shipping during covid, companies not being throrough.

[pucho812]

is it me or does any shipping with any of the major shipping companies  seem to be dodgy during this time.  It's as if they are lax on everything.
I had  a package I was sending out for a housewarming gift.  The package was a bottle of spirits going out of state.  Major shipping company took my payment for packing and shipping. Midday I get a call saying they can't do that and that I need to pick up my bottle. They back charge my card.  The same day I was at a different store where I packaged it myself, and was able to send out the gift using the same shipping company.  Days later a package arrives  to my friend in Texas who was to receive said gift.  it did not match the tracking number I was given.  So my friend sends me photos, opens the box to find return merchandise to the local cable company for internet services. The original  package tag generated at the first store with the shipper was left out and got  used even though  they did a charge back because they couldn't pack and ship the package.  So basically they shipped someone else's package with my tag that I didn't have to pay for.    The tag generated at the second store is still pending delivery.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that my gift arrives.

The same time this week I was expecting a bulk order of parts which all were coming from the same location/store. I received 2 x tracking numbers, one for the 1st box called the master and  one for the 2nd box.  The day the packages came, I had to run down and pick them up. No biggie except only one package arrived.  The second box is out in the ether. I can track each box and can see exactly where they were split up, How one was delivered and one is pending, and at what hub they went in different directions.  I currently have the one box and the second box is traveling further and further away.  I tracked the boxes from point of origin to a hub, then down to a hub in my county. this is where they split. one went to a hub in  the city and out for delivery to my place.The second box hit the county hub, then went way far out to needles california which is 4 hours away, then luguna New Mexico which is 11 hours away,  and is currently in moorland OK which is 18 hours away.
I have already contacted the store and informed them of what is happening which they  were calling the carrier as they read my e-mail which was nice, friendly and giving them a heads up.  So I am o.k. I think.
it is interesting to watch my box of necessary parts go further and further away from their destination... Not sure if there is anything else I can do on this one.

 

[Ricardus]

I always have great luck with FedEx. USPS is missing scans like crazy this last month, so I think the pkg is lost, then is turns up, after not having had a location scan in a week.

 

[john12ax7]

The shipping companies are overloaded right now.  More packages than they can comfortably handle, to the point that they are putting limits on how much you can ship at once.  It's like peak busy holiday season, but all the time.

 

[scott2000]

Yeah I ordered a lawnmower blade. It was coming Priority. Never updated tracking past the label being shipped although the seller said he shipped.  2 weeks passed so I ordered another one from somewhere else.
The original blade finally showed up and the 2nd came the day after it..
Why buy one when I can have 2 for twice the price....

Pretty impressed with Amazon Prime though...
I had to order some tile supplies this week while working with a friend that uses Prime. First order came in 18 hours. The next one in 12! Wt heck?
That's pretty fast..lol

I know it's not the same discussion but still pretty crazy..

 

[crazydoc]

UPS delivered 3 days late (but over the weekend.) Tracking said "delivery attempt failed," - euphemism for "we were too busy to deliver it" as the driver explained to me when he brought it.  He said they're overwhelmed. Another problem, so I've been told, is that when the driver returns after 15 hour day with undelivered packages, they go to the back of the line - maybe they've already got the next days deliveries ready to go.

Ordered some bridge pins from China on 6/19 - projected arrival 8/4 thru 8/15. They got here 6/29, China Post to USPS, small package of course.

 

[JohnRoberts]

is it me or does any shipping with any of the major shipping companies  seem to be dodgy during this time.  It's as if they are lax on everything.
I had  a package I was sending out for a housewarming gift.  The package was a bottle of spirits going out of state.  Major shipping company took my payment for packing and shipping. Midday I get a call saying they can't do that and that I need to pick up my bottle. They back charge my card.  The same day I was at a different store where I packaged it myself, and was able to send out the gift using the same shipping company.  Days later a package arrives  to my friend in Texas who was to receive said gift.  it did not match the tracking number I was given.  So my friend sends me photos, opens the box to find return merchandise to the local cable company for internet services. The original  package tag generated at the first store with the shipper was left out and got  used even though  they did a charge back because they couldn't pack and ship the package.  So basically they shipped someone else's package with my tag that I didn't have to pay for.    The tag generated at the second store is still pending delivery.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that my gift arrives.

