USPS Tracking - unreliable for others... or just my area?

[erikstuff]

It doesn't ALWAYS happen... but it's becoming more common.

Someone will purchase an item.  I pack it and mail it at my postal station the next morning for pick-up around noon.   Then, though it's been picked up it it's not scanned in for a day or two... long enough for me to wonder if it's been stolen or my customer to think I'm a slow shipper.  The scan shows up with "ORIGIN ACCEPTANCE at my city" with a time like 11:54PM TWO DAYS LATER.  Sure... as if I'd be at the Post Office at midnight.

I mailed two packages on 6/26 A.M.,  before the USPS truck arrived.    Now... Tuesday night ONE of the packages was just scanned in "Pickup 6/27 4:18". The other shows "USPS AWAITS ITEM."  Huh?

The packages usually arrive quickly, so it's not as they haven't been in the system.

Is this somewhat erratic scanning everywhere or just in central Florida?  Does Ebay consider this late mailing?

[*trekkie]

I did inquire & inform them of the situation more than once. The problem isn't with my local PO, the problem is with the contractor that handles the delivery & the main hub. Locally, the package gets scanned immediately.  The shipping contractor only scans the main shipping bin. Sometimes, the item will go through 2 hubs before it gets taken out of the container to be scanned individually. I have gotten some help from USPS. Standard answer is Priority Mail takes priority & will get shipped immediately but First Class gets put aside until other issues are handled.  Also, was told to wait a few days & then file a lost package request. I have no control over the few buyers that want their items by day 3 and not day 5 with First Class shipping!  Most are willing to wait 7-10 days for their items to arrive, but you do get the rude & impatient ones.   FedEx is almost impossible to contact an actual human to locate a lost "in transit" package.  Olive Branch, Mississippi seems to be a black hole for my packages, lately! If I see the tracking sent my package there, I am prepared to wait 3-5 days longer than expected if I get the package at all!

[mam98031]

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@*trekkie wrote:

I did inquire & inform them of the situation more than once. The problem isn't with my local PO, the problem is with the contractor that handles the delivery & the main hub. Locally, the package gets scanned immediately.  The shipping contractor only scans the main shipping bin. Sometimes, the item will go through 2 hubs before it gets taken out of the container to be scanned individually. I have gotten some help from USPS. Standard answer is Priority Mail takes priority & will get shipped immediately but First Class gets put aside until other issues are handled.  Also, was told to wait a few days & then file a lost package request. I have no control over the few buyers that want their items by day 3 and not day 5 with First Class shipping!  Most are willing to wait 7-10 days for their items to arrive, but you do get the rude & impatient ones.   FedEx is almost impossible to contact an actual human to locate a lost "in transit" package.  Olive Branch, Mississippi seems to be a black hole for my packages, lately! If I see the tracking sent my package there, I am prepared to wait 3-5 days longer than expected if I get the package at all!

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Not sure how you "inquired".  Filing for a Trace is a specific action that typically will result in finding the package in my experience.  Filing a trace goes far beyond you local PO.

Not sure about what "contractor" you are talking about.  Still USPS has rules and one of those is to scan packages.  I can only give you advice.  You can choose to throw it out the window if you desire.  That is up to you.  Your situation is not something that hasn't been dealt with before.

Keep in mind you are speaking with experienced sellers here.  IDK if you were told to wait a few days.  If you did not file a Trace you aren't doing yourself any favors.  If you are not contacting the USPS.com website to file a complaint on the lack of scanning your packages, you aren't doing yourself any favors or your buyers.

Someone else would have to help you with Fedex, as I don't use them so I have no experience with your issues with them.

[*trekkie]

Well, jeez!

I seemed to have hit a nerve with you!  I've been selling on eBay for over 20 years. I have some experience, and I have resolved my own shipping problems, I was just trying to help out a fellow seller by relaying my similar story & letting them know that sometimes, delays happen beyond our control, especially living in a rural area! 

My main complaint is that lately, our buyers want 2 day shipping from the second they purchase the item, when they have paid for 3-5 day First Class or parcel.

Here, I'll be more descriptive for you -

I drove to our Post Office. I went inside & spoke to our very nice postal worker. She took my receipt & explained that they scan the item at the counter, but the containers are scanned on the main trucks & not the individual item. They contract a medium sized delivery truck that comes twice a day - at 7 am to deliver & at 4 pm to pick up. That truck shuttles the mail to the hub in New Orleans. If that hub is too full or too busy, it is rerouted to Saint Rose. They told me to wait for a day or two with First Class mail. It does not get priority shipping. Their scanning equipment gets downloaded a couple of times a day. It can take a while for it to show on the main USPS site. I did have to file a trace, one time. The item arrived 3 weeks later. That buyer understood and was cordial and understanding.  For a while, we had a parked VAN because our Post Office was completely destroyed by Hurricane Ida (there's a youtube video of the roof being torn off). It was stationed for 4 hours a day, really 3 because they took a one hour lunch break. It was parked in the gutted Post Office building's parking lot for 4 days a week for about a year. That was a shipping nightmare! Every package was delayed, sometimes the van didn't show up on time or left early. Almost all of my customers understood except for one, who left negative feedback. Fortunately, it has been a year, and the feedback no longer reflects. 

As far as FedEx, I have personally ordered in the past 30 days from Chewy, Old Navy & Bath & Body Works. All of those boxes were mysteriously detained in Mississippi. Most appeared after 5 days beyond the arrival date, only one is still "in transit".  This area has had problems with FedEx contractors, they hire 3rd party companies who don't do checks on the drivers. Some are not delivering & just dumping hundreds of packages into dumpsters or empty lots or wooded areas.  That is on video, too. 

