I don't understand this tracking history...

[sin-n-dex]

These two packages went out on the same day (Nov 4 or so), and this is what I see on tracking. I don't get what's going on here.

For the record, a third package to Estonia went out at the same time. It circled between Los Angeles and another city three or four times before going to New York and being dispatched to Estonia. (there's no reason for it to go to Los Angeles, I mailed it from New York).

Would you reach out to the buyers? We are 10 days past the latest delivery date, so they can INR and win at any time. (Estonia buyer got his item today, I assume all is good... most International bidders aren't expecting super fast shipping).

Cheers, C.

***************************************************************************************************

November 23, 2018 
In Transit to Next Facility 
Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility. 

---

November 19, 2018, 12:29 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
CAROL STREAM IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 16, 2018, 8:28 am 
Arrived at Post Office 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 15, 2018, 9:09 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 15, 2018, 7:54 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 15, 2018, 6:56 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
ELK GROVE VILLAGE IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 15, 2018, 4:17 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
ELK GROVE VILLAGE IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 15, 2018, 3:30 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 15, 2018, 1:50 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 14, 2018, 4:40 pm 
Arrived at USPS Facility 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 14, 2018, 3:01 am 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 14, 2018, 12:39 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 13, 2018, 1:28 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
ELK GROVE VILLAGE IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 12, 2018, 6:33 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 12, 2018, 12:22 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 10, 2018, 10:13 am 
Arrived at USPS Facility 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 10, 2018, 4:34 am 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 10, 2018, 3:39 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 8, 2018, 6:58 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Origin Facility 
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 8, 2018, 6:56 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility 
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 8, 2018, 5:41 pm 
Accepted at USPS Origin Facility 
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304  

---

November 4, 2018, 7:26 pm 
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item 
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304  

---

November 4, 2018 
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item 

********************************************************************************************

November 23, 2018, 2:40 am 
Processing Exception 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  
The Postal Service has identified a problem with the processing of this item at 2:40 am on November 23, 2018 in CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER. The local facility has been alerted and is taking steps to correct the problem. 

---

November 21, 2018, 10:04 pm 
Processing Exception 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 20, 2018, 9:02 pm 
Processing Exception 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 18, 2018, 6:45 pm 
Processing Exception 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 18, 2018, 3:37 am 
Processing Exception 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 17, 2018, 3:34 am 
Processing Exception 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 17, 2018, 3:24 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 16, 2018, 12:16 pm 
Arrived at USPS Facility 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 16, 2018, 8:09 am 
Arrived at Post Office 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 16, 2018, 12:27 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 15, 2018, 10:39 am 
Arrived at USPS Facility 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 14, 2018, 3:01 am 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 13, 2018, 7:36 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 13, 2018, 6:41 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
ELK GROVE VILLAGE IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 13, 2018, 4:09 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
ELK GROVE VILLAGE IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 13, 2018 
In Transit to Next Facility 

---

November 12, 2018, 6:32 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 12, 2018, 12:22 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
CHICAGO IL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 10, 2018, 10:13 am 
Arrived at USPS Facility 
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540  

---

November 10, 2018, 4:34 am 
Departed USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 10, 2018, 3:15 am 
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility 
FOX VALLEY IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 8, 2018, 6:58 pm 
Departed USPS Regional Origin Facility 
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 8, 2018, 6:56 pm 
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility 
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

---

November 8, 2018, 5:41 pm 
Accepted at USPS Origin Facility 
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304  

---

November 4, 2018, 7:25 pm 
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item 
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304  

---

November 4, 2018 
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item 

[lex-talon]

No, don't reach out to those buyers. If there is a problem, they will contact you. Sit back and have a cold one.

[lewisburggold]

My gosh that does seem to be a lot of unnecessary running around.  But it may just be the location its heading to.  we have noticed a lot of times a package will go backwards before they go forward.  Best regards

[sam9876]

I wouldn't do anything. 

