Potential deliberate USPS package delivery slowdowns.

[thecoraltree]

During the past week or so, I have read a number of articles concerning the plans of the new Post Master General to deliberately slow down mail and package delivery...except for Amazon shipments.  The reasons being given for this

interruption of service are numerous and I have my own suspicions for the cause of this action, however, should intentional delays turn out to be the new norm, my question is this:  will eBay give consideration and not ding sellers metrics and reviews?  Is eBay even aware of this potential huge change?  I would love to see eBay address this matter.

[autopartspuller]

Wow SO much Misinformation in this thread.  I wish you all would do some research through valid sources before posting:

@carbideliquidator 

-SOME of our sellers get a discount via USPS and Fed ex.  Not all.  Our discount is about 1/2 of what The River gets on top of that, the River gets Sunday deliveries for the same price, which costs the PO more due to overtime.

@luxgoods 

-MP was mentioned twice in this thread alone and it's not even on topic.  It really shouldn't have been brought up in this thread at all.

@theteamsetguy 

- There are several articles on the reason for the River's switch to in house delivery.  First they pay their delivery drivers as "contractors" Paid on delivery rather than by hour.  In some cases this is less than min. wage.  They always ship the cheapest way possible and have set up extremely favorable contracts for these deliveries.

-There are several factors that go into the cost of shipping which includes but is not limited to Labor, Fuel costs, Facility costs, Vehicle maintenance, ect.  USPS is actually at a disadvantage for fuel costs because they have vehicles (both personal and usps trucks) that do not store near the volume of packages that either UPS or Fedex can carry.  Therefore, they have to make more trips back and forth to the Facility to load and unload packages.  This is hefty cost for fuel. 

Although I do agree that USPS has some mismanaged funds which have caused many of their woes, completely unrelated to The river or any other company.  This is a common issue with many government run departments and is a discussion for another thread at another time.

[outlet_values]

We are also seeing slowdowns.

[outlet_values]

This, within the last 2 weeks - about the time we noticed some slowdowns, by the Postmaster General: 

"Mail carriers are being told to leave mail behind at distribution centers rather than taking late trips, extra trips, or logging overtime, according to memos first reported on by The Washington Post and subsequently reviewed by Business Insider."

[b86fiero]

I'm in Ohio.

Shipped a first class package July 5 to a buyer in Florida.

Today, July 27, the USPS tracking shows the package is in Alaska. 

How's that for slow??!!

[alliebubba0]

I have 2 packages that have not been delivered. They are Priority packages. eBay needs to address this matter with USPS. My late shipment rate has been affected.

[ogaugeminiaturefigures]

 10% is eaten up right away by eBay's fee on shipping, then you also pay 10% on the tax collected. NOTHING is free!

[ogaugeminiaturefigures]

I got 2 NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS today, reason......I did not receive the item. Items were shown delivered yesterday. The customer never messaged me just BAM! Issued me negative feedback. I love how just YESTERDAY there was an announcement how eBay was protecting us from shipping issues ratings. Let's see how this plays out but I am almost ready to close shop for a while. 

[ogaugeminiaturefigures]

You sound like one of the Unedjewmakated trumpers. I spoke to a long time postal worker and in fact Amazon pays a BIGLY discounted rate to the USPS for their shipping and the orders are to be prioritized over anything less than priority mail express. And that a fact.

[ogaugeminiaturefigures]

I heard the same thing from a postal worker.

[bbravo65]

...many thanks to your truthful comment...

[amethystdream10]

I'm in Florida, ordered a dress from a seller in Colorado. The dress is now in Seattle and 3 days late.

[toysaver]

"What's he going to do weld the blue boxes shut?   Post Office employees are a formidable force of dedicated people."

That was my response 3 days ago and  I myself now have over a dozen packages in LiMbO.  Priority packages are shipping like the Parcel Post of decades ago.  They are no longer scanned at every 'port'.  Tracking on the USPS site rarely matches what eBay tracking says.   IMO the only way this can be happening is the PO employees are being coerced to work this new system.  They are likely being bullied and threatened directly or indirectly fearing job loss.   

Where the heck are they going to put all the packages?  My PO is over a 100 years old and tiny.  The trucks I see going out in the morning are stuffed to the gills.  Are they going to rent storage space?  Wouldn't delivering the boxes be cheaper and more efficient?  The new 'problem' is only exasperated by covid.     

[metalsoundz]

can we keep Politics out of this discussion board please.

[maros9416]

Every large seller account gets a discount with USPS. However, Amazon gets special favoritism and perks that no one else does, and this is the root of the problem.  

[maros9416]

Amazon is only shipping self-fulfilled items from their own warehouses directly to customers of frequently ordered items. Here in NYC they can guarantee same-day or next-day shipping like this only. Also, they have a few vans that make routes, but mainly use 1099 independent contractors to deliver. Sure it's cheaper to use a 1099 than to pay for a company (or USPS) with overhead that they are being charged for...As for FedEx, their core business is logistics with one of the largest fleets of airplanes in the world, and overnight delivery. That last mile is a huge burden as the business leaves the b2b space and enters retail. No one will ever be able to replace the network to every door in the US like the USPS, this is their specialty. What FedEx considers ' rural ' is just another mailbox to the USPS.