I love selling on eBay! I like the friends I have made through sales & purchases! It just isn't 100% all of the time & I like to post here to let others know to hang in there! There are rough patches & you can get through them. It comes in cycles & others have experienced similar situations.

Sorry I posted on your board. I will not do so again. Learned my lesson! I hope others have too!

[mam98031]

No,  you didn't hit a nerve.  You are reading more into what I posted than I said or intended.  I see you have been here awhile.  So have I.  I sell on this site and others.  I use USPS exclusively.  I ship a lot of packages every week between the sites I sell on.  You can consider the advice I offered you or not.  That is your right.

Seller's know that delays by the carrier are not within their control, well at least experienced sellers.  We are well versed on this especially since the pandemic.  We had all kinds of issues during the pandemic years.  

USPS takes pics of packages at every stop the package is scanned.

I wish you well and hope everything works out for you.

[yuzuha]

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@*trekkie wrote:

I did inquire & inform them of the situation more than once. The problem isn't with my local PO, the problem is with the contractor that handles the delivery & the main hub. Locally, the package gets scanned immediately. 

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I'm not understanding the problem. If it gets scanned immediately at the PO, that counts as the acceptance scan. It doesn't matter if it gets scanned at the sorting center; the scan at the post office is proof that the package is in fact in the mail stream.

[*trekkie]

The problem is with buyers who are tracking their packages & nothing is updating since the initial drop off. A package that is delayed by a few days cannot be tracked accurately on the USPS site because there is no update, just an 'in transit' message. The buyer blames us the seller for the delay, when there really isn't a problem. Sometimes, the updates run smoothly, sometimes like this week, 4 days went by with zero updates & then suddenly there are 6 new updates & the package has arrived.  It's difficult getting some few buyers to understand that we are not all huge warehouses in a major city. A lot of us are in rural areas that are at the mercy of mother nature, and 2nd & 3rd party contractors & what the USPS has to do in order for us to send & receive our mail is something short of a miracle at times!

I just like to respond to posts like this to let others know that they are not the only ones experiencing minor problems. Others give their solutions, others tell of similar situations, and some few get really upset at you for posting.

[yuzuha]

Your buyers must be way, way more jumpy than mine. I've had packages go a week between scans/get delayed for several days and I never once heard a peep out of the buyers about it.

[*trekkie]

Thankfully, it's not a common occurence. I'm blaming this month on the summer heat! 

[mam98031]

That is where filing a Trace can really help.

[fm2000]

Issues with USPS tracking are common. I have had my mailman pick up and scan the packages in front of me, and then 12-24 hours go by before they show up in the system (when they hit the sort hub, the initial scan appears along with the scan at the sort hub.) It doesn't usually happen, but it sometimes happens. Everything shows up on time, all is good, everyone is doing their job but there is a delay in the tracking showing in the system.

To limit your risk if you are shipping expensive items, you might want to go to the post office, wait in line and have them scanned in front of you and get a receipt showing you dropped them off. Just in case they don't show ever show up in the system for whatever reason, you will have proof of mailing so you can file an insurance claim etc.

[lilmama9495]

I'm having the opposite issue, I'm an eBay buyer and two packages are showing delivered yesterday (in mailbox) but neither package was in box or anywhere around the house. We are VERY rural & when we first moved here we had a lil trouble with packages being left down the road at an abandoned house lol but lately it appears USPS either marks the package as delivered OR I get a message that the package was undeliverable due to unaccessible driveway etc. When that happens it is an absolute lie because I am home all day (disabled) and have cameras at the driveway & my Husband lets me know the entrance road wasn't blocked. I'm not sure if this practice has to do with quotas or what but it's frustrating when it happens on a Friday eve and I can't contact the seller yet because I don't know where the issue lies (can't blame the seller for the shipper's issue). Usually it throws everything off by a week but even with all that frustration in the big scheme of things it's small potatoes, things can ALWAYS be worse.🌻

[mam98031]

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@lilmama9495 wrote:

I'm having the opposite issue, I'm an eBay buyer and two packages are showing delivered yesterday (in mailbox) but neither package was in box or anywhere around the house. We are VERY rural & when we first moved here we had a lil trouble with packages being left down the road at an abandoned house lol but lately it appears USPS either marks the package as delivered OR I get a message that the package was undeliverable due to unaccessible driveway etc. When that happens it is an absolute lie because I am home all day (disabled) and have cameras at the driveway & my Husband lets me know the entrance road wasn't blocked. I'm not sure if this practice has to do with quotas or what but it's frustrating when it happens on a Friday eve and I can't contact the seller yet because I don't know where the issue lies (can't blame the seller for the shipper's issue). Usually it throws everything off by a week but even with all that frustration in the big scheme of things it's small potatoes, things can ALWAYS be worse.🌻

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Actually the seller is not likely to help you with this kind of a problem as much as contacting USPS and let them know what is going on.  I would first suggest contacting your local PO.  If that doesn't get you the response you should get, then go to www.usps.com and send in a complaint or call them with your complaint.

I had some similar problems with the USPS carrier when we first moved into this house after having it built.  I did as I suggested above and the problem was resolved.  I even had a the carrier leave packages leaning on our Mail Box post in the RAIN instead of bringing them to the house.  Those boxes contained over $500 worth of inventory I was selling her at the time.

You can get this fixed.

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

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

Thanks for understanding!