Question about Parcel Select Ground shipping to Hawaii or a US Territory such as the Virgin Islands

[adkhighker]

If someone buys a large heavy package and selects USPS Parcel Select Ground as their shipping option because it would be significantly less than Priority,  is it true that it could take forever to arrive if it was going to a place such as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or Hawaii since it would have to travel as cargo on a ship?  I read somewhere that it could take up to 8 weeks.  Is that true?

[wastingtime101]

You can use the USPS shipping calculator to get an estimated delivery window, but yeah - it can take a long time. I'm not sure that 8 weeks is accurate though, I'd say more like 2-4 weeks would be normal. Delivering to Hawaii and PR would take less time than Guam.

I just ran a check on USPS and the estimate provided was 2 weeks.

Of course any package can be delayed, especially over the holidays. I just received a media mail package 2 days ago that was shipped the day after Thanksgiving.

[fm2000]

Right, it goes on a ship so it is very slow. In my experience, it takes about a 3 weeks to a month for a package on the ship to go from California to Hawaii, maybe a few more days for Guam.

To avoid headaches, you might want to contact the buyer and make sure they understand this before shipping. I have send packages ground to Hawaii and had a few people complain and demanding refunds because they didn't understand how long ground delivery to Hawaii takes.

[kensgiftshop]

The last package I shipped to Hawaii using Parcel Select Ground, it took forever for it to get there.

USPS couldn't give me any estimates on how long it would take, they just kept saying it was on a ship somewhere.

[deserdog]

Here is what the post office explained to me how it works for ground shipments that have to be delivered by ship. First  your package arrives to the city that it will be loaded on. When the container is full, the container will be loaded on the ship. I had a media mail item going to Hawaii in a couple of days arrive in San Francisco, and it took 2 weeks before it left San Francisco. Then it was delivered about a week later in Hawaii.

[kamil-5287]

I live in Ohio and my son is stationed in Oahu. I shipped a vacuum cleaner to him and sent it ground because it was going to save me about $50. They told it would arrive by December 26th (I sent it out on December 9th). It took 3 days to get there and it was delivered on December 12th.  So far, anything I have sent him has gotten there in 3 days from Columbus, Ohio. 

[ebooksdiva]

Sorry but this thread is almost a year old. I think the OP has already found out the answer since then. 

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.