Anyone else having trouble with USPS?

[eeaadd]

Over the last week we have had 8 customers now with lost or very slow moving packages from USPS. We have several cases open for item not received, some showing out for delivery to the buyer, from 8 days ago with no delivery, one in CA, one in TX and one in MO. 3 Show being scanned at our local post office with no scans since, 7 days now. All of our orders were shipped same day or the next day, well within out 2 day handling. Just curious of anyone else is seeing this as well. Seems like the postal service is collapsing, it sure is hurting our business.  Needless to say we have angry customers, we feel so helpless. 

[tinsoldierunderground]

That's a good thought.

Hopefully, anyone doing that will have a better experience than I've had.  I've gone to my local PO and talked with whomever is playing postmaster that day about any number of delivery issues.  Their attitude is indifferent, basically, "What do you want from me?  Happens all the time."  I get better information from regular mail carrier.

[krazzykats]

My latest purchase started in NJ on Feb. 19, and was delivered today, Mar. 1.

My purchase has been in Oregon since the 23rd, and it took 7 days to go 200 miles south.

[soh.maryl]

There are many, many people having trouble with the USPS.  Deliveries have been slow for a long time now.

There are also some facilities whose services are worse than others.  If you have buyers who are complaining, best to touch base with them and explain.  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I cringe too now every time I see Tx on an order.

They're also not very good at marking undeliverable (buyer put wrong city/zip) items so they come back to seller in  timely manner. Instead they just bounce them between hubs.

[12345jamesstamps]

Anything without tracking moves very fast cross country in 4-5 days.

I have a few sometimes with tracking...some do not show "delivered"...but so far all honest buyers.

Had nothing lost last year to date so far.

[lakefor94]

Just when I recently started to use USPS GA more over UPS Ground due to the current savings available which look substantial in some cases. 

I was thinking of increasing my pain threshold to anything under ~$200 going USPS GA if there was ~20% or so in savings over UPS Ground.

It is all about risk management and the risk is always higher with USPS. Though, I just checked every outstanding and recent delivered USPS shipment and everything is making it out of DFW quickly and delivering on time or sooner.

I do check the ship-to address on every order and make ammends if headed towards south Texas,  Memphis, St. Louis or as such. UPS will get it on time without any drama.

What are the other consistent big trouble USPS spots these days?

[714ricki]

Knock on wood, I haven't had any recent unusual USPS issues from southern California or with the deliveries across the USA.

[skyd-26]

Unfortunately, you're not alone in experiencing these issues. Many businesses and individuals have been grappling with delays and lost packages from USPS, especially in recent times. It's certainly a difficult situation to navigate, especially when it directly affects your customers and your reputation. While it's tough to feel helpless in situations like these, it's important to continue communicating with your customers and being transparent about the delays that are beyond your control. Providing updates and reassurance can go a long way in maintaining customer trust, even in challenging circumstances.

[broto_64]

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@tinsoldierunderground wrote:

I'll weigh in here as a buyer.  Just last week, had a package delayed 2 days.  After the second "arrives today" notification, I got the "your package is moving through the system" message.  As @toomuchstuffagain35   notes, Texas seems to be a problem.  There are a couple sellers there that I buy from, my item usually ends up in Puerto Rico before it makes it to me in Florida.  We're so understaffed in my zip code, that typically one business day a week (usually Thursday) you won't find a mail truck in my subdivision.   I would hope that any buyer with half a brain would understand this is a USPS problem, and not the fault of the seller. 

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No, it isn't the fault of the seller but as a buyer it is easier for me to open an INR (and let the seller do some work) than it is to get on the USPS web site and set a fire under their feet. Because, you have to wonder, how many sellers actually open an item missing claim on USPS (because believe me it is a real pain to do so, on my end their website is very slow responding and such effort that I literally do not want to open said claim) but more so, whether they do or not, how many sellers are even aware of it.

The point is, what exactly do most sellers do in response to an INR claim?
I dare say probably not much past looking at the tracking to confirm the claim's validity.

A few might make some phone calls, but those often lead nowhere so again, is the seller even doing anything besides wasting time?

Between a buyer and a seller, the ultimate responsibility here lies with the seller.

Ebay does nothing to a buyer if a buyer waits and waits...

But ebay will motivate a seller (and hopefully into action) if an INR gets opened.

So yes, the scales are always tipped if only a little, it is the seller who will face the responsibility, whether buyers are "understanding" or not.

I will end with this, those useless pointless messages buyers get to the effect of "hey is everything all right with your purchase" (and most of these come from high volume sellers, perhaps mostly from proliferous dropshippers) aren't helping matters (but thanks for reminding me to look into it).

Which reminds me, I need to go check and see if I have any late shipments in my purchase history.

Hopefully not, would really hate to think that I've been a little too understanding and one or more items haven't arrived and it is past the INR window.

[broto_64]

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@skyd-26 wrote:

Unfortunately, you're not alone in experiencing these issues. Many businesses and individuals have been grappling with delays and lost packages from USPS, especially in recent times. It's certainly a difficult situation to navigate, especially when it directly affects your customers and your reputation. While it's tough to feel helpless in situations like these, it's important to continue communicating with your customers and being transparent about the delays that are beyond your control. Providing updates and reassurance can go a long way in maintaining customer trust, even in challenging circumstances.

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That is a good answer, it may help further to actually go through some effort in locating the package and to (as you said) communicate that to your customer.

The absolute worst a seller can do is give the customer that same feeling of indifference we as sellers often get from the carriers, because ultimately the buyer here holds the power, they can easily file an INR claim and ebay will issue them a refund, so it is best that we as sellers understand as much.

[deserdog]

Same here, sell from Southern Ca and have had no problems. But I do have 5 days handling on all my listings. That being said, I will usually mail out within 1 or 2 days. 

[tinsoldierunderground]

Well, thanks for the condescending post.  I was speaking in terms of the postal delay portion of OP's statement.

Yes, it's easy for a buyer to open an INR case.  However, INR can turn into a double edge sword, if the USPS tracking shows delivery anywhere in the buyer's zip code, then the burden of proof falls on the buyer.  We get buyers posting on a regular basis about how their item hasn't arrived a day or two after it was shipped.

If I look at tracking, and an item is stuck in limbo, with messages from USPS stating "your item is in transit to the next location", I fail to see that as the seller's fault.   

[saylesville2003]

It is very unusual to have several packages that say Out for Delivery and not get delivered. In my experience this is an outlier and maybe once a year would I see out for delivery but normally the package was delivered but the postal person forgot to scan it.  If you have several like this that seems very unusual and strange.

Maybe you have already done so but on those cases I would file an insurance claim with the USPS since you would be entitled to insurance reimbursement and also that would be the quickest way the USPS would locate those packages.

Did you use Ground Advantage for the packages you having issues with?  Your situation seems very unusual as it is not just one state you are experiencing difficulty with but several. 

I hope that some of these packages get located and am sorry for your troubles with this. These INRs are stacking up for you.

[yuzuha]

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@umccars wrote:

I'm a small hobby seller. No issues at all.

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None here either. I'm actually seeing a lot of stuff arriving a day or two before their estimated delivery dates.

[yuzuha]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Texas 😝   I cringe each time I see that a purchase is going to Texas.  Worked OK for me  so far..................  none were close enough to the Missouri City facility to get sucked into that black hole.

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Yeah, TX is fine as long as you don't have anything going near Houston. I've had a few sales there in the past couple of weeks (to the Dallas and Austin areas) and they all got there just fine.