Processed through USPS Sort Facility
 

Has anyone received the dreaded "Processed through USPS Sort Facility" message when checking the tracking of an item. I have been watching this for 8 days and still no package. It was a priority mail package containing cards worth $2,250 with an expected delivery of 4/2.

Have called USPS who opened a case and decided not to call me back. Had to call back today and they said it would be escalated to Customer Relations. More bull.

This was a reasonable sized box that I find very hard to believe it was lost. I think it was stolen and the USPS does not give a crap.

Wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of delay but eventually received their package.

FYI, the sorting facility was Kearny, NJ

It isn't lost. or stolen These delays, while not common, do happen. It's just stuck someplace and eventually will unstick.

This is mostly likely the scenario. Even though theft does happen from time to time, it's fairly unlikely any smuggling of the package would take place in the sorting facility. The chances of it being "misplaced" are much higher and most likely what happened. I've had a similar situation come up a few times myself and they all eventually got to me.

Hi Howard. Hopefully, you have insurance on that package. I have something like this also. I had a low value package shipped to me from Singapore (~$50) with a destination address of Redwood City in California. The package made it to the US fine, and there you were able to see the package tracking on the USPS site. The package made it to Sunnyvale, which is just a few miles from Redwood City on 3/21. Then the package basically disappeared with the last update being "Delivery Status Not Updated." Earlier this week, I went to my local post office, and asked where my package was. They said they had no idea, but gave me the phone # to call the Sunnyvale post office since that was the last place the package was. After many attempts at calling that post office, where the calls would go into a voice mail, I finally reached a live person. That person told me that the package already left Sunnyvale, and told me to try the Redwood City post office, and see if the package might be in some "hold out" box at that post office for missent items. I called the Redwood City post office, and they said the package was not there either, and what they said happens is that when the package was missent from Sunnyvale, the process is that it gets sent back to the main San Francisco sorting facility, and in that location, it goes into some area for missent mail where every item in that location needs to be manually sorted by a post office employee to check to see if the address/zip, etc is correct rather than go to through the machines. I told the employee that it's already been 2-1/2 weeks, how much longer do I have to wait? The employee told me to be patient another 2-3 weeks... I asked if I could call the San Francisco office, but they said that wouldn't help since they wouldn't know anything either until the package got manually sorted.

So, I still don't know if my package is in a black hole somewhere in that postal facility or truly lost. I filed an ebay item not received case since it's getting close to the 45 days that I have to file a case, and I do feel sorry for the seller, and hopefully ebay seller protection will cover him in this case also.

I had this situation happen to me many time when I am shipping an item and they do usually show up. But they were usually small packages that could get stuck or hidden somewhere.

This package was large and find it hard to believe that it is stuck somewhere.

Just gotta keep my fingers crossed and hope it shows up at my doorstep. (My mailman has a habit of leaving it outside in the rain).

I sent a $250 card uninsured (eBay sale) back in January and if you look at the tracking info it says that it's still "at sorting facility". I obviously had to refund the buyer b/c the card is in purgatory.

I'm sure it'll show up eventually...hopefully on my doorstep, not the buyer's!!

Mine was in a bubble mailer. One would hope a box would be harder to "misplace".

Just think about it. When a missing card finally shows up, it really will be considered vintage.

Ahhh Kearny!
Had some interesting experiences w/ packages that go through there.
Had a card order from upstate NY go through there on its way to me in PA
But after Kearny it ended up in Ft Worth Tx on a short vacation & finally
worked its way to me. The priority box should have taken 2-3 days, it took 7.
My local postmaster told me you can't believe all the activity in these distribution centers as if its a miracle that anything is dlvd promptly

And then there's the story of a package addressed to Berlin, PA that made it there through Berlin Germany. :)

Steve good memory. I live in a metropolis called East Berlin (1 traffic light in the whole town)
And a package from Fla to my wife ended up in Zurich Switzerland & Berlin Germany.
As a person who's never been to Europe I was jealous of the package that saw more of the world then me.:(

kearny nj back east and bell garden ca out west...those were some sleepless nights.

bell garden got me last week. No outbound scan to a east coast destination USPS ground... 6 days it was in a truck no outbound scan before it hit the system on a inbound scan at the distribution point... not a card, but a $650 item that was 54x6x6 - you think this community is tough try and tell a Star Wars collector his T-21 stormtrooper blaster is enroute when it looks like its MIA. :eek:

Kearny New Jersey....3 words that strike fear in the hearts of eBay sellers in the Northeast! Good luck!

Jeff

I had a package that I sent go missing and I went in to try and get the shipping charges refunded (no insurance), they told me I had to wait 30 days. I ended up going in on about day 35 and they told me it had just arrived that day. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

Yup, it's a big Black Hole for packages. Sometimes it takes a week or more to come out the other side.

I agree
 

As a buyer waiting in NJ I have grown a bit patient. I am always waiting for packages from there.

But...It is worse when they go from Teterboro to Kearny. I usually wait weeks on those and have seen them shipped to Long Island /PA etc !!!!

It will not...I've had two lost packages in the last few months...one was going to Hong Kong, and went from Nebraska to Chicago to Canada??? back to Chicago where it was last scanned. The buyer filed on me and I thought I was protected, but ebay took it from my paypal...I called and asked about the seller protection plan and it no longer covers packages lost in the mail...not sure what it does protect now, but they have changed it. I also lost a postcard I mailed to a small town in Nebraska...got scanned in Omaha and was never delivered...buyer filed on me and ebay once again took it from my paypal. There is no such thing as seller protection on ebay.

Yeah I just consigned some cards to Legendary this week for the May auction and they are only about 40 miles from my house. I sent it 3 days ago as a next day delivery just to make the deadline of today and the package is still sitting in Forrest Park. So it was a waste of 30 dollars, I should have just drove it to them.

