'Live' item sellers, have USPS delivery times improved in the last 30 days?

[maddocks]

Water Gardening/live pond plants are my most profitable sales items, but this Spring/Summer USPS killed too many of my packages!  One week alone, eight out of twelve customers reported receiving dead plants - because USPS had taken 8-14 days to deliver 1st Class Mail packages.  I can't afford to replace nearly every plant order and pay shipping costs twice... and then sometimes still have to refund the disappointed buyer!

I switched then to UPS only delivery... but the significant extra buyer expense had cut sales by 80%+, and it would be nice to return to a 'normal' USPS service (and sales).  Are delivery times any better at all now??

/2020 was a near disaster for me... and 2021 hasn't been any better 😕

[stainlessenginecovers]

Before going into shipping; the first plant I saw sold states I would get it in the 89000 zip code September 10th; that is over 3 weeks from now? Not sure where that disconnect is, but that is way too long. 

2nd thing; this same plant listing has a cost of $5 to $60 (or something like that); Variations are suppose to be used for 1 price, but just a different color or size (typically)- not for a wide variation of cost.

Regarding shipping- First Class always stated, from the USPS website, takes 2-7 working days. With weekends not counting in working days, could take 2 days (depending on day of week and location) to 11 calendar days. I ship about 50 items a week, 75% 1st Class and they go from West Coast to East Coast typically in about 4 days.. but have had some packages take 2 weeks. 

Doubtful things will change, CV19 or not, since USPS is having $ issues, they work less OT etc.  

Since 1st class is under 16 oz. I'm assuming all your plants you wanted to sell were under that. East Coast to West Coast is about $6; you can ship under 16oz Priority for a couple dollars more. 

But, most people don't want to buy anything that cost $5 and pay $8 shipping; so you either need to bundle more than 1 plant or only list/sell the much more expensive ones so that shipping does not cost more than the item. 

Right Now, that same listing, if I chose the $5 plant, was costing $9 to ship. That would be one that I would pass on; maybe others feel the same? 

[lja440]

I am really sorry to hear about your plants. But as a mail carrier I have to say USPS encountered a perfect storm situation. #1 the pandemic, this increased packages to the point that we had the Black Friday Cyber Monday load and it has lasted around 20 months now. We are finally seeing a drop-off but it is still not back to normal. And #2 a Postmaster General was appointed by the previous "administration" to actually cripple the election which also crippled other aspects of normal USPS flow. Frankly, I don't see us getting back to normal until after DeJoy is removed (not a simple thing to do) and the damage he brought  has been repaired.

[chapeau-noir]

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@lja440 wrote:

I am really sorry to hear about your plants. But as a mail carrier I have to say USPS encountered a perfect storm situation. #1 the pandemic, this increased packages to the point that we had the Black Friday Cyber Monday load and it has lasted around 20 months now. We are finally seeing a drop-off but it is still not back to normal. And #2 a Postmaster General was appointed by the previous "administration" to actually cripple the election which also crippled other aspects of normal USPS flow. Frankly, I don't see us getting back to normal until after DeJoy is removed (not a simple thing to do) and the damage he brought  has been repaired.

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I'm not seeing improvement, either, until DeJoy is kicked out of the way and someone who knows the business gets appointed.  From my end the USPS has been doing a stellar job (beating Fed-Ex by a wide margin) but I would worry about shipping anything 'live' at this time without special arrangements, particularly with a 4th wave coming through and some sorting centers again becoming short-handed.  There are a number of things I no longer sell and places I no longer ship due to all of this.