eBay

endovellicvs · ‎04-01-2019

Please, can anyone answer the following technical question about USPS tracking?

If one of the scans fails, in the middle of the sequence of several scans to reach the destination, the next scans, even done, will not show up on the USPS tracking system, right?

For instance, if a scan on the USPS Regional Facility fails, what happens next? The following scans will never show up on the tracking, even if the package has been delivered and scanned by the postman, right?

Sometimes, I see the tracking ending on the middle of the path, without information of the next steps, and the package was delivered, which is very strange.

Thanks in advance,

Jorge

kensgiftshop · ‎04-01-2019

If a package fails to get scanned along the route, it'll catch up the next time it's scanned.

Have a great day.

endovellicvs · ‎04-01-2019

Thanks for your help but I’m not so sure.

Look at this case: the package was delivered (LL037988653PT) and the last information on the USPS records is:

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

CHARLESTON WV PROCESSING CENTER

The following steps are missing:

- Arrived at Unit

- Out for Delivery

- Delivered

Have they all failed? Does not seem likely...

orangehound · ‎04-01-2019

@endovellicvs wrote:

The following steps are missing:
- Arrived at Unit
- Out for Delivery
- Delivered
Have they all failed? Does not seem likely...

As noted above, missing a scan does not hide future scans. Those last three scans are likely done by the hand scanners, and the earlier ones by automated scanners. Perhaps the local hand scanner failed, or the scans weren't properly transferred. It happens sometimes.

muttlymob · ‎04-01-2019

@endovellicvs wrote:
Thanks for your help but I’m not so sure.
Look at this case: the package was delivered (LL037988653PT) and the last information on the USPS records is:
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
CHARLESTON WV PROCESSING CENTER

The following steps are missing:
- Arrived at Unit
- Out for Delivery
- Delivered
Have they all failed? Does not seem likely...

The scans are independent. If any one of the scans is missed, a later scan will register.

If you are seeing this often, perhaps something is happening to your labels to make them unscannable/illegible? If even a small section of the barcode and just 1 or 2 numbers are obscured, there is no way to scan or hand enter the tracking number. Thus, no further scans could register.

If you are using ink jet printers all it takes is a drop of water to smudge the label. If you are placing your labels with the barcode spanning the flaps of a box maybe the label is getting caught and rubbed or torn in that flap joint. If your labels are on flexible bags maybe they are getting creased and worn. There are lots of ways that labels can become illegible.

a_c_green · ‎04-01-2019

@orangehound wrote:
@endovellicvs wrote:
The following steps are missing:
- Arrived at Unit
- Out for Delivery
- Delivered
Have they all failed? Does not seem likely...
As noted above, missing a scan does not hide future scans. Those last three scans are likely done by the hand scanners, and the earlier ones by automated scanners. Perhaps the local hand scanner failed, or the scans weren't properly transferred. It happens sometimes.

The OP is in Portugal, shipping to the U.S., and tracking of the number given is pretty detailed on the USPS site, starting with Acceptance and later scanning in Portugal, before arriving in New York and later traveling to West Virginia. Thus we know it's not an issue with the label, unless somehow it got obliterated during the final leg of its journey.

At that point, it's presumably getting down to the local level, and I'm wondering whether it was just a matter of the local employees not knowing that they were supposed to scan the Portugese mailing label.

The automated scanners will read everything and log whatever they recognize, and tracking shows that they held up their end of the job, but if a local guy in West Virginia doesn't know that he's supposed to scan a package from Portugal when sorting and delivering, then that's not going to happen, even if the package itself arrives just fine.

buyselljack2016 · ‎04-01-2019

@a_c_green wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
@endovellicvs wrote:
The following steps are missing:
- Arrived at Unit
- Out for Delivery
- Delivered
Have they all failed? Does not seem likely...
As noted above, missing a scan does not hide future scans. Those last three scans are likely done by the hand scanners, and the earlier ones by automated scanners. Perhaps the local hand scanner failed, or the scans weren't properly transferred. It happens sometimes.
The OP is in Portugal, shipping to the U.S., and tracking of the number given is pretty detailed on the USPS site, starting with Acceptance and later scanning in Portugal, before arriving in New York and later traveling to West Virginia. Thus we know it's not an issue with the label, unless somehow it got obliterated during the final leg of its journey.

At that point, it's presumably getting down to the local level, and I'm wondering whether it was just a matter of the local employees not knowing that they were supposed to scan the Portugese mailing label.

The automated scanners will read everything and log whatever they recognize, and tracking shows that they held up their end of the job, but if a local guy in West Virginia doesn't know that he's supposed to scan a package from Portugal when sorting and delivering, then that's not going to happen, even if the package itself arrives just fine.

Seems this would require more than one "local guy" not knowing that a scan was required unless it was a PO box delivery. (no walking/driving carrier) Generally it is going to be more than one person doing scans locally. All could be ill informed.

johnrj1226 · ‎04-01-2019

Have had packages only receive a scan at acceptance and then at delivery point. Usually this has happened during the Holiday shipping deluge.

"I have the right to remain silent but I didn't have the ability." Ron White, Fritch, Texas
"Stay away from negative people, they have a problem for every solution." A. Einstein
"The Devil made me do it!" - Flip Wilson
"If the band can only play loud - they ain't no good - peps too!" J.R. Johnson

a_c_green · ‎04-01-2019

@buyselljack2016 wrote:
Seems this would require more than one "local guy" not knowing that a scan was required unless it was a PO box delivery. (no walking/driving carrier) Generally it is going to be more than one person doing scans locally.

