shipping during covid, companies not being throrough.

[mjrippe]

and the mystery seeds from china... 

JR

Maybe they are Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds.  Don't plant them, *eat them*!  ;D

 

[pucho812]

and the mystery seeds from china... 

JR

you got  some seeds? no seeds for pucho

 

[JohnRoberts]

Speaking of unusual shipping experiences, I am currently trying to chase down a drum tuner I sent to a customer in Italy.  I shipped it July 3 USPS. It made it to Miami FL within a couple days, but then took a month to move between two buildings in Miami.  The last scan says it left Miami almost 3 weeks ago but the customer in Italy still has not seen or heard anything.  The Italian postal service says they are open and operating so no obvious answer, or transit scan for over two weeks. The USPS claims to be open and working.  :

JR

August 9, 2020, 12:44 pm
Arrived
MIAMI, UNITED STATES
Your item arrived at an origin transfer airport in INTERNATIONAL, MIAMI, UNITED STATES on August 9, 2020 at 12:44 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

July 10, 2020, 8:53 am
Processed Through Regional Facility
MIAMI FL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 
July 10, 2020, 8:52 am
Arrived at Regional Facility
MIAMI FL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

July 9, 2020
In Transit to Next Facility

July 6, 2020, 1:02 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

July 4, 2020, 12:07 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JACKSON MS DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

July 3, 2020, 3:07 pm
Departed Post Office
HICKORY, MS 39332 

July 3, 2020, 8:43 am
USPS in possession of item
HICKORY, MS 39332 

July 3, 2020, 8:43 am
Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
HICKORY, MS 39332 

July 3, 2020
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item

 

[JohnRoberts]

Speaking of unusual shipping experiences, I am currently trying to chase down a drum tuner I sent to a customer in Italy.  I shipped it July 3 USPS. It made it to Miami FL within a couple days, but then took a month to move between two buildings in Miami.  The last scan says it left Miami almost 3 weeks ago but the customer in Italy still has not seen or heard anything.  The Italian postal service says they are open and operating so no obvious answer, or transit scan for over two weeks. The USPS claims to be open and working.  :

JR

August 9, 2020, 12:44 pm
Arrived
MIAMI, UNITED STATES
Your item arrived at an origin transfer airport in INTERNATIONAL, MIAMI, UNITED STATES on August 9, 2020 at 12:44 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

July 10, 2020, 8:53 am
Processed Through Regional Facility
MIAMI FL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 
July 10, 2020, 8:52 am
Arrived at Regional Facility
MIAMI FL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

July 9, 2020
In Transit to Next Facility

July 6, 2020, 1:02 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

July 4, 2020, 12:07 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JACKSON MS DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

July 3, 2020, 3:07 pm
Departed Post Office
HICKORY, MS 39332 

July 3, 2020, 8:43 am
USPS in possession of item
HICKORY, MS 39332 

July 3, 2020, 8:43 am
Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
HICKORY, MS 39332 

July 3, 2020
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item

The tuner shipped to Italy finally arrived two months later.... 

===

Speaking of unsolicited packages, I recently got a package from Cambodia with a customs declaration saying it contained a hand towel. : Felling through the soft envelope it feels like a cheap spit mask... but I am not interested enough to open it up to see. 

It may be a brushing scam like all those seed packets.

JR

 

[scott2000]

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/sta...ards-for-first-class-mail-and-periodicals.htm
Just saw an update from my bank saying payments using mail will be delayed and it referenced the new standards. My head hurts trying to reconcile the boasting but whatever.

 

[JohnRoberts]

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/sta...ards-for-first-class-mail-and-periodicals.htm
Just saw an update from my bank saying payments using mail will be delayed and it referenced the new standards. My head hurts trying to reconcile the boasting but whatever.

Yup... first class mail is now specified as 1-5 days. I recently discovered this when some scum bag thief stole my credit card number. The credit card company caught the unusual charge pattern (perhaps usual for fraud, a bunch of $95 charges in a different state) before I did and notified me. We cancelled my old card and issued a new one, sent by first class mail. My replacement card arrived 5 days after they said they were rushing it to me, and 4 days after they actually mailed it. I actually had to buy my groceries using paper money last week.
===
For another data point regarding the USPS I get a daily newspaper (WSJ) delivered by mail.... For decades the newspaper showed up on time like clock work. Back in the mid 80s when I first moved here I could pick up my newspaper from my PO box and read the front page with my morning coffee, I could still be in my office (7 miles away) by 8AM.

In the decades since the USPS performance has deteriorated. Now the mail only shows up in my PO box by 9:30AM if it shows up at all. I suspect 35 years ago the postmaster put my paper in my box early as a favor because he knew I was reading it that early. Now I generally watch across the street and when the postmaster raises the post office flag, that is evidence that the mail should be in the PO Boxes. The publication date delivery got so bad that I paused my subscription for a few months earlier this year.

I don't want to jinx it by talking about it but knock on wood, the newspaper deliveries have been on time recently. I just checked and my last late/missed delivery was 3 weeks ago. The flag is not up yet so I'll wait to check my PO box a little while longer.

