Oh boy, here we go.

Bought some expensive gun parts from a seller in South Florida. I'm in upper central Alabama. Per his request, I sent a USPS money order. I put an envelope in an envelope, in a Priority Mail envelope, to be sure to get a tracking number.

I mailed in Friday morning and got an expected delivery of Tuesday, 11/14, and also emailed the seller. When I checked on it Saturday, it was at a distribution center about 50 miles from its final destination, with updated delivery for Monday, 11/13. Saturday 11/11 was the holiday for USPS.

I checked it Sunday evening, and now it is sitting in PHILADELPHIA PA! WTF! BTW, the tracking has not been updated since around 1 AM on Sunday. Why in the hell did it get sent from FL to PA?

I emailed the seller and gave him the payment tracking number, so he can see this Charlie Foxtrot as well.

SMH

The USPS refused to deliver a personalized football jersey to my stepfather because the address was to the main building (8100 Street X, Unit 316) and not to their required address (8316 Street X). One could argue that they are in the right, but my goodness, the carrier is physically in the same building going to the same mail room with all the other units. In the old days, carriers were more accommodating.

Welcome to the club, I'm going to or was going to post my latest experience with USPS ....

bought some gun parts from a fellow member here and he shipped it quicker than expected Priority Mail on Oct 16th from Parksville N.Y. and it got to Newark N.J. that same day... then went to Newburgh NY the next day and then for the next THREE weeks it went back and forth between the two.. the shipper had contacted USPS and they were supposed to fix it last week on the 7th and the tracking kind of implies that but for the last week it has not moved... stupid web site just says it in the system and on the way just going to be late.... do you think since it was supposed to arrive on Oct 19th?

I've been lucky. The worst problem I have had is my neighbor's mail in my box.

Don't get me started on these incompetent assholes.

Pretty much every Amazon order is shipping through USPS and everyone of those is delayed and has a problem. It also seem like they are delivering the mail at different times.

OP here.

Signed up for text updates with USPS. Got a text around 0445 that the package is back in FL, at the same distribution center it was in 4 days ago, only about 50 miles from its final destination. Hoping it gets out for delivery this time.

I usually have good luck with USPS, but here's my personal experience with Priority Mail envelopes: Avoid them at all costs! I've used them for the same reason you did (sending a payment and thinking it would get there faster, trackable, etc) and in every case I found that it took longer than a regular first class envelope. I think it's because of the way Priority Mail is handled/bundled.

I'm also only talking about the regular business-sized envelopes.

The advantage to Priority is you can track it (ok as well as USPS tracks) and you can require a signature, but as far as speed, you are correct we find FC mail gets there every bit as quickly, if not quicker

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
The advantage to Priority is you can track it (ok as well as USPS tracks) and you can require a signature...

You can REQUEST a signature. And just because you request if doesn't mean they will get it. Ask me how I know. Rather than get my signature on a firearm that was shipped to my house, the USPS c u next Tuesday elected to write "Covid" on the signature line instead. (Mind you, this was a few weeks ago and not during the pandemic).

Don't get me started on the USPS. Their time has come & gone but they refuse to die.

I'd suggest 'signature required' also but I will tell this story...

My wife as a vase she wanted to potentially send to Sothebys in N.Y. to auction off if it was worth anything... so I took some pictures of it to send to them at their request.... wife instead I send the pictures certified mail signature required... don't ask me why but I must obey.... the certified envelope left the final post office in New York City but disappeared before it ever got to Sothebys....figure that one out? Somebody was very disappointed when they opened that envelope.

Got this from USPS today....

Here’s what you need to know.

As the holiday season approaches, we want to keep you informed about the latest developments that will impact your shipping experience.

You might have heard some USPS rates will change on November 18th. No worries, we’ve got you covered with a quick overview of what you can expect:
• Priority Mail® costs are increasing by about 1.5%. Notably lower zones will experience higher-than average hikes
• Ground Advantage™ experiencing a decrease of approximately 5%. Zones 1-5 will see the most significant drops
• Regional ground shipments (1-2 lb), on average, are seeing price drops ranging from 10% to 18% across all zones
• Priority Mail Flat Rate® boxes will see an average 5% price increase across all zones
Note that if you're using Priority Mail® or Ground Advantage™ for short-distance shipments, you might experience higher rates.


That is all....

OP here.

Well. the payment arrived safely and was complete - no torn envelopes. etc. Seller has already shipped the merchandise, which hopefully will not take an errant side trip itself.

I also got a postcard from USPS yesterday. Didn't read it yet, mostly because I don't expect to be shipping much this holiday season.

Unrelated to my "story", but my office recently had to re-issue some checks and such because there were several post office outside drop boxes robbed in my AO. Some perps were caught, one of which had worked part time for the USPS and apparently had a copy of a master access key for drop boxes. However, there are still some of these being hit, sadly.

Recently bought a very expensive (over $1000) item. Seller shipped it with the correct address. USPS sent it from POO to my city...then forwarded it to a different city a few hundred miles east. Then they sent it back to my city. Then they forwarded it to a different city a few hundred miles north. Finally they got it back to my city and eventually to me, after 11 days. Bunch of clowns.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Got this from USPS today....

You might have heard some USPS rates will change on November 18th. No worries, we’ve got you covered with a quick overview of what you can expect

I use https://www.pirateship.com for United Parcel and / or USPS. They have some kind of a deal that lets them buy bulk shipping at commercial rates and re-sell to individual users. I save a bit every time.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Welcome to the club, I'm going to or was going to post my latest experience with USPS ....

bought some gun parts from a fellow member here and he shipped it quicker than expected Priority Mail on Oct 16th from Parksville N.Y. and it got to Newark N.J. that same day... then went to Newburgh NY the next day and then for the next THREE weeks it went back and forth between the two.. the shipper had contacted USPS and they were supposed to fix it last week on the 7th and the tracking kind of implies that but for the last week it has not moved... stupid web site just says it in the system and on the way just going to be late.... do you think since it was supposed to arrive on Oct 19th?

So 6 weeks later, it finally arrived yesterday unscathed after getting lost in the matrix. I honestly didn’t think it would ever be seen again. I’m glad it worked out Blume.

OP here.

Coincidence? I mailed a card to my mother on Friday, Nov 24. Birmingham metro in Alabama, to Pensacola metro in Florida. As of yesterday (Nov 30), she had not received it. My sister texted me later yesterday to say that another card, postmarked Nov 22 from Montgomery Alabama, had just arrived on that day. 8 days. I could walk from Montgomery to Pensacola in 8 days.

The mail used to be more reliable.

Use their weakness to your advantage - I often use USPS Express "guaranteed next day delivery" - they rarely get there on time and I end up getting a full refund - usually in cash.

Have had three items jumping back and forth at the main distribution annex for three days now.