Frustrated with USPS tracking?
 

Sage advice.

They're always iffy this time of year, Covid is making it worse. They really need a top down restructuring too but that's a post for another board :D

USPS Troubles
 

Most of my shipments have been lost in the Ether lately. I recently shipped a set of golf clubs to New Hampshire. After arriving at the local hub on 12.6 they were labeled MISSENT on 12.7, they scanned as DLVD on 12.17.

Another shipment from PA to MD went out on 12.8 it arrived in MD on 12.10 and is showing ARRIVAL AT UNIT on 12.19.

I am not trying to disparage the USPS workers, I understand that they are swamped right now. It is frustrating as a seller when shipments are difficult to track.

A top down restructuring, you say?

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/9...6cropY2%3D2587

In the past week, I had 2 buyers open cases on eBay for not receiving their items. I send out all items within 24 hours of payment. Over the past 17 years of selling, I received an average of 1 complaint every 2 years.

Have to explain to these buyers that USPS is having major delays due to the Covid-19 plus the holiday rush. In addition, the East Coast just went thru a major snowstorm.

I have noticed that for many items that I have shipped out over the past few months, USPS have not scanned in the tracking info. Some times it doesn't show up till it arrives at its destination.

I understand that there are a lot of issues with deliveries during these times and I just wish buyers would be more understanding. Instead of quickly opening cases with eBay, try contacting the seller first. This way we can explain the issues to them.

I have a few cards listed in the B/S/T that I would also like to list on eBay, but with the USPS delays right now, I don't want to sell them there for this exact reason. If they sell and are delayed in being delivered, a buyer can open a case and get a refund, then when the card most likely does get delivered, I would be out the card and the money for it.

It’s bad
 

Paid for auction items Nov 17. Package has gone from NJ to Del to PA to CT to NH to MA and now appears to be heading back out of state.

Fed ex is still getting it done

Something is wrong with USPS. I ordered an item from Wisconsin and I live in Michigan and it goes from Wisconsin to Oklahoma and it is still there a week later.

I mailed a small box NJ to Texas on December 7. Still not in tracking system. Maddening.

Lesson learned. Don't mail any cards to anyone for any reason in December.

I bought an item on eBay in November. The seller was located in Ky and for 3 weeks tracking showed accepted.
I opened a case two days ago. :mad:

Here is a surprise. I've been waiting on a couple of card deliveries for about two weeks. One includes my 1960 Topps Rival All Stars, which is the first of the three Mantle cards I've gotten for the set. They both had a couple of days of dwell time at the OKC sort facility (which under normal circumstances turns packages around in a matter of hours.) They left there yesterday afternoon, so I figured that I'd get them Monday.

I checked today to see if they had been recieved at my local post office and they are showing as out for delivery. On a Sunday!

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Christmas card and gift certificate I left for my mail carrier the other day.

...during a pandemic, after the postmaster tried to dismantle the system

You could have just stopped at frustrated with USPS. Carriers are mostly still good people but the higher ups are suspect.

I’m getting 1-2 pieces of junk Mail. In other years we average 50-60 Christmas cards a year. In other news, last week I got a Christmas card returned to me I sent back in 2004! How is your Mail inflow?

FedEx is backed up too!

Bought an item from the Cincinnati Reds on Dec 4. On Dec 6, the Reds notified me they delivered item to FedEx pick up location. Gave me tracking. On Dec 16, Fedex finally marked the package as accepted. On Dec 17, item was scanned into facility in Illinois. It was 10 days for FedEx to pick up.

I lost a sale on ebay b/c of shipping. They asked if I could guarantee delivery by Dec 24. I said absolutely not, shipping was out of my hands. So, no sale. I guess that's better than a bad review.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Also, I think we should all be praying our secret santa gifts get delivered!

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Well, it was fun while it lasted. I was out clearing ice storm debris out of my east pasture when I saw the mail carrier stop at my box. I finished the tree I was working on and went to box about a half hour later and it was empty. Since they are probably delivering packages today, I have to assume someone is following the carrier around and stealing packages.

