Weather delays for shipping

[sooz1]

I cannot ship on time due to snowy road conditions and also no Internet to print labels with. Will I be penalized?

[fab_finds4u]

Yes. 

Get on your snow boots and trudge on down to the post office.

Or call UBER. 

[emsw-7184]

Depending on how you have set up shipping, how do you talk to your customers and hope they understand because of the weather problem that the goods are delayed.

[richard1rst]

Just a question:

If you do not have internet to print labels then how did you manage to post this?

[richard454]

ummm- a cell phone versus a office computer.

[readabouthorses]

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@fab_finds4u wrote:

Yes. 

Get on your snow boots and trudge on down to the post office.

Or call UBER. 

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How far would you be willing to trudge? For me that trudge would be a 12 mile round trip. Call an Uber ... not even sure they have those in my little rural area ... if they do I'm betting they wouldn't come all the way out into the country to pick me up.  If I still had a horse I guess I could ride my horse to the Post Office ... humm, no hitching post to tie him up to. Guess I could ask someone to hold my horse while I mail this package.

[powell-memorabilia]

I think that the point is that the cell phone can be used as a personal hotspot, which would allow the OP to print labels.

[itsjustasprain]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

I think that the point is that the cell phone can be used as a personal hotspot, which would allow the OP to print labels.

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Also if you charge your phone off your laptop you can use it as a tethered connection with the same USB cable. There is probably a setting on your phone you have to activate first for tethering but once that is on and your phone is plugged in with a USB cable to the laptop then the laptop sees it as an ethernet connection and Bingo - you are on the internet.

Tethering is faster than a wireless hotspot using the same devices. I used a tethered laptop for a Zoom video conversation with the relatives on Christmas day. Worked great.

[richard454]

But if your power is out...could rig up a stationary bike and an alternator.

"The mail must go through"

[innovatilife]

Snow and below freezing temperatures have been really bad the last couple of days here in the northwest. I have an old car and I can't even get out of my driveway without it sliding and getting stuck.

Thank god for public transport or else I would never been able to get customer packages out. Still, it's a pain to carry so much packages through multiple bus trips, but it's better than dealing with angry customers and penalized late shipments from eBay.

I noticed eBay took away all the severe weather delay messages when tracking packages too, which makes me angry since clearly we are suffering very badly here in the northwest!

Anyway,  I suggest you take public transport if there's no other options.

[itsjustasprain]

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@readabouthorses wrote:
If I still had a horse I guess I could ride my horse to the Post Office ... humm, no hitching post to tie him up to. Guess I could ask someone to hold my horse while I mail this package.

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Just tie him to the flagpole. Every post office has one of those. 😁

[a_c_green]

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

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@readabouthorses wrote:
If I still had a horse I guess I could ride my horse to the Post Office ... humm, no hitching post to tie him up to. Guess I could ask someone to hold my horse while I mail this package.

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Just tie him to the flagpole. Every post office has one of those. 😁

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"Oh, look, Martha: the Pony Express is back!"

[joliefran]

I am also in the NW, on  San Juan Island.  We have close to zero windchill and glare ice on our roads...and it's still snowing!  I grew up in Buffalo, NY, so I know about driving in adverse weather.  However, in Buffalo this kind of ice would have been dealt with using salt, and we are too environmentally oriented to use that.  We use sand and not much of it...and it is not very effective.  I have put in for pickups the last 2 days and my carrier has never made it.  I'm going to slide into town tomorrow to bring my stuff to the PO.  What causes the defect:  when the buyer complains or when eBay notices the late shipment?  And if it's eBay, is there a way to counter that and explain the situation?

[pjcdn2005]

You don’t actually get a defect but you would get a ‘ding’ on the late shipment metric if the package isn’t scanned within your handling time AND it arrives after the estimated delivery date.   If it arrives on time it won’t be considered a late shipment.

Shipping late won’t affect your ‘Tracking uploaded and validated’ metric if the label was printed and tracking entered  within your handling time and if the package is scanned at least once,

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

Does your area have carrier pickup @sooz1 and can you print labels wirelessly from your phone? If the mail is still being delivered despite the weather, then use carrier pickup.

The way eBay looks at it is that you could have used the time away setting or extended your handling time in advance of the snow, and they expect sellers to be responsible for making those adjustments when bad weather might prevent them from shipping.

But if the roads are so bad that mail isn't being delivered at all, then generally eBay will grant protections for late shipments due to the weather.