Not Happy with Ground Advantage with first use

[crowell_artcollection]

Not Happy with Ground Advantage. It  takes a lot longer to get to its Destination; I just used Ground Advantage for the first time, same price for me from first class, 12 ounces 13x10x2 envelope...only one problem...it is still not delivered, after 6 days....Well, first class, which I always use, is the same price, just 2 to 4 days to deliver. (from West coast to East Coast)...I am really disappointed with Ground Advantage..hopefully my package isn't crushed, as well, from all the extra handling....it went to Alabama from California...it was stuck in Missouri, for 2 days? it still says pending transit, in the tracking, oh that's another thing...the tracking info is very strange, not the same as 1st class tracking info..I have been on eBay 24 years...I will try not to use GA method for Shipping  again.

[frugalmarketplace]

There is no first class. It is bundled along with Ground into Ground Advantage.

[ms.rodriguez*]

First class has NOT been first class since DeJoy took over. He was the one that took out many sorting machines and said that they were "not necessary." He is the one that made first class travel by truck (ground ) in the 48 states. Shipping NY to Cal. has been at least 5 days for months. I have had one or two take more than a week to arrive. Most of my sales are to the west coast and almost everything is shipped first class and now ground advantage. I do not see it getting worse than it used to be. My brother is a mail carrier in Florida and confirms the removal of the sorting machines.

[chapeau-noir]

I remember DeJoy and his attempts to hamstring the USPS - two of our sorting centers here in western Washington took their machines back from where they had been thrown out into the rain (great fiscal budgeting, DeJoy...do you know how to balance a check book?), fixed them and started using them again. Their only statement was something like "bite me."

So no, it hasn't been the same since, though the USPS *has* been doing a stellar job delivering first class even with that, and I've found Ground Advantage (so far) to be about the same time frame - 3-5 days. But there are always packages that go the long way.

[stephenmorgan]

It may take longer to arrive but at least it is trackable and insured for $100.

[deserdog]

What sort of mail sorting machines were removed?

This: Internal USPS planning documents obtained by CNN indicate nearly 95% of the mail sorting machines that had been marked for removal during the last few months were already scheduled to be taken out of service by now.

The USPS is removing four types of machines, citing declining mail volume. The most important machine being removed is the Delivery Bar Code Sorter machines (DBCS).

The people who run and maintain – and who were being told to dismantle – these machines tell CNN they can sort roughly 30,000 envelopes an hour. 

Has USPS added PACKAGE sorting machine?

Yes:

The U.S. Postal Service said Monday it has completed a near two-year project to install 249 package processing machines nationwide.

The new machines, 137 of them installed so far in 2022, will boost the Postal Service’s daily peak-season parcel processing capacity to 60 million pieces. That’s compared to 53 million pieces during the 2021 peak, the agency said.

[deserdog]

Speed of delivery:

CA to IN, zone 7, media mail, 3 days

CA to TN zone 8 , parcel select ground, 2 days

CA to FL, zone 8, """""""""""""""""""""""""", 3 days

CA to CA, zone 4, median mail, 2 days

CA to KS, zone 6, first class package, 4 days

CA to MI, zone 8, parcel select ground, 3 days

CA to KY, zone 7, """"""""""""""""""""""""", 2 days

CA to IA, zone 7, first class package, 2 days

Looks like the mail is moving pretty fast to me. 

[kalyoth]

Of course, the recent severe weather trends - excessive flooding, tornadoes etc. would also not be an issue with delaying the delivery right? If you are depending upon speed for delivery, either 1) pick a more expensive service or carrier 2) order further in advance & then go outside & live life because waiting for the item to arrive every second is a total waste of time.

[cypress.grove]

I'm having the same issue.  The eBay estimated arrival dates are way off for USPS ground advantage.  It's consistently taking 2-3 more days than estimated.  I've shipped about 10 packages at this point.  The only time it's not a problem is if the package is within the same zone.  Across country - it's taking forever.

[buyselljack2016]

Not sure that it is a "Ground Advantage" issue. My packages are traveling/delivering just fine in a timely manner. (knock on wood)

The only thing that changed about how the package goes is that on July 9th the name changed from 1st Class to Ground Advantage.

Sorry to hear that your parcel did not get to the buyer in a timely manner. It happens.