Anyone having USPS problems with timely delivery?

Dont know specifically about USPS, but I know that the snowstorms over the last few weeks have been wreaking havoc with the transport companies.

I just sold a jump cue here last week and shipped it out last Tuesday via USPS Priority Mail and it didn't arrive until today. Thankfully the buyer was understanding and didn't think I was trying to rip him off lol.

Delayed Shipments

AngryTurtle said:

Dont know specifically about USPS, but I know that the snowstorms over the last few weeks have been wreaking havoc with the transport companies.

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I have run across this same issue, some rural and residential deliveries are being pushed off in particular as carriers try to catch up on weather caused delays to business customers. I spoke to a customer today in Arkansas who said they have 5 inches of snow on the ground, they normally get that in a year. It is difficult to move snow if you have no plows.

Express seems to have been bad the last year or so with me. It's a 50/50 chance whether it will hit it's target date and time.

yes

Yes - three days late and damaged. The cuemaker sent it to me express 2 day. It took 5 days. He also packed it with a very heavy cardboard tube inside the triangle box. If he hadn't - my expensive cue would have been badly damaged. A big than you to Chad McLellan - Camcues.

Badbeat13 said:

USPS has delivered my last 3 shipments late and not
a little late, but 2 or 3 days late. I used Express(next day)
on 2 out of 3 of these shipments. The 1st one was a
couple of days late and the current one was supposed
to deliver last Friday and it didn't even make it today. I
used Priority Mail on the other package and it took 5 days
to get there and Priority usually only takes 2 days.

I got my money back on the 1st Express Mail shipment
and I'd never got a refund before, because all the other
Express shipments I've done in the past made it on time.
I'll be getting my money back on the current shipment as
well, it was guaranteed Friday @ 3PM. Well, it's Monday
@ 5:22 PM as I type this.

I'll gladly accept the refund, but I'd rather the package get
there on time as a courtesy to the person receiving something
from me. Both parties usually know when the package is coming,
but in the last couple of weeks that hasn't been the case.

Just wondering, is anyone else having these same issues
with USPS at the moment or lately? Thanks

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I just got a new holster from a city 90 miles away. It took 7 days first class mail.

Badbeat13 said:

USPS has delivered my last 3 shipments late and not
a little late, but 2 or 3 days late. I used Express(next day)
on 2 out of 3 of these shipments. The 1st one was a
couple of days late and the current one was supposed
to deliver last Friday and it didn't even make it today. I
used Priority Mail on the other package and it took 5 days
to get there and Priority usually only takes 2 days.

I got my money back on the 1st Express Mail shipment
and I'd never got a refund before, because all the other
Express shipments I've done in the past made it on time.
I'll be getting my money back on the current shipment as
well, it was guaranteed Friday @ 3PM. Well, it's Monday
@ 5:22 PM as I type this.

I'll gladly accept the refund, but I'd rather the package get
there on time as a courtesy to the person receiving something
from me. Both parties usually know when the package is coming,
but in the last couple of weeks that hasn't been the case.

Just wondering, is anyone else having these same issues
with USPS at the moment or lately? Thanks

Click to expand...

I have no faith whatsoever in the USPS any more. Grant it some regions may be better than others but my area is HORRIBLE! So much in fact about a year ago our senator Barbara Mikulski received so many complaints she made a motion or something on the senate floor to have USPS investigated to figure out why service is so bad in general, but my area specifically because over last so many years it has consistently ranked first and second worst on the country.

I cant even tell you how many very important documents sent to me that have just never came and caused major problems or inconvenience. Many many packages that were sent to me with tracking and ill receive something and still a couple days afterwards is listed as enroute and also packages listed as delivered and dont show up for days.

As far as packages I think I may know at least part of the problem. Im not even sure if they are supposed to do this but USPS sometimes uses " Last Mile Delivery " - Laser Ship and a couple others . One instance that comes to mind was a couple months ago. A package was listed as delivered and almost a week went by and no package. I've been to our local hub post office to complain or look for things quite a few times. This particular time after getting run around for almost a week I told them this time I wanted to file an official complaint. They asked me to please wait one more day so they could try to rectify it internally ( this was after Mikulski had started her investigation ). I said ok but thats it cause this all is beyond ridiculous. Well later that night at 3:30 am a Laser Ship van pulled up and delivered package???? Strange.

Now a days when someone os sending me something, anything I ask them to please send it via UPS, FED EX, HOMING PIGEON just anything but USPS LOL!!! We frequently get neighbors mail ( and not just next door - we get people from 5 or 6 streets over???? ). I've blown my top on several occasions because there screw up cost me some good coin. A few times I've had business associates call me and ask me if I moved. I said no laughed and asked why??? The mail was returned to sender with " VACANT " My house certainly doesn't look vacant, but maybe I was out and there was no car in the driveway??? Couldn't tell ya.