[siamdao]

You shipment included the deluxe sight seeing tour.  It's not often these boxes get to see so much of the beauty and splendor of late fall in Illinois 🙂

[hillbillymedia]

And they wonder why they can`t make any money? gee whiz.

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

---

@sin-n-dex wrote:

These two packages went out on the same day (Nov 4 or so), and this is what I see on tracking. I don't get what's going on here. 

---

The package was scanned going into a shipping container, but not when it was emptied out at the other end. Thus the tracking is continuing to follow the container.

Once the tracking shows it going into a container (such as when departing an Origin Sort facility), later scans in its tracking history are actually recording the movement of the container, not the package within, since of course no one can see the package itself, only the container it's riding in. Tracking will continue to log the movement of the container, not the package, unless or until there is eventually a later scan of the package itself. You see that back-and-forth or great-big-circle tracking history because that's just the container making its daily rounds.

Normally the package should be seen as soon as the container is emptied upon arrival, but if that doesn't occur, tracking will continue to follow the container as if the package was still in it. (Hopefully it isn't.) Once the package is seen anywhere else, tracking should get itself updated.

Do not contact the buyers about this; that will simply alert them to the fact that you don't know where it is. They may have already received it just fine. If they contact you about it, then you can tell them that you're looking into it. It'll probably turn up soon regardless.

[sin-n-dex]

---

@a_c_green wrote:

---

@sin-n-dex wrote:

These two packages went out on the same day (Nov 4 or so), and this is what I see on tracking. I don't get what's going on here. 

---

The package was scanned going into a shipping container, but not when it was emptied out at the other end. Thus the tracking is continuing to follow the container.

Once the tracking shows it going into a container (such as when departing an Origin Sort facility), later scans in its tracking history are actually recording the movement of the container, not the package within, since of course no one can see the package itself, only the container it's riding in. Tracking will continue to log the movement of the container, not the package, unless or until there is eventually a later scan of the package itself. You see that back-and-forth or great-big-circle tracking history because that's just the container making its daily rounds.

Normally the package should be seen as soon as the container is emptied upon arrival, but if that doesn't occur, tracking will continue to follow the container as if the package was still in it. (Hopefully it isn't.) Once the package is seen anywhere else, tracking should get itself updated.

Do not contact the buyers about this; that will simply alert them to the fact that you don't know where it is. They may have already received it just fine. If they contact you about it, then you can tell them that you're looking into it. It'll probably turn up soon regardless.

---

Thanks for the detailed reply. Can you tell me what the "exception" bit is about in one of the tracking scans?

It's odd, this happened to everything that was shipped that day. So I have two packages making the scenic tour of Illinois (I have not yet checked where it's supposed to go).

Shouldn't this all be put to an end when there's an "out for delivery" and "delivered" scan? I don't see those which is why I'm concerned.

Cheers, C.

[a_c_green]

---

@sin-n-dex wrote: 
Thanks for the detailed reply. Can you tell me what the "exception" bit is about in one of the tracking scans?

---

No, I believe that's kind of a catch-all error message to cover various instances where Something Went Wrong. In this case, the system may have detected that repetition of container scans going around and around, and decided to kill off further reporting until something different came along. There is a similar limit in effect for those generic "In Transit" updates; you only get three in a row of those before it waits for something new to occur.

It's odd, this happened to everything that was shipped that day.

---

Actually it would more odd if it didn't, because this probably affected every package that came out of that container that day without getting scanned. Your two were presumably traveling together on that part of the voyage. 

Shouldn't this all be put to an end when there's an "out for delivery" and "delivered" scan? I don't see those which is why I'm concerned.

It should be put to an end when any later scan occurred; yes. I have no idea why it hasn't (yet), but again, it's best to just wait it out, and especially do not contact your buyers, who may have received the packages anyway.

