What does this mean to you?
“Your Item’s Status
Your item has been processed through our sort facility in ISC NEW YORK NY (USPS) at 3:40 am on September 21, 2012.”
Does this mean that my package (knife) is still there since it’s been 3 days since September 21. Shouldn’t it say something about my package being on its way to Seattle if it’s not still there?
Sounds like into the unit. From memory this is either customs or the first stop afterward.
Usually I see a log when it leaves, but sometimes I don’t see it till it arrives elsewhere. Last package or two I had a log on it went from there exactly the wrong direction for almost a week to the middle of nowhere and then it was overnighted to our very small and rural PO and it was delivered the same day.
Best I could figure somebody dropped my package in the wrong bin and off it went. Then it sat until somebody figured it had enough miles and days on it and did something good to fix it.
USPS tracking info isn’t as detailed as Fedex or UPS. The level of detail isn’t consistent either.
It seems like if it comes into the country through NY it takes forever to actually get here as in it sits there for a week.
If it comes in through CA I get it quickly.
EDIT - I now have another confirmed package in process sent via HK post that took 11 days to get through West Coast customs (never logged in or out but logged in and out of another Calif processing center on the same day). 2 days later. I still haven’t received package. In comparison, another sample of the same item was shipped by a different seller one day after the package above also via HK Post (with no tracking) - it arrived 3 days ago.
I’ve had the opposite experience, but little experience with parcels through west coast. ISC has always been multiple days.
Below was my log on my first package from China . . it spent a couple days in NY and seems to have been examined in China . . may not happen with other China airports.
At times I don’t see any updates outside of stops in the Northeast until the day it arrives to my local PO and goes out for delivery.
It means “abandon all hope of every seeing your package in this decade”
i remember i got a light from byran at shiningbeam, ordered on a Saturday, and shipped monday. USPS had it as updated as “processed at NYC sort facility” still on Friday, next time i saw it was in my mailbox that afternoon. I live in Los Angeles, so somehow they neglected to do any updating while it went cross country
I’ve had similar experiences myself. It will say “NYC sort facility” for days and days with no updates. Once it gets to my local PO, it magically goes back and fills in all the blanks of what’s been going on that week.
I received my package today but it still said the bit about processing in NY on the 21st.
It never switched to “out for delivery” which most other package do say. I guess you just have to figure it’s on its way and patiently wait. 
GLAD you got it. but I did figure out if it doesn’t say out to somewhere else, it may have moved on and not been logged - or it might still be sitting there! Processed through apparently does not mean processed out to somewhere else!
I got my “last” package today (well yesterday I ordered one of those $5 KD lights, so it’s not really last - when will it end?) and the log was fully updated before I went out to the mailbox.
Last light from IOS registered mail thru Singapore Post (3 days) went to NY ISC and sat there for 6 days. It showed up at my office at Noon, but tracking wasn't updated until 4 pm, with 3 different entries.
I receive stuff this way all the time, for days I loose track of where it is and then there i it is. Happened today, but was sent registered, now I have to wait until Monday and go to the post office. What a Royal PITA.
International Shipping Container
Means the big metal box your package sailed in, is off the ship; not yet processed by USPS.
Hope this helps!
~Gnarly
Interesting, it makes sense. Thanks. :D
Really can't take credit....read it in an email I got, from either of three sources:
JO @ Solarforce, or Ricky Tsang @ Lumapower, or Jacky @ exduct.
Cannot recall, exactly.
How are you getting shipment updates ?
Website, email, SMS, or phone app ?
I use an app called “TrackChecker”, it does most of the parcel services, and alerts and shows the log on my phone. Very handy.
Just doing a little math.
Hong Kong to Los Angeles is 7236 miles, roughly. Cargo ships can average 28 mph. That should get the cargo ship here in just under 11 days. Add a week for customs, 3-4 days for USPS, and that’s 21-22 days before counting the time to get from the seller to the cargo ship.
Hong Kong to New York is longer, although I doubt that will continue since the arctic has started refreezing for the winter.
I do believe it’s customs in New York that’s been taking a week, with Los Angeles taking much less time. We should find out soon.
Yeah New York customs is a joke. Every time I have something there it sits for a week at least. Then sometimes I get the package and it still shows that it is still in N.Y. Stuff coming in from L.A. sits for a couple days at most. Their tracking needs some upgrades because it is way off.
Most direct from China orders have been China Post and by far most have arrived in under 2 weeks from ship date (typically ~12 calendar days, even with 2 weekends). All but maybe 3 have been via NY, out of a volume of 2 or 3 orders monthly since about April of this year. Many reference an airport postal center in China. I don’t think most - not even many - are coming via boat.
...International Service Center. Very little mail from China/Hong Kong actually goes by ship.
Amazingly, a package will go from China to NYC/LAX/SFO overnight, then sit at the ISC for
several days before actually beginning it's journey to your mailbox. Rather sad, really, that
once it's actually shipped, the longest part of the journey for international parcels is actually
right here in the USA.