What is wrong with the United States Postal Service?
I ordered two different items for my layout from two different hobby shops in two different parts of the country in the first week of February and both were shipped the next day to my home in the Chicago area. But, I have yet to receive either item.
One item actually arrived at the Chicago Network Distribution Center on February 7th, sat there 4 days, then was reported "In Transit To The Next Facility" on February 11th with no further report since that date.
The other item was shipped on February 11th, traveled less than 100 miles in two days and just sat there, then was reported "In Transit To The Next Facility" on February 13th with no further report since that date.
When you call USPS, they no nothing more than I do by simply clicking on Tracking History.
Anybody else experiencing these problems with USPS?
Rich
Alton Junction
I sold something on ebay and it went to Phoenix from MD in 3 days and took another 4 days to go to Tuscon.
Other deliveries I've had sent west to the Sacramento, from the midwest or New England.
Then there are the time where the USPS says my address doesn't exist.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
So far, things have been good on the USPS front.
BUT, I have a P O Box for mail, and I have a street address. Having two addresses can be a problem, especially now that UPS hands of items to USPS, I forget what they service they call that, but I have had things I've ordered, sent back to the sender as "Undeliverable".
When I explain my situation to a potential seller/sender, I always get asked: " You mean your mail doesn't get delivered to your house?"
Not so much on Ebay, or suppliers, but Amazon is a different story.
I also tried to ask the place that I buy stuff from, how they ship, so I can give them the right address.
With Amazon, that's not possible, so I have to keep both address on file with Amazon.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Good luck Rich!
Mike.
My You Tube
I get my on line purchases in a timely manner usually 4-5 days from the West Coast and Florida and 2-3 from the East Coast once the package is picked up by USPS..
USPS also uses DHL as a package contractor.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
This is very stange. USPS is my favorite shipper. In my experience I almost always get my item within a week. In the most recent instance, my ebay item arrived from all the way across the US in 2 days!!! Hopefully this problem is only temperary for you...
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
Yep, that's puzzled me as well.
Though very few items I've purchased from various on-line merchants take an inordinate amount of time to arrive, I've often wondered why the USPS uses such vague, meaningless terms as "on the way to next facility" in a tracking service. Just a year or two ago, it was much more common to see an item's exact location by city and state. It looks like the system has simply been dumbed down, making it nearly pointless.
Kerry
Had a package coming from VA that went to San Diago, CA on its way to VT. Did arrive in a reasonable amount of time from shipping date though.
Not what I'd call a very direct route.
Good luck,
Richard
I don't believe USPS tracking anymore, since it claimed my package was in some distant city, while it had actually been delivered. Another time, I filed a search request and they got back to me and admitted they could not find the package. I eventually got it, but what is wrong?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
HOmainline Yep, that's puzzled me as well. Though very few items I've purchased from various on-line merchants take an inordinate amount of time to arrive, I've often wondered why the USPS uses such vague, meaningless terms as "on the way to next facility" in a tracking service. Just a year or two ago, it was much more common to see an item's exact location by city and state. It looks like the system has simply been dumbed down, making it nearly pointless.
MisterBeasley I don't believe USPS tracking anymore, since it claimed my package was in some distant city, while it had actually been delivered. Another time, I filed a search request and they got back to me and admitted they could not find the package. I eventually got it, but what is wrong?
Very funny re: the USPS! I had three orders in to the same retailer. One via UPS ground the other two via USPS priority mail. The UPS ground shipment has been delayed from Monday the 18th to Friday the 22nd. One USPS priority was received yesterday, several days before it was scheduled and even though the order was place after the UPS ground order. The second USPS shipment, ordered three days after the UPS ground order is now on its way. Who knows how all this happens.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Although this is an older thread, this is definitely a Chicago problem:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/Chicago-Metro-Hub-For-Ten-Days/qaq-p/24538575
Funny that this is being discussed. I was at the post office yesterday trying to figure out where my LED lights went. They shipped from California 3 weeks ago, landed in Chicago two days later (I live in Milwaukee, so I figured they were getting close) and then nothing... "In transit to next facility" kept showing until they appeared 2 weeks later in San Francisco. To my knowledge (and the USPS) this is the last known whereabouts of the lights. I want to know how to file a location request like the person who posted earlier in this thread.
My seller apologized and said they were shipping out more lights for me, but it could be months before I get my structures lit up at this rate...
Nothing new to me. I had one package leave Maryland, go to NYC, then to Long Island, then back to Maryland then to me in South Carolina. Then a couple of weeks ago, package left Maryland, went to Charleston SC, then to Ridgeland SC, then to Ridgeville SC (where I live), they had the "Ridge" right but not the "ville". Another time while tracking a package from Walthers, it disappeared for four days and then ended up in my mailbox.
Maybe it's all been outsourced to TX???
In all seriousness, I personally find USPS to be very good in regards to deliveries in my area. Most delivery dates are met, or arrive earlier than expected. This holds true for shipments from eBay or online vendors. Only once did I notice my package take a somewhat unusual route to make it to OH from FL.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I must be the odd one out. My experience is that USPS tracking is very accurate. Better than UPS. It always updates regularly, shows that it is going to logical locations, and the ETA's are dead center almost every time... Maybe ebay jsut has a special system worked out with them?
I had a package ship via USPS that left the shipper in New York City bypass my home in Kansas and spend two days in Honolulu for two days before I received it.
