Problems with USPS

Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
2,892
Hey all, I have been shipping via USPS for the last 2 years and they have been very reliable up until recently. Ever since the new year a number of my customers have waited through delays for delivery. Sometimes up to a week.
That was bad enough but I now have two packages within a month go missing/not delivered. The tracking website says they were delivered but both customers, who live in different cities, say they didn't receive their package. One of the customers is my cousin so I know at least he isn't lying. The other customer is a repeat buyer so I doubt he is telling a story.
I insured both packages for full value. I know I'm going to have to submit claims for these two non deliveries (which I'm sure will be easy and quick)
Has anyone else experienced this? Who do you use to ship? I'm a little paranoid now to use USPS.
 
USPS is doing weird things these days... I got a package from brownells that was sent via usps a few weeks back. The tracking said it had been delivered but I didn’t get the package till nearly a week later.
While investigating, I found out that they are sub-contracting with other delivery services, like ups. I think that the tracking gets messed up with all that switching carriers. It’s strange.
 
I've been seeing that sometimes packages get lost for a little while, like for a week or two, even though tracked. Not sure why, but it's a little disconcerting.

Also, twice within like 5 weeks I had packages sent to me that were tracked as delivered but hadn't shown up. One time it was misdelivered to the wrong mailbox, the other one showed up a day or two later. Both times it was not my regular USPS mail carrier because I remember seeing somebody else. The regular guy is friendly, awesome, and super conscientious about his work... Too bad they're not all folks like him, but I think the majority I've met are, just the bad apples mess things up and make it look bad for everybody. :(
 
Always use signature confirmation when shipping knives.

People moan and groan if they have to go to the post office, but they are not going to pay if it get delivered somewhere it should not have
 
I'll add in here, USPS isn't without it's problems, but in my experience, over decades, it's got the least of them. Prices are better, delivery times are significantly more consistent for the money, and tracking typically works great. I've had both FedEx and UPS, absolutely destroy high value items. Once, a $20k computer component that was insured, exceptionally packaged, that I shipped across country (to myself), that had literal tire tracks on the box, and a bent chassis, where it had obviously been run over, and left. I call, and they denied everything. Another case where they physically threw a box weighing 100lbs with a precision drill head off the truck, witnessed, and then flew the scene, which bent the quill feed, and ruined the drill. This was also exceptionally well packaged, but all the weight landed on the component.

I have had one very valuable international package disappear coming to me from Europe, but, I had a dozen from the same person, arrive unharmed, one even tracking arriving at the wrong country, but eventually making it to me. I think this one was lost by customs honestly, as it tracked to the country but never past.

Fedex has mostly been ok, but I've lost some small things, and had things arrive very very late, because their address system doesn't sync (nor does UPS) with the national maps, USPS, or google. Living in the mountains, and shipping a lot to rural areas, that's ended up in a lot of delays, and both carriers cost pretty much double, for most items.

You'll never claim insurance, from either. So don't waste your breath on that.
 
I use FedEx Express (not Ground). Always fully insured. Always with a signature confirmation required. Yes, it's always pricey. BUT, if I have to make a claim, they are the quickest to fully reimburse with the least hassle.
 
Adam Buttry said:
I use FedEx Express (not Ground). Always fully insured. Always with a signature confirmation required. Yes, it's always pricey. BUT, if I have to make a claim, they are the quickest to fully reimburse with the least hassle.
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Signature confirmation is good, but high insurance value attracts thieves IMO.

I've been told by all of the carriers that they'll only cover insurance on "costs" excluding labor or skill (i.e. materials only) for claims from the likes of us. Maybe your customer will have better luck, but insurance is a gimmick and it'll cost you more to pursue a claim than to just replace almost any knife, and my knives aren't record breaking prices, but not remotely on the low end.


Adam, call me bruv. Lets hang out. :p
 
For those that don't know, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground are two separate businesses. FedEx ground is horrible and I would never use them but FedEx Express is pretty reliable and as I mentioned, claims are a fairly painless process. At least that's been my experience.

Javan, I'll holler at ya.
 
Adam Buttry said:
For those that don't know, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground are two separate businesses. FedEx ground is horrible and I would never use them but FedEx Express is pretty reliable and as I mentioned, claims are a fairly painless process. At least that's been my experience.

