Processed through USPS Sort Facility

[johnmh71]

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.

[buymycards]

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

[K-Nole]

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).

[quinnsryche]

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!

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by buymycards

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

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

[Runscott]

...

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

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.

[T2069bk]

Originally Posted by Leon

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.

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?

[Buythatcard]

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".

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

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.