Advice on missing package

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by buymycards

We have been seeing this a lot lately. The package gets accepted at a Post Office and it gets scanned at a processing plant near the Post Office, then it disappears off of the radar for a week, or 10 days, or 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden it shows up as "arrived" at the delivery Post Office and it gets delivered. It seems like for the past couple of months this has been happening more frequently. I wish I could figure out why is happening, but if you are patient, 99.999% of the packages will be delivered.

As far as an item not getting tracked at all, there are some problems caused by the mailers that contribute to this and I am seeing many, many of these.

First, replace the ink cartridge on your printer. The tracking hardware can't scan a bar code that is faded or that has some bars missing. You wouldn't believe how many of these I see every day.

Second, don't shrink the size of the label that is generated from eBay so you can save some paper and ink. We can't scan a bar code that is compressed and only an inch long.

Third, make sure the entire bar code is flat. We see a lot of labels that aren't applied correctly and the labels are wrinkled, which results in a couple of the bars in the bar code that are missing. We need to be able to scan all of the bars in the bar code.

Fourth, make sure that the bar code is on the address side of the package. These packages all go through machines and the machine will read the package label, but if the bar code is on the back of the package it won't get read.

Fifth, don't use glossy or colored paper for your labels. The glossy paper reflects the beam from the scanner and sometimes the scan is missed. Colored paper also causes problems, especially red paper. Don't tape over the bar code because of the reflection from the tape. Make sure you are printing the bar code with black ink.

I hope this saves you from some problems down the road. Remember that until the final delivery, all of the scans and processing are performed by machines and computers with very little human contact, so you need to make sure that everything is legible and machine readable.

Rick

Thanks for the good advice Rick. I have shipped thousands of packages with USPS and sometimes they take a while, but I have never had one lost.

I always tape over the bar codes when affixing to the package. It has never been a problem that I know of...Rick could it slow delivery down?

Thanks,

Jeff

[autograf]

Don't forget tracking gets you ZERO insurance on regular first class mail. ONLY on Priority Mail do you get the $50 insurance. Also if you print out your labels from ebay/paypal, be sure that when you drop them off, they are scanned in. That at least gets you a receipt that they received them. If you put in a mailbox and they don't get scanned then, you will have trouble getting reimbursed even with insurance. Had that happen.

Unlike UPS/FedEx, the USPS doesn't (to my knowledge) do intermediate tracking. It's generally just a scan upon delivery. If it doesn't get scanned, you don't know if it got delivered or not. I'm assuming that they're working towards intermediate scanning--physical or logical scanning, linking packages to bags or trailers.

Like everyone above, 12 days may sound like a lot and it is, but with the holidays and weather plaguing people the last couple weeks, I'd definitely give it more time. Good luck....hope it shows.

[GregMitch34]

Thanks to all for your comments and advice. A regional customer service rep today told me that the state where package was/is going was among worst hit by ice and extra backup there. Also something about Xmas volume was 3x what expected and still backed up from that--huh?

[glchen]

Originally Posted by autograf

... Also if you print out your labels from ebay/paypal, be sure that when you drop them off, they are scanned in. That at least gets you a receipt that they received them. If you put in a mailbox and they don't get scanned then, you will have trouble getting reimbursed even with insurance. Had that happen.

Unlike UPS/FedEx, the USPS doesn't (to my knowledge) do intermediate tracking. It's generally just a scan upon delivery. If it doesn't get scanned, you don't know if it got delivered or not. I'm assuming that they're working towards intermediate scanning--physical or logical scanning, linking packages to bags or trailers.

...

I went to my local post office yesterday to drop off a pre-labeled package from paypal, and after waiting 30 minutes in line, asked the clerk to scan the package for acceptance. She told me she would have to charge me $1.20 to scan it in, so I just said forget it, gave her the package, and left. (It did show tracking last night however.)

The USPS does do intermediate tracking whenever the package hits intermediate distribution centers. I would say it's comparable to UPS/FedEx. Personally, I prefer USPS because First Class is usually much faster than Ground for the other carriers, and much cheaper also.

[npa589]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

I always tape over the bar codes when affixing to the package. It has never been a problem that I know of...Rick could it slow delivery down?

I do as well, with the thought being that it would protect the bar code from any undesired moisture/rain-water bleeding the lines...

I've never had a problem with it either, but have always wondered about it, and am tentative enough about it to where I won't tape over the labels if the package value exceeds $500 or so...

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by npa589

I do as well, with the thought being that it would protect the bar code from any undesired moisture/rain-water bleeding the lines...

I've never had a problem with it either, but have always wondered about it, and am tentative enough about it to where I won't tape over the labels if the package value exceeds $500 or so...

I usually always try to wrap half the bar code under tape and leave the other half exposed, since I use an inkjet to print my labels and it can smear easily if it gets wet.

[AMBST95]

I had to have a conversation with my mail lady because she would get in the habit of scanning my signature confirmation in as delivered although I might not be home. I'd get the card to go to the post office to sign and the package would be at the post office, but when you searched the signature you would just see the initials pm (postmaster). I almost lost it the first time it happened. It was just asking to get lost.

[kmac32]

I had it happen to some cards about 6 months ago. Kept in touch with the buyer and miraculosly after filing a claim at the post office, the package showed up back on the radar about 2 weeks later. package was somehow routed to the East Coast and then back to the midwest. Have no idea why it took 2 weeks or why it went to the East Coast but it did. In the end, all was well and my buyer was happy.

[Pat R]

Recently I purchased two cards from the same seller one day apart, they
both made it to the Kearny NJ sort facility on the same day. I got one in the
mail the next day the second one came 5 days later.

[Clydewally]

I have had two recent experiences. In one, tracking showed it was delivered to my house, but it had not been. Ebay somewhat surprisingly stepped up to the plate and reimbursed me, but did not take any money away from the seller since they had sent it via the right type of mail and it was the post office's fault.

In another instance, the post office claimed we had signed for a package. The signature they showed us looked nothing like ours. The seller was able to get its insurance to pay and reimburse us, but we had to unwind that when the cards finally showed up at the post office THREE MONTHS LATER.