Is USPS having problems?

[justforposting_1960]

Is anyone else noticing problems with the USPS delivering packages as a buyer and/or seller?

I ordered an item on Sunday, 1/7; the seller shipped it Priority on Monday; USPS tracking shows USPS "in possession of item" at 2:32 the same day. It was scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday, the 9th. On the 9th, tracking still showed "In possession", on Thursday morning it still hadn't moved so I requested email updates and received an email stating "Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility." 20 minutes later I received another email stating, "Your item arrived at our USPS facility in PITTSBURGH PA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER on January 10, 2019 at 8:21 am."

Ever since that, tracking has had no estimated delivery date and shows the item is "in transit to the destination." This morning there were 2 more emails saying the same as above. So it is now 3 hours short of 2 days overdue.

On Wednesday, my letter carrier picked up a package at 11:42 am which tracking verifies. Estimated delivery is by 8 pm today. But since 12 am today, tracking has showed it "in transit to the destination." It never shows it arriving at any USPS facility. Granted, it's  only 2 pm there now, but experience makes me doubt the status is going change in the next 6 hours and so it too will probably be overdue.

The package I sent out is going coast to coast so some extra time is understandable. But the one I am waiting for is only from Pennsylvania to Connecticut. I could have driven there and back in under 9 hours!

Is anyone else seeing this?

[savedbygrace7192]

😉So glad that at least now you have spoken with your local P.O. to find out what happened to your package and get things moving hopefully in your direction. By chance did they happen to tell you what happened an why it was all over the place? Usually this is because of human error and being misdirected on the wrong plane or truck. But they can offer a reason or explanation as to what happened because they can see every scan on their end. True packages themselves do not have GPS but the crates that they are loaded onto do. This is how the USPS can track the movement as it travels to it destination. I have personally seen this manifest on a computer screenshot that a USPS Supervisor sent me to  show me that my package had been delivered to the individual and signed for (Too long of a story to put here!) 😒Wish I still had that pic to share here to show as proof.  I had another major issue in the middle of December with a package that SAT in the Napa, CA P.O. and was never delivered even though the customer receiving it went there in person 3 times to collect it and they couldn't seem to ever locate it. It was supposed to be scanned to be returned back to me but sat there 6 days before doing so. I contacted the USPS online to file a complaint and only then I get contacted by the Napa, CA P.O. Supervisor Manager with apologies stating that they had sent the package back to me in error and she was sorry for what happened but they had a New Courier and he didn't reattempt delivery. The package (First Class Mail with Signature Confirmation) did come back to me fairly quickly but rather than resend the same package again which I was told to do by the USPS Supervisor Manager I opted to send it Priority Mail so I paid for postage and insurance twice to get this package to the buyer all due to USPS goof ups! The package arrived safe and sound the second time because I was in contact with the Supervisor the whole time and she personally watched the package back to her and pretty much guaranteed me of no more problems.  

My whole point here is that Communication is the Key when dealing with USPS and lost/missing packages. Usually filing a complaint online will get some action taken much quicker. With Priority Mail I think it is like at least 3 days past the last shown scan before your local P.O. can do a integrated search on their end. Probably a little longer for First Class. When in doubt always call the P.O. closest to the last scan as it might be hung up in there P.O. for some strange unknown reason. Packages get lost by USPS employees all the time as they are known to put them somewhere and things happen. It took the Supervisor in Napa, CA to find my package that none of "the other employees" there could ever find in person.

@justforposting_1960 I hope that you get your lamp shades in the next day or so!

[justforposting_1960]

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@savedbygrace7192 wrote:

😉So glad that at least now you have spoken with your local P.O. to find out what happened to your package and get things moving hopefully in your direction. By chance did they happen to tell you what happened an why it was all over the place?

No, I don't think he looked past the tracking we customers can see.  He could see that it was way overdue and sitting in NJ. I think he though it might be more expedient if he emailed Jersey City and told them to get the package moving. I think I probably called the local PO at the wrong time. I called shortly after 8 am and I could hear the commotion of mail being sorted in the background. If I had waited until after the letter carriers were out on their routes, he might have been able to spend more time. Be sure I will follow up with him as often as necessary though!

[futurespast1113]

Before Amazon got popular I noticed Priority Mail used to come no later than 2-3 business days. Within the past 2-3 years I noticed the norm is 4-5 business days or more for my non-Amazon packages to arrive. Some of my Priority Mail packages are now even taking 7-8 business days to arrive. It never used to be this slow and the big postal hub is actually 6 blocks away from my house so it is not like I am in the middle of nowhere.

