Postal Service suspends incoming parcels from China and Hong Kong

[scott2000]

Charlotte NC processing center is having packages stuck there like it's some customs port....
I'm going to have to go buy some aftermarket parts to get some repairs done since my plans were obviously not planned right...

 

[JohnRoberts]

I've observed odd shipping hiccups from everybody. I had a replacement faucet for my bathroom sink stuck in MI for some reason. It was due to arrive two days ago. I just checked UPS tracking and no changes since 6 days ago... I don't feel lucky about this one but they are still predicting that it should arrive today.

On a positive note my restarted WSJ newspaper subscription finally started to arrive. Yesterday I didn't get the tuesday paper but did get the monday and saturday papers. The wed,thur,fri papers are still lost in USPS system. The USA Today subscription never showed up. I need to claw back that payment.

EDIT: I think I've seen that before with slow boat cheap shipments from China processing through a site in central America. /edit]

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Stop press..... today my Wednesday WSJ newspaper arrived on Wednesday! BUT my paper arriving on time was not a clean win for the USPS. Today my local post office received a 15 paper bundle of WSJ from sundry different small post offices. Some slacker at the distribution center one level up from me, instead of breaking apart the bundle and sorting it to the different small post offices for on time delivery just kicked it out the door. Now this bundle (less my paper) will get sent back to the distribution center and they will deal with it tomorrow, again.

This explains why my delivery isn't just slow, but erratic.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

OK... that magical on time WSJ delivery was the last paper I've seen since then. I was OK with my papers arriving a couple days late, but now news is changing so quickly that it can be hard to make sense of the headlines when they arrive up to a week later.

In another futile attempt to fix this delivery problem I wrote a letter to the USPS CTO (chief technology officer), presumably the guy in charge of the sorting automation. Realistically I have low expectations for anything to come from all my tilting at windmills. About a year ago I wrote a letter to the guy managing the sorting center that is screwing up my deliveries, and that letter came back marked undeliverable.

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Back on topic. The deminimus exemption was suspended then restored again, so POTUS could hit China with a 10% tariff. This is still a fluid situation that I would characterize as a negotiation, but MSM is calling it a new trade war and blaming it for the high price of eggs (which is actually caused by avian flu).

Good luck...

JR

PS: There is a possibility that dropping the deminimus exemption will force customs to review more small package shipments from China that may have been concealing fentanyl (pure speculation on my part).

 

[Brian Roth]

With all the firings, how is Customs going to "....review more small package(s)....? It appears to me that a bazillion packages were arriving per day/week that were under the deminimus exemption. Even if Customs staffing were to stay the same, they would have to add a lot more inspectors to search even a fraction of that deluge.

Bri

 

[JohnRoberts]

With all the firings, how is Customs going to "....review more small package(s)....? It appears to me that a bazillion packages were arriving per day/week that were under the deminimus exemption. Even if Customs staffing were to stay the same, they would have to add a lot more inspectors to search even a fraction of that deluge.

Bri

somebody has been watching the main stream news....
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I am no fan of the deminimus exemption that disadvantages small US manufacturers. I am also unhappy about all the thousands of US youth poisoned by cheap fentanyl smuggled in from China.

JR

 

[Brian Roth]

I was being facetious about customs employee levels being reduced. But, multiple sources report the huge quantity of deminimus shipments arriving into the USA. Much of it is from Chinese companies.... Temu(?), Aliexpress, etc. Personally, I don't use any of those companies, so no skin off my teeth.

I am an Olde Phart and I like walking into a local store (well, Walmart and Kroger aren't really local...) knowing full well I'll pay a higher price. Totally eliminating the deminimus loophole of shipments from ALL countries is also popular with several USA unions and some politicians.

I purchase my PC boards from Oshpark here in the USA. Prototypes and small production quantities. The turnaround is slower and prices are higher than the Chinese fabs but in my quantities it won't break my bank.

As for your WSJ paper subscription, have them ship it UPS, Fedex, DHL and see if the service is better.

Bri

 

[living sounds]

I do think WSJ offers online subscriptions...

 

[JohnRoberts]

I was being facetious about customs employee levels being reduced.

