Bad USPS, is it just me?

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sf fanatic

sf fanatic

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When I ship a knife I use USPS PRIORITY MAIL. Recently they have been delayed even when I’ve gotten OFD notification. Last week I sent a knife to a knife maker on the forum for repair. He lives in Amarillo Texas and when he asked me after several
days where the knife was I looked up the tracking number I was chagrined to find out it’s first stop from SF was Honolulu, shortly thereafter I got a notification that the package was going to be late (still not there yet). This has happened two other times lately. What’s the point of paying extra for a service if you’re not getting it. I know that the postal service is having problems and was curious if anyone else has had issues with them lately.
Cheers to all:)
PS, I still believe that the USPS provides the best mail delivery anywhere on earth.
 
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Lots of delays in the past few months. Sometimes things are faster than expected but sometimes a package will sit for days somewhere for no reason. I had 2 different package ship, one from Belarus the other Ukraine; the Ukraine package arrived in 11 days, the Belarus package took 3.5 months with zero updates on tracking from the time it got bagged in Sofia until it was delivered.
 
USPS is dealing with staffing shortages due to Covid, and a cutoff of all overtime hours by the new Postmaster General...things are backing up but cut them some slack, they're still the best and cheapest option in my opinion.
 
I ship 1000's of packages each year via usps. They are currently much less reliable than usual. Every package I have sent this year has arrived, but many have been delayed. Not defending USPS, but many of my peers that are using UPS and FedEx have had similar experiences.
 
Well before COVID-19, I have had two packages from Charlotte, North Carolina sent to me - just east of Cleveland - via Olympia, Washington - 4748 miles out-of-the-way.

A couple of years ago, I had a package from Europe, according to USPS tracking, circling over the Atlantic for nine days - new miracle aircraft with EXTENDED flying time. When it finally left Kennedy they sent it to Cleveland to Chicago (left Chicago three times over two days that time per USPS Tracking) to Cleveland to me, 26 miles away.

Like almost everyone else, they have poor automated systems. They also have some useless employees whom they cannot fire. "Delivery" scanning of packages as they are loaded out for the route is common. (So we routinely are told packages have been delivered several hours before they reach our rural mail box.)
 
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Most of mine have been running a few days behind, with very unreliable tracking, but I do still have one outstanding sent from TX to VA on 7/13. It went through the Ft Worth regional hub on 7/14 and again 7/21 but the last tracking update had it processed through San Juan PR on 7/28!
 
It's not just you. In my experience they will eventually arrive, but tracking steps may or may not be posted (I've have knives arrive that never left) and the most direct route may not be taken with detours abound.
 
Frustrating, currently have a package shipped from Washington to Arizona, it’s found it’s way back to the Seattle DC 3 times, about the 3rd package in the last 3 months I’ve had with considerable delays!
 
I've had a couple delays as well. The "powers that be" (mainly one person) is currently mad at the USPS because it's going to have an effect on his re-election. That's as far as I'll take that.

Forbes reported a few days ago that the CARES act funding has finally made it to the USPS so that may help, hopefully.
 
Most freight carriers use a predictive method for tracking. That means you aren't seeing a real world trace of your package; just where they expect it to be.

If that's not good enough I suggest buying a private jet to deliver your packages personally. I find that method to be highly worth it.
 
We compiled our USPS delivery information back to Jan 1, 2020. The average Priority Mail delivery time has increased by one day. This means most packages that took 2-3 days in January now take 3-4 days. The worst case delivery times were almost three weeks.

Some packages were delayed if they went though distribution centers in cities having riots. Packages going to cities with high virus numbers were also delayed.

Our Postmaster said they have not cut their overtime. The number of employees out sick with the virus has required everyone to work extra hours.

Freight delivery times have also increased. Last week we received a shipment that took two weeks to arrive. The same shipment usually takes 3-4 days. The "on the road" times did not change. The delays were sitting in distribution centers waiting to be moved to another trailer or picked up by another truck.

Priority Mail delivery times are still much better than UPS and FedEx, even with the current delays.
 
THE REAL CURRENT PROBLEM is related to this bit of news - On May 6, the board of governors of the United States Postal Service appointed Louis DeJoy to the position of Postmaster General.

I don't want to take this thread into political hell so if you care to know more about who this guy is, who he represents and the agenda that he is implementing, do the google. It will be a revelation.
 
Please don't take this thread into who is President now. The usps issues started many many years before any of the last 6+ of them.
 
MayHemAndHaw said:
I've had a couple delays as well. The "powers that be" (mainly one person) is currently mad at the USPS because it's going to have an effect on his re-election. That's as far as I'll take that.

Forbes reported a few days ago that the CARES act funding has finally made it to the USPS so that may help, hopefully.
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If you think that the funds from a cares act is going to fix the billions of $$ loss the usps continues to rack up and their institutional issues, well I have some bridges to sell you.
 
Norcaldude said:
Facts are facts. I've been using the USPS for years and this slowdown started within the past month or so.
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i.e. Covid taking hold nationwide and people getting used to shopping on-line ramping up the volume with sick employees. Back in March it was primarily the East Coast that was really getting hit but now it affecting pretty much every state.
 
Gastonknife said:
Please don't take this thread into who is President now. The usps issues started many many years before any of the last 6+ of them.
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I didn't. What is going on - specifically now - in regards to new policies and slowing things down is a straight line to the change of management. As I suggested - do some current research. You can go to Chris Wallace this week or The PBS News Hour, among others - they are all reporting the same story.

Norcaldude said:
Facts are facts. I've been using the USPS for years and this slowdown started within the past month or so.
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Exactly and it is not part of the COVID 19 fallout.
 
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