The same time this week I was expecting a bulk order of parts which all were coming from the same location/store. I received 2 x tracking numbers, one for the 1st box called the master and  one for the 2nd box.  The day the packages came, I had to run down and pick them up. No biggie except only one package arrived.  The second box is out in the ether. I can track each box and can see exactly where they were split up, How one was delivered and one is pending, and at what hub they went in different directions.  I currently have the one box and the second box is traveling further and further away.  I tracked the boxes from point of origin to a hub, then down to a hub in my county. this is where they split. one went to a hub in  the city and out for delivery to my place.The second box hit the county hub, then went way far out to needles california which is 4 hours away, then luguna New Mexico which is 11 hours away,  and is currently in moorland OK which is 18 hours away.
I have already contacted the store and informed them of what is happening which they  were calling the carrier as they read my e-mail which was nice, friendly and giving them a heads up.  So I am o.k. I think.
it is interesting to watch my box of necessary parts go further and further away from their destination... Not sure if there is anything else I can do on this one.

I haven't experienced unusual differences with shipping coming or going.

I just shipped a drum tuner to Italy this morning and mailed a couple nuts to CA.

JR

 

[okgb]

I've just had stuff that takes months longer than usual  from out of country , like their holding it up for safety ?

 

[mjrippe]

USPS has been crazy here in NYC.  I had a package shipped from within NY state, sent Priority Mail, that took 9 days to get to me.  It got scanned at a hub, then went out for a pack of cigarettes and didn't come back for 5 days. 

 

[pucho812]

I always have great luck with FedEx. USPS is missing scans like crazy this last month, so I think the pkg is lost, then is turns up, after not having had a location scan in a week.

Funny the gift going out was UPS. The packages coming in were Fedex.
I have been informed by a former Fedex employee that my package was probably  salted. salted is a Fedex term. Basically they randomly do their own QC. They will grab a package off a persons sort station and put it at another sort station to see if one or both people catches it and corrects the issue. The seller called Fedex and gave them hell. I have been informed by Fedex I will have the package by Friday  7/10 at the latest, I hope it arrives in a more timely.

 

[boji]

Amazon spoiled me rotten in the past, but every seller now knows they can play the Covid card on a late shipment if they need to.  Months of this loss of pressure might lead to forms of "herd immunity" where it is safe to care only as much as your competitor does about it; markets relax to fit the expectation of slowness because it is no longer costly to do otherwise.

Or, it could simply be that shipping departments continue to run skeleton crews while stay-at-home shopping has skyrocketed. 

 

[JohnRoberts]

The residential home delivery industry is seeing package volumes approaching or exceeding holiday season surges, because of COVID sheltering in place.

I have not experienced anything unusual about package delivery recently but I don't typically wait on packages, I keep multiple plates spinning, so there is always something coming.

With decades of experience in DTC (direct to consumer) sales, first in the 70s and now again in this century, delivery services  have improved dramatically all of them, while a bad employee on your route can make any one service look bad. 

I did have a more unusual than normal delivery issue with my newspaper (delivered to my PO box.)... Yesterday I got three issues at once so Wednesday and Thursday's papers were one and two days late respectively. Not unusual for one paper to be a day or two late depending upon where in the delivery chain they dropped the ball, the threefer was a first. My post office delivered newspaper has been a sore point for years.

[rant]Back in the mid 80's I could get my newspaper out of my POB and read the front page with my morning coffee and still be sitting at my desk in my work office by 8AM. It was not coincidence that I bought a house only 7 miles from my job  without even a stop sign to slow my daily commute. The customer service from the postmaster back then was head and shoulders better than now. My old postmaster clearly made a point of getting my newspaper into my PO Box early enough for me to look at the headlines before work. The current postmaster won't promise anything earlier than 9:30AM (I asked), on the days the paper actually arrives. Further if mail addressed to me doesn't include my proper PO box the postmaster has been know to return the mail as undeliverable. A couple years ago, my house insurance policy was cancelled for non payment, because the bill addressed to my street address that the post office delivered into my PO box without problem for decades, suddenly became a problem. The only way the post office has significantly improved is using their website for package shipments, it used to be pretty random dealing with the low IQ counter workers when shipping stuff outside of the country. Now I can do all that on the WWW and all the postal workers have to manage is scanning a barcode.  [/rant]


JR

 

[pucho812]

Scan of the package coming to me currently has it in toledo. It's really making the rounds

 

[crazydoc]

This was before the virus -  took over a week to go a couple hundred miles in US (SF to  (4 days knocking around) Seattle to Kent WA to Reno to Janesville), and sure got scanned a lot.