One last rant. I believe another big part of the problem is when they changes the law to where the postman can no longer carry over and accumulate vacrion days alot more couriers are off alot more often now. USPS solution to this is they hire these part time subs. They drive the mail buggies but dont even wear a uniform. I've spoke with a few of these subs and they def didn't come across too bright - at all.

Oh yeah btw, that 3:30am Laser Ship delivery : it was a signature requires item. So when I first started complaining about it they told me it had been signed for, I said no it def was not and wanted to see the signature. Then when Laser Ship was nice enough to finally bring it almost a week late at 3:30am they just left it on front stoop - no attempt to get a signature.

As a letter carrier for 11 years after retiring from the NYPD as a sergeant I can tell you the USPS is run by idiots. The supervisors have no clue. All they care about is cutting overtime. New carriers are being hired at $15 a week with no benefits and usually last a couple of weeks so there's a big turnover. While my day off guy is a regular who's been there a while when I call in sick or am on vacation the substitutes are terrible and it's unbelievable how much of the mail on my route is misdelivered. I don't blame them, I blame management for making them work so hard for so little pay. They might as well work at MacDonalds!!

Jeff Rosen said:

As a letter carrier for 11 years after retiring from the NYPD as a sergeant I can tell you the USPS is run by idiots. The supervisors have no clue. All they care about is cutting overtime. New carriers are being hired at $15 a week with no benefits and usually last a couple of weeks so there's a big turnover. While my day off guy is a regular who's been there a while when I call in sick or am on vacation the substitutes are terrible and it's unbelievable how much of the mail on my route is misdelivered. I don't blame them, I blame management for making them work so hard for so little pay. They might as well work at MacDonalds!!

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To be fair about what im saying, our regular mailman has had this route for years and years. I dont have one bad thing to say about him. He truly is AWESOME and when he works everything is always perfect. Problem is he is nearing retirement and he's burning ALOT of vacation days, so in come the subs and all the bs with them. One thing I didn't mention in regards to the subs is I can not believe they are not made to wear SOME KIND OF UNIFORM. In my opinion its a HUGE security risk. People are now accustomed to see people in street clothes walking right up to mailboxes so when someone looking to steal mail ( identity theft ) it will not get noticed like it used to. And if its a $$$ thing for USPS then just make them pay for their own uniforms like a whole lot of companies do.

Oh and Jeff, let me give the USPS credit for something they do VERY WELL! They produce some fine mailladies carriers! I dated one for awhile and with all that walking those legs and butt are to die for lol !

I do need to put a disclaimer on here before someone else does : from my experience round these parts above statement DOES NOT apply to the mailwomen in the city. I guess the houses are too close together and not enough walking

Badbeat13 said:

USPS has delivered my last 3 shipments late and not
a little late, but 2 or 3 days late. I used Express(next day)
on 2 out of 3 of these shipments. The 1st one was a
couple of days late and the current one was supposed
to deliver last Friday and it didn't even make it today. I
used Priority Mail on the other package and it took 5 days
to get there and Priority usually only takes 2 days.

I got my money back on the 1st Express Mail shipment
and I'd never got a refund before, because all the other
Express shipments I've done in the past made it on time.
I'll be getting my money back on the current shipment as
well, it was guaranteed Friday @ 3PM. Well, it's Monday
@ 5:22 PM as I type this.

I'll gladly accept the refund, but I'd rather the package get
there on time as a courtesy to the person receiving something
from me. Both parties usually know when the package is coming,
but in the last couple of weeks that hasn't been the case.

Just wondering, is anyone else having these same issues
with USPS at the moment or lately? Thanks

Click to expand...

Jerry,

From my perspective USPS is indeed having some workflow issues right now....and it's been going on since right before Thanksgiving. Delays and issues are kind of 'expected' right around the holidays and of course with the bad weather but it has not worked itself out for some reason.

Here are some things I've experienced in the last month:

1. My mother sent our kids Valentines Day cards on the same day (same state, 4 hrs away)....one arrived timely (in a few days) and one didn't show up for another 5 or 6 days. ???

2. We mailed my mother two birthday cards last Monday. One arrives in 2 days last Wed (SC to TN) and second card just arrived today. ??? (An addendum to this little story, while the kids and I were there in SC we stopped at a local post office in Simpsonville and would you know they didn't open until 10am AND they don't even have a vending machine/kiosk there to sell stamps. Wth, a post office that doesn't sell stamps...lol)

3. I shipped 3 cue tips to my buddy first class mail in an envelope. After a week and a half they still hadn't showed, so I sent replacements. Replacements arrived in 3 days...then the original ones came back to me several days after that (total of 3+ weeks MIA) as "Undeliverable - Return to Sender". I'm really at a loss for words on this one because they had exact same, correct mailing address. LOL

4. About a month ago, I sent some documents certified returned receipt to the State of SC. The envelope gets over there in a week and showed a delivery attempted, then it sits in the local post office for over a week with no further activity. Thought that was a little odd.

