USPS Delivery Problems

G

golfnut

Full time employment: Posting here.
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
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806
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chicago burbs
Sold a golf club on Jan. 8th. Dropped it off at post office same day. Priority 2 day mail. Shipment from Illinois to Wisconsin. Tracking still says it went to sorting facility. Been in contact with buyer who still has not received it. Called the post office couple of times and they are really no help as they can't tell you anything add'l over the tracking info.
Couple of questions.
- How long do I wait this out before giving up hope?
- I insured the club for $50 but sold it for slightly more including shipping? Wondering what I'll get from usps if I need to file a claim?
Never had this happen before. In the past, my only complaints with usps dealt with their awful tracking system and packages taking longer than 2 days.
Any similar experiences or guidance here would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
I am a postal clerk but do not speak for the USPS. That said, here's my take given my experience.

Internally, postal employees have a little more tracking info available to them than the external website displays. Usually that's not terribly useful in terms of tracking down a package (and the extra detail usually confuses customers) but the extra info occasionally helps. It generally really is true, though, that postal employees (and even local postmasters) can't really track down a package a lot more than what is in the tracking history. A postmaster may check with the facility where the package was last seen in the tracking, and it may be occasionally found that way -- but really not all that often. Sometimes, someone is derelict in scanning somewhere, but occasionally things get stuck in the plants for some reason.

Priority Mail comes with up to $50 insurance with no additional charge. You may have to furnish some documentation about the value of the contents, but for $50 it might not be worth their fighting to avoid paying out.
 
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Thanks for response. Not sure I know what you mean by " but for $50 it might not be worth fighting to avoid paying out".
***************

I actually sold the club $60 plus $5.50 shipping costs.
 
golfnut said:
Any similar experiences or guidance here would be appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Lots of similar experience since I sold hundreds of large items on eBay over the years and used the P.O. to deliver (until I finally gave up). Horrible service as you have found out. I once purchased a computer motherboard that was shipped Priority Mail to me from Florida. It was delivered 8 months later.

You may never get the club back, or the buyer may not get it either. Or he may in due time. It's a crap shoot with the P.O.

Next time spend a bit more and send it FedEx.
 
I mailed a package recently via Priority Mail and tracking info showed it was in limbo, received at recipients post office. I waited a couple days and then filed a complaint/case on the USPS website. My local postmaster called next day. He said he would look into it. Next day status changed to our for delivery. Guessing that postmaster involvement got people to look and found package sitting in corner or some place similar. Item was then delivered that day. I'd suggest you file compliant and see where that gets you. Good luck.
 
bobandsherry said:
I mailed a package recently via Priority Mail and tracking info showed it was in limbo, received at recipients post office. I waited a couple days and then filed a complaint/case on the USPS website. My local postmaster called next day. He said he would look into it. Next day status changed to our for delivery. Guessing that postmaster involvement got people to look and found package sitting in corner or some place similar. Item was then delivered that day. I'd suggest you file compliant and see where that gets you. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yes, that happens. Not the norm but it does happen, and that's part of the postmaster's job.
 
I sell lots on Etsy, and this happens too often that I know not to worry, it will turn up.

Call the USPS 800 number, not the post office location itself. Ask them to investigate. That will get it moving 9 time out of 10. Whether it was dormant for 3 days or 2 weeks, every time I've called them it's magic and often starts moving the same day.

It's not long enough yet to be terribly worried, but it does suck.
 
Aerides said:
I sell lots on Etsy, and this happens too often that I know not to worry, it will turn up.

Call the USPS 800 number, not the post office location itself. Ask them to investigate. That will get it moving 9 time out of 10. Whether it was dormant for 3 days or 2 weeks, every time I've called them it's magic and often starts moving the same day.
Click to expand...

If you call the 800 number or use the website, it will wind up going to the PO (and the postmaster) where the item was sent from, anyway. The only difference is that calling the 800 number will generate a "case" which is tracked, whereas an informal call to the PO is not.