If you're still concerned, there are a couple of things you can do: 

1. Look up the tracking of each package on usps.com, and on the results page for that package, sign up for email or text updates whenever a new scan is reported. This has absolutely no effect on movement of the package itself (i.e. it does not get a package "un-stuck" or anything like that), but will give you an immediate heads-up when something happens, so you won't have to keep on looking up tracking numbers yourself to see if anything new has been reported.
2. Print out the current tracking for each of the two packages, and take it in person to your local PO. Ask them to look up each on their in-house intranet system, which tracks a whole lot more detail than what you get on the public-facing website, and see if they can tell you anything further about what's going on, especially concerning those Processing Exceptions. Do not try doing this by phone, as they'll probably blow you off or put you on hold forever, but when you're there in person, you should get better results.

Again, though, I wouldn't worry too much, and I would assume that the packages really did arrive, regardless of the tracking. I've been selling and shipping for fourteen years, during which time I've had precisely one package go missing... and that was after it made it successfully into Canada. Good luck.

[castlemagicmemories]

Great info, as always, @a_c_green!

[escuintla]

Feel confident and proud of beating my record. 

I sold an item that I sent to the buyer via Media Mail. It took 13 days to arrive. It went from San Jose CA, to Orange county, returned to San Francisco, went back to Orange, then returned to SF, then went back, returned, and delivered.......to my customer in San Jose. 

[berserkerplanet]

I just picked up items purchased on 11/3 today. From a seller 5 miles away from my PO box here in Sacramento.

Seller dawdled and didn't ship until 11/10 - the EDD (seller has a longer handling time, but still...)

Two separate packages went 400 miles south to Los Angeles, then up to San Francisco, then back over to Sacramento, and were ready for pickup on 11/19 (didn't make it to the PO until today)

16 days from purchase to delivery (9 days in transit) for what should have been 1 day in transit (and seller should/could have used Priority at the same price since it's local). But no worries. Most of what I buy is not mission critical and I've gotten surprisingly zen in my middle age 🙂

It was Parcel Select, and in the past all of my outbound PS shipments have gone south to Bell Gardens before leaving California, so I dunno.

Want to assume it was a misroute, but 1) both labels are good and readable and 2) odds of both misrouting seem low (although they were dropped off at exact same time and place, so even if not label misreads could have been container/bin on wrong truck misroute)

Maybe this is a new California USPS Parcel Select protocol - ALL PS goes to LA even if local delivery? Even though I don't use it as a seller often, and it's probably going to be mostly useless in January when dim weight starts applying to it, I hope not.

[escuintla]

I do "local Pickup" now. It means I deliver. Because buyers just do their thing, buy, and forget about it. 

But, I swear, I wish I could talk to the logistic guys in the USPS. Jesus! Some packages go to heaven and hell when they are miles away from the post office.  

[sin-n-dex]

---

@a_c_green wrote:

---

Again, though, I wouldn't worry too much, and I would assume that the packages really did arrive, regardless of the tracking. I've been selling and shipping for fourteen years, during which time I've had precisely one package go missing... and that was after it made it successfully into Canada. Good luck.

---

I have an update... one buyer contacted me today about not receiving it yet, and he noticed the weird tracking (of 7 days of "exceptions" being noted on this tracking number). I'll sign up for the updates just so I don't need to log in and look first hand.

I can't go to the post office because it's a 80 mile drive each way, and the cost of that is significantly more than me just issuing a $12 refund on a token I paid $3 for.

The Estonian parcel that had all this similar weird tracking (but in California where it wasn't supposed to be), did actually get delivered on Nov 23, all good there (and happy with that, it was a $70 coin). The second buyer who doesn't have his item yet hasn't contacted me either.

As for the buyer who did contact me, he was understanding that this was beyond my control, but indicated he can only wait so long before we give up and deem the parcel as "lost". He said he'd wait a bit more, but if this useless updating of the tracking information continues he just wants a refund for the token. (I don't blame him one bit).

Of the stuff that's missing, I'm glad that it's nothing serious or expensive... I ship coins worth $100-200 on a regular basis, and I've had bad luck with those disappearing once in a while... this time it was a $12 token and a lot of stamps (that had no out of pocket cost, except what I paid for shipping).

Cheers, Colleen