And the cherry on the sundae? The report mail theft link on the USPIS website doesn't work.

That’s Terrible ! I pray for you and the seller to be taken care of.

Do yourself the service and get a Post Office Box if you’re getting expensive items. It’s worth the piece of mind.

One package was from Greg Morris and the other was from a group break at Burl's Sports. I've got about $100 into the combination. They both held up their end of the transactions, so I'll eat the loss.

I live in a semi-rural area and this is the first time I've had mail stolen in 18 years. I have had good fortune and will get over my pique eventually.

The USPS has had underlying issues for decades, but unfortunately we have seen things get noticeably worse this year with changes in policies, a political crony postmaster who was appointed only because of his donor status, and of course the pandemic, snowstorms, and usual holiday bottlenecks.

What makes it worse is individual regions and PO's have their own coping mechanisms. I've seen more than a few PO's simply quit scanning anything outgoing, ostensibly in an effort to save time. The result is some packages go dark and look like they were not even processed past printing the shipping label. Then 2 weeks later, they re-appear and are marked Out For Delivery. Frustrating would be an understatement.

usps
 

I think it is time to privatize the USPS. Then, it will be able to be as efficient and cost effective as private companies, such as PSA, COMC, Beckett, and SGC.

:)

In the Constitution, one of the few, explicit duties of the Federal Government is to establish and maintain a postal service. It would take an amendment to change that. An alternative is to set aside trying to make the postal service into a revenue neutral agency and to focus on getting it to do the job as well as possible.

Your item should still show up. 3 weeks is not unusual now.

I have had very few problems with first class mail, while priority has been snail mail. Literally. Pay for better service and it’s been far less reliable. I can hardly imagine what certified must look like these days.

I've been selling a lot of my collection lately and can totally identify with almost everything mentioned in this thread.

USPS is annoying, And I personally can be very very patient with them , especially lately.

It's eBay that really chaps me because:

I now (last two months) have a "below standard" seller rating, which increases my final value fees by 50%.

the criteria that drops me?: 3 out of 947 sales in the last 12 months are "cases closed without seller resolution" eBay's max in that category is 0.3% .

their definition : "A case closed without seller resolution is any case the seller is unable to resolve with the buyer prior to the buyer asking us to step in and help with a request"

I've sold a lot of cards at $2/free shipping, and send them in PWE. I've had probably 12 or 15 buyers write telling me "the card hasn't arrived". When that note comes to me, if it's inside 4 weeks from my ship date, I always respond with "first, you can rest assured you will receive the card or a full refund, then I explain the troubles USPS has been having, and ask for a little more patience, please allow at least 4 weeks for the card to surface."

I ultimately refunded almost all of those when the buyer wrote back saying, I think we've given it long enough, but 3 of those buyers opened cases with eBay without contacting me again, and eBay has initiated the refund within about 5 minutes each time.

I didn't even know this was costing me more fees until I went to make my regular FVF payment to eBay and saw that it was more than expected. I've appealed and tried multiple times to converse with a human who would at least acknowledge that I do everything I can possibly do on my end (other than just not sell those low dollar cards). But it always ends up with the CSR sticking with the company motto that the seller is always to blame.

I could continue to b*tch about eBay...... it's all more of the same song and dance that we all know and have read. I know it's a risk I take sending cards without tracking... I get that.


0.3% ??? really?

I'm anal about dropping cards off at the post office within 24 hours of receiving payment, and I've never hesitated to refund any buyer that states they didn't receive a card mailed without tracking and want a refund.

Ultimately I'll probably keep listing on eBay as long as I still want to reduce my collection, just need to continue to adjust my attitude and expectations regarding the faceless eBay monster

To bring this back onto topic, yes when I drop any package or envelope off at USPS, I cross my fingers that it arrives.

Agreed. I shipped 2 Priority packages last week for $16 something total and now they are both delayed and not updating. Total waste of money.