Will
I have had packages take a 4 borough tour before reaching Staten Island.
Joe Staten Island West
Yet they keep increasing their rates. Incredible. I had a package leave my post office in NJ and go to Georgia. But first, it had to have a taste of Los Angeles, then somewhere in the Carolina before it arrived at my friends home in GA. ETA was 3 days took 5. I think part of the problem is that the USPS does not pick up and deliver all of their mail from post offices to regional distribution points. They outsource their pickups and deliveries to third parties, so you're at the mercy of a trucking company. They may have loads for multiple distribution centers on one truck and they all wind up at one facility, then have to go through the cycle...again!
Amazon is no better, especially on their deliveries with their own trucks. Two deliveries to my house the same day. One left at the front door, which is fine. The second larger package was left at the front of my garage in plain site to be picked up and stolen. Telling them this was unaccpetable is a waste as I spent 15 minutes on a chat with someone who is basically reading from a script, told what to say and can't think for themselves.
I regularly send packages to Ohio, to a small town there. I send them in a Flat Rate box, as I usually do and they get to that small town post office within 3 business days. The entity that I send those packages to picks them up at the local post office. There was one occasion when I sent a package and I waited a week to see if they received it - - they hadn't. Turns out it sat in the local post office for about 5 days until they made the package available for pick up. I know that because USPS tracking had verified that it had been received by that local post office on the expected date of delivery.
richhotrain What is wrong with the United States Postal Service?
I've often wondered that myself. About a month ago, I ordered a pair of new motors for my Athearn DDA40X from HobbyTown USA and they took two weeks to get here from Illinois because they bypassed my home in Colorado Springs, and instead went to California before coming back to Colorado. I also wondered if I was actually going to get them as my mail carrier regularly miss-delivers my mail to a house the next street over. It's a totally different street name and recipient name. The only common factor is the house number is the same and both streets begin with a "C". It happens on an almost weekly basis. The Post Office must've dropped the reading requirement.
I just ordered some detail parts off of eBay, and we'll see if they make it here. In addition to the "in transit to the next facility" is the equally terrible "your package is moving within the USPS network". I once had a package move within the USPS network from SC to the distribution center in Warrendale, PA, right near the OH border which is the normal route. Instead of going west into OH and then to my town, the package went east into PA, fizzled out, and eventually marked as delivered. Another time my package got stuck in Myrtle Beach post office and was there for days. What was it doing? Playing golf? On these two occasions, I had to call USPS and I found their customer service reps to be very helpful in finding out the problem and getting it fixed almost immediately. For real, no joke!
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
Lord help you if you have both a physical address and PO Box. Our PO says to use the physical address followed by #PO Box Number. Our small, rural PO has had their hours severly reduced to the point where the UPS Sure Post shipments often cannot be delivered to them for consecutive days...they are not open to receive them. When they do come in, if there are not enough package lockers, you get a notice in your mailbox to pick up at the window which is only open a few hours a day...in the middle of the day, when most are at work. Our once efficient and convenient postal service, the best in the world, is slowly being privatized ande starved to death.
Mike
I have never considered it a big deal,Stuff will get here when it gets here. I buy a lot from Amazon and it sometimes comes via USPS.
Generally I am not a complainer except about the forum server. lol
Edit. And lack of Spell check in some forums.
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
On one of my two missing packages, I have noticed that every day, the Tracking History is changed by advancing the "In Transit To Next Facility" date by one day.
In other words, it now reads February 17, 2019 - In Transit To Next Facility. Yesterday, it read, February 16, 2019 - In Transit To Next Facility. The day before that it read, February 15, 2019 - In Transit To Next Facility. So, these are not cumulative entries, it is simply one entry with the date changed every day. If this keeps up, a week from today it will read, February 24, 2019 - In Transit To Next Facility.
Meanwhile, my other missing package remains unchanged. It continues to read, February 11, 2019 - In Transit To Next Facility. That's 6 days and counting since it left the "USPS Regional Facility - Chicago IL Network Distribution Center", and 10 days since it arrived there.
OK, I have a new story to add. Yesterday the DCC dummy plug I ordered for my Bachmann 2-8-4 Berkshire got here in a thick plastic bag that was in an envelope lined with bubble wrap, and when I opened it the pins were poking through the thick plastic bag and they were bent to one side. Fortunately I was able to straighten them with fine needlenose pliers and it works fine now. So my question is how was this accomplished in a padded envelope? Did they drop a cinderblock on it?
Heres some great USPS stories.
1st the local rural carrier decided to purposely deliver our mail to our neighbor, luckily said neighbor was a relative so it wasn't too bad.
2nd once the distribution center that handles all the mail for out here refused an entire pallet of packages from UPS one of the packages was a time sensitive item that was bound for us.
3rd whenever we order something via UPS ghe package will sit in Zachary (the aforementioned distribution center) for at least 3 days before making it to our P.O. Box in Slaughter, we usually will just go to the Zachary PO and pick up the package because they have lost things before.
Well thats about all, I once had a package be "in transit to next facility" for 2 weeks after I had gotten it in the mail.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
The USPS has something called INFORMED DELIVERY. They send you a daily email with pictures, often of all you junk mail you will receive, every day. What a waste of time and money.
Sometimes you don't get some of that mail for two days, sometimes the pictures are of yesterday's mail.
My father in law died 16 years before I met my wife. Now, 49 years after he passed away, we still get his junk mail.