I watch my local news for comprehensive weather reports. Multiple tornado warnings in my state within the last few days. They rebroadcast ABC national news that is Disney-woke.

But, multiple sources report the huge quantity of deminimus shipments arriving into the USA. Much of it is from Chinese companies.... Temu(?), Aliexpress, etc. Personally, I don't use any of those companies, so no skin off my teeth.

Perhaps not intentionally but they sell huge amounts of low priced stuff into the US. I'm frugal so I encounter deminimus sales on Amazon. The obvious tell is when the free delivery takes a few weeks.

I am an Olde Phart and I like walking into a local store (well, Walmart and Kroger aren't really local...) knowing full well I'll pay a higher price. Totally eliminating the deminimus loophole of shipments from ALL countries is also popular with several USA unions and some politicians.

I have even encountered some late shipments that never show up.... I heard on the news that Temu and other big deminimus merchants are moving operations to Singapore or other countries to avoid the China tariffs. Just like China building car factories in Mexico trying to avoid tariffs.

I purchase my PC boards from Oshpark here in the USA. Prototypes and small production quantities. The turnaround is slower and prices are higher than the Chinese fabs but in my quantities it won't break my bank.

The last time I did a production run (hundreds of units) I had my contract manufacturer purchase the PCBs. He bought them from his regular chinese vendor (btw no problem). I've shared this anecdote before, years ago I ordered a simple PCB for use in my drum tuner (to hold batteries in place during shipping). I tried not to purchase from china, so ordered from a Canadian PCB vendor. My boards arrived, shipped from China.

As for your WSJ paper subscription, have them ship it UPS, Fedex, DHL and see if the service is better.

Bri

I tried cancelling my WSJ subscription and ordered USA Today. I still haven't seen one paper from them. No WSJ since last Wed, but today is president's day so no paper today. I don't know if this is related but I recently ordered a cheap no-name bathroom sink faucet. That package is reportedly lost in shipping (last scanned in MI), UPS IIRC (I got a refund issued).

I decided to order another faucet from a known brand (Delta) from Lowes. It only cost about 10% more but appeared to be in stock. They promised free delivery last Saturday. Apparently it shipped from somewhere in TN Saturday morning so is still in transit. But I feel luckier about this one arriving soon.

I do think WSJ offers online subscriptions...

As they tell me, every single time I complain about missed deliveries. Since I put the read newspapers on the floor around my bowl to catch dribbles from my late night pee breaks, the online version doesn't satisfy that application. I guess I could lay a laptop down on the floor but that would get messy.

Yes, I know I'm old. I recall somebody predicting in the 1970s that paper newspapers would be obsolete. Half a century later it's getting closer.

JR

 

[living sounds]

As they tell me, every single time I complain about missed deliveries. Since I put the read newspapers on the floor around my bowl to catch dribbles from my late night pee breaks, the online version doesn't satisfy that application. I guess I could lay a laptop down on the floor but that would get messy.

I'm sure the market has solutions for this problem, but they are probably made in China, so...

 

[JohnRoberts]

I'm sure the market has solutions for this problem, but they are probably made in China, so...

I guess I might feel a little better about peeing on a cheap offshore laptop... but still not the ideal solution. Its true that old people resist change, especially things like USPS mail delivery that was working serviceably since the mid 1980s...

I thought AI and automation were going to take over menial manual tasks and do them faster, cheaper, and better....

JR

 

[Youngwhisk]

Since I put the read newspapers on the floor around my bowl to catch dribbles from my late night pee breaks, the online version doesn't satisfy that application. I guess I could lay a laptop down on the floor but that would get messy.

JR

Or you could just sit down....

 

[scott2000]

Or you could just sit down....

pfft... why stop there??
Catheter

 

[JohnRoberts]

Or you could just sit down....

This is TMI but you asked..... my bladder does not drain completely while sitting, perhaps related to BPH.... getting old sux.
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I bought some cheap throw rugs to cover my bathroom floor. I am back to reading my latest book during my morning bathroom routine since I haven't seen any current newspapers since last Wednesday's on-time delivery. I could get a few today. [update- 4 papers today, last friday's is still missing]

News is happening pretty quickly these days. Headlines get old fast sitting in my sorting center 50 miles away.