I am more or less hibernating my eBay store until after the new year. I've let all my auctions run out w/o relisting. After the first there should be less pressure on the mail and eBay is doing that $1 USPS w/tracking shipping for cheap cards, which will be perfect for much of my stuff. No need to take the ratings hits from the current USPS struggles.

Mail theft is becoming a real problem. I guess crooks are wising up to the fact that lots of valuables are being shipped and that most mailboxes are easily opened, if they are even locked at all. I lost a 1967 Topps Bobby Orr to a mail theft (most of the boxes on our block were hit, repeatedly) and installed a security box that cannot be jimmied short of using a power tool or wrecking bar. I'd suggest anyone who wants better security do the same. These thefts are opportunistic, quick crimes by people who do not spend a lot of time and don't want to draw attention. If that doesn't work my next step is a scorpion in the box--that oughta be a nice surprise for a thief who sticks his slimy mitts in there. Or just rent a PO box at the shipping center I use for work. Perhaps combined with the scorpion.

Mark
 

Mark, my post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. As a 30+ year Postal USPS employee, with nearly 20 years as a Postmaster, I am well aware of that.

Rick

Rick - the story I am hearing is that the last straw that broke the camels back, so to speak, was Amazon and other mega online sellers dumping massive amounts of packages on USPS, more than they can humanly handle, because UPS and Amazon's own delivery service are beyond the breaking point in the age of pandemic. Have you heard this? I know USPS handles some stuff for Amazon, but the story is they have contracted now to take on some ridiculous load that they cant deal with. Hence, the system has come to a near screeching halt. Sounds possible to me but could be untrue.

Yep. I had a '84 Fleer Update Puckett I think in a PSA 8 slab get marked "Delivered" at my office last year, and when I went to pick it up 5 minutes later they had nothing. So either the carrier pulled off a disappearing act, or my company's mailroom employees did. eBay paid for the card under their policy, but made me file a police report. Not how I was expecting that particular transaction to end...:eek:

Needless to say, I no longer have cards sent to my office.

you should reach out to the sellers, they may have had insurance on the packages. not sure if insurance will pay on stolen items.

I, for one, thank you for your service. I submitted a mail theft report yesterday afternoon and had an email from our local postmaster by 8:45 this morning and a follow-up call at 10:15.

In all my years, I've had two mail issues: yesterday's theft and then time that a rare Nabisco card was delivered to Alameda St (I live on Alameda Drive) and that was solved when it was re-delivered a few days later.

Retired after 40 years with USPS but still follow what is going on via employee message boards and Facebook groups.....

Since the pandemic started, it has been Christmas volume all summer long with the online shopping because of people staying home....now adding on the REAL Christmas rush, the distribution centers are totally buried under. Tractor trailers are waiting hours to be unloaded in the Midwest with no place to put the mail after it's been unloaded. After the last few years of delivery problems because of volume, UPS and FedEX is limiting the amount of parcels it is accepting from the big retailers....guess where they are going, USPS.

Employees are working 12 hour days or more , 7 days a week. Over 14,000 employees have Covid or are quarantining....wherever there is a Covid hotspot, it's affecting USPS employees too.

If the transaction was done via PayPal, I'd definitely check. Much like eBay, some of the language there is around what happens "if the item is never received." That I would think could cover a wide range of things.

Sad story. Enough to make us consider our patience and empathy for sure. I hope that the new administration can make some changes which might really help the PO instead of just paying lip service to the problems.

I don't have high hopes at all.

I have 40 eBay packages that were picked up two weeks ago. Absolutely zero movement! Now I have probable claims. I hope eBay will take this into consideration!

