Hello, Is there a USPS slowdown? It seems packages I expect are arriving slower and slower. Some examples include: - Acoustic Sounds order, shipped via USPS = 8 weeks to Niles, Illinois - Second Acoustic Sounds order, shipped via USPS = 9 weeks to Niles, Illinois - EBay Item, shipped from Morton Grove Illinois = 9 weeks to Niles, Illinois -EBay item, shipped from New Jersey May 11th = still waiting In contrast: Amazon order (NOT Prine delivery) ordered May 11th, arrived May 13th Amazon order (NOT prime) ordered June 28th, arrived June 29th. Hmmmm....
Short answer is yes, with the pandemic things have slowed down. Some of these seem overly long though. I just got an order from Acoustic Sounds to the Cleveland area. Took only a couple weeks. Edit - second AS order placed on 6/21 scheduled to be delivered on Monday. So about 2 weeks as well. Could be where your main hub is located as well - if it's in the Chicago area things seem extra slow coming out of there. I placed an order through Shuga in Chicago that took forever to get here.
Those seem extra long. My deliveries have been longer but maybe just a week longer, not 7 or 8 weeks longer.
USPS Tracking - what are your current experiences? Delivery times of shipped goods are all over the map! Your experiences? The USPS hasn't tried to hide the fact that there are delays. It's in a RED banner across the top of every tracking page, plus Media Mail sucked before the virus...how is it going to improve during the virus ?
I had a package sent Media Mail arrive 6 weeks later from ordering. I had another get to me 2 weeks later. Media Mail is already a potentially very slow process. It can certainly be fairly quick, but it all depends on the place the shipment comes from and where it flows through. And with the pandemic, USPS has had to consolidate some locations and processes. Normal 2-3 day Priority Mail or 1st class mail may take a couple of days longer than normal, but we're talking 1-5 days in general.
Bitching should be moved here- Marketplace Discussions My packages arrive via covered wagon, kinda neat
I'm one of those people who are very supportive of the USPS during these pandemic times. Mail has slowed down, no doubt, particularly media mail. But I don't complain about it. It makes perfectly good sense for a couple of reasons: many more people than normal are ordering things on-line either because stores are closed, or because shoppers are, or believe they may be, more vulnerable by going into stores and thus feel safer ordering on-line. SO a lot more mail is being handled. Because of the pandemic, some of the postal workers have gotten sick, some even have died. More mail, fewer employees, more time needed to handle mail = slower mail. The fact that USPS has been up and running throughout this entire pandemic is something I HUGELY appreciate. I would never criticize them for continuing on despite risks to employees health. Big kudos to USPS!
Once shipped by USPS it may take a little longer but I have not noticed big delays in delivery times. Amazon Prime and FEDEX are stellar as always. I love the FEDEX feature where they show you where the truck is on a Google map as it gets closer to your house.
yes, there has been a slowdown A record label I used to be affiliated with had hundreds of priority packages sit in Cincinnati for 2 weeks before they started moving again I had experienced that with Media mail, but never Priority
The last 4 things I bought on ebay or discogs got to Detroit quick (10 min from my house) and sat there for a week or more before making their way to my house. All were shipped 1st class. But then I ordered a book on ebay, they shipped it media mail and it came right away.
Already reported for merging with one of the other two threads already in place. They don't look into every thread and have repeatedly pointed out how the report button is there for that purpose. Some still have a high-school mentality and think it's a " tattle button."
My understanding is that some shippers are now listing orders including transit from their distributor, thus it looks like an elongated period till they actually receive and ship it. The purpose apparently is (1) with work force fluctuations the order is pegged within their system as existing; (2) to show that something is happening rather than saying it is delayed or back ordered. This is most definitely CoVid related.
Now that everybody's stuck inside many people are ordering things so this is probably been worse than Christmas traffic is in regards to packages being sent. That said the USPS has not been prepared or adequately staffed to handle the volume they been required to move. That said I've been watching tracking where packages will get stuck in certain locations. Because they don't have a streamlined system it's just catch-as-catch-can. Some packages will come into a distribution center to be moved and other packages coming after will pass them up as lucky packages to go on to their final destination. The other packages that are unlucky get stuck for God knows how long until they can be dealt with or moved further down the line towards their final destination. This whole process is compounded by inadequately trained staff and either strained or unfocused workers that have scanned packages multiple times or worse not scan packages at all to register where they're at with in the process. So what you will see is a package dropped off at the post office and won't be scanned into the post office for sometimes days or a week later. Did it really sit there for a week or did it take that long for the system to update? Now the system is showing its received and will it be scanned out or will someone miss it entirely and then somehow it magically shows up miles away being scanned into a distribution center to be sent on? Sometimes you'll see the package scanned in and then out minutes later and then scan back in minutes later. This tells me people working within that location are confused they don't know if the package is coming or going. I've had a package stuck in one location for weeks and I put in a trace to see where the package is and the post office themselves escalated this case then finally called me back to tell me they don't know. They could tell me that because it is Media mail I have no claim towards compensation if it gets lost. If for some reason the label comes off and they find it they'll send it to Atlanta open it and catalogs for a claim to come in to describe it for them to forward it to its final or intended destination. If after a month when it was shipped you haven't received it you can then contact your payment service and put a claim in with eBay or PayPal or your credit card and let them know you never received the item and you can possibly be refunded. How long will this last? I think this is now The New normal.