JR

 

[Brian Roth]

I saw this on a variety of news sites. Louis DeJoy is planning to step down as Postmaster General. I tried to select a non hard left/right source to link so no one can say I chose a highly biased news source.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5151031-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-trump-musk-doge/

Bri

 

[JohnRoberts]

Effective February 5, 2025, the Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts. The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to

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In regards to my local PO newspaper deliveries, Wednesday night I saw a TV news report on a Jackson, MS TV station, about how bad mail delivery was coming from the same Jackson Sorting center, that was mishandling my newspapers. Thursday I got two newspapers including my Thursday paper on time.

Todays mail has not arrived yet, but it would be nice if that news report woke them up. [edit- no newspaper again today. /edit]

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I saw this on a variety of news sites. Louis DeJoy is planning to step down as Postmaster General. I tried to select a non hard left/right source to link so no one can say I chose a highly biased news source.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5151031-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-trump-musk-doge/

Bri

Can't hurt.... Today I received yesterday's paper only one day late, an improvement. When I got to the USPS website to report today's missed delivery they wouldn't accept it and said ==========

Report Delivery Issue​

We are unable to process your transaction.

We apologize for the interruption in your delivery. Given the number of recent delivery concerns reported, we are unable to process your transaction online. Please contact Customer Service so that we may better assist you.
========
I think I actually spoke with customer service one time several years ago. In my judgement this is just a passive/aggressive time suck to discourage me from reporting all their missed deliveries. In business there's an 80/20 rule that discourages investing too much effort in satisfying low return customers (80% of profit comes from 20% of customers). I would be one of those low value/low return 80% customers to them, so they just try to make it difficult for me to complain instead of resolving the problem.

A few years ago they actually had the local postmaster keep a log of missed/late deliveries for a couple weeks. Perhaps they didn't trust my reports.

=====
I have no opinion about DeJoy but haven't heard anything good about him during his tenure (I think he tried to shift primary focus onto shipping packages). Now POTUS is talking about moving the USPS under the Dept of Commerce now being run by Howard Lutnick. Lutnick is a smart, good, businessman (not an oxymoron) and may be able to stop/reduce the bleeding with USPS loses running at $78B a year. IIRC the USPS is/was saddled with huge liabilities related to inadequately funded worker retirement accounts but I haven't looked into this for years. The current USPS business model is in free-fall. When was the last time you mailed a check to pay a local bill using first class mail? Yesterday I received 3 pieces of first class (?) mail, every one from a charity or organization that I had previously donated too.. It makes me especially angry to see them using my donations to spam me. I doubt there's enough of this charity fund raising mail to save the USPS.

Lutnick is a smart guy (do a search about post 9/11). He may come up with some new outside the box business venture(s) that capitalize on the USPS's significant assets to help bail them out, or not. I expect the administrative state to push back really hard against this new administration push to take over the USPS.

JR

 

[CJ]

USPS can be good or bad depending on the location. Tracking various eBay packages has shown me the Pennsylvania is the worst, along with Texas and Florida and Chicago and Los Angeles.

Once the stuff gets to Denver it picks up speed rapidly, Seattle being even quicker and Olympia being lightening fast as they got a crew of seasoned workers down there.

FedEx in the Portland OR area (Troutsdale) seems to be a black hole and DHL may as well be shipping from Mars.

 

[JohnRoberts]

USPS can be good or bad depending on the location. Tracking various eBay packages has shown me the Pennsylvania is the worst, along with Texas and Florida and Chicago and Los Angeles.

Once the stuff gets to Denver it picks up speed rapidly, Seattle being even quicker and Olympia being lightening fast as they got a crew of seasoned workers down there.

My location used to be great 40 years ago, now it sucks so bad that the Jackson, MS TV news station did a segment about how bad the Jackson post office is. That Jackson sorting center is the one responsible for my flaky newspaper deliveries.

JR

 

[hodad]

My location used to be great 40 years ago

Mine was great before DeJoy destroyed it. In fact, I'd seen marked improvements in USPS in general since the early oughts--better tracking, faster delivery, improvements in international shipping. That all died at the hands of DeJoy. You should watch that fool cover his ears as he get grilled by a Georgia Republican congressman. He looks like a spoiled 4 year old.