USPS sending packages to wrong facility

[jamedlock83]

Why does USPS continue to send packages to the wrong facility, delaying delivery?  My local distribution center is 45 minutes NORTH of me (I live in Arkansas).  Yet, last week, my package got sent to Siloam Springs (which is 40 minutes NW of Fayetteville (Distribution Center). I just received an update saying "In transit to next facility". . . . I hope to God that the next facility is Fort Smith, AR or my local Post Office. . .Because if it ends up at another facility, then I am going to be highly **bleep**.  I should have received my package on the 5th.

[slyders_finds]

The USPS says it's for efficiency so certain locations don't get gridlocked. It will get back on track. 

[jamedlock83]

That doesn't even make sense to me

[selsa84]

Well when you read about the moron that Trump put in charge of it it all makes sense.

[robbie31415]

The USPS was in the middle of big changes with how packages are routed and processed.

However, due to political pressure with worry about the election the USPS agreed to stop working on it until after the election.

So don't expect any changes until after the election and hopefully the new changes will increase efficiency.

I have seen improvement with one of the completed facilities, however it was a very rocky opening that caused multiple politicians to get involved.

[toomanybasecards]

Same thing over, I’m in California, the buyer is  in California. But the package is sent to Dallas distribution center.

[jamedlock83]

I highly doubt any of this political crap has anything to do with the mail being sorted, etc. . . It's the employees being lazy and not doing their dang jobs correctly. . Putting things into the wrong bins. . They just don't care. . I could do a better job than they can. Wanna know how I know?  When I order things from Amazon, I don't have this problem. . I always get my packages on time, no matter which carrier I use. . BUT when I order something from eBay, this crap happens.  Who is Pitney Bowes?   Because when I track my package using a 3rd party tracker (opentracker.com), it says something about Pitney Bowes, BUT the seller told me that she did NOT use Pitney Bowes.

[buyselljack2016]

The touching of packages by "lazy" individuals is a minimal occurrence.  Mainly just at start and finish.

The transport of the mail is very "automated".  Machines direct the mail. Mostly the "lazy" individuals just push the bins and cages that are sorted by machines.

[simba6]

They have been known to route to less busy centers at times.  

[1786davycrockett]

@jamedlock83 

Pitney-Bowes is nothing more than the company that generates the shipping label -- they are not a shipping company themselves, and have been in the business of generating shipping labels for companies and individuals since 1920.

And it was Postmaster General Louis DeJoy who created the "Delivering For America" program which has created chaos across the United States at various post offices, particularly in Houston, Memphis and Atlanta.

Last year, my local post office (and several others in Minnesota) was under Congressional investigation, due to problems similar to yours.  The investigation concluded that several of the problems were the direct result of the "Delivering For America" program, which had resulted in unnecessary delays in mail delivery.

Don't blame your local post office -- they are only reluctantly following instructions from "higher up."  

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@jamedlock83 wrote:

Why does USPS continue to send packages to the wrong facility, delaying delivery?  My local distribution center is 45 minutes NORTH of me (I live in Arkansas).  Yet, last week, my package got sent to Siloam Springs (which is 40 minutes NW of Fayetteville (Distribution Center). I just received an update saying "In transit to next facility". . . . I hope to God that the next facility is Fort Smith, AR or my local Post Office. . .Because if it ends up at another facility, then I am going to be highly **bleep**.  I should have received my package on the 5th.

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Sometimes weather can impact the routes. I am not sure if USPS still uses the airlines for mail transportation or not, but they did many years ago. If a plane was diverted for any reason, it could change the trajectory. 

Sometimes it is puzzling to watch the path some of the packages take. It is frustrating when you see it get so close and BAM, it goes another direction taking another day or so to eventually get to its destination.

[jamedlock83]

I'm not blaming my local post office. . I'm blaming the Distribution Center.  I talked to them this morning and they said that most of their scanning is automated and what happened is when the machine scanned my package, it kicked it to the wrong bin and that's why it ended up in another city.  So, when it came back to the Distribution Center, it scanned it again and flagged it, so then it was hand-scanned. My local Post Office has it, and it is out for delivery. 

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @jamedlock83 

Your thread caught my eye because I lived in AR back in the 60s, drive in movies and Bubblegum flavored ice cream at Baskin Robbins ... but I digress.  

USPS is in the process of putting up new handling facilities across the country and your story is not unlike others we have read about elsewhere.  In many instances it is more cost effective for them to put up a brand new facility opposed to trying to upgrade an older one.  The other advantage to this is if they upgrade an old facility it has to stop processing while old equipment is removed and new equipment is installed thus reducing overall throughput in their system.  With new facilities they can build them, install the equipment, do the initial troubleshooting and then switch over to it with less impact.  So it is possible your area is suffering some of the start up system trouble shooting of a new facility and in time that will stop.

Very sorry it is happening to you and others.

[selsa84]

It is 100% politics. Or at least brought on by politics 

[jamedlock83]

It's not a new facility. . It's in Fayetteville, Arkansas. . . They closed down the Distribution Center in Fort Smith, Arkansas and moved that part to Fayetteville. . I'm not sure what the DC in Fort Smith is for now. I do know it is being used by USPS for something, but not a "sorting" facility anymore. . .When they shut that down in 2013 and routed everything to Fayetteville, things started getting slower.  Post Office sorting facility in Fort Smith to close