USPS is starting to fall apart

[phylodog]

Man , next time you need screws go to the Ace at Lynhurst &Washington .

I've got an Ace right around the corner, they don't have the action screws for a Rem700 unfortunately.

 

[1911ly]

My USPS experiences have still been better then UPS as of late. I don;t even want to fo in to that story at the moment. I'll just say don't use the Portage Road Store in South Bend. I've have 4 issues in a row over a 3 year period. Never again.

USPS lately been sending my packages hell west and crooked. I tracked a package to Indy from Commiforia only to watch it go to Iowa and Minnesota then hit Fort Wayne then arrive here about a week late. But I will say they tear up less boxes. I prefer Fedex for timely delivery but it is pricey. But it gets there in time and in one peace.

 

[Leadeye]

Had mail not showing up and or showing up damaged. Paper ran a story with our local carrier on the front page, stealing mail, mainly gift cards. Long story short after a good lawyer and a plea deal, the carrier is still working at the post office.

 

[Aggar]

They can't even get a simple letter across the county. I sent a cash rent check to a landlord and it never made it. Had to cancel the check and write another one that I ended up hand delivering. I always deliver my cash rent checks now. Don't want $10k out there floating around. And they wonder why they're not making money.

 

[mbafta]

I ordered a new trigger assembly for my nail gun in July. It left Salt Lake City the next day via USPS. It arrived 3 1/2 months later.

 

[Hookeye]

USPS stuff on Ebay, been flawless.

 

[mom45]

I had a skein of yarn that was shipped from Illinois (an hour and a half from my home). It went to Ohio and then Wisconsin before coming here...only took 10 days. I shipped a box of books from Knox to Hammond. They went to Pennsylvania before going to Hammond. That seemed super efficient to me.

 

[avboiler11]

All three shippers step on their crank every now and again, not meeting expected delivery times. I've had items at the UPS hub in Jeffersonville not unloaded from a truck, I've had the FedEx driver cruise right past my house while saying "delivery attempted", and I've had both shippers transport goods 150 yards behind my house on I-65 right on past to Indianapolis (UPS) or over to Lexington or Cincinnati (FedEx) before they turn around and come back toward my direction.

I've never had UPS or FedEx straight-up lose a package though, and also never had one get mangled.

Hell, I shipped a barrel from Sellersburg to Issac Frank over in Celestine (74 miles!) and this was what I endured:

 

[Cameramonkey]

At what cost? I've had a lot of items delivered by UPS over the years and if overnight or second day wasn't paid for you could bet your ass they weren't going to deliver it until it was supposed to be delivered. Tons of items sat idle at the hub for two or three days before they were delivered.

At least UPS has the common sense to leave them sitting until the day they are to be delivered. Fedex likes to put them on the truck, drive them around all day, take them back off the truck at the end of the day until the day the item is due to be delivered. I guess they don't want to miss an opportunity to lose or destroy a package.

No, you are wrong. Fedex gets them to the destination city and then locks them up until they are scheduled. I had an item I really needed but couldnt specify overnight. (no choice) I saw it arrived overnight to the office in Castleton. I Stopped by with tracking info and was told "That isnt scheduled to be delivered yet, so I cant get it for you. Come back in 2 days and I can give it to you." For Fedex, you get what you pay for, regardless of how quick they CAN do it without any extra effort or expense. Apparently they dont want people paying for ground from nearby cities and getting it next day. (cutting into their pricey overnight service) To actually get it next day you have to pay for next day. This was soon after Fedex ground spun off, so it could have changed.

UPS wants the items in and out of the chain as fast as possible to make room for what is behind it. In my case, I pay for UPS ground from CDW.com in Chicago, and unless it is between black friday and January 15, I get it next day (usually, no guarantee) for no additional charge. I can also send items to a handful of my branch offices overnight with ground service. I think my average shipping cost (with a corporate acct) was averaging $8 per shipment.

All three shippers step on their crank every now and again, not meeting expected delivery times. I've had items at the UPS hub in Jeffersonville not unloaded from a truck, I've had the FedEx driver cruise right past my house while saying "delivery attempted", and I've had both shippers transport goods 150 yards behind my house on I-65 right on past to Indianapolis (UPS) or over to Lexington or Cincinnati (FedEx) before they turn around and come back toward my direction.

I've never had UPS or FedEx straight-up lose a package though, and also never had one get mangled.

Ive had more heavy boxes damaged by UPS simply due to their processes, but no small items broken ever. LOTS of low skill manhandling. Fedex uses more automation. The bulk of my damage is due to shipper failing to overpack a box properly (not enough packing materials lets heavier boxes stacked on top collapse the totally unsupported cardboard, but typically the contents are still OK).

Once, a handler failed using part of the box that wasnt a handle to attempt to throw it. I was shipping a large server back to my office. It was big and heavy enough that the box had built in pallet jack spacers on the bottom. It was part of the glued cardboard bottom. It let you move the 80lb boxes around easy without having a separate wood pallet. On the return trip we speculate that a handler received the box upside down. He then proceeded to grab the convenient carboard handles and attempt to toss the box up onto a sorting table. Halfway through the swing, the bottom of the box separated from the rest and the server fell to the concrete, putting a HUUUUGE dent in it. Luckily it was only being returned to me to be salvaged/recycled, but still.