Shipped with USPS

Wednesday, September 18
12:52 PM
Delivered
Janesville, CA US

9:16 AM
Out for delivery
Janesville, CA US

6:50 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Janesville, CA US

4:45 AM
Package has left the carrier facility
Reno Nv Distribution Center, US

3:43 AM
Package has left the carrier facility

3:27 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Reno Nv Distribution Center, US

Monday, September 16
3:23 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Kent, WA US

3:04 AM
Package has left the carrier facility
Seattle Wa Network Distribution Center, US

Sunday, September 15
10:49 PM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Seattle Wa Network Distribution Center, US

Saturday, September 14
3:06 PM
Package has left the carrier facility
Seattle Wa Distribution Center , US

Friday, September 13
7:55 PM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Seattle Wa Distribution Center , US

5:20 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Seattle, WA US

4:57 AM
Package has left the carrier facility

12:33 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Seattle Wa Distribution Center , US

Thursday, September 12
10:27 PM
Package has left the carrier facility
Seattle Wa Network Distribution Center, US

6:05 PM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
Seattle Wa Network Distribution Center, US

Tuesday, September 10
10:54 PM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
San Francisco Ca Network Distribution Center, US

9:32 PM
Package has left the carrier facility
San Francisco Ca International Distribution Center, US

11:39 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility
San Francisco Ca International Distribution Center, US

Friday, September 6
9:34 PM
Package has left the carrier facility
SHENZHEN EMS, CHINA

1:22 PM
Package has left the carrier facility
SHENZHEN, CHINA

Thursday, September 5
11:01 AM
Package received by carrier
CHINA

Wednesday, September 4
Package has shipped
Times are shown in the local timezone.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I have experienced unreliable delivery projections based on tracking data... 

I recall a couple Christmases ago, when a drum tuner purchased as a Christmas present and promised delivery was stuck in a mid American USPS depot for days.... Being concerned that it would not make it, I shipped a second drum tuner using UPS premium shipping service. Of course both packages arrived before Christmas so I paid a penalty for believing the tracking inferred arrival times. 

JR

 

[[silent:arts]]

I've just had stuff that takes months longer than usual  from out of country , like their holding it up for safety ?

If I would ship to Canada it would take a long time (DHL):

Canada:
Items (i.e., letters, small packages, Warenpost items and parcels) can generally be sent to Canada.
Until further notice, parcels will be transported to Canada by ocean freight only due to very limited transport capacities. Customers should not specify "Premium" parcel service and expect significantly longer transit times.

 

[scott2000]

Ordered from Mouser late  last night. Going to be here tomorrow.... They have some kind of limited special on shipping right now it looks like...But idk...

Shipped FEDEX standard overnight for base price...... pretty cool... But Mouser is usually pretty fast anyhow...

 

[pucho812]

update...

The package, housewarming gift, I shipped out, finally arrived to its destination. This was after all the b.s. of the cancelled tag being put on a box and shipping it there and the real tag on a separate box shipping it there.

Now I am just waiting on Fedex, my package has currently travelled to Ohio and was last called there yesterday. "what a long strange trip it's been. "

 

[pucho812]

what a magic week....

this past week everything  shipping wise corrected itself for myself and others.  my package of parts finally arrived, my package sent arrived at it's location and a friend received a missing package of transformers thought to be gone for good. The last one is especially interesting as it hit  his county hub and didn't move or get scanned elsewhere for over a month.  woa
Well onto the next thing...  Be well and be safe.

 

[mjrippe]

Shipping within the USA has been better lately but somebody at the USPS hates Canada.  I have received packages from France, Germany, and Russia with no delays or problems.  Two packages from Canada have made it to customs, been processed, then disappeared.  One was last seen in Chicago thirteen days ago, the other made it to San Francisco five days ago and has not been scanned since.

 

[JohnRoberts]

and the mystery seeds from china... 

JR