5. It seems every 'Click and Ship' priority or express package I've done online the last few months has missing or delayed scans, and usually the scan doesn't even populate into their system for several hours after dropping the package off at USPS and them scanning it there in my presence. Strangely, if I label it and pay at the p.o. desk, the scan always shows up like clockwork within about an hour. ???????

Prior to around Thanksgiving 2014, I have had absolutely stellar service sending and receiving many, many shipments via USPS, priority and express. I do hope they work these things out and in short time.

So here lately, it's been :frown::angry::frown::angry::frown::angry::frown::angry:

USPS,, Dropping the ball

I to am waiting on a package (cue) That was sent last monday,,for 2 day priority shipment,, and was tracked to the main post office 50 miles from me before it is trucked to my destination post office,,it was scanned departed @ 1;19am march 6 for my destination,,and thats the last it can be tracked,, And the post office in my town is no help so I called the 1-800 number and after almost a hour on hold a lady answered and was rude as hell and tried telling me its ddint even make it close to my destination yet because of weather issues,, ?? Then when I asked her how comes the tracking I do on my package it says it was departed to my destination post office on the 6 th,, ? She told me to shut up and listen to her,,lol and I asked her what should I believe her telling me this or the tracking info that they tell us we should use to track our packages ? And the next thing I know she hung up on me,,,lol So after 20 more minutes on hold I got thru again and put a claim in and they will gte back to me in 48 to 72 hours with some sort of info,,,,The USPS is getting to me a joke anymore///:angry:

It is worthy to note that Priority is and has never been guaranteed, only an estimated time. But because they've been so good and timely for so long, it does seem odd that this is happening so much more frequently now. If you need the shipment there in a few days or less, go with the Express option, always. It's usually just around $15-20 bucks more depending on how the cue is packaged....and the insurance is cheaper.

:frown:



Yes I had two packages that took forever in the last three weeks.

I thought it was only me and a little bad luck.


USPS has been great for me over the last ten years.:thumbup:

I was told by my local post office in Madison, WI that if I drop off a package without going in to personally see that it is scanned it will not be scanned until it arrives at the next hub closer to Milwaukee. I've shipped cues in the past that I've dropped of in person that I received a receipt showing the tracking number still not show up in the tracking system for several days. I prefer to ship FedEx now, at least it always know where my customers package is at all times.

Shipped a gift to Philippines and usually can track it Priority mail but it was in a small flat rate box and found out they don't track them so who knows where it is and I could be out the $250 the item was worth.

BogeyFree said:

I just sold a jump cue here last week and shipped it out last Tuesday via USPS Priority Mail and it didn't arrive until today. Thankfully the buyer was understanding and didn't think I was trying to rip him off lol.

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Honestly I would be SCARED TO DEATH to either ship, or have shipped to me a cue of any value.

Here are a few more of things that I've seen or had happen ( just incase the Post Master General happens to be a pool fan ).

I was shipping a package ( a decent size package that you couldn't miss 26x14x8 but not heavy at all. I put it directly in front of my mailbox with a sign on it " USPS Please Take ". Once again had subs this week. So first day didn't take. Second day - nope. So on third day I was gonna try and make sure id monitor it. I see guy pull up, put mail in box and drive off. I wasn't fast enough to catch him at my house but I sure enough chased him down the road on foot ( more on this later ). I caught up to him to tell him to go pack and get package. It was a Latino of some sort and he spoke VERY BAD English ( not sure if he was playing that game or if it was truly that bad ) but i got him to come back to my house. So when he gets up to package he pointed at sign and just kept saying " UPS, UPS, UPS " I tried to explain USPS to him but i dont know if he ever understood but finally took it.

Now as i mentioned earlier. Our regular MM parks on the corner on the middle of this section of the route and gets out and walks the route to deliver. Almost every sub drives to EVERY SINGLE HOUSE????

Multiple times i have found a piece or two of my mail in the bushes? Really??? My mailbox is affixed to my house with no bushes around it so i dont know.

It's the snowy weather folks.

I've been dealing with late shipments for several months. Snow storms have been screwing up UPS and Fed Ex too.

unreliable

My own experience with the USPS has not been satisfactory either; I sent a Christmas present to Hawaii from Northern California and it took 2 weeks....
Via the tracking online, it was shown to have been sent down to a Southern
California postal station first, then shipped back to a Northern California postal station before being sent across the Pacific.(?) The USPS is just unreliable any more .....IMHO