I can tell you that these ECC cases suck, especially when they are clearly not your own PO's fault, because management is on your butt about you resolving something your PO often didn't cause. But yeah, as much as it sucks to be accountable for other people's mistakes, that is a good way to make sure your call doesn't get buried.
 
Priority 2-day mail is not a guarantee, unlike the competitors. It is only a guideline. The USPS is the worse shipping method around. The tracking system sucks compared to the others. Now even if you go FedEx (I think), it could be delivered to the final destination by the USPS. Good luck in finding the package.
 
Thanks to all who responded. Will wait until end of week and, if necessary will file a claim for what I sold it for - $65.50- and send a refund back to the buyer.
 
Postal service in my area is great. And they will deliver when the private services have stopped due to bad weather conditions. No complaints here.
 
aja8888 said:
Lots of similar experience since I sold hundreds of large items on eBay over the years and used the P.O. to deliver (until I finally gave up). Horrible service as you have found out. I once purchased a computer motherboard that was shipped Priority Mail to me from Florida. It was delivered 8 months later.
Click to expand...

Postal service in FL sucks. Standard first class mail takes a week or more to get anywhere, and packages slip into limbo with astonishing regularity. Also packages often arrive having been opened, and magazines often have pages missing. Complaints and suggestions are never responded to.

I also live in MD almost half a year, and a first class letter often gets delivered in one or two days. I'm not sure if it's the employees, or whether the FL PO is still using pony express, or what. But it's so consistently bad compared to all other locations I've ever lived that it's obviously something about the state.
 
File your claim on-line. I recently had a package sent to me that didn't make it. Took me maybe 5 minutes to file and within 48 hours my claim was approved and they added the shipping costs to my claim. Within 24 hours after that, the check was in the mailbox.
Seriously the easiest claim with any carrier I've ever had to file. Do not delay, thinking it's another government bureaucracy with too many hoops to make a small dollar claim worth the trouble.

Here is a link to the tracking info on the USPS site for my package. Says it's in 'dead mail' and sent to a mail recovery center. Not that I care, I got my payment w/ shipping charges.

https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConf...c=1&text28777=&tLabels=9405511699000734762871
 
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Bumping this for my recent exchange with the USPS. Package from amazon was a few days late - guess what? USPS delivery. :eek:

So I sent an e-mail complaining about the delay and they magically found the package and it is now out for delivery. Even got a "form" apology email.

Why should it take a complaint for them to find a package? No wonder they are going out of business.

Has anyone been in a post office lately? Straight out of the 1950s. UPS store or FedEx is night and day compared to a post office.
 
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Big hitter, thanks for this tip. I sent my son homemade cookies on Monday, and they've been out for delivery since 9:30 a.m. yesterday. I hope the mailman has a gluten intolerance. :)

I sent an email with the tracking number. We'll see what happens.
 
Big_Hitter said:
Has anyone been in a post office lately? Straight out of the 1950s. UPS store or FedEx is night and day compared to a post office.
Click to expand...

Yup, was there today. Not the large one in the "city" here (always a line there) but the smaller one in the country that is actually closer. No line, fast, courteous service, mailed the state tax forms, in & out in less than 5 minutes. Probably took 2 minutes.

And yesterday two boxes from Amazon were delivered on time and one was even a day early.

It must the the people in different areas, or the management. Or perhaps the alignment of the moon & stars but I just haven't experienced any issues with USPS. Not doubting you by any means but just pointing out that the experiences clearly vary widely.
 