I asked my long time mail carrier what is going on and he said Amazon is killing them with so much volume. I was told that his supervisors make them give Amazon packages precedence over all other mail except for Express and Overnight. He told me that some days he works 12 or more hours with no days off for sometimes weeks as they don't have enough employees to handle this volume.

They are short staffed and the subs and helpers are under paid and not very good. He said most of them are stupid and lazy and they are not union and quit all the time. He said that his supervisor makes him deliver all the Amazon Prime first and whatever is left over and doesn't get delivered goes out another day. He said often, non-Amazon packages are loaded into his truck and end up not going out because he did not have enough time after delivering all the Amazon packages. On most days his truck does not have enough room to hold all the packages and he has to make several trips back and forth to load more packages onto his truck. He said they are under contract with Amazon and get hell if those packages are not delivered quick enough.

He also said when you notice your package isn't moving when you track it and see "in transit to next destination", that is just an automated message. After no progress for 24 hours or if your package is not being scanned by workers, that is automatically updated to the tracking number to give you the impression that your package is moving to to its destination. It is so you think your package is moving through the system and are less likely to worry or complain.

[savedbygrace7192]

👌It might not hurt to call him back again to do a follow up to see if he has heard anything back from the P.O. in NJ and get an update on the status.. For what it's worth, your local P.O. Manager can "Call" the office in NJ and speak to a Supervisor there and that would be much better than waiting for someone to actually sit down and take time to read and respond to an email. I have gladly waited on hold while my local P.O. manager called another USPS office to check on a package for me in the past. Yes if you happen to call at a busy time of the day,  sadly enough sometimes they will just tell you anything to get you off the phone.😞

[futurespast1113]

"Tracking has updated that as of midnight last night it was "In transit to next facility."  Same message, new time. There is still no delivery date shown though. It has now taken 32.5 hours to go 50 miles, lol!"

My mailman said when you see the tracking show the message In Transit To Next Facility that is just a generic, automated response. If the package was not scanned by employees or it is sitting around, that message gets automatically added to your tracking number after 24 hours of no progress or scan. He said it gets added to make you not worry about your package. It is just a computer generated update.

[savedbygrace7192]

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@futurespast1113 wrote:

Before Amazon got popular I noticed Priority Mail used to come no later than 2-3 business days. Within the past 2-3 years I noticed the norm is 4-5 business days or more for my non-Amazon packages to arrive. Some of my Priority Mail packages are now even taking 7-8 business days to arrive. It never used to be this slow and the big postal hub is actually 6 blocks away from my house so it is not like I am in the middle of nowhere.

I asked my long time mail carrier what is going on and he said Amazon is killing them with so much volume. I was told that his supervisors make them give Amazon packages precedence over all other mail except for Express and Overnight. He told me that some days he works 12 or more hours with no days off for sometimes weeks as they don't have enough employees to handle this volume.

They are short staffed and the subs and helpers are under paid and not very good. He said most of them are stupid and lazy and they are not union and quit all the time. He said that his supervisor makes him deliver all the Amazon Prime first and whatever is left over and doesn't get delivered goes out another day. He said often, non-Amazon packages are loaded into his truck and end up not going out because he did not have enough time after delivering all the Amazon packages. On most days his truck does not have enough room to hold all the packages and he has to make several trips back and forth to load more packages onto his truck. He said they are under contract with Amazon and get hell if those packages are not delivered quick enough.

He also said when you notice your package isn't moving when you track it and see "in transit to next destination", that is just an automated message. After no progress for 24 hours or if your package is not being scanned by workers, that is automatically updated to the tracking number to give you the impression that your package is moving to to its destination. It is so you think your package is moving through the system and are less likely to worry or complain.

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Wow, this is strange indeed. I don't live in a big city (Pop. about 40,000) but during the holiday season and especially in the month of December when USPS is under the gun inundated with packages, my local Post Offices have a separate delivery driver that takes all those Amazon Prime packages and delivers them so that the regular mail carriers are not too bogged down with packages. 

[castlemagicmemories]

I've seen at least one other thread on this. My items were all delivered 4-5 days past the last date of the estimated delivery timeframe in Dec, and it seems that those issues are still persisting into January, from what I have seen.

[savedbygrace7192]

Any updates today??  Please keep us posted and if your lamp shades finally arrived..

