eBay

lichtpriester · ‎03-02-2020

USPS sucks. Yeah, I know, UPS and Fedex have issues too, but you can at least talk with someone if there's an issue and get a reasonable outcome. I live near Boston, Mass. Bought an item that shipped from the UK. Instead of going to the New York ICS, the plane that it was in flew OVER Boston and my package is now in freakin' Los Angeles! Has been for several days. I called USPS to find out why. First I got an automated system that makes you jump through hoops before getting to talk to an agent. Then I got, "You will be able to speak to an agent in approximately 3 days and 47 minutes." (I exaggerate but you get the point.) I requested a call back. Two hours later I got it, the phone rang twice, I answered, no one was there. 30 minutes later I got that call again, this time someone was on the other end, and this was our conversation:

"Hi! Can you tell me why a package sent from the UK to Boston, Mass. didn't go to the ICS center NEAR Boston? Why did it go to Los Angeles?"

"Let me have the tracking number and I'll find out why for you."

"Thank you!"

"Sir, your package is in Los Angeles."

"Yes, I know, I asked you why and you said you'd find out."

"Sir, we don't have that information."

"You mean you can only tell me what I can see for myself?"

"Yes, that's right".

"Then why did you tell me you'd find out?"

"That's all I can tell you, have a good day, and thank you for using the United States Postal Service!"

Do I fault all USPS workers for this? No, but the system itself is lousy. USPS whines about "costs", raises the price of a stamp, talks about discontinuing Saturday service, then sends my package to L.A. It will cost USPS MORE to get it to me in Mass. than if it had gone to New York like packages from Europe normally do. Had I an explanation, I might be understanding, but if you call USPS, no one, ever, knows anything. The agent that I spoke with did say that USPS sent it to Los Angeles, for whatever reason. Anyone from USPS reading this? From now on I will request another method of delivery, even if it means tying my package to a dog or large bird and pointing them in my general direction. Greatest country in the world and we can't fix the USPS.

alcoforever · ‎03-02-2020

All it takes is one clerk putting a package in the wrong bin and you get a package misrouted. With the millions of packages USPS handles every day, you don't think this happens once in a while? And of course, the computer cannot tell you why it happened, only that it did happen.

For myself, I have always found USPS to be the most economical, reliable and quickest shipping service there is. I have no complaints at all.

7606dennis · ‎03-02-2020

What appears to be the most logical to us is not always the same the computerized mind of a large shipping system. Many factors may affect the decision that puts an item on a flight to LA vs NY for a package destined for Boston. Perhaps there was no flight or room on a flight to NY that was scheduled to get it to Boston quicker than by it going to LA then to Boston.

Considering my experiences flying to **bleep** in the 60's, I do not find it hard to envision items traveling, what appear to be roundabout, routes to destinations. My first flight took me from Ft Lewis, WA up to Alaska and then to Saigon. My second trip there took me from St Louis, MO to NJ then to Hawaii and from there to Saigon. Frankly, I found that a bit confusing but it seems that there are always more ways to get from one place to another on this planet.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

yuzuha · ‎03-02-2020

Considering the sheer number of packages the USPS handles on a daily basis, I'd say they do a pretty darn great job. Only rarely do I have a package get misrouted, and I've never had anything get lost out of the thousands of packages I've sent and received over the years.

Also, sometimes packages get held up in customs. I had one sit in customs for over two weeks this summer for no discernible reason. It was properly declared and clearly merchandise being shipped from a store (it had the store's logo and website address printed on the outside of the box), and when I received it at last, they hadn't bothered to open it or even open the pouch containing the customs documentation, so who knows what they were doing with it for two weeks.

lightlily_arts · ‎03-02-2020

The problem is that the USPS computer system cannot account for human errors. I doubt that USPS was even responsible for this particular error with you blaming and hating the wrong party. What most likely transpired was that your package was put in the wrong routing bin in the United Kingdom's postal service. The package was thrown in the routing bin slated for Los Angeles instead of New York. Until the package arrived in Los Angeles USPS would not have realized it was mis-routed. There wasn't anyway for them to explain how your parcel arrived in Los AngelesThis is the only logical explanation why your UK package did not go to New York. USPS does not have offices in the UK. UK parcels are delivered to the US by Royal Mail.

lja440 · ‎03-03-2020

@lichtpriester wrote:
USPS sucks. Yeah, I know, UPS and Fedex have issues too, but you can at least talk with someone if there's an issue and get a reasonable outcome. I live near Boston, Mass. Bought an item that shipped from the UK. Instead of going to the New York ICS, the plane that it was in flew OVER Boston and my package is now in freakin' Los Angeles! Has been for several days. I called USPS to find out why. First I got an automated system that makes you jump through hoops before getting to talk to an agent. Then I got, "You will be able to speak to an agent in approximately 3 days and 47 minutes." (I exaggerate but you get the point.) I requested a call back. Two hours later I got it, the phone rang twice, I answered, no one was there. 30 minutes later I got that call again, this time someone was on the other end, and this was our conversation:

"Hi! Can you tell me why a package sent from the UK to Boston, Mass. didn't go to the ICS center NEAR Boston? Why did it go to Los Angeles?"

"Let me have the tracking number and I'll find out why for you."

"Thank you!"

"Sir, your package is in Los Angeles."

"Yes, I know, I asked you why and you said you'd find out."

"Sir, we don't have that information."

"You mean you can only tell me what I can see for myself?"

"Yes, that's right".

"Then why did you tell me you'd find out?"

"That's all I can tell you, have a good day, and thank you for using the United States Postal Service!"

Do I fault all USPS workers for this? No, but the system itself is lousy. USPS whines about "costs", raises the price of a stamp, talks about discontinuing Saturday service, then sends my package to L.A. It will cost USPS MORE to get it to me in Mass. than if it had gone to New York like packages from Europe normally do. Had I an explanation, I might be understanding, but if you call USPS, no one, ever, knows anything. The agent that I spoke with did say that USPS sent it to Los Angeles, for whatever reason. Anyone from USPS reading this? From now on I will request another method of delivery, even if it means tying my package to a dog or large bird and pointing them in my general direction. Greatest country in the world and we can't fix the USPS.

You are asking the wrong people. If it came from the UK then THEY are the ones that put it on a plane to LA. USPS won't have control of it till it exits the USA Customs Offices.

fern*wood · ‎03-03-2020

Hate is a very ugly word. I would rethink that and consider where most would be right now without USPS. If UPS and FedEx had to absorb all of the USPS deliveries, and could no longer hand off their packages to USPS, I can't even imagine the errors and disruptions.

tcscollectibles1 · ‎03-03-2020

Yes they do a good job, but not perfect. I have had many packages lost in the mail, both buying a selling. Also have had tracked packages delivered to the wrong address....and as fars as Ebay its considered delivered...but thats actually a flaw in Ebays system. But if you need to talk to USPS...talk to your local PO, in the case of tracked wrongly delivered packages they have a record of where the package was scanned. And yea, I had a package I sent to the UK...Went to NY,Jamaica,back to NY before the UK. And yes where we humans are involved, their will be mistakes.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎03-03-2020

I’ve handled somewhere around 30-40k packages in the last 20 years. I’ve had issues with fewer than 10.

lightlily_arts · ‎03-04-2020

In the past 20 years USPS has only lost one of my packages and only one that was mis-routed. The one that was lost was eventually found at a sorting center but was empty. It was a book.