USPS Shipping, huh?

Look at this Crap on Package from WillBuying: Edit Aurabuy Jacob A60 and Ultrafire…

First-Class Package International Service
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
August 22, 2013, 8:10 pm
ORLANDO, FL 32824
International Letter

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
August 20, 2013, 7:53 pm
NEW YORK, NY 10199

Depart USPS Sort Facility
August 18, 2013
NEW YORK, NY 10199

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
August 18, 2013, 10:58 pm
NEW YORK, NY 10199

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
August 15, 2013, 11:05 pm
JAMAICA, NY 11430

Processed Through Sort Facility
August 15, 2013, 10:13 am
ISC NEW YORK NY (USPS)

Origin Post is Preparing Shipment

Processed Through Sort Facility
August 6, 2013, 10:16 am
GUANGZHOU EMS, CHINA

Acceptance
August 5, 2013, 2:46 pm
China

Yeah, I live in Idaho, so, Orlando, Fl is on route, … :_(

CHINA

YOUR LABEL NUMBER
SERVICE
STATUS OF YOUR ITEM
DATE & TIME
LOCATION
FEATURES

xxxxxxxx

Priority Mail 2-Day

Delivered

August 21, 2013, 2:36 pm

xxxxxxxxx, WV xxxx

Scheduled Delivery Day:
August 19, 2013

$50 insurance included

USPS Tracking / Delivery Confirmation

Out for Delivery

August 21, 2013, 10:20 am

xxxx, WV xxxx

Sorting Complete

August 21, 2013, 10:10 am

xxxx, WV xxxx

Arrival at Post Office

August 21, 2013, 6:34 am

xxxx, WV xxxx

Processed through USPS Sort Facility

August 21, 2013, 1:57 am

WARRENDALE, PA 15095

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility

August 19, 2013, 5:01 pm

SCARBOROUGH, ME 04074

Depart USPS Sort Facility

August 19, 2013

SCARBOROUGH, ME 04074

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility

August 18, 2013, 6:50 pm

SCARBOROUGH, ME 04074

Depart USPS Sort Facility

August 18, 2013

NASHUA, NH 03063

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility

August 17, 2013, 11:52 pm

NASHUA, NH 03063

Dispatched to Sort Facility

August 17, 2013, 4:29 pm

WINTHROP, ME 04364

Acceptance

August 17, 2013, 11:18 am

WINTHROP, ME 04364

edited out dales info just in case he would mind... thats one of the more strange shipment trackings i have had...

hot potato

But right now mine is roasting in a Campfire called Beaver Creek :open_mouth: Hot Potato

If I mail something to my neighbor across the street, USPS puts it on a truck, sends it 90 miles west to be sorted, then sends it back 90 miles east to be delivered.

What happens if you send a package to your neighbor across the street with Fedex or UPS?

Don't know. Despite USPS's occasional 'wtf??' moments like in this thread, they're still consistently better than UPS/Fedex. Hell, UPS doesn't even get out of the truck, they just drop the package in the grass out by the street. Fedex will at least leave the stuff on the porch.

I'll agree with you there.

I do wonder about my own question though. My own experience tells me that they'd send it to their sort facility, especially if it's not an overnight or faster package, and sometimes they'll let it sit in the sort facility until it reaches its expected delivery window, presumably so that it doesn't get delivered as quickly as their premium services. The movie Castaway makes me think UPS could possibly process it on the spot and deliver it....but would they?? It's too bad I almost never double checked the tracking back at a job where I send hundreds, maybe thousands, of packages via overnight Fedex. The main reason I went with Fedex was because I wrote a script that would fill and print labels for me, and Fedex had the easiest site to script for. One thing I'll add is that when I worked security at UPS, occasionally packages would be taken out of the normal loop to be delivered more quickly. I think it was only for packages that were the UPS equivalent of Fedex First Overnight. I'd see someone run out of the building to catch an incoming truck, pull the package and hop in a van to deliver it.

USPS has been very good to me as well. If I have to choose between UPS Ground and USPS First Class, I go with USPS. When it's between UPS 3-day and USPS Priority Mail, I'll go with USPS. If it's UPS 2-day and USPS Priority Mail, I might go with UPS if the package is going from coast to coast.

I have a “stuck” package from Wallbuys…“processed through sort facility” in San Francisco on August 15th, and nothing since… maybe they see Iphone cases and thought they lost the phones? No other clue why its been sitting there for a week.