I had an eBay buy with guaranteed delivery of Dec 9. Dec 9 came and went. I checked tracking. I live in Kingsport TN 20 miles from Johnson City and 90 miles from Knoxville. Two Interstates pass me. Tracking showed the package left Kentucky on Dec 7, arrived in Knoxville Dec 8 went to Johnson City Dec 9 scanned once then scanned again 4 minutes later. Dec 10 it was scanned again in Knoxville. About 5 minutes later it was scanned again in Knoxville. Dec 12 it was scanned back in Johnson City. I received it Dec 14. Meanwhile I sent a note to the seller (whom I have dealt with before) saying I was going to leave positive feed back as this wasn't his fault and told him if he paid for guaranteed delivery maybe he could get a refund. His reply was that he couldn't and he had been getting less than positive feedback on delivery. He was very frustrated and said he was stopping all selling until Dec 28th in hope that by then things will have settled down. Incidentally I let him all 5's including arriving on time.
My son is currently a postmaster in Wisconsin and he has been telling me of the problems he has been having due to Covid sickness and mail volume. He also mentioned the load Amazon has put on his P.O. regarding deliveries. I asked him if he could get help from other P.O.'s but they are all in the same boat. Not enough healthy people available to keep things moving smoothly.

My small priority mail box scanned in NJ on Dec 7 apparently made it to Texas today. Not delivered yet, but in the state. Maybe for shits and giggles they can now route in through Oklahoma for no good reason.

I have to admit, I was sweating bullets; given that I already had a card sliced from a USPS bubble mailer; The E98 Tenney BL I was sweating over (for good reason), shipped from CA on 11/16; received at CHI on 11/18. I live in the Chicago suburbs; proceeded to watch via notifications; this thing bouncing all around the area distribution centers and back again to CHI; then stopped receiving notifications; requested said notifications two more times, after they stopped on their own. Was about to let the eBay seller know, through no fault of their own, it may be lost in the system; wondering if their $8.18 shipping charge included insurance, at least; I'm not totally out. All of a sudden, 12/16; it lands in my local distr, center; 12/17 "out for delivery"! Phew! Sweating stopped.
Ben

Usps
 

I have a package from LOTG auction that's been at the Columbus, Ohio Distribution Center since December 3rd. They are saying they are short staffed due to Covid nothing they can do.

Hey Tony, I have an easy solution for you! :D

The North Texas Coppell USPS regional shipping center is literally a black hole right now. It's way worse than the horrible mess it usually is in, which is saying something. I honestly think there should be some sort of investigation of the management there. Total and pure incompetence, if not criminal, from what it looks like to me. There are several things there that have been shipped to me lately, just sitting. One is an E253 Cobby dang

PS...Anything from anywhere, coming through there, is likely sitting right now....

Richmond, VA distribution center had a COVID outbreak about a couple weeks ago and post offices were instructed to not send any mail there. My local post office had pallets of mail sit in a truck during this time, waiting for permission to send. I would assume there are/were similar instances throughout the country.

I have a couple of Christmas gifts stuck in "In Transit" Hell. One was due to arrive the 19th the other the 22nd. I really hope that things turn around after the holidays. We need to optimize the Postal Service going forward, and hire more people.

It's frustrating, but it's out of our hands, unfortunately.

Anyone else dealing with issues with the USPS Priority Express service?

I had a Priority Express package mailed to me from PA coming to MA on Monday, guaranteed to be here by Tuesday afternoon. It's now Wednesday morning, and the last scan was Monday afternoon for arrival at a PA distribution center.

I thought this service was more of a sure thing, because of the money-back guarantee of an on-time 1-2 day delivery (in my case, it was a 1 day guarantee). But even this seems like an issue right now. Ugh.

I'm convinced that the delivery times do not matter at this point, the USPS is so bogged down, they can't accurately determine when things are going to arrive nor can they honor those guarantees.

My 40 ebay packages that I dropped off on 12/12 near my home in Columbia, Maryland were just posted today from....Opa Locka, Florida - 1,073 miles away!

I've got a card that was sent Dec. 12th and due to be delivered on the 16th. The last status update: Dec 16 12:00AM In transit, arriving late.

Didn't even say where it is.

That's interesting because I also live in rva and until last week was having 0 problems getting packages on time. I've noticed no slow downs getting mail once it gets to rva, just slow downs coming from other places.