USPS Tracking is a joke :)

[Pat Whatley]

What is the deal with USPS tracking? Why would anyone actually pay for it?

Fed Ex tracking....Fed Ex can tell you what plane your package is on, where that plane is on route, and who the pilot is.

UPS tracking....They can tell you what hub your package was last in and what hub it will be in next.

USPS tracking....They can tell you somebody MAY have shipped something and after the fact they can tell you it was delivered.

While pumping gas today I saw my shop mailman and he mentioned that he had a big heavy box to deliver to me yesterday (Saturday) but I was closed. The box contains the new monitors I ordered for the sales counter at the shop. The shipper emailed me the USPS tracking info Wednesday....for four days the USPS website has shown that a shipping label was created but that it may not have actually been shipped. The package made it from Boise, ID to Montgomery, AL and onto a local truck and NEVER got scanned into the system.

I'm not complaining, I expect that from USPS (I kind of appreciate the "We'll get it there when it gets there, dammit" attitude. If I want bells and whistles I'll use the other guys) I just thought the completely untrackable tracking was funny.

 

[wedosigns]

:ROFLMAO:Try getting stuff from USA to Canada! USPS to Canada Post, what a joke!

 

[ProWraps]

USPS is the worst!!!!

hmm. let me see. i truely wonder why the USPS is going out of business. .... oh wait. i know why. THEY SUCK SCHALTY BALLS!

im amazed the USPS is even functioning (well if you call losing billions of dollars a year, then yeah, functioning). mark my words in 10 years, the post office will be but a distant memory.

i love how the gov PRIDES itself in the fact that the USPS is the ONLY self sufficient govt entity. aka it pays for itself. welp, cough, um, our stupid idiot governemnt even was able to screw that up. soon stamps will be $30 each and it will still fail.

man i hated the NHB. but god we really need it back. i got some serious **** to say.

 

[SuperBrady]

I would not call USPS as a tracking system it is more of a delivery conformation system, only works AFTER the delivery

 

[James Burke]

Ditto squared. It's lame and pitiful and only beneficial as a "CYA" if a dispute ever arises.


JB

 

[Pat Whatley]

I'm not faulting the USPS as a whole. The fact that for 44¢ I can send a document across the country and have a 99.999% chance of it getting there successfully is pretty dang impressive.

 

[showcase 66]

It drives us nuts here as well. I always ask the driver picking up the package to scan it while He is in front of me and if I have to drop it off, I usually will hand it to the person behind the counter and get the confirmation scan.

As for the Post office losing money. From what I have gathered from the mail carriers here is that if the Gov. would stop taking money away from them, then there would be no problems. Also, they have thousands of employee's who qualify for retirement but wont retire. There is something in with them still working gives them a higher percentage or something like that for when they do actually retire. I have heard a bunch of the mail carriers, who want the Union and the PO to do away with the extra benefit for the qualified retirees. By doing this, a bunch of the people qualified to retire, would do so and this would drop their yearly salary payout by millions.

Now I will say this for their shipping. I sent 2 packages and 1 card to Pennsylvania from AZ on the Wednesday before Christmas. Letter first class, 1 package Priority, and the other Express because I needed it there by Friday.

The card was the only one there before Christmas.

Go figure?

 

[binki]

USPS can't tell you anything about your package until it has been lost for months. We have given up on their tracking. The local guys at the USPS office are too busy making chit-chat with their friends that stand in line for 20 minutes to buy one, yes one, first class stamp for their letter.

They can all close down imo. For biz we use ups or fedex.

 

[RebeckaR]

A week or so ago I mailed a package First Class mail from my town to Salt Lake City which is about 90 miles away. The delivery confirmation says that the package was delivered.
My customer says she never got it.
The Post Office won't do anything because they say it was delivered.
Awesome.
We reached a compromise: I sent the order again at no cost and the customer paid for UPS shipping.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I shipped 4 packages. I stood in line and got a shipping receipt and watched them scan... and then they went into... that magical place where packages go when they have disappeared. Nothing showed up on the tracking history.
After 10 days (and a couple of upset customers) I went to the Post Office with my tracking numbers and everybody had a blank stare and a puzzled look. The post mistress offered to walk me through the facility to prove to me that none of the packages ever get left sitting in a corner somewhere at the end of the day- which is what I suggested may have occurred. They had no idea where FOUR packages could have disappeared to. I would have to guess that there were more than my four missing items because the mail all goes in to a bag before it goes on to the mail truck.

Magically, the next day I ran the tracking numbers and all four packages showed up as being scanned at the Salt Lake facility.
So.... they joy ride around in the truck for a week? geez.

This is a small town, so the ladies at the Post Office know me and tend to look a little anxious when I walk in holding my receipt.
Their poor business practices make ME look bad. That makes me cranky.

 

[phototec]

Lets see...