Not sure this is directly connected to the post office issue described, but I recently had a 'fun' PO experience:

I was named the executor of an estate and opened a PO Box as the estate's mailing address as well as having all mail of the deceased forwarded to the PO Box. Note that the PO Box was in a large, busy PO which is open 24/7. Of course, I started getting mail for the prior boxholder, in this case, American Express. There was A LOT of mail for AMEX and it seemed to be crowding out the mail the estate should have received. So I complained to the PO manager directly and this resulted in having ONLY mail from AMEX delivered! All estate mail was turned back! :facepalm: It took a letter to the regional PO manager (or whatever that person was) suggesting that they were involved in an identity fraud scheme and I then began to receive estate mail again. But the AMEX mail still kept coming! And it wasn't just any AMEX mail - it was mail containing names, card numbers, etc. I know this from the several items I opened in error before I returned them to the PO. The solution was only achieved when I contacted AMEX headquarters in person (they were down the block from the PO). I spoke with someone from their executive office and they ended up giving me a nice credit on my AMEX card for my trouble. AMEX mail has now virtually stopped coming to the box.
Point of this is: the PO only added aggravation!
 
I have had awful experiences with UPS & FedEx. In recent months, UPS started leaving large boxes containing dental supplies at my mom's front door. They never rang her doorbell. The name on the address labels was a dentist, but the address was my mom's. The boxes had been shipped from multiple suppliers. I googled the dentist and learned that his office was near my home. Eventually, the dentist & I figured out why this kept happening. UPS was trying to deliver his packages after 5pm when his office closed. After 3 failed attempts, they would put on a new address label with what they believed to be the dentist's home address. However, somebody at UPS got his home address by typing his home phone number into a database, but they mistyped one digit and entered my mom's phone number. My mom's address was "permanently" put into UPS's database as the dentist's backup delivery location, so they kept churning out incorrect new mailing labels each time.

I live 10 minutes from my mom and am there often. Whenever there were boxes for the dentist on her doorstep, I would call the dental office and tell them what arrived. Usually I would deliver them myself to the office since it's less than a mile from my own house. Sometimes, the dentist would drive over to my mom's house.

Meanwhile, the dentist & I both spent a few hours on the phone with UPS trying to fix the problem. I thought I had finally reached someone at UPS who had the authority to modify their database, but then 3 more boxes were dumped at my mom's door. Fed up, I googled the UPS CEO's e-mail address and sent him an e-mail describing in detail what was happening and why, explaining what they needed to do to fix the problem, and semi-seriously requested that they send me a free pair of those cute shorts their deliverymen wear in the summer (I even included my waist size), since I had been delivering their packages for free.

A couple of days later, I got phone calls and e-mails from 3 different people at UPS, and an assurance that they had fixed the problems. (There were 2 problems: They needed to deliver the dentist's packages during normal working hours, and they needed to correct his backup address.)

The errant deliveries have stopped, but I never got a free pair of shorts. Maybe they delivered them to the wrong address.
 
I'd like to put in a little plug for the USPS.

We don't seem to have delivery problems like some of the posters here.

In fact, I can recall only one instance in my 35 years of adult life when a bill I mailed got lost in the mail.

I think it's terrific that Amazon has partnered with the postal system to deliver its packages, and I can't recall a single late delivery of an Amazon package ever!

I think some people like to complain about "the government." It's an easy, anonymous target. So when someone experiences a late delivery by the USPS, they are quick to join the warm brotherhood of fellow government complainers. Reminds me of people who complain about the weather.

I prefer to focus on the millions of pieces of mail and packages that are delivered promptly. When you do the math, you see that lost packages and lost mail is not the norm.
 
Tandemlovers said:
I think it's terrific that Amazon has partnered with the postal system to deliver its packages, and I can't recall a single late delivery of an Amazon package ever!

I think some people like to complain about "the government." It's an easy, anonymous target. So when someone experiences a late delivery by the USPS, they are quick to join the warm brotherhood of fellow government complainers. Reminds me of people who complain about the weather.

I prefer to focus on the millions of pieces of mail and packages that are delivered promptly. When you do the math, you see that lost packages and lost mail is not the norm.
Click to expand...


Sorry but the best grade they can get is a "c". My package was late and I've had stuff lost in the mail before. All you need to do is to walk into a FedEx office, spend 5 minutes, then walk into a post office, spend 5 minutes.
 
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