Package, Package, where is the Package?

[mr_lincoln]

So I am a little confused by the tracking below for an International shipment bound for Europe ... I am just trying to figure out the top two lines and how a package gets to New York then magically to Charlotte (North Carolina) then back to New York all in one day ...

[a_c_green]

I think it's just a configuration error on some piece of scanning equipment out there in New York. We had a similar bit of weirdness here in Chicago a year or two ago, where one particular piece of equipment at Chicago ISC kept reporting its location as New York for some reason. It kept this up for... I dunno, two or three weeks at least, dropping a New York reference into multiple shipments of mine.

After figuring out that it didn't mean anything and wasn't actually a routing error of the package itself, I ignored it, and after a month or so I noticed that it had finally gone away.

[mr_lincoln]

@a_c_green  Thanks for that ... I don't ship too many things internationally so I am checking on the progress of the package.  As long as it gets to where it is supposed to go in the time alloted to avoid an INR with Refund then package delivered a day or two late I am good with that ... we'll see.

[fern*wood]

I don't know if your issue is the same as mine but has anyone noticed the formatting on the international addresses appearing to resemble domestic addresses?   I had not shipped internationally for a couple years, but sent out one to Italy recently.   I don't recall them looking like that before.

This is how my ebay printed ebay appeared: 

salerno SA 84132

Italy

It looks a whole lot like a domestic address, and just my luck, that 5 digit code is also the zip code for Salt Lake City UT which is the destination my tracking is showing my package going right now.

In paypal the address appears like this:

84132 salerno
SA
Italy

I looked on the shipping board and there are other posts of a similar issue right now.  Did your address have a code that matched Charlotte NC?

[odditiesandantiquities1]

In my case, a woman in Lithuania had the same zip code as a town in Missouri. My package stopped moving on December 12th, still apparently on it's way to some little place in Missouri....or someone's Christmas present.

Crazy. I talked with a supervisor at USPS and he said it seems to be happening more frequently as zip codes line up with international codes. Me thinks they need to update their software to take into account the Country???

[mr_lincoln]

@fern*wood

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@fern*wood wrote:

I don't know if your issue is the same as mine but has anyone noticed the formatting on the international addresses appearing to resemble domestic addresses?   I had not shipped internationally for a couple years, but sent out one to Italy recently.   I don't recall them looking like that before.

This is how my ebay printed ebay appeared: 

salerno SA 84132

Italy

It looks a whole lot like a domestic address, and just my luck, that 5 digit code is also the zip code for Salt Lake City UT which is the destination my tracking is showing my package going right now.

In paypal the address appears like this:

84132 salerno
SA
Italy

I looked on the shipping board and there are other posts of a similar issue right now.  Did your address have a code that matched Charlotte NC?

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Good question ... I will check, it was on another ID here ...

[fern*wood]

Interesting...and it doesn't give me much hope for my package.  I'm definitely going back to no international shipping until I hear more about this.

 I brought this up on the chat this week, so I'm waiting to hear from Trinton, since he had me tag him on the other thread.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Jamiaca looks particularly bad for a package going to Europe...?

[d-k_treasures]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

Jamiaca looks particularly bad for a package going to Europe...?

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That's the sorting center in Queens, NY that ships overseas.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Whew! Much better. 

[mr_lincoln]

@ersatz_sobriquet

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

Whew! Much better. 

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LOL!  That part I knew about! 

[mr_lincoln]

@fern*wood  Good question on the zip code but none in the US match it ... there are about 6 US States with a "Germany" city large enough to be recorded in Microsoft Streets and Trips but none in NC. 

Vision systems have come a long way over the years so I am not sure why the USPS system does not recognize the international format as unique for more accurate sorting??????

[ersatz_sobriquet]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@ersatz_sobriquet

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

Whew! Much better. 

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LOL!  That part I knew about! 

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I don't track packages ever unless a buyer messages me or there's some notifcation of a case opened. 

I'm sure I've sent through the Jamaica sorting site many times, I just don't pay attention to tracking. 

No news is good news....

[fern*wood]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@fern*wood  Good question on the zip code but none in the US match it ... there are about 6 US States with a "Germany" city large enough to be recorded in Microsoft Streets and Trips but none in NC. 

Vision systems have come a long way over the years so I am not sure why the USPS system does not recognize the international format as unique for more accurate sorting??????

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I would think so too.  I just thought the format on the ebay label looked different than I remembered from the past.  It really did have the appearance of a domestic address and I don't think they looked like that before.  I wonder if that could cause the scanning/sorting machines to be fooled?

[mr_lincoln]

UPDATE:  Yippeeeee!  It found the right country!