Javan, I'll holler at ya.
Click to expand...

That's news to me, good to know.
 
for incoming orders...ie: supplies etc....specify UPS Ground, or FedEx home delivery. UPS "Sure Post"...means
they pass it off to USPS...and will often get screwed up......USPS by itself is quite reliable, but when services are mixed,
they're ....not.
For sending, use USPS Priority, or Express....few or no problems at all..........for Over Seas......FedEx Express.....
 
I shipped a parcel by USPS to my son who is going to school in Oregon. Got an email today saying Fedex had tried to deliver it and he wasn't there. So they told him he was gong to go across town to pick it up at the Fedex sorting centre. I couldn't understand....ship usps.....fedex delivers? Other thing was the tracking number stopped working and the fedex one didn't work either. After much searching we found a phone number and waited on hold for over an hour before getting through only to find out they weren't sure where the parcel was either. Later today my son got a delivery notice from the office at his college and his parcel had been delivered there. He got it, but that was one weird run around.
 
I ship a lot of stuff (not knives) with Fed Ex in its various forms. They all share the Fed Ex name but operate completely separate.
The Express drivers say they get a lot of complaints about Ground yet Ground seems to be improving and more customers are using Ground. If a customer uses Ground, we make them assume all responsibility. Fed Ex Freight is awesome but irrelevant for shipping knives. The various Fed Ex companies do share the same sales rep and a good sales rep can make a lot of difference. Express lost a knife one time and the sales rep actually tracked the truck, pulled it over on the side of the highway and searched it. The knife was in a small box of course, and it was a substitute driver. Box got down in the corner of the shelf and not taken out at the departure terminal. They have incredible tracking but human error is always possible.
 
yep, shipped probably hundreds of packages priority mail since 2013 successfully, never lost anything.

then...Feb 27th, tracking says a package is in my parcel locker and I never got it.
And last week I sent a $430 knife to a customer, tracking says delivered in his parcel locker and he didn't receive it.

My fault on the last one for not requiring signature conf. to an apartment building
but yeah something is going on all of a sudden it seems.

unfortunate because I like priority mail alot, free supplies and good tracking and what seemed before as highly reliable and a fair price and choices.

javand said:
...insurance is a gimmick and it'll cost you more to pursue a claim than to just replace almost any knife,
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and I'm with javand javand on my feelings about insurance, I prefer to self insure, which means I'm capable of covering the loss.
 
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Remember that in many cases, your "express shipped" USPS package is being SHIPPED by Fedex. That contract generates about $1.5 billion for year for Fedex. It is sorted and delivered by the USPS.
 
I've shipped close to a thousand items over the last 15 years (mostly gun stuff) and I use USPS priority as a default. I've had 1 instance of stuff taking the scenic route across the nation before being delivered, and 1 instance where some AR500 targets broke through the box and were lost. If anything, USPS is better/faster today than 10 years ago. Amazon forced them to step up their game.

I've never had to make an insurance claim but I'm sure it's a PITA.
 
The Amazon deal is another good example of how the USPS has adapted recently. What Amazon is "buying" is the fact that the USPS already has to go to every address in town every day. And the USPS makes money on the Amazon deal and its other parcel delivery biz no matter what the politicians say.
kuraki said:
I've shipped close to a thousand items over the last 15 years (mostly gun stuff) and I use USPS priority as a default. I've had 1 instance of stuff taking the scenic route across the nation before being delivered, and 1 instance where some AR500 targets broke through the box and were lost. If anything, USPS is better/faster today than 10 years ago. Amazon forced them to step up their game.

I've never had to make an insurance claim but I'm sure it's a PITA.
Click to expand...
 
While under the same corporate umbrella, FedEx Ground drivers are NOT employed by FedEx. They are all employed by independent contractors. FedEx Ground managers can't even directly reprimand drivers for mistakes. That must be handled through the contractor. FedEx Express drivers are all actual employees of FedEx Corp and are held accountable. They are easily indentifiable. Express drivers are always fully uniformed and always driving well marked company trucks and vans, whereas FedEx Ground usually are not.
 
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