True, but we all have our daily routine, and when something unusual comes along, like a package from Portugal, it may not be obvious that it will be valid for scanning. Certainly the tracking that did get logged shows that there was nothing wrong with the Portugese barcode, and that the U.S.-based scan events in the log were mostly likely done with automated equipment such as the 360° scanners on the conveyors. It's only when you get down to the local level that you get the human factor and hand-held scans involved.

I have a painful memory of tracking a purchase from Italy that came all the way to the U.S. and to my hometown, only to be turned around and sent back again because the seller rendered my entire name in Italian (apparently reading a note from me through Google Translate; my last name became "Verde," for example), and my local PO didn't recognize it as me. Technology may get things right, but the humans can still mess it all up.

orangehound · ‎04-02-2019

@a_c_green wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
@endovellicvs wrote:
The following steps are missing:
- Arrived at Unit
- Out for Delivery
- Delivered
Have they all failed? Does not seem likely...
As noted above, missing a scan does not hide future scans. Those last three scans are likely done by the hand scanners, and the earlier ones by automated scanners. Perhaps the local hand scanner failed, or the scans weren't properly transferred. It happens sometimes.
The OP is in Portugal, shipping to the U.S., and tracking of the number given is pretty detailed on the USPS site, starting with Acceptance and later scanning in Portugal, before arriving in New York and later traveling to West Virginia. Thus we know it's not an issue with the label, unless somehow it got obliterated during the final leg of its journey.

At that point, it's presumably getting down to the local level, and I'm wondering whether it was just a matter of the local employees not knowing that they were supposed to scan the Portugese mailing label.

The automated scanners will read everything and log whatever they recognize, and tracking shows that they held up their end of the job, but if a local guy in West Virginia doesn't know that he's supposed to scan a package from Portugal when sorting and delivering, then that's not going to happen, even if the package itself arrives just fine.

My point was that even if a local USPS carrier or office knows to scan an international shipment (and they do), the hand-held scanners need to have their information off-loaded/transferred into the USPS database. The scan information on a hand-held is not somehow immediately transferred to some central USPS processing center when a hand-held scanner is used. Rather the data is stored in the hand-held unit and then sometime later needs to be off-loaded/transferred when the carrier gets back to the local office.

It is rare, but that transfer can sometimes fail, or the carrier accidentally erases all the data on the scanner before the transfer happens ... and when it does, hundreds of scans will be lost ... including perhaps both the "out-for-delivery" and "delivery" scans for a package.

a_c_green · ‎04-02-2019

@orangehound wrote:
My point was that even if a local USPS carrier or office knows to scan an international shipment (and they do), the hand-held scanners need to have their information off-loaded/transferred into the USPS database. The scan information on a hand-held is not somehow immediately transferred to some central USPS processing center when a hand-held scanner is used. Rather the data is stored in the hand-held unit and then sometime later needs to be off-loaded/transferred when the carrier gets back to the local office.

You may be thinking of the older handhelds. The newer ones that have been out for a few years now update immediately, direct from the carrier in the field. When my carrier scans the package at the end of my driveway, the email update of the delivery beeps my computer by the time I've walked back up to the house.

orangehound · ‎04-02-2019

@a_c_green wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
My point was that even if a local USPS carrier or office knows to scan an international shipment (and they do), the hand-held scanners need to have their information off-loaded/transferred into the USPS database. The scan information on a hand-held is not somehow immediately transferred to some central USPS processing center when a hand-held scanner is used. Rather the data is stored in the hand-held unit and then sometime later needs to be off-loaded/transferred when the carrier gets back to the local office.
You may be thinking of the older handhelds. The newer ones that have been out for a few years now update immediately, direct from the carrier in the field. When my carrier scans the package at the end of my driveway, the email update of the delivery beeps my computer by the time I've walked back up to the house.

Oh ... well then ... I'm clearly still living in 2015. 🙂

dtexley3 · ‎04-02-2019

@a_c_green wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
My point was that even if a local USPS carrier or office knows to scan an international shipment (and they do), the hand-held scanners need to have their information off-loaded/transferred into the USPS database. The scan information on a hand-held is not somehow immediately transferred to some central USPS processing center when a hand-held scanner is used. Rather the data is stored in the hand-held unit and then sometime later needs to be off-loaded/transferred when the carrier gets back to the local office.
You may be thinking of the older handhelds. The newer ones that have been out for a few years now update immediately, direct from the carrier in the field. When my carrier scans the package at the end of my driveway, the email update of the delivery beeps my computer by the time I've walked back up to the house.

Yea, and some carriers, like mine, scan the item as delivered BEFORE they even leave the PO. The last two times I've put a mail hold items in transit were scanned as delivered even though I didn't receive them until the mail hold was released.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

lja440 · ‎04-03-2019

@a_c_green wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
My point was that even if a local USPS carrier or office knows to scan an international shipment (and they do), the hand-held scanners need to have their information off-loaded/transferred into the USPS database. The scan information on a hand-held is not somehow immediately transferred to some central USPS processing center when a hand-held scanner is used. Rather the data is stored in the hand-held unit and then sometime later needs to be off-loaded/transferred when the carrier gets back to the local office.
You may be thinking of the older handhelds. The newer ones that have been out for a few years now update immediately, direct from the carrier in the field. When my carrier scans the package at the end of my driveway, the email update of the delivery beeps my computer by the time I've walked back up to the house.

Personally, my scanner has issues due to a large portion of my mail route not having decent cell service, sometimes it will not reconnect when I get back in range but will wait and download when I dock it at the end of the route.

But as to the OP this maybe a compatibility issue between the USPS system and the one in their country. They may be getting the hard wired scans but not the ones done with the mobile units.