Oh, and UPS lost one package of mine in 10 years. It was a 2'x2'x 1" box. It apparently fell behind some equipment and was delivered to me 8 months later after the claim had been paid. It also looked like it had been walked on for half that time. It was in bad shape.

 

[phylodog]

No, you are wrong. Fedex gets them to the destination city and then locks them up until they are scheduled.

I watched the tracking for the item I'm talking about. They put it on the truck, drove it around all day and took it back off of the truck for two days before delivering it on the third day. I'm not making **** up. I called them about it and they said they put it on the truck "in case" the driver had time to deliver it which you and I both know is BS.

I have never had UPS deliver a package before it was supposed to be delivered.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I watched the tracking for the item I'm talking about. They put it on the truck, drove it around all day and took it back off of the truck for two days before delivering it on the third day. I'm not making **** up. I called them about it and they said they put it on the truck "in case" the driver had time to deliver it which you and I both know is BS.

I have never had UPS deliver a package before it was supposed to be delivered.

Wow. Wish I was surprised.

As to UPS, they advertise an estimated transit time openly. When you get an account, you get a card to post in your shipping dept for your market that shows transit times. From Indy, they advertise 1 day ground to chicago, Cincy Louisville, Columbus, OH, and possibly St Louis, as well as most places inside the state. I didnt mean to imply they get stuff there early, just that they dont hold packages like Fedex. If their system happens to get it there next day, it will PROBABLY get there in a day. Unlike Fedex that holds to a strict "what you paid for" (next day, 3 day, etc) model.

 

[williamsburg]

I have had several issues of late with the USPS on different levels. From mail delivery to my home, the alerts for delivery to my PO Box and package delivery both being the sender and receiver.

And UPS Mail Innovations is a whole other bad experience. They have sent packages the wrong direction twice on me delaying the delivery time. Their excuse both times was that once the package was sorted/scanned it was placed in the wrong cart. How does a package from Knoxville to Indy end up in Idaho?

 

[avboiler11]

I had FedEx lose a 1000lb 8'x5'x5' metal crate containing a jet engine in their hub in Memphis for about 12 hours.

Seriously, that's what they told me when it didn't arrive like it was supposed to...

 

[avboiler11]

I've had a number of UPS packages delivered one day earlier than the original expected date.

I've also had a couple packages that were delivered one day late due to it not being unloaded from a feeder at the truck hub in Jeffersonville.

 

[DarkRose]

Here lately my irritation has been ordering from Amazon and it arriving at the local USPS office early and being held there for 2 or 3 days until the "scheduled delivery date".

Had an order from NewEgg (computer parts) and didn't realize one item shipped from Taiwan... by slow boat... Somehow NewEgg got my old address onto the order from 2 years previous, the package that shipped from a US warehouse was simply returned for improper address, refunded, and I reordered double checking address...

The Taiwan package bounced between Columbus, Indy, Chicago, and a couple other IL cities for about 3 weeks before being sent back to the Chicago customs hub, never to show up again... USPS couldn't locate it after 3 visits to their office over 3 months... No luck making a claim via USPS or NewEgg, received a refund after leaving a negative public review...

It wasn't a valuable package, but it was for a build financed by a friend with a deadline before their semester started. Really irritated me.

Couple weeks ago mailed a package to a friend, checked postage with weight and dimensions via their website, but Print n Ship wasn't available. $6 via their lowest parcel rate (Media Mail didn't apply), so had to go in to the local office to mail it... Cost was $13 in person... They recommended taking the online survey and voicing my complaint about pricing change there...

Not impressed lately.

 

[hoosierdoc]

We use stamps.com for our shipping which is mainly USPS packages. We've dropped off dozens of items at the post office and had them scan as "delivered" rather than "accepted". Once they are delivered they cannot be scanned again. Then we get to deal with tons of people wondering why we delivered their package to the wrong city

 

[indyjs]

My Amazon package had a delivery date of Friday. I picked up my mail Sat at 1430 and it was not here. Status shows they put it in my box at 1330 SAT. This is getting to be routine on Amazon shipments
Maybe it will be there Sunday

 

[DarkRose]

My Amazon package had a delivery date of Friday. I picked up my mail Sat at 1430 and it was not here. Status shows they put it in my box at 1330 SAT. This is getting to be routine on Amazon shipments
Maybe it will be there Sunday

Lets not get into Amazon... lol. I love their prices and selection... but in a nutshell why the holy heck would I pay for 2nd day shipping when quite often my items don't even get shipped/leave the warehouse for almost a week?

Could be a USPS conspiracy?

 

[DoggyDaddy]

It's been pretty rare the a USPS package has passed me in transit before coming back. That's something I've come to expect from the others. I'm guessing what I'm experiencing are cost cutting measures showing up as crap service and wasted time. It sucks.

I recently ordered a part for my leaf blower off ebay that was sent USPS. The seller was located in Tampa, FL. The package was routed to Santa Clarita, CA before heading back east and finally arriivng here. Now I'm no logistics expert, but I'm pretty sure there has to be a shorter route from Florida to Indiana than going via California.

 

[hoosierdoc]

You have to remember the earth is a sphere. It doesn't make sense on a 2D map, but lay that map on a sphere and it will click