Pausing Sales During Holidays Due to Slow Shipping

[destrucity_shop]

I've decided to put my store on vacation mode for the month of December due to delays in shipping. This morning a customer contacted my about an item past due delivery, was shipped First Class a seven days ago-- tracking shows no activity. A forum search of recent discussions revealed many sellers complaining of severe delays in shipping. This makes sense with new disruptive Post Master rules, more people shopping online from pandemic lockdowns, postal workers calling in sick with covid, and the surge of holiday orders, the postal system is now overwhelmed. I've refunded the buyer, and will resume selling in January.

[maros9416]

I know what you mean about 1st class and media mail, however priority mail seems to be functioning pretty good. Perhaps you can only list what you would send priority to get a little action for the Christmas period.

[collectfest]

I have done the same.

For me I have had item, as a buyer, not getting to me. Was shipped Priority Mail.

My, so called Holiday sales have been no different than any other time of the year. I'd say less but I have not done a detailed investigation. 

Not worth disappointed customers. I need 1st class to work efficiently. 

See you next year...

Regards

[yuzuha]

I have had no problems with First Class so far. I do, however, have one Priority Mail package that is running a couple of days late.

[beachychicd]

I have 2 shipped with no activity/status update for over 10 days. It is a problem. Customers  complaining for the last week and I'm sure I will have more issues soon as Holiday packages start piling up there more and more.. I am going to have to pay for the USPS disaster and lose out of the money of these purchases even though it is not MY FAULT! They should have hired more staff for the holidays as they knew it was going to be an issue this year! Lots of people out of work they have been having issues now for months.

[hollysfinds]

I have several Priority Mail packages running very late.

I messaged the buyers in case they aren't aware of the USPS problems.

I'm hoping that they get there eventually.

Also a purchase that I made was supposed to arrive by Nov. 20th & has never made it.

The seller refunded me even though I didn't ask her to.

I'm shipping a package with Fed-Ex today.

I haven't had any delay problems with them so far, fingers crossed !

[evry1nositswindy]

@maros9416  I beg to differ with you.  I have a total of 65 late packages as of today, 15 are priority, and one of those was shipped 12/2.  Priority is NOT running smoothly at all.  A majority of the others are first class.  2 have opened INR cases for items shipped first class on Nov 27 and Nov 30.    I too have put my store on vacation as of a few hours ago and will not start shipping until the expectation for the orders to arrive for Christmas has passed.  So sad.  I really wanted to end the year on a good note. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@destrucity_shop wrote:

and will resume selling in January.

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I've done the same thing.

I've been lucky so far, no late or lost packages, but don't want to push it.

As bad as USPS is right now, I bet these next couple weeks are going to be horrible.

I've shut both of my sites down until after the New Year.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@maros9416 wrote:

I know what you mean about 1st class and media mail, however priority mail seems to be functioning pretty good. Perhaps you can only list what you would send priority to get a little action for the Christmas period.

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Nope.  A package shipped via Priority Mail in Georgia on November 25 got no further scans until it reached my local PO in MA on December 4. That's 8 days of silence. Apparently, due to lack of airline capacity, many packages are traveling by truck.

I have taken down all my listings and will relist right after Christmas.

[carolynnq]

A good portion of my priority and first class are running slow. There aren't enough planes flying these days to handle all of the first class and priority mail. Truckloads of mail are waiting in lines for planes - hence the many packages being scanned and then not getting another scan for days. At this point, I think USPS ought to consider trucking their priority/first class packages with delivery addresses within a 1000 miles or so. It would add a day or two to delivery times, but at this point, I'd be happy with only a two-day delay.

[jack_bucks_ghost]

I'm sweating out a Priority Mail shipment that has not updated since Nov 30--it's a $400 loss if I get hit with a INR claim.  The clerk at the post office yesterday told me things are going to get even worse in the coming weeks--she said that some regional distribution centers are almost at a standstill.  So as of yesterday, I decided no new listings above $100 until after the holidays.

But where is the help from eBay? Obviously, shipping is a mess--why aren't the expected times being extended???

[patd3283]

>>> General Reply>>>

EBay's tracking is not always updating on time or at all.  Check your package on the USPS site.

Also. some of mine have broken lose after I listed them on that site and marked to get email updates.

[jack_bucks_ghost]

Thought I'd share the latest tweet from the USPS Twitter help account (it was posted around 3:00 today)...looks like they are making promises that there is no way they can keep:

[catzrule7]

Sadly, I'm experiencing the same problems.  I live in the suburbs of Chicago and have both Priority and First Class packages that (thankfully) were scanned when I dropped them at the local post office, but have had zero movement in over a week.  So far, my customers have been understanding, but I cannot afford to count on them continuing to be so.

So, I've also put my store on vacation until after Christmas.  I had to decide between losing a lot of sales that I usually get at this time of year, vs having to refund for late packages....losing not only the purchase price, but the additional shipping as well.  Just not worth the loss as well as headaches of watching tracking go nowhere.

On the bright side ... I won't have to wait in the crazy holiday lines at the post office to get packages scanned.

Happy and SAFE holidays everyone!

[kathieskorner]

Good luck with FedEx.  I ordered a Christmas gift on Nov. 26 - it was shipped via FedEx on Nov 28 with an  estimated delivery date of Dec 3 - then Dec 6 - then Dec 7 - then Dec 8 - and now Dec 9.  I can only hope it makes it by Christmas.