I read a newspaper article talking about USPS infrastructure improvements in preparation for on-time Christmas delivery. The postmaster is optimistic, more so than fedex and UPS.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I experienced a shipping delay with fedex... some beer making supplies coming from CA were scheduled for delivery last friday, the package finally showed up yesterday (tuesday) a few days late. I contacted the shipper and was advised that up to 5 day delays were common these days.

JR

 

[boji]

Amazon, USPS, and UPS have all had at least one turn at dropping off other people's packages on my doorstep in 2021. Coffee orders often wrong, sometimes pizza deliveries...never show up. Percentage of drivers that turn their hazards on during a rainstorm increases each year. Make of that what you wish.

 

[pucho812]

my latest package was supposed to be delivered yesterday. it happens. As long as the system can still find it, it will eventually arrive.

 

[JohnRoberts]

With my late beer supplies I wasn't nervous about it being late as long as they kept scanning it along the way, but then they just deleted all the tracking info and gave no delivery advice for a few days.

It showed up again in the system the day it arrived.

JR

 

[grid_stopper]

Recently had a DHL driver not deliver a package because the business "looked closed". I work in an office building, and it was 1 pm on a tuesday

 

[Whoops]

DHL is the worst service I ever had to deal with.
I was expecting a package, it seems they tried to deliver when I was not at home, I got no info on that, no sms, no email alerting me that a delivery attempted was made.
After that first attempt they not only didnt alert me as they also didnt try again, after 2 weeks of the package in their wharehouse they returned it to the sender.

They also goot the tracking information wrong, as when I searched the reference number it says "item delivered"

DHL is an absolut mess,
strange that some shops insist on DHL, Fedex, UPS , when for small packages "Regular Mail" works great.
I always received packaged sent by regular mail and never had any problems, it's a shame that some shops dont give us that option for shipping

 

[pucho812]

Recently had a DHL driver not deliver a package because the business "looked closed". I work in an office building, and it was 1 pm on a tuesday

in Mexico it would have been siesta in the afternoon.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Some more data points about my delivery drama du jour. I already shared about my several days late, tracking lost in space, beer supplies shipment about a week ago (it magically reappeared in the system the same day it was delivered).

Since then I ordered about ten pounds of green coffee from a trusted vendor in Oakland. That shipment came via USPS and arrived in a timely fashion.

My next data point will be a replacement 8" stove top heat element. This also happens to be shipping from Oakland via Fedex.... We'll see if it fares any better than my beer making supplies.

[update- I just checked the tracking number for my stove repair part and it was scanned in IN so making far better progress than my beer supplies that got lost in UT. /update]

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

My replacement stove burner is still scheduled for on time delivery tomorrow, but scans have not been updated since 11/8 in Hammond, IN.

I'll find out pretty soon if it arrives on time.

[edit- it was supposed to arrive today but still no scan updates since 3 days ago in IN...

It may show up any day now, but they seem as screwed up as my last delivery a couple weeks ago. /edit[

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

The target delivery date finally changed from yesterday to next week (tuesday).

From the scans it apparently took a few days to get from Hammond IN to Indianapolis, IN. I didn't realize IN was that large or that disfunctional. It looks like it is moving again (departed 6am) so I may see it next week.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

The drama continues... After taking 3 days to get in and out of IN, it was scanned into MS Friday night. MS isn't that large either but didn't scan into a second Fedex location, still in MS until 2am this morning. So far two days in MS and still not out for delivery yet. I trust I will see it before Christmas.

This could be a rough year for Santa.

JR

 

[cyrano]

Well, banks and security over here...

I needed a new card. The bank sent me one. For security reasons, the card is sent directly via snail mail. The code follows about a week later, from another sender in another country.

Bingo! This morning, both landed in my mail box, delivered by the same postman.

I don't get snail mail every day, so some optimisation in the post's delivery system brought both together.

You can try in security, but the result still is uncertain.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Well my wandering stove part was scanned again 10PM last night leaving a Fedex location in MS, but unclear where it is headed. It could be on a truck for delivery to me, or going to yet another Fedex depot. It is now scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, and it looks like they plan to use up every minute.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it arrive today, but I have stopped making predictions.

[update- OK just scanned at 8:15 this morning in Meridian, the third facility inside MS, only 20 miles away so could arrive today, but seems late for early local delivery truck load out. /update]

[update2- The eagle finally landed... so clearly the last mile, local Fedex delivery was not the weak link in the delivery chain. Now I know what I am fixing today... /update2]

JR

 

[pucho812]

my latest in parts shipments has gone as follows.
Tag was generated with USPS 2 days before it actually went out. Tag was generated on the 10th, shipped on the 12th. From there I received the following updates from the USPS for priority mail.
1.Shipping eta 11/15
2.Shipping delay ETA Tuesday 11/16
3 Shipping change again eta 11/15 by 9 p.m.
4. current status as of 5 minutes ago is "in transit, arriving late"