In general USPS is much, much better for me too: packages usually get left or they keep it in the post office if its too big and I need to sign, which isnt a big deal. UPS is a nightmare! Our UPS guys will come to the door (they must make them at least try here), but they knock and immediately start filling out the “sorry we missed you” slips, I can go out as fast as I can and sometimes they are already headed back to the truck with a slip stuck to the door, and they seem disappointed to see me and actually have to stop. And I’m usually not there, so for a while I got lots of the slips. When I do, the time period for the next day is always wrong: if they say one time period its almost guaranteed they wont try during that time the next day.

One week I really needed the package and happened to be able to be around during the delivery time periods they stated and 3/3 times in a row they came during a different time period than it said on the slip and they avoided me, I had to end up driving to another city to get the package. I now have to read the “next attempted delivery between x and y time” as “We WONT try during this time” and sometimes I catch them, but commonly a UPS “delivery” means 3 days after they “try” to deliver I have to go to another city to pick up my package.

I LOVE THEM!

My brass flashlights package from China entered at NY 7 days ago and has been routed to Reno, NV via FLORIDA, where it just left this morning.

Shipment Activity Location Date & Time
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Departed USPS Facility OPA LOCKA, FL 33054 August 18, 2014 3:19 am
Arrived at USPS Facility OPA LOCKA, FL 33054 August 17, 2014 1:56 am
Departed USPS Facility JAMAICA, NY 11430 August 13, 2014 5:02 pm
Arrived at USPS Facility JAMAICA, NY 11430 August 13, 2014 5:02 pm
Processed Through Sort Facility ISC NEW YORK NY (USPS) August 12, 2014 5:57 pm
Processed Through Sort Facility GUANGZHOU EMS, CHINA August 10, 2014 9:59 am
Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
Acceptance CHINA August 9, 2014 2:22 pm

I hate ups / fedex, not that I like USPS but they are way better/more consistent. The ONLY thing I’ll ship ups anymore is firearms (cause they must be shipped by contract carrier, not USPS).

I know my mail guy, he’s been my mail man 4 years now, he doesn’t deliver our street’s mail till about 4-5 in the afternoon but we are a corner house and he parks on our corner to do a different street in our neighborhood about 11am and leaves any packages (and purple OSHPark mailers) at that time.

Have you guys noticed just within the last week or two USPS has started putting spaces in the tracking numbers on their receipts so they’re easier to read? That’s aa big help.

IMO UPS can be a PITA as they NEVER deliver in the listed time window and if they have a package requiring a signature they almost never use the doorbell but knock quietly and leave in about 10 seconds. Rarely leave the “attempted to deliver” notification either any more.

Odds are that your package hitched a ride on a passenger jet. You’d be very surprised (and scared) of how much mail is transported on Delta, American Airlines, Southwest etc etc. They don’t always go straight to the destination though. It’s cheaper to hitch a ride than operating their own jets especially when the airlines have the only route between two cities. I.E. I doubt there are many direct flights between Guanghou, china and Idaho…

Could they have routed it through LA or Seattle instead. Yuuuuup. But we all know that USPS and UPS don’t exactly have the best oversight.

New York to Florida to Reno, NV on purpose is VERY unlikely, particularly taking 4 days from NY to Florida. Normal time from NY entry to Reno delivery is 48 to 72 hours. This one is going to be at least a week it looks like!

I have also had packages that were supposed to go to me in Reno listed by USPS tracking as “out for delivery” in Las Vegas and San Diego IIRC in the past. Either humans or automatic sorting machines both have error rates and sometimes a package is definitely misrouted. I have also had them delayed by being placed on the wrong delivery vehicle locally and receiving misdelivered items is relatively common. To err is human and boy are postal employees human. So are UPS and Fedex employees though unfortunately.

We also don’t know what optimizations and abstractions they are dealing with. Sometimes WTF situations may actually be a reasonable balance between cheapness/fastness. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes these systems leave out hops that may be handled by a third party, or aggregated with a bunch of other parcels.

For example, I ordered a package from Amazon with prime 2 day shipping and Saturday delivery. Well, it didn’t arrive on Saturday, but both Amazon and the shipping company (OnTrac) kept listing the expected delivery as Saturday by 8pm. This despite the fact that the last event they had logged was that it had been received at the shipping facility in Reno on Friday afternoon. They finally updated things this morning, and delivered it a bit thereafter, but there is still a big gap in the history between Reno on Friday afternoon and being out for delivery this morning at 9. I’m sure that someone didn’t drive it up to Seattle all by its lonesome and I’m sure they didn’t stop to check in at 9 before proceeding to my house, and yet, no record of its actual arrival in Seattle.