Is it just me or is UPS and USPS getting slower?

[shootist16]

I have shipped several orders lately by UPS and USPS and it seems to be taking longer than usual to reach their destination. Anyone else experienceing this?

 

[Shmackey]

UPS Ground has, I think, ground to a halt.

USPS priority mail still works fine for me. But of course, I can ship things from work with UPS. If I ship from work via the Post Office, I can't use those delivery confirmation stickers. So UPS is easier. Free insurance too.

 

[mpayne]

Hmmmm.......have not had problems personally with either...my UPS 3day selects from Idaho(CRK) reach me in 2 days....Priority Mail to NJ took 2 days.....

 

[Dexter Ewing]

USPS is getting slow as hell IMHO. And they keep raising the farkin' rates?? You essentially pay more for $hitty service (Oops, can we move this to W&C? ) And sometimes your packages may or may not arrive....leave alone on time or not. Get this - I once had an important package coming for me from Charlotte, NC - only about 2 hours by car from my place. It took friggin' 4 days to get to me! You bet I was about to climb the walls. I could have driven down there and picked the damn thing up myself and be back home in about 5 hours Where do they route these things to? NY?? In the past I have had packages "lost" by USPS. Which is the reason why I never send anything but letter sized mail through USPS now

OTOH I have not had any problems with UPS...or FedEx for that matter.

Understandably, both of these services get painfully slow around the holiday time for obvious reasons....

I'm done whining now....

 

[mpayne]

Ok Dexter.....you really need to open up my man . I think BladeZealot must be getting them all first
I can realate to an "intown" shipment......I shipped a package in town about a year ago that is like 30 minutes from the Post Office.........it took a stinkin'6 business days.......on the other hand.........I just heard back from my customer in France.......I shipped to him on Monday and he had it by Friday AM our time........now that is quick...of course..I do not sleep for 3 days because of the tracking, but hey.....I'm a dealer...I must be crazy

 

[Knife Outlet]

Nope. No change in average delivery times for either in 3 years. That's based on around 90,000 shipments.

 

[prn]

I'm sure Fred's right about average delivery times, but there sure can be a whole lot of variation in both UPS and USPS. Recently I got a package from Bill Martino (Himalayan Imports) I ordered a khukuri on Friday afternoon and it reached me Monday morning via USPS. Not bad for Reno NV to Muncie IN, neither being exactly a "major hub".

OTOH, I recently got a new computer and although the transit times weren't too bad, the monitor (shipped UPS) arrived soaked with oil. I had to refuse delivery and about a week and a half later finally got the monitor I needed, what with confusion and all. Then just a couple of days ago I got another UPS delivery. Since it was not a computer with zillions of signature requirements, the UPS guy just left it on my front steps (we always use the back door, though that made no difference in this case) and by the time I got home at about 5:30 we had about 2" of rain (in the preceding 1.5 hours) and the box was no longer a box, just a mess of soggy cardboard. The contents survived, but I'm extremely glad I didn't have an expensive knife in there. Personally, I tend to prefer USPS for that sort of reason.

Paul

 

[Bronco]

Originally posted by mpayne
my UPS 3day selects from Idaho(CRK) reach me in 2 days

Mike,
That's an interesting observation. I've been cursing just the opposite recently. In a typical scenario for me of late, I'll have an order ship 3 Day Select on a Friday, watch it arrive at my local facility at some point over the weekend, and then have it just sit there for two days seemingly because UPS isn't required to deliver it until Wednesday. But considering how much more you use their services than I do, maybe I've just been in a slump lately.

 

[rad148]

Interesting that this thread came up. I am still waiting for a USPS shipment which according to their tracking, left the US on the 23rd.
I can only speak from experience of only 15 or so parcels, and this is all for overseas shipping from the US to Thailand. The USPS parcels do eventually arrive, albeit all are opened by customs (first thing I always have to do is wipe off the fingerprints). UPS gets here quicker, and has yet to be opened. Why I don't know. The main gripe with USPS is their tracking system. Once it leaves the US, thats it, no more tracking, not even to say that the shipment arrived. UPS on ther other hand, gives a blow by blow account.
Compare this from UPS:

Status: Delivered
Delivered on: Jul 26, 2001 10:35 A.M.
Signed by: NUNG
Location: RECEPTION
Delivered to: BANGKOK, TH
Shipped or Billed on: Jul 23, 2001
Tracking Number: 1Z 81X 88X 66 4450 250 4
Service Type: EXPRESS
Weight: 1.10 Lbs
PACKAGE PROGRESS
Date Time Location Activity
Jul 26, 2001 10:35 A.M. TH - RAMA 4, TH DELIVERY
10:25 A.M. TH - RAMA 4, TH UPS INTERNAL ACTIVITY CODE
9:21 A.M. TH - RAMA 4, TH DRIVER LOAD
5:02 A.M. TH - RAMA 4, TH DESTINATION SCAN
4:02 A.M. THAILAND 1, TH HUB SCAN
Jul 25, 2001 5:19 P.M. TAIWAN 1, TW AIR TRANSIT SCAN
5:17 P.M. TAIWAN 1, TW AIR TRANSIT SCAN
Jul 24, 2001 12:02 A.M. ONTARIO EXPORT SORT, CA, US HUB SCAN
Jul 23, 2001 11:19 P.M. ONTARIO INTL, CA, US UNLOAD SCAN
11:11 P.M. ONTARIO INTL, CA, US ARRIVAL SCAN
9:56 P.M. OAKLAND AIRPORT, CA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
8:25 P.M. OAKLAND ARPT, CA, US LOCATION SCAN
8:11 P.M. OAKLAND ARPT, CA, US HUB SCAN
7:22 P.M. OAKLAND ARPT, CA, US ARRIVAL SCAN
7:15 P.M. OAKLAND HUB, CA, US DEPARTURE SCAN
6:31 P.M. OAKLAND HUB, CA, US LOCATION SCAN
6:05 P.M. US PICKUP MANIFEST RECEIVED
Tracking results provided by UPS: Jul 27, 2001 1:51 P.M. Eastern Time (USA)

To this from USPS:
Your item left the United States at 3:10 am on July 23.
Here is what happened earlier:
July 22 9:54 am ENROUTE MIAMI FL 33112
July 21 1:32 pm ENROUTE AUGUSTA GA 30901
July 21 9:29 am ACCEPT OR PICKUP AUGUSTA GA 30907

If you will notice, the UPS package was sent 3 days after the USPS package and has already arrived, where as I am still wondering about the USPS package, a $1200 order which includes two Snody knives which I would really hate to loose . So no doubt about it, for international shipping, UPS is the way to go. Dealers please take note.
Rad

 

[Elvislives]

I've noticed that as my knife disease progresses, my patience has decreased drastically while my anxiety at receiving my new toys has grown exponentially.

Basically I's an impatient bastid, and it's only getting worse!!!

 

[monster]

I've been having good luck with USPS as of late ever since one of my packages went AWOL with UPS.

 

[John Puckett]

I also just received a package from CRK that 3 day select and it got to me in 2 days.

 

[rad148]

From the varied responses, it appears that it is a hit or miss type of thing. I would suspect that the "human" factor plays a large part. Which means that the bottom line depends on which service's Quality Control department and practices are the best (perhaps they can learn something from Microtech re QC management). Statistics can be manipulated to "show" just about any type of results you wish, but it would be nice to see some stats on the different shipping services, such as, %not received vs time to destination. It also seems that the specific routing plays a big part, so each person just has to learn what service works best for them, unfortunatly this can be an expensive learning experience.
Rad

 

[TOMBSTONE]

I have found that distance with USPS or UPS all in all doesn't matter.What matters is where it is shipped to and from and what receiving location it gets processed through.I have had orders from Florida get to me here in NY via Priority mail in two day's repeatedly.I have also had packages from a couple hundred miles away take four days Priority mail.In fact I received a priority package from a formite from Alabama mailed on the 24th got it today,but a priority package from Pennsylvania 5-6 hours away sent on the same date hasn't arrived yet.I know it doesn't make sense,but distance really isn't a factor.

 

[knifenerd]

I've found UPS to be pretty much "right on". The tracking system is excellent.

 

[dfhoward]

I have found both to be giving worse service as time goes on. From stolen items to deliveries to wrong addresses. UPS doesn't include holidays or weekends when they give delivery times and they get to pick which days are holidays, such as Fridays after a holiday that fall on a Thursday.

 

[Cougar Allen]

It's not just packages; it's letters, too. Twice in the last month I've received letters mailed from less than 100 miles away that arrived two weeks after the postmark. And I just found out a letter was sent to me from three blocks away several weeks ago and never reached me at all.

 

[Kyui Su Kim]

They are getting slower. it took them a week and a half to get my BM43 to me nd before that they midirected my nextday package which ended up taking three days. They didnt even refund the shipping!

 

[PsychRN]

Dennis,

The package you sent to me via USPS came just fine. Be sure to email me when my new watch comes in!