Missing Mail Issues

[glenvonnie]

I've seen some packages seeming to get lost recently, no doubt slowed down because of bad weather, so I opened three missing mail cases.

This morning the USPS called me and told me the last package was out for delivery, and I saw that the other two were found and moving again the day after I opened the cases.

I'm impressed.

[buyselljack2016]

coincidence 

Other than the call notifying you, I suspect no actual USPS employee action was taken beyond reading the notification of the search request and checking the status of the tracking #.

[jjddmwi]

Glad they started to move again for you.    I have had luck filing missing mail claims too.  Usually things start to move w/in a day or two of submitting.  

For me, Houston seems to be a place where packages go to sit and sit and sit..... no movement.  I had to recently open two missing mail claims for packages that are there.  One has been delivered, but there hasn't been any movement on the other.

[carlmarxx]

Ebay sellers need to stop  doing drop off's  and pickups  and take their packages to counter  to hand them over to the USPS employe's  hands  and scan into the system .Which forces  them to keep them moving  in transit .  . 

[carlmarxx]

You do know that  package's  pickup by the mail carrier  will   not   get out the PO you use  for  2 to 3  days  or longer  just sitting in the building .

[lakefor94]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

Ebay sellers need to stop  doing drop off's  and pickups  and take their packages to counter  to hand them over to the USPS employe's  hands  and scan into the system .Which forces  them to keep them moving  in transit .  . 

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Depends on which city a seller ships from.

Chances of me waiting in line at a post office to ship a package would be significantly less than zero.

[lakefor94]

That missing mail search entry in the tracking can possibly save you from a buyer initiating an INR on a late shipment if they see that. 

Could also come in handy if they did file INR and the eBay system recognizes it as a current entry that would buy you more time.

Good work. 

[ltldpr]

I found this about the Houston sorting facilities. Congressional reps for the Houston area are asking questions now. It's a BIG problem, and not much more than canned written bleep from USPS.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/local/2024/01/19/474987/houston-mail-delays-missour...

I also made a post about what I was told by my local postal clerk.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/Per-my-USPS-PO-Clerk-Here-s-the-Scoop-on-the-Houston-Missouri...

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

You do know that  package's  pickup by the mail carrier  will   not   get out the PO you use  for  2 to 3  days  or longer  just sitting in the building .

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@carlmarxx 

Has NEVER been the Case for packages picked up in OC California (2011-2020)  or Small Town Nevada (since 2020) and I've NEVER been inside a Post Office for this Ebay Business since 2011. 

Tracking ALWAYS shows 'picked up' within hours of being picked up. 

[spark-chaser1]

As others have stated, initiating a missing mail search doesn’t achieve much in and of itself, it triggers a check at the recipient’s destination PO to see if the item has arrived, if not, there isn’t much of a follow- up, and many are closed out yielding zero results.

however, despite all of that, whenever I have opened one on a shipment that is long overdue, up to a month or more, suddenly the item reappears in the tracking stream and finally arrives.

 
So, opening a missing mail search doesn’t work, but it pays to do so anyway, because it works.😉

[ebooksdiva]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

You do know that  package's  pickup by the mail carrier  will   not   get out the PO you use  for  2 to 3  days  or longer  just sitting in the building .

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I have never had that issue scheduling a pickup. My packages never just sit at the post office. If you're experiencing this, you need to report it to the Post Master at your post office. 

[lakefor94]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

You do know that  package's  pickup by the mail carrier  will   not   get out the PO you use  for  2 to 3  days  or longer  just sitting in the building .

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If that is the case, I would bet the USPS vehicles parked out back at your post office are horses and they have an option for Pony Express.

[carlmarxx]

That is then before  Dejoys took over .

[reallynicestamps]

A corollary to Murphy's Law

Asking about a problem solves the problem.

Whether you have a missing item, like these, a memory lapse, like when is your kid's birthday, or a fact like whether the UK is a democracy, asking another person will solve the problem even if the other person does nothing.

I had a customer in Spain whose package was returned to me in Canada for an incorrect (partial) address. I had sent it in November. He informed me of the problem in mid-December. We agreed that I would let him know when it got back to me. He asked again on Jan. 18, I told him that the ferries weren't running here and Canada Post was not delivering due to the snow, but  I was still watching. It arrived on the 19th and I will be shipping on Monday.

Fun fact. This was a LetterMail item, untracked.  But he agreed to pay to have the reshipped item tracked.

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

That is then before  Dejoys took over .

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So last week, last month, last year is before Dejoy??

I'll answer it.

No, and as I've said 100's of times, I've shipped well over 20,000 packages exclusively using USPS since 2011, up to and including this morning- where the tracking of my items- ALL show tracking and ALL were picked up from my front door.