Post Office - Beating a Dead Horse

[obiwan1129]

I know the Post Office slowdown/delivery issues has been talked about a lot, however, over Feb, March, and early April it felt like things were getting back to a reasonable level.

Since the end of April I've had several items basically stuck back to Dec 2020/Jan 2021 levels where there is seemingly no movement for days or weeks on an item.

Anyone else in the same boat of late? Or was I naive to think things were catching up after the holidays?

[Bigdaddy]

I've been waiting almost a month now for a check to be delivered. Probably came in a standard first class envelope, so no tracking. And this was from a company, not an individual with a hand-written address and a stick-on stamp.

[rjackson44]

Hi about the prices crazy omg ,,cant do free shipping anymore ,,$86 yesterday 🥺🥺

[autograf]

hello vacation season for an understaffed organization..........

[Johnny630]

A Fitting Motto

USPS Delivering Excuses Not The Mail.....Deadlines Ha, Next In Line.

[jchcollins]

Just for me personally and locally, (I’m in Winston-Salem, NC) the service has more or less returned to pre-pandemic norms for First Class and Priority packages. Most things arrive exactly on time. Some things are a day or so late, and (moreso with Priority…) some things are a day or so early.

All that said, I don’t trust the USPS further than I can throw a stack of slabs, so I make sure to always insure the things I send out and keep my tracking numbers.

The Post Office is never going to be great, but it is what it is. For a government operation, customer service is never going to be among their top 3 priorities. With anything expensive, (for me more than a couple hundred bucks…) I will usually pony up to use FedEx 2nd day and have a lot better peace of mind.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Buythatcard]

I mail out about a dozen items every day. I have to say that the USPS has been doing a great job over the past few months. There have been absolutely no delays except for 1.
The 1 delay if you really want to call it that as from a buyer in Canada who opened a case less than 1 week after item was shipped. Tracking clearly said that there were delays due to Covid. eBay closed the case and gave buyer full refund from my account. I called eBay up and said what's up with that. It's only a week including weekends since I shipped the item. They refunded the money to me also and let buyer get the item for free.

Late last year, I was getting complaints from buyers several times a week that they have not received their packages yet. But it has been great since then.

With all of the delays over the years, USPS has delivered my packages 100% of the time. Better late than never.

As far as the rising postal rates. That's another story.

[ALBB]

I get it with the delays and slowness....but where else can you give someone and envelope and 50 cents in New York and say ..." do me a favor , give this to someone in Seattle WA

[toledo_mudhen]

On the positive side - my local PO (Kingsville, TX) has been nothing short of spectacular! During the entire "COVID" slowdown - I can count on 1 hand the number of times where an item was not delivered in less than 1 week.

Current for instance - Note that when shipping I typically drop the package off to the inside lobby package slot in the wall (probably not relevant but seems to be) -

This one from South Texas to Pontiac Michigan.

May 19, 2021
1:40am
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
PONTIAC, MI 48340

May 17, 2021
11:01pm
DEPART USPS FACILITY
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX 78469

May 17, 2021
9:54pm
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX 78469

May 17, 2021
6:29pm
DEPART POST OFFICE
KINGSVILLE, TX 78363

May 17, 2021
2:54pm
USPS IN POSSESSION OF ITEM
KINGSVILLE, TX 78363

May 17, 2021
6:18am
SHIPPING LBL CREATED USPS AWAITS ITEM
KINGSVILLE, TX 78363

May 17, 2021
7:40am
PRE-SHIPMENT INFO SENT USPS AWAITS ITEM
KINGSVILLE, TX 78363

May 17, 2021
4:18am
Tracking number provided

To me this is outstanding service and it is what I have come to expect.

Kudos USPS!

Edited to add - this is/was sent 1st Class Mail

[scooter729]

Priority Express mailed from Boston to PA on Saturday. Supposed to be guaranteed by Monday 3PM I was told. Finally got to a distribution center yesterday afternoon, where it still apparently is sitting now on Wednesday morning.

At least I'll be able to apply for a refund on the shipping charge, I guess....

[jfkheat]

From my experience, first class packages have been delivered quicker than priority mail packages.

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by jfkheat

From my experience, first class packages have been delivered quicker than priority mail packages.

Yes, I agree. The delivery times for my First Class packages are quicker and more consistently on time than my Priority packages.

Also, there is one thing going on the most people don't realize in regard to the annual January price increases. The population is growing, and every year, the USPS has roughly 1.1 million new deliveries to new homes and businesses. Since the PO doesn't receive any tax money from the Federal government, the new costs are paid partially by price increases.

[obiwan1129]

The cost increases don't bother me so much. I am not a fan but sooner or later stuff goes up, I get it. I mean, I'm willing to go 1-2 weeks for the mail. I just took a look at my last 5 Ebay items to see if I'm out of line here. There's definitely something going on at my local distribution center in Baltimore. They must be overwhelmed.

1. Ordered May 10, 2021, first class. Arrived May 17, that's fair.

2. Ordered May 09, 2021, first class. Stuck at the local distribution center (Baltimore) and labeled MISSENT.

3. Ordered May 07, 2021, first class. Says arriving today. Had been stuck in Las Vegas for over a week. It hit the local distribution center (Baltimore) yesterday after I started this thread. Assuming it arrives today, a little long but not outrageous.

4. Ordered May 1, 2021, first class. Stuck at local distribution center (Baltimore) since May 8.

5. Ordered Apr 30. 2021, first class. Arrived May 7. That's fair.

One more item was ordered Apr 25, 2021, first class. It's stuck near the sellers location at their local distribution center (SHREWSBURY, MA) since May 1.

I waited it out over the holidays, and will continue waiting these out for a few more weeks. But it is frustrating. Most of the things I buy are low cost enough that going FedEx/UPS isn't worth it.

[darwinbulldog]

Yeah, sent a Mother's Day gift like 8 days ahead of Mother's Day, and they told me it would be delivered within 5 days. So far it's been 18 days.

[Jim65]

2 weeks ago, I shipped 2 packages to the same buyer, 1 media mail and 1 priority mail. The media mail package was delivered in 3 days and the priority mail took 5 days.

He paid extra to get one of the packages quicker but the PO had different plans.