Package Taking The Scenic Route

[candd205]

I have a package that is supposed to go to southwest Missouri, that has instead spent the last week going from Orlando to St Louis, Missouri, then to Springfield, Massachusetts, then back to St Louis, Missouri, then to Kansas City, KS. Fortunately the buyer is being patient.

[ckimodog]

@candd205 

This has happened to me several times.  Once I sent an item that was going to a city 7 miles away from my town.  It wound up and sat in a warehouse for 3 weeks up in Iowa.  Finally the buyer contacted me as he was also following it thru the tracking I provided.  

It seems to be getting worse again, like the covid days.  For the people that get good service from USPS or whom ever, bravo! However, my area that I live in is very neglected by USPS.  There are days no one even shows up or delivers.  It makes it tough when you sell on line.

Hopefully your order will arrive soon and all will be good.  Hang in there.

Have a great day.

[marnotom!]

When is/was the last estimated date for delivery?

If the item's still within the delivery time estimate, there really isn't much point in continually checking the tracking.  Item's arrive when they arrive.  As a buyer, I feel we've been oversold on the value of tracking.  It doesn't matter where my items go between where they're sent off and where they're supposed to go, it's the delivery scan that matters.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I have had my share of those. I just assume it got sorted into the wrong bin at some point and you can usually tell where that happened. In your case my guess would be in St Louis it got sorted into a bin bound for Massachusetts rather than one going to Kansas City. 

[dbfolks166mt]

This has happened to me several times.  Once I sent an item that was going to a city 7 miles away from my town.  It wound up and sat in a warehouse for 3 weeks up in Iowa.  Finally the buyer contacted me as he was also following it thru the tracking I provided.  

It seems to be getting worse again, like the covid days.  For the people that get good service from USPS or whom ever, bravo! However, my area that I live in is very neglected by USPS.  There are days no one even shows up or delivers.  It makes it tough when you sell on line.

     I have the same problem with delivery in my area. USPS simply doesn't have enough carriers in my area to handle all the routes. I have informed delivery but at least a couple of times a month the carrier does not run the route in my neighborhood. 

Hopefully your order will arrive soon and all will be good.  Hang in there.

Have a great day.

[inhawaii]

The USPS does not charge extra for this feature. 😉

[steady2304]

I had a buyer purchase the wrong item, he tried to say I sent the wrong item but the item he says he purchased I didn't even have listed. He probably saw a promoted listing below my listing and got confused. He asked if he could return it. I said yes but he would have to pay for the return shipping. He took it to his post office and instead of purchasing a new label he had it sent back Item refused/ return to sender on 4/20.

On 4/22 he received it back from USPS and then sent it out again on 4/26. It finally made it back to St. Louis to my Post Office on 5/2. Then it showed up at another Post Office 15 miles away on 5/3. Then it went back to the Sorting center 30 miles away on 5/4. After a couple of calls to USPS I finally received it back today 5/6.

It seems the USPS is really messed up with all the consolidation going on at the sorting/consolidation hubs by the current Postmaster General. Hopefully things get sorted out soon, but it really makes it hard on sellers with eBay constantly telling buyers to file INR's the day after their overly optimistic delivery estimate is missed.

[ckimodog]

@dbfolks166mt 

I'm located in Kansas City.  In some respects I feel for a lot of these postal workers.  They are over worked, taking on routes the wouldn't normally have to deliver to.  My guess it makes for a long day.  Most of my carriers are super nice people.  I take care of them on Christmas with Chiefs T shirts and my home made salsa.  They work hard & seldom get a thanks. 

Something has got to give where USPS is concerned.  I'm not the only one who feels this way either.  Like I stated to the OP, it seems to be more and more neglected in so many areas, especially rural.  

To all the good people on this forum who do so much for others...keep the faith. 

[dbfolks166mt]

The USPS does not charge extra for this feature. 

     Why am I not surprised you would come up with something like that?

[kabilab]

My package, for an unknown reason, was sent to Fla.. the destination was N. Mex. I visited my main branch, but they were unable to assist me. Next, I tried the toll free number, but again failure. Moving on, the post mistress in N. Mex. spoke with the branch in Fla., but the item still remained in Fla. Finally, after five weeks, the customer requested a refund and I asked for the DVD to be returned to me, which I have not received.

The above is the only item of which I have experienced lost postal problems, although two other sales were delivered late and it was necessary to refund to the buyers. My current problem ratio is 1 in 1K, which is, for me, acceptable.

[tsme35]

St. Louis MO is horrible, I'm just south and all my packages go thru there. I had 5 packages go to the totally wrong state when they went thru the Hazelwood sorting hub in the last 6 weeks. I too was lucky having understanding buyers, one package was going to AZ and instead went to MA. Mail around the St. Louis area is so bad they open an investigation.

[luxgoods]

I am glad someone finds that funny

[meme6253]

There is some beautiful country to view along it's way!

[chapeau-noir]

I think a lot is, indeed, consolidation - if there's empty cargo space on the planes, the packages go in even if it means the long way around.

It reminds me of Donohoe's newspaper trucks.

[candd205]

The original delivery date said May 3. Now it says: Running behind, original estimate was Thu, May 2 - Sat, May 4. I might be a little compulsive about checking the tracking on late packages.