Postal Service ??

Some . . .

Yonak

Tom, I use the USPS package service quite a bit. I have noticed some lag from normal but just a day or two. Nothing, normally, like the delays you cite, though.

Some packages still do have significant delays in delivery and in their getting scanned into the system, at times. I don't see the percentage of these marked delays higher than usual, however.

Re: Some . . .

Don Stephan

I had some late notices and fees last month because my checks took double the normal time.

Re: Postal Service ??

markas

I have 2 packages that should have already arrived. Package tracking has kept the packages in the same city for a week with no updates. inexcusable.

Re: Postal Service ??

David Yoho

Recently I signed up for the USPS Informed Delivery service that shows you what mail will be coming each day. For the most part it is working but not always. Yesterday it showed a package due and several pieces of mail they had no picture of. We got the package but there were several more pieces of mail than mentioned and one was our electric bill, which they normally would show. I also didn't get an email notification yesterday but had to log onto my USPS dashboard to see what was coming.

I started using this service because I was waiting on an important document from my mortgage company and had not received it after two calls. They finally faxed the docs after my third call and I still have not seen anything in the mail from them after 2 months. Was this their screw up or the Postal Service? I don't know. I do know since all the mail-in voting and now holiday activity our mail doesn't get here until well after dark (7 - 8 pm).

Re: Postal Service ??

John McGaw

I've experienced some instances of late deliveries but nothing so extreme as your examples. The USPS is one of the primary reasons I have direct deposit on all income and pay almost every bill online. I suspect that as the holiday season moves along things will get worse.

Re: Postal Service ??

John K Jordan

Most I would not know about, but delivery of a doctor's report expected from a local office took 6 days instead of the usual one day.

only items coming from the south...

David Weaver

I've had great service sending and receiving, but items coming from the southeast in the last couple of weeks have been delayed a few days.

No issues anywhere else, though. Sent a priority mail package last week to washington state from pittsburgh - dropped it off at 4pm - and the recipient got it the next day. I've never seen that before.

Re: only items coming from the south...

Tom Norton

Got a call from Industrial Abrasive and they are resending my order as it has been 2 weeks.

The concerning one is the Social Security Administration letters for setting up my wife's SSI.3 weeks!!

My problems are more with FedEx lately

Henry Higginbotham

I've almost never had a problem with USPS. Stuff gets here; packages aren't damaged.

FedEx, on the other hand, has delivered a couple of packages recently to two doors down from me, sent me a text message that my address is nonexistent, and just a few minutes ago texted me that a package had been delivered that wasn't.

But...I'd be inclined to cut them both a little slack. The pandemic has greatly increased their workload, probably at the same time they have workers out sick or quarantining.

Upping their capacity significantly would mean additional trucks, buildings, and workers. The workers might go in knowing it was temporary, but when (if?) things get back to normal, they'd be stuck with buildings and vehicles they don't need. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Only slow package I had...

John in NM

Came from Missouri. I have a couple places I order from there, usually its very fast but this package got hung up in Irving TX for several days. Haven't gotten to the PO yet to pick it up, no idea what kind of condition its in.

I have much better luck with UPS, but then this area is so rural that we have one driver who knows everyone by name. Fedex that comes out of Roswell is horrible, but down at work we got Fedex out of El Paso and those drivers were all top notch. Luck of the draw I guess.

Re: ... and from the North!

David Bassett

and both were UPS. From both upstate NY and Florida I've had packages start their journey and then change from "Scheduled Delivery Date" in tracking to "Check Tomorrow for New Delivery Date". One has spent a week in that limbo state (and is apparently still stuck in transit somewhere.)

I haven't noticed anything egregious I could specifically pin on USPS, but they or the shipper have been real slow in several cases too. I assume it's extra packages while they're slowed down with sick workers and / or safety measures.

Re: Postal Service ??

jessecloud

I think all the shippers have slowed down a bit. I was at the local postoffice yesterday and the lines were long to mail stuff.

Strangely enough I generally find that USPS gets stuff here quicker than UPS or FEDEX.

What's really slow is the combination of FEDEX and USPS for the last mile. FEDEX often sends things in very circuitous routes and when it is done going every which way, it transfers to the USPS out here in semi rural NM.

Anything from Lee Valley always takes exactly 7 days via UPS. At least its dependable.

Re: Postal Service ??  Or Not

kneale brownson

I used to live in Breckenridge, CO, way up in the mountains. We all had post office boxes because there was no in-town door-to-door delivery. An envelope mailed at the Breckenridge Post Office to a Breckenridge Post Office Box had to find its way to the regional sorting center in Denver before it returned to Breckenridge to be put into its delivery box. A friend who still lives there recently reported a package mailed at Breckenridge was tracked at Denver two weeks later. She was wondering how long it would take to get to Pennsylvania.

Re: Postal Service ??

markas

I have that service also...lol, I didn't even get an informed delivery today..

Re: My problems are more with FedEx lately

markas

My experience with FedX has been horrible...If it rains too hard one day they call that a natural desaster and don't deliver until they feel like it.

FedEx here

John K Jordan

FedEx here is great. They are often a day earlier than the tracking indicates.

That's a doozy!  You win!

Seasonal workers and turnover

Jim Matthews

Fedex brings in temp staff in the Holiday run up.

They're now competing with Amazon to hire qualified drivers and basically throw them in a rental truck without training.

Hopefully your regular route driver will be back in the saddle after the rush.

****

We have a similar address problem, our street address doesn't match the driveway.

We put a reflective sign up with an enormous arrow.

Things still end up down the street when the driver is new and committed to GPS for navigation.

It arrived!

Tom Norton

So my order from Industrial Abrasive arrived today. It was shipped from Pennsylvania to Ohio.

20 days!