UPS: Private company in the business of making a profit by offering good service to their customers.

Fed Ex: Private company in the business of making a profit by offering good service to their customers.

USPS: Government run company in the business of making salaries for the employees, who are SLOW, NON-PRODUCTIVE, work about 6 hours a day at most, when not taking breaks, just racking up the years waiting for the government pension, get every holiday off you can imagine.

Yea I'm bitter, as a Vietnam veteran, I worked 17 years for Texas Instruments, and 4 Years for Dell, never got Veterans day off (had to work), however my NON-veteran mail carrier get Veteran's day off with pay, and I receive no mail that day. What's wrong with that picture?

 

[GAC05]

I have to say that I have had pretty good luck with USPS.
FedEx and UPS air to Guam are just about too expensive to consider.
Most times I get stuff by Priority mail out of the mid west in 4-7 days at less than a 3rd of the cost of the private haulers.
Haven't had anything go missing yet but some of the boxes do come in looking like they took a shortcut through a wood chipper on the way here.
Tracking has never worked...

wayne k
guam usa

 

[TresL]

I have had better luck with them(USPS) than UPS or FedEx.

I can tell when UPS is here by the loud thud by the front door.
AKA: the package hitting the ground

 

[Locals Find!]

USPS is only good for sending regular mail. Leave the packages to the package guys UPS & FedEX.

Just an FYI though for those on Facebook if you post on the UPS wall on Facebook they usually will respond and attempt to address your issue. They have a team of dedicated individuals whose job is to monitor facebook and provide customer service.

I have had many an issue escalated through them and resolved quickly. Like my driver throwing my packages from his truck up the driveway because my dogs make him pee his pants and the small one jumped into the truck one time wanting a ride. Now I have a new better driver who likes dogs.

 

[AnotherSignManiac]

I use USPS for anything snail mail related (letters and other non-important things) any packages always go through UPS

 

[Gino]

USPS is only good for sending regular mail. Leave the packages to the package guys UPS & FedEX.

Just an FYI though for those on Facebook if you post on the UPS wall on Facebook they usually will respond and attempt to address your issue. They have a team of dedicated individuals whose job is to monitor facebook and provide customer service.

I have had many an issue escalated through them and resolved quickly. Like my driver throwing my packages from his truck up the driveway because my dogs make him pee his pants and the small one jumped into the truck one time wanting a ride. Now I have a new better driver who likes dogs.

Out of curiosity.......

Why do you have several dogs at your place of business ?? I thought in capital letters, you told me you were located in a professional office building with lawyers, real estate companies and all kinds of other professional businesses ?? How is it you have a driveway there ?? Most delivery people will come through a delivery door or loading dock and deliver packages to each and every office as needed. There are no driveways at malls, let alone dogs running around on a driveway.

I take it, this is another one, like your 'worm'.






Sorry, but some things just never cease to amaze me.
​

 

[signguy 55]

Best words of wisdom I heard about 15 years ago.....

Live in a rural area, 10 miles from the nearest neighbor the USPS has to deliver your mail free of charge.

Live close to the Post Office, drive your vehicle and use your gas and your time to get your mail and you have to pay for a PO Box.

Should be the opposite.

Of course, I did have to mail a letter to South Korea a few months ago, cost me only 92 cents, I guess it got there.

 

[Locals Find!]

Out of curiosity.......

Why do you have several dogs at your place of business ?? I thought in capital letters, you told me you were located in a professional office building with lawyers, real estate companies and all kinds of other professional businesses ?? How is it you have a driveway there ?? Most delivery people will come through a delivery door or loading dock and deliver packages to each and every office as needed. There are no driveways at malls, let alone dogs running around on a driveway.

I take it, this is another one, like your 'worm'.






Sorry, but some things just never cease to amaze me.
​

I have packages delivered to my house for things other than my Print/Sign business. I have a few other endeavors that require deliveries. Don't know why you wouldn't be able to draw that conclusion yourself.

 

[TheSnowman]

I wish UPS or FedEx would give us an alternative for regular mail as well and not just packages. I feel like I pay big bucks to send stuff UPS or FedEx, but it gets there way quicker, I know where it is, and I can rely on it. If I have anything other than an envelope to send, it always goes anything other than USPS.

 

[EGI]

Something most people aren't aware of with USPS, they recycle their tracking numbers. And it's quite possible to have 2 packages in transit with the SAME tracking number! Avoid USPS at all costs!!!

 

[royster13]

As someone who ships and/or receives 100s of USPS packages a year, I do not have enough complaints to worry about them....

And even with UPS and/or Fedex there are still problems......None are perfect....

PS....I never insure anything I ship...Shipping insurance is expensive....I do build insurance into my shipping costs but self insure.....I do not recall a lost or seriously damaged package in over 10 years.....So if I do have to pay for one out of the money I have saved over the years, I will still be far ahead....