim with eBay and 6 months with Paypal.
Since eBay has already denied your claim, your next stop is with Paypal.

Unfortunately with USPS tracking, once an item is marked Delivered it ceases to add updates to the online tracking view. The USPS can see what's happening behind the scenes, but the online page won't show it.

If it was marked out for delivery, then corrected and marked RTS, that's fine. But delivered = stop. But your seller, if they are not a jerk, should be willing to refund you once they actually get the item back.

 

[cyber888]

Having bad experience with Lowes.com online today. Very late shipping. They said 1-7 days. Now, it's 15 days according to their website when I checked my order. I called them and tried to cancel but they won't let me, because they said it is about to be shipped. But I said it is not shipped yet, and they said - well, it's on the preparation stage.

 

[harllee]

Unfortunately with USPS tracking, once an item is marked Delivered it ceases to add updates to the online tracking view. The USPS can see what's happening behind the scenes, but the online page won't show it.

If it was marked out for delivery, then corrected and marked RTS, that's fine. But delivered = stop. But your seller, if they are not a jerk, should be willing to refund you once they actually get the item back.

The seller seems like a nice guy and says he will reship the item to me when he receives it. Unfortunately I need the item soon so I am searching for somewhere else to buy it in case it takes along time for the seller to receive it. If I can find the item somewhere else I hope the seller will refund me my money when he receives the item back. It is not a large amount of money but still I feel like I am wronged here--I ordered the item, never received it and now it is on the way back to the seller. USPS made the mistake here and they should refund my money but of course that will never happen.

 

[retire-early]

The seller seems like a nice guy and says he will reship the item to me when he receives it. Unfortunately I need the item soon so I am searching for somewhere else to buy it in case it takes along time for the seller to receive it. If I can find the item somewhere else I hope the seller will refund me my money when he receives the item back. It is not a large amount of money but still I feel like I am wronged here--I ordered the item, never received it and now it is on the way back to the seller. USPS made the mistake here and they should refund my money but of course that will never happen.

Yeah, USPS is in the wrong.
And since the seller isn't at fault, I would only ask for the item's price back if you paid separately for shipping. The seller shouldn't be punished for USPS's actions.

What are you buying that is so rare?

.

 

[harllee]

Yeah, USPS is in the wrong.
And since the seller isn't at fault, I would only ask for the item's price back if you paid separately for shipping. The seller shouldn't be punished for USPS's actions.

What are you buying that is so rare?

.

Unusual old Tar Heel tree Christmas ornament, have not seen it anywhere else.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Keep in mind that most of the AMZN delivery vans you see are probably not even owned or operated by AMZN...they are contracted out. There has been gnashing of teeth recently from these DSP companies that have leased a lot of vans through AMZN "negotiated leases" and the promises of "own your own company and become RICH!!!" hasn't panned out. Just in case you needed a reason to hate AMZN just a little more.

https://logistics.amazon.com/
https://logistics.amazon.com/marketing/faq

Amazon’s DSP program, launched in 2018, has allowed the company to quickly scale up its last-mile delivery capabilities and compete with shipping partners such as UPS and FedEx. DSPs are contracted delivery providers, usually indistinguishable by Amazon-branded cargo vans, that are responsible for picking up packages from Amazon delivery stations and dropping them off at doorsteps.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/13/more-than-1200-amazon-delivery-drivers-laid-off.html

 

[Chuckanut]

I don't have any problems. Everything comes in quick. Including USPS, that comes in extra quick.

We have good USPS service in my area also. My only issue, and it's a nit, is that the delivery times vary every few weeks: its 11:AM for two weeks, then the next three are about 2:30PM, then another two weeks at high noon. Very, very, occasionally, the mail arrives after 4M. Like I said, a nit.

 

[harllee]

One thing I don't like is getting deliveries late a night. Over the past few months I have received deliveries of packages after I have gone to bed at 10:30 or so (USPS, Fed Ex and Amazon). I find the package on my porch the next morning. I have not had a package stolen yet but it would be easy to do after I have gone to bed.

 

[retire-early]

Unusual old Tar Heel tree Christmas ornament, have not seen it anywhere else.

eBay is definitely the place for buying something like that.

 

[Walt34]

We have seen some delays but attribute it to the rapid increase in online ordering because of the pandemic. The carriers seem to have recovered here, just in time to be swamped all over again for Christmas. But by all accounts they have been swamped since last spring so if something is delayed a day or two I don't get stressed about it.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

My pet peeve of the day the other day was just this issue with my package showing up on the USPS tracking but "stuck" at the origin post office. I submitted an inquiry via a form on the USPS web site and lo and behold! it suddenly started moving and showed up on my doorstep today. In fact, it was delivered by a mail truck long before our regular delivery. I have to think my inquiry prompted someone to find the package (which was 2-day priority mail) and get it moving ASAP.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

1. Join Amazon prime. Sure you pay the monthly fee, but it's worth it if you order a lot of things from Amazon. I haven't had any deliver issues from Amazon in the last couple of months.

2. Don't buy anything that might be shipped by USPS.

That doesn't jive in areas where Amazon uses USPS for deliveries.

 

[FDC319]

That doesn't jive in areas where Amazon uses USPS for deliveries.

Yeah, every time I see that in an Amazon thread, I lol and disregard most of what that individual says in the thread.

Amazon's shipping methods=all of them and you have no choice as to what method they use.

 

[Aerides]

2. Don't buy anything that might be shipped by USPS.

For many rural locations, USPS is the only carrier that will deliver. If the address is deemed non-profitable, UPS and Fedex won't deliver. Only the Slowpost/Surepost partner services will, where UPS/FX have a last mile hand off for the USPS to do the actual delivery.

Amazon rarely uses fedex anymore (nationally, tho I'm sure there are pockets). They use whichever service gets it to you in the agreed upon timeframe at the best cost to them.

That's why Joe in State A can get the item in 1 day, but you in State B get it in 3 days. Everything is customized.