Erik Smith Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Okay, first off, I guess this is another whining post about the USPS. We have all heard and had problems of one sort or another. Lately, however, the service is failing in a drastic manner. I have happily used USPS for shipping and receiving for the last 4 or 5 years - I can't remember any problems in that time period. Zero. International and domestic. I probably buy and or sell a kit or two a week - a lot less in the summer, a little more in the winter. This winter/early spring I have had numerous mailings gone awry. One package - with tracking - never arrived, to me or back to the seller. The tracking clearly shows it going somewhere, just not to my address. The seller, great seller he is, bought and shipped another item. Resolved for me - seller out two kits. Then, within a week, another package, with tracking, is "missent". Not a big deal, but delays a "priority" shipment for a couple days extra. The seller and I both pay for "priority" and don't get it. That package arrives safely, just late. A couple weeks pass - same thing. The most recent - I bought a kit from Eugene, OR. I live in Spokane. Should be an EASY two day delivery with priority. No. Package doesn't even make it out of Portland this time. "Missent". It will now be a couple more days for the delivery. Kind of ridicoulous. I am fortunate to be able to buy and sell models as I wish. I am fortunate for a lot of things and I realize this whining has no global importance, but if I am paying for something, I expect what I pay for. Anybody else notice a decline in service lately? Is this how they are trying to get out of bankruptcy? Dealing with the sequestration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Tread carefully with this one... I haven't noticed any change in service to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Ditto what Casey said. Haven't seen anything different from USPS lately. You have to remember, the USPS deals with millions of pieces of mail. It's to be expected that there would be a certain level of goof-ups in any organization as large as the USPS. Yours are most likely isolated instances, not an accurate representation of their service in general. And no, I don't work for the post office. Just want to be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest G Holding Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Nor I....And I might add I have gotten a LOT thru the new venture between FedEx and USPS..."smart service", tracked, cheap and takes about 4 or 5 days....good deal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outragis Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Things have gotten bad since the tracking is free with priority ! The Postmaster in my area has told me things have been sent in the wrong direction of the country, and slowly they make there way to there destination. this is from a high up employee, so things do not look good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Smith Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Ditto what Casey said. Haven't seen anything different from USPS lately. You have to remember, the USPS deals with millions of pieces of mail. It's to be expected that there would be a certain level of goof-ups in any organization as large as the USPS. Yours are most likely isolated instances, not an accurate representation of their service in general. And no, I don't work for the post office. Just want to be fair. I am a proponent of the USPS. I have been, still am. I have very little to complain about. Having shipped and received hundreds, probably over 1000, and very few problems - none until recently - I just wanted to vent...probably regression to the mean It doesn't "seem" random to my simple human brain, I guess. The first three got me thinking - the latest was "what's going guys and girls?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The70judgeman Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Ours has seemed to stabilize since I think we have a new permanant carrier on our route again. The mail has been delivered consistantly between 8:45-9:30 for a couple of weeks now. Even had a package delivered yesterday and left at the back door instead of leaving it in the front to possibly have it stolen. Kudo's to that carrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I have had pretty good luck with them over the past 10 years or so. I just sent a good sized box to Maryland,so now I'm nervous.... Do you think it might be a regional thing? I mean,it's just the people that work in certain places aren't happy with their job or just don't care? I dunno.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpiguy Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hit and miss for me with the post office. One delivery guy is nice. Of course he's retiring. The others that show up to sub for him are rude and simply do not care. Packages left in puddles and such. UPS and FedEx are great experiences 95% of the time at home and work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Smith Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 I have had pretty good luck with them over the past 10 years or so. I just sent a good sized box to Maryland,so now I'm nervous.... Do you think it might be a regional thing? I mean,it's just the people that work in certain places aren't happy with their job or just don't care? I dunno.. I wouldn't worry. I did just get a Pocher kit delivered a couple weeks ago - I was worried about that, but it arrived safe and sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbdolfans Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I have not had a problem with USPS.In fact,I recently sold some art prints and the box was mailed on Monday.the expected delivery was Friday.The package got there on Wednesday!!!! In a company as large as they are,handling as many products as they do,it would not be reasonable to not expect some glitches. I would guess that you just got caught up n the numbers and it was your time to see some glitches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 They are currently changing the locations of the sorting centers . This has created some problems for us around here . It was short lived and it is smooth again. You might be surprised to know that many new faces are just that new temps. They are not full time workers. So that might explain the mood of the carrier . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 So far l have not had any problem. Erik l have had some friends who had problems that ship often. l have a neighbor who works at the post office so l find out things from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom Hearse Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 A lot of it may have to do with the postal service closing down offices across the country, and some of the other offices have had their hours cut back. I have no problems getting my mail in a timely fashion and packages delivered to my door. The only time I had a problem was the one time I bought an expensive and rare kit several years ago. Someone at the postal service ran over the kit with a fork lift and crushed the Priority Mail box. I notified them of the damage, and they told me that the seller probably sent it like that. I was shocked that they told me that, especially when the seller was a reputable owner of a model business (since gone out of business I'm sad to say). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I notified them of the damage, and they told me that the seller probably sent it like that. Classic CYA. Everyone does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ju Ju Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Didn't they legalize marijuana in Washington state ? Maybe "Going Postal" means something else now-a-days ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Joseph Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I use USPS almost exclusively for both domestic and international mail. It is an organization full of people, and mistakes will happen. The one biggest piece of advice I can give anyone using USPS is to use clearly legible address labels-- printed, not handwritten, and printed from a computer if at all possible. After that, make sure you package things securely in an appropriate box. Don't rely on postal insurance to cover any loss or damage, because nine times out of ten it won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VW Dave Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 (edited) I've got over 10 years' experience in shipping & receiving, and IMO 99.9% of the time a parcel that gets damaged wasn't packaged adequately to begin with. I use USPS almost exclusively, and have noticed no change in the quality of service; in fact, a small package I sent to a buddy in KS this week got there a day earlier than promised. Edited April 6, 2013 by VW Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnny Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 (edited) Their "logistics" seems to be the culprit for late deliveries as of lately. Some stuff seems to go way out of the way to get where it is going when it used to be a straight shot. I know some areas of Az.. now have the packages going east that have to go through Ca. first where it used to not. I have had issues with them lately but everything came out ok other than losing the money spent on priority. Still way cheaper than UPS or FedEx. Edited April 6, 2013 by Johnny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridge Rider Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I shipped 20 packages with USPS last month all with ebay/paypal labels. They all were shipped on a monday and received the following monday--Parcel Select. I hadn't sold anything in a year but last year I had packages from 5 business days to 16 shipping Parcel. I know it can be hit or miss but my experience with them has been positive and improved. Sorry for your problems, they all have them---and no I don't work for the USPS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FASTBACK340 Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 FWIW: I purchased a steering wheel the end of Feb. and I'm informed it will arrive between March 3-4. After it doesn't arrive and some spirited e-mails with the seller (whom was just as annoyed as me....) my package finally arrives on March 25th. It went from Miss. to NYC. Post mark on the box? Feb. 28th.... A month for a steering wheel to be shipped not even a 1,000 miles? I've driven from NY to Atlanta, and back, in a weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevyfever2009 Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Here in mo we've had the same problem packages get lost late i had one postman leave my box under my box across the street (its okay i had a nice talk with postmaster after that happen he never did that again and whata sad he was a sub/ d relive driver he worked there at least 3days a week ) but my regular driver is awsome he has my cell num and he'll call me and tell me wen he'll be at my house wen i have packages or we have a desinated place at my house he'll leave them when im not home . Alot of the problems i have is the handlers or sorters using the pacakges as footballs . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggon Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 In the last couple of years my mail shows up anywhere from noon to 6:30pm. For two decades it was always 11:30 to noon. A true story: Wednesday I hear the Postman's truck. I get my key and saunter out to the street-side mailbox. I'm fetching my mail as the Postman drives off. Just as I close my mailbox, here comes an second Postman with more mail. This has been happening a lot over the last 2 years. I dont understand why it takes 2 postmen to deliver one days residential mail. Must be why they lost 15 billion last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Ambrose Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I've found it helpful to mail from the large processing centers if they're nearby. We have a huge processing center just a few miles from my house, and mailing from there takes a day off the delivery time from my local post office, and their loss rate is much lower. I don't know if this helps for packages, but our newsletter service improved by a lot when we started barcoding the mailing labels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnny Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 I noticed when they started talking about cuts is about when things really got worse at USPS! Could this be an organized condition? I would not be surprised to find it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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