[justforposting_1960]

Sorry, I've been caught up in other facets of life, LOL. (Including making pea soup from the Christmas ham!)

The lamp shades are here !! 

They returned to Springfield last evening. I hoped they'd be delivered today, but when I got up this morning & checked, it said they were still in Springfield! I was so disappointed, lol!

So, I went ahead and filed a formal online Missing Package Claim at about 6:45.

At 7:10 tracking showed "Arrived at Post Office" at 7:25, "Sorting was complete", and at 7:35 it was "Out for Delivery!" At 11:29, it was finally delivered to my front door. Hooray!

I haven't unpacked them yet, they're very cold from sitting on the front steps. I don't want them to end up getting cracked due to rapid temperature change. Probably highly unlikely, but after this wait, I am not taking a chance. They appear to be extremely well packed though, and I don't hear any broken glass inside!

Thank you all for your good thoughts!!

[savedbygrace7192]

YAY!! 👏 So happy that they finally arrived. Great news. Boy if your box could talk hunh?? It's been all over the place. I hope that they are perfect in every way!👍😇

Thanks for the update.

[justforposting_1960]

You know, now that you mention it, there isn't a mark on the package. It really looks like it's just been sitting somewhere. Hmmmm, curiouser and curiouser!

[mallory*ryan]

I am having this EXACT problem right now. I shipped an item on Jan. 9th by Priority Mail, it was supposed to arrive Saturday the 12th. On Sunday morning I checked to see if it arrived safely, but the USPS website said the package would be delivered late but was still on its way to the buyer. Then the tracking stopped, last night the buyer wanted to know why it was still in Cincinnati. The way the tracking read it seemed like it never moved from the local post office or now is being returned to me. The website tracking has now disappeared, now I will have to stand in the long Friday line at the PO to see if they can help. If I can get there before they close. Nineteen years on eBay, never had this happen. 

It is strange we seem to be having the same issue, I hope yours is resolved. 

On a side note: I live in an area north of Cincinnati, and the city I live in the post office is consider a rural PO. Their service is horrible, so I go to the PO around the corner from my house, I was impressed by their service, until this issue. The rural PO one time had an employee say to me he didn't care and it was "no big deal" that he forgot to knock on my door and have me sign for a package that required receipt. I don't understand how we as Americans have to put up with this kind of service, if FedEx wasn't so expensive I would use their services. 

[savedbygrace7192]

@mallory*ryan 😱Oh my gosh, no postal employee should be talking to you like that and they are required to get a signature if it is a paid service. Next time please go online to USPS.com and file a formal complaint. It works!! I had a courier that signed for my package for me when I was at home and they didn't want to bother to come to the door to get my signature! I was very upset they would do that knowing I am home all the time and I didn't appreciate them signing my name wrong either so I filed a complaint online and within 24 hours I received a call from my local P.O. Manager that apologized for it and said that it wouldn't happen again because that is a serious offense as they are supposed to get the signature from an adult at the premises.

Also about your missing in transit package, please call a local P.O. and speak to someone about it as they can research it and investigate it. If you want to speed things up file a missing mail claim online. Someone will call you within 24 hours! Do not call any 1-800 numbers for USPS.. Always call your local P.O. instead. Please keep us posted with your results! Sending you positive vibes!👍😉

[cream_couture]

I’ve noticed the same thing. My priority mail items sent last week and the week before were simply sitting with no scans and past the due date with no new estimated delivery date. Once I added email updates, they all started moving again and had new delivery dates. 

It seems to be better this week. 

[futurespast1113]

Wow, this is strange indeed. I don't live in a big city (Pop. about 40,000) but during the holiday season and especially in the month of December when USPS is under the gun inundated with packages, my local Post Offices have a separate delivery driver that takes all those Amazon Prime packages and delivers them so that the regular mail carriers are not too bogged down with packages. 

My mail carrier actually has a helper, but that helper has been screwing up for over a year delivering my packages to the wrong house. On a few occasions I lost very valuable items because when that guy tried to get my packages that were misdelivered back, the homeowners lied and said they never received them.

My mailman said this helper is useless as #&*! on a bull and stupid, lol. He said he has to fix all his messes and pretty much does the job on his own. I also keep getting my neighbors mail when the helper is working. I filed two complaints against the helper and a year later he is still on the job. 

If any of you check your tracking number and see that your mail was delivered, but you never received your package, this is most likely what happened.