Hi Brad, I think USPS guarantees next day delivery for express packages, so you should be able to get your $30 odd dollars back. I did this before in the past when it took them 2 days instead of one day for delivery, and the local post office branch paid out.

Happens to me a lot. The USPS Brooklyn Sorting Facility seems to be notorious for this. I find the best thing to do is call the USPS customer service number. They open a case for you and contact the facility. Typically things get cleared up in a day or two and you should have your package in no time, fingers crossed.

Thanks Gary, I will contact them and find out. You know how it is dealing with them.

OH NO, I have a "departed" from Teterboro on the 7th. That is the last info on it. So you are saying it might be May before it gets here...OH MY!!

Usps
 

Had a package coming to me leave Philly on 2/15 never to be heard from again. I could walk to Philly and back in two days!! No word at all not delivered or returned to seller!

Fred

Product & Tracking Information


Postal Product:
Package Services


Features:

USPS Tracking™





Date & Time


Status of Item


Location



February 15, 2014

Depart USPS Sort Facility .

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19116


February 13, 2014 , 4:34 pm

Processed through USPS Sort Facility .

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19116


February 11, 2014

Depart USPS Sort Facility .

WARRENDALE, PA 15095


February 11, 2014 , 2:26 pm

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility .

WARRENDALE, PA 15095


February 11, 2014 , 1:11 pm

Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility .

CHICAGO, IL 60654


February 10, 2014

Electronic Shipping Info Received

Being someone that worked in a USPS sort facility back in 1997 during the UPS strike, I am pleased every time I receive something that I am supposed to get in the mail. You have to see the inside of one of those places to believe it.

Sort facility
 

As a current Postal employee, this kind of thing drives me nuts. 99.9% of our packages are delivered on time to the correct destination, but there is that .1% that seems to fall into a black hole for a week or two. We see a scan that says "departed sort facility at xxxxx", then - nothing. I feel helpless because there is nothing I can do as a Postmaster to help my customer. So, I check on the package every day and then a week later, or two weeks later, the package arrives at the destination Post Office and gets delivered. Where has it been for two weeks and why wasn't it scanned somewhere along the line?

It seems that the smaller first class packages move through the system pretty quickly and the delays are mostly Priority Mail packages. Overall, the system works well, especially considering that we ship over a million packages a day. I wish I could find out why a small percentage of these packages just seem to evaporate and then reappear again.

I am willing to try to help anyone who is having problems with their packages, but I am at a medium sized PO out in the boonies and in many cases there isn't much that I can do. If you need help, send me an email and I will see what I can do.

rickmcquillan@gmail.com

Rick

Just from my experiences, the ones I have troubles with are the East coast ones. Mostly New Jersey and Connecticut.

Once the package gets to Kansas City, I have it within 12 hours (in Topeka).

Recently had a small package take 8 days from Kearny, NJ to Nashville. Sat for 4 days at the facility before it moved and then 2 more afterwards. All that and it was sent Priority too. Imagine if it was regular mail!

I agree with Rick...in all of my years shipping packages on eBay (in the thousands), I have had less than a handful get lost.

Jeff

...

Me too....in 15 yrs of shipping several thousand total packages I have probably had less than a handful get lost. That being said it does seem like there are more issues at some of the regional USPS hubs than others. Coppell in North Texas seems to have a poor track record too.

Not lost just...
 

As big of a pain as it once was, I have grown accustomed to Kearny....Never have they been lost (knock on wood), they just take a little vacation.

Maybe they are just jealous of the travels of "Large Ass" Herzog and try too take in the sights in Northern NJ/NYC?

Just to give you an update on this original posting. Called USPS about 4 days after package was in the "Sort Facility Zone". They said that they would open a case and call me back within 48 hours. Five days later, I received no calls so I called them again. They said that they now need to escalate the case to Consumer Affairs in Edison. They will get back to me also within 48 hours. Five days later which was today, still no calls so I called them again. After waiting on hold for 40 minutes, I was told that the case is still open and it has not been resolved but you will know something by 6 PM today. I am not holding my breath.

Very frustrating dealing with these people.

BTW, the status has not changed. "Processed through USPS Sort Facility".

Ugh, that is quite the painstaking process you're going through. Why there can't be better tracking and better handling of packages from our Postal Service is beyond me.

Just wondering, has anybody here EVER had these kinds of continual mysteriously "vanishing" packages happen with FedEx or UPS? I surely haven't.

I used to work seasonally at UPS and we never lost a package although I am sure it happens.

USPS Kearny NJ
 

I just had a similar experience with the USPS in Kearny NJ. I had a package sit for 10 days in thier sort facility and it finally was released and delivered. Keep your fingers crossed and it may still show up. Good Luck

I had a package from UPS disappear a little over a year ago. It contained my sons high school class ring and apparently vanished somewhere between getting put on the truck and being dropped off at my house. They did work with us and ended up getting a full replacement at no charge to us but it was a bit hairy for a w
Little while. It was his Christmas present that year from my wife and I. We ended up getting the replacement on December 24th. Whew! That as close.

Drew

I think all carriers have issues, not just the Postal Service. Here's a thread where FedEx delivered a package to the wrong address: Link, and another one where FedEx did not request a signature even though packages had signature confirmation: Link. The postal service is just used a lot more (since it's usually much cheaper), so more cases of issues seem to crop up. It's very likely that it may still have a lower % of issues given the huge volume they deal with.

^ I agree with this statement.

Wondering if my package/card will ever leave the sort facility in Teterboro, New Jersey.

Read this thread when it first started and had not had this problem.
Since then I have a package stuck in Jersey City processing facility
for 8 days. They say it will show up eventually.