Frustrated with USPS tracking?

[jchcollins]

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.

[buymycards]

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.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by buymycards

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.

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by Mark

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.

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

[Snapolit1]

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.

Originally Posted by buymycards

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

[bobw]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

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.

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.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by bobw

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.

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.

[JimStinson]

Originally Posted by bobw

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.

Am having the same problems for all the same reasons, 2 day priority still not delivered after three weeks ...its a different World
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[Bcwcardz]

Originally Posted by bobw

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.

Thank you for clarifying. People still don’t get it. There’s a pandemic that’s causing a perfect storm. Way too many packages all year long, a federal election by mail and workers out due to COVID or exposure. Some of these distribution centers might be closed as far as we know. You get too many cases and they close like Amazon in NJ did not long ago. But people expect business as usual. It’s not going to be. It sucks having to go out and work right now and constantly expose yourself and your family. I feel these USPS workers. Not all of us can work from home and sit in our jammies all day.


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[carlsonjok]

Originally Posted by buymycards

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

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.

[tonyo]

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.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by tonyo

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.

Hey Tony, I have an easy solution for you!

[Leon]

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....

[MULLINS5]

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.

[Seven]

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.

[scooter729]

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.

[Natswin2019]

Originally Posted by MULLINS5

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.

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.

[Shoeless Moe]

I've gone to 2 different Post Offices at various times the past week and the line is always out the door or near out the door. There is usually just one maybe 2 workers. I've never seen it like that before.

[Frank A]

Hey Jim. I live in Greeneville, Tn. Shipped a package 9 days ago. Tracking says it's still in Knoxville, 1.5 hours away. Makes no sense. Frank

[chas]

All this on top of the regular mail the PO has to process.