USPS bogging down again

[jbbama]

Yep.... no tracking updates and taking wayyyyy to long to travel a few states!


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[ASF123]

So get this: a letter carrier just rang our doorbell and dropped off, count ‘em, 15 packages on a Sunday. With an apology that they had been backed up. We are in the process of putting up our Christmas tree - it’s like Santa came early.

[jcmtiger]

With Christmas coming up I wouldn’t mail any cards right now. Wait until after New Years. Where I live we have 1 place to pick up mail 800 boxes locked. The mail person has more mail than I have ever seen every day. Christmas mail hasn’t even started yet. Joe

[jchcollins]

Here is my wacky USPS story for the day:

I had a modern auto PSA 10, nothing super high end but not dirt cheap either - that I had bought on eBay before Thanksgiving, 11/23. That same day the seller printed the label, my tracking number popped, and then the card went on radio silence. The week after, I reached out to the seller to see if he had actually mailed the card, due to the fact that all I could tell from the tracking label was that it had been printed. He said he dropped it off with the PO in Georgia the same day he printed the label. Card should have been here like 12/1 right? Or even sooner, I'm in NC. Nothing for more than a solid week in terms of tracking updates. I was preparing to open an eBay case this morning, when the tracking number suddenly updated to say it was out for delivery in my zip code. And indeed it was delivered a few hours later, the card is now sitting next to my laptop as I write this. Weirdness though, no other tracking hits. It still only shows that the label was printed, and then that it was delivered. No record of leaving a post office, or getting to the regional hub in Greensboro, NC (which all of our mail goes through...)

The holidays are indeed a weird time to play with the physical mail aspect of the hobby...

[sycks22]

I sent something from MN to NJ. It was last tracked in New Jersey a week ago and just keeps bouncing around there. Kind of amazing that it takes a week to travel 100+ miles.

[buymycards]

When I was still working at our local PO, we were receiving 300-400 packages per day for our 5 routes. When Amazon kicked in, the number jumped to 600-700 per day. I'm not working any longer, but I go to the PO every day to mail eBay packages, and I'm told that a normal day is 1200 to 1400 packages. Remember, this is a small 5 route office. So they are delivering all of these packages, in addition to the regular mail.

Most of the Post Offices in this area are short-staffed. Current employees are quitting because of the mental and physical stress. Newly hired people are quitting after 2-3 days and no one seems to want to work for the Post Office. Of course, the PO, being a government agency, takes months to get someone hired and trained. Plus, many of the clerks and carriers have had to stay home to quarantine after coming down with the Corona virus. The newly hired employees are on a much lower pay scale than employees who were hired 15-20 years ago, so the job doesn't pay enough to pay your bills, unless you work a lot of OT. Plus, the part-time employees are now delivering Amazon on Sunday, so it can turn into a 7 day a week job.

I could go on for hours about the problems with the Postal Service, but I won't.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by buymycards

I could go on for hours about the problems with the Postal Service, but I won't.

I should be clear that my posts are not necessarily 100% complaining. I realize the USPS is a far from perfect government institution, and that said - over the past 21+ years I have been buying and selling cards online - they probably have a 99%+ rate of success. It just seems that with the ebbs and flows of 2020, the service has gotten weirder / less consistent - if not exactly "worse" since in the same percentage of cases but a very few I still eventually get my cards.

[carlsonjok]

Originally Posted by sycks22

I sent something from MN to NJ. It was last tracked in New Jersey a week ago and just keeps bouncing around there. Kind of amazing that it takes a week to travel 100+ miles.

The Kearny, NJ mail hub has always been problematic. As part of my signed 1963 Fleer project, I sent off the Bob Gibson and Bill Mazeroski to a private signing a number of years ago. It literally spent a week leaving and returning to the Kearny sort facility before it was finally delivered two days past the deadline. Luckily, the company hosting the signing was gracious enough to get them in the signing or me.

[jchcollins]

I will say in my experience Greensboro's downfall is fairly recent. Back this summer and earlier, some of my First Class packages would actually show up the day before their estimate...

[tschock]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I will say in my experience Greensboro's downfall is fairly recent. Back this summer and earlier, some of my First Class packages would actually show up the day before their estimate...

Agreed!

[cammb]

Just notified by post office that my eBay auction win was just delivered. The thing is I live in NY and my package was delivered at mailbox to some location in Chicago. Don’t think COVID has anything to do with this.

[tennisguy]

Unbelievable. Hope it gets too you! I’m waiting for several items that have not moved for 2-weeks.

Ryan

Originally Posted by cammb

Just notified by post office that my eBay auction win was just delivered. The thing is I live in NY and my package was delivered at mailbox to some location in Chicago. Don’t think COVID has anything to do with this.