evry1nositswindy • seller since 2013
Since the first of the year, USPS service levels have been dropping with no end in sight. I ask why and all I get is "we're short on carriers", "we don't have enough vehicles", "we're training new staff", and the infamous "I don't know".
In the past 6 weeks, we have not had 5-day pickup service to our retail store. The mail that was finally picked up today has been sitting since last Thursday (6/16 to 6/22). And I suspect today will be the only pickup we have for the week... 😞 Weekends are just gone - haven't had a Saturday pickup in months, even before the "cost saving" service reductions went into effect.
My day job ships a couple hundred orders a week. We spend thousands on USPS postage every month. Everything is bagged cleanly and with clear thermal labels. And this is the service we get? Really?
I'm beginning to think the issue with eBay sales is not anything usually... it's buyers not coming back after USPS mucks up our deliveries... and the competition (Amazon) gets things delivered in 1-3 days. I've even had to switch much of my online purchasing to Amazon -- when I buy something, it's because I need it, not because I want to wait until I've forgotten why I needed it for it to be delivered.
I apologize if I've offended or irritated or annoyed anyone. It's getting nuts and the 100+ temps in Memphis are not helping. Maybe I should just retire and learn how to whittle.....
-Bob.
I live in rural Ohio and my carrier is my neighbor. I get great service from him. But I do see delays on packages going south and east. Yes, I see delays in Memphis. I have had packages that the scenic route through the south. I message my buyers and most are understanding and commiserate with me on the slow service.
@deltilogical wrote:For the most part the post office has helped me immensely these past 2 years under incredible pressure.
Suddenly, the post office was responsible for the national elections.
Suddenly, people are having their toilet paper delivered to them.
Suddenly they have angry customers i front of them all the time being forced to put a diaper over their face.
Suddenly there are fewer of them doing their best to handle overwhelming volumes with very little support from Washington D.C.
-Bob.
@chpgts wrote:Hello,
I would place a complaint with USPS. The USPS Postmaster has to respond in 24 hours of receving the complaint. The complaint is like negative feedback and the USPS takes compliants very seriously when it is a issue such as yours. If the non-pickup continues , I would place a complaint each time they fail to pickup your packages and escalate the complaint each time the non pickup occurs. I also make sure that at xmas time I give my postal carrier a nice gift.
While it's not as easy as it was 25yrs ago when I opened my eBay account (the clerk at the counter at one station was a real piece of work), I do still do so. And currently I'll get a response, and things might get better for a few weeks after a few weeks, but whatever they 'fixed' doesn't stick and the problems return.
-Bob.
@lonebuck-books wrote:No problems here. If the USPS outlet you are dropping them off at is delaying items from getting into the mail stream 4-5 days, go to a different USPS outlet. There are post offices all over and you don't have to use the one closest to you if they are a problem. Some are bad, most do a very good job. It sounds like you have a bad one. You might have to actually go and drop your orders off instead of relying on daily pickup.
We've tried dropping them off... but that means we have to pay an employee (me) to stand in line until the single agent left at the post office can get to us, and then we get feedback about needing a drop-off scan to confirm the package was delivered to USPS.
There's also the problem of inconsistent pickup times. I can understand an hour early/late due to volume or lack thereof, but when you normally get pickup late afternoon (3-5pm, meaning it misses the trip from our post office to the Memphis Distro Center until tomorrow...if they don't forget that whatever bin it got dropped in needs to go to the Distro Center...) and you are suddenly getting pickups at all times of the day. Our B&M store opens at 9:30am - staff arrives by 9am. We've had "sorry we missed you" notices on the front doors from a 7am delivery attempt!!! Nobody in this mall is open before 9am - not even the DMV around the corner!
Had another fun one on Friday... submitted a Defect Removal Request for a late delivery -- the package had been mailed on time and was out for delivery day before latest expected delivery. But the recipient no longer lived there, so the package was returned. All of this is documented in the tracking, which for some unknown reason also shows the package hitting the Memphis Distro Center on it's way back to us, then hitting our post office, then out for delivery, then delivered to the customer half a country away. ??? So eBay's bot declined to removed the defect since it reflected a "poor customer experience". Really? What about the "poor seller experience" for shipping a valuable product across the country, only to have it returned because the buyer isn't at that address? And I love the "all decisions final - don't bother us asking for a review" attitude the rest of the canned message expresses. More great "seller experience".
USPS is killing our eBay stats, which is killing our eBay sales volume, which is driving more and more of our eBay inventory over to Amazon, where it sells faster, for a bit more, and we don't have USPS issues since UPS does 95% of the shipping from that venue. And no, we cannot ship our eBay sales via UPS because the boss is using the Amazon UPS rates...that you only get for Amazon sales. We -may- be getting our own UPS account -- the volume of sales from Amazon has got our UPS rep drooling to get us signed up, but the boss is still waiting on a better rate. And he'll get it - he always does.
If DeJoy's plan was to trash USPS and drive all packages to other carriers, he's doing a great job in Memphis!!
-Bob.
@lamber9347 wrote:
@rosachs wrote:
<snip> I've even had to switch much of my online purchasing to Amazon -- when I buy something, it's because I need it, not because I want to wait until I've forgotten why I needed it for it to be delivered. <snip>
Hmmm, so you want people to purchase your items for sale on eBay but you yourself are now purchasing items on another platform?.... Interesting....
I'm purchasing based on real-life delivery expectations. I cannot get packages delivered in a timely way coming thru Memphis, even tho I live & work here, so I'm going to other sites where the sellers have other options for delivery. To date, none of my Amazon orders have been delayed. I'm still waiting on several eBay orders however.
I sell on eBay because other venues are not as good a fit for my inventory. I buy where I can get the best overall deal - price, delivery time, quality. That used to be eBay, hands-down. I still check eBay first - I'm just not satisfied with the options I'm presented with.
-Bob.
@rugerskick wrote:Like others said, it may be some of the hubs your packages generally go through that could be your problem.
Definitely. Memphis has three Distro Centers -- the Memphis DC for packages originating in the area and those being delivered in the area. The Regional DC is for package moving thru Memphis going to somewhere else - generally much of the southeast US and those heading northeast. Memphis is a main transport hub and distribution center for a lot of national companies - we have two multi-lane interstate bridges crossing the Mississippi, significant rail capability, and a LOT of trucking. But the kicker is the Memphis Annex DC -- if your package ends up there, it's going to get a few dayr R&R before it starts moving again. The Annex is basically where semi-trailers get parked with the other two DCs are overloaded and will not be able to process them. This lets the drivers park the trailer so they can pick up another to move to the next stop in it's travels from A to B. Keeping the drivers rolling keeps the mail moving... until you get parked at the Annex.
The bigger issue that pertains to eBay sales is the lack of scans. We have packages delivered before ANY scans show up! Nothing from the multiple stops in Memphis shows up until the package hits the destination Distro Center - which can be just a few hours to a day from the actual delivery. Customers contact me asking why we haven't shipped yet -- we have, the packages simply are not getting scanned properly in Memphis. And this create Late Shipping defects and can contribute to an increase in INR cases, which are hard to defend when USPS isn't showing any scans....
-Bob.
