USPS Delivery Delay

The reason I'm making this thread is to enquire anyone who maybe have explanation over the long delay of the post delivery in and out of US.

It's just I have some of the packages delivered with status sent from Indonesia as early as end of April - May 2011 to US and haven't been received till now (June 10th), while on the other hand, I also have some packages also incoming from US on end of April and have not been received by Indonesian Post Office till now.

I happen to order from Australia and shipped end of May and already arrived today. So I reckon that the problem is only localized to US only.

Anyone can chime in ? Any explanation or news would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Yoni

USPS has been a bit of a head scratcher for me. I had a package sent First Class International 4 days ago and received it today. Contrast that with a Priority Mail package I got a month or so back which took the full two weeks.

From that and other experiences I've had I'm starting to suspect that priority mail is held so it arrives on the tail end of the specified delivery time, while first class is "ehh... whenever...", so it can arrive very quickly or take ages.

A kind fellow just over the pond in the UK sent me an XP-G R4 neutral on a Friday, and it arrived at my door in the lower Hudson Valley on the following Monday—it came over the weekend! On the other hand, I ordered a special USB flash drive which is nigh on impossible to buy from U.S. dealers, and it's been ten days, with no flash drive in the mailbox. I read somewhere that small packages may be sent through quickly, while larger packages are more prone to an extended stay in customs.

I will try and dig up the link where I read this.

My dad is firmly convinced that under a certain weight, there is no distinction between First Class and Priority Mail (I am referring to shipments internally, within the Unites States) and that "Priority" is just a buzzword to get you to spend more.

The best way to settle the question is to find a CPF'er who works for the USPS and can substantiate some of this speculation. We must have at least one member...

This is par for the course. Sometimes it defies reason how fast things arrive in Norway. McGizmo lights arrive so fast it feels unnatural, while packages from my parents in the CONUS can take three weeks via the same small box priority service. I am not sure it's random, but I only have ordered from Don twice, so the n# is too low for statistics.

In the end, at least these packages all arrived. That would be the most important issue.

obi

I once sold some AMC7135 drivers to someone in the US, sent them first class - he didn't receive them until like 2 months later. I've only officially (that I can confirm) lost one package sent to a US address. I've officially had 2 packages never reach their destination overseas - one to Russia and one to Malaysia (I do a lot of overseas shipping) - but I don't know if I blame that on the USPS or customs in the receiver's country. I want to know why you can get a delivery confirmation number for USPS first class international on an Ebay purchase, but they won't allow you to purchase one online any other way or even in the post office??? All you they give you is a customs form #, which pretty much leaves tracking down a late or lost parcel as the job of the receiver. I think maybe the USPS's system may be antiquated and can't keep up with the constant and massive growth of on-line shopping and the such....

I wish you guys could experience Canada Post, I really do. USPS would probably seem amazing after that.

As far as I know, the difference between First Class and Priority is that when the postman goes to drop the mail in the box, Priority packages get delivered before First Class. So effectively you're getting your package 2 hours earlier.

Just have a small exchange of email with one of the sellers in US. When I asked whether the same also happen to his out of US packages, and he did notice that europe destinations seems to suffer the same problem. May 5th shipped and haven't arrived till now. After gathering all my order list, I just realized that it's not always the case that bigger is more delayed. My packages from powerpax is using priority mail and sent twice and always arrives within 7 days of order. The other big order box that I have is 12 catalogue book, shipped May 5th using first class and also haven't arrived.

I think this is the longest waiting time I've ever experienced and the thing it's happening for in and out of US packages which frustrates me as buyer and seller.

Well frankly speaking. My history of lost items bought from US has always been zero and I tried to keep it that way. That's why I tried keeping positive thoughts over all my outgoing delivery and incoming packages as well.

With respect to internal USPS shipments, both "First Class" and "Priority," I am generally very, very pleased with the service. I mail things both for CPF and personally all the time, and I had one instance where someone claimed not to receive their package. For all its publicized shortcomings, I think that in the domain of domestic shipments, USPS is terrific.

LEDAdd1ct said:

My dad is firmly convinced that under a certain weight, there is no distinction between First Class and Priority Mail (I am referring to shipments internally, within the Unites States) and that "Priority" is just a buzzword to get you to spend more.

Click to expand...

I agree. I send packages First Class, and they usually arrive in 2 days.

It my experience that USPS is the slowest of between UPS & FedEx. The thing I don't like it the difficulty in tracking packages. Although most recently in a purchase from Amazon I was able to track it just like the other two. Maybe they are getting better?!

First Class vs. Priority...

First Class vs. Priority Number Two

Members will need to be careful not to turn this thread into a litany of complaints about carriers.

There is an existing thread for Carrier Rants in CPFMP.

I ordered some torches from 2 seperate US sellers 2 months ago and they both took 2 weeks (14 days) exactly to the day. I ordered a Fenix TK41 from one of the same sellers as last time, the seller sent me an email to tell me that they had sold out and it would be 5 days until they received more stock and could mail it out. 5 days later i received an email from the seller informing me that it had shipped... and that was 18 days ago... where's my TK41

LOL that's 23 days since i hit the 'buy now' button on the website. LOL

However i sent a small telescope piece across to western australia (across the country) and it took a wopping 13 days to get across the same country. The buyer was getting quite irate, but we had the tracking number , not that the info was available anyway.

cheers

There are a few things to remember about postal shipments. First, most travel 'space available' , and on passenger flights of airlines of the same nationality of the sender. So if you are sending a parcel via something other than what the USPS calls Express Mail, if the passenger and/or freight demand from your country to the country of destination is high, postal service will suffer. The second way you can enounter large delays is if there is no service to the country via a 'Flag' carrier. Then the shipment will usually travel by a flag carrier to an intermediate destination, where it can be delayed still more.

Changes in security policy now force all but the smallest parcels onto freight only aircraft, and guarantee certain delays. I.E. in many countries, air freight must be held a minimum of 24 hours before it can be put on an aircraft, and a few airlines actually put the freight in altitude test chamber to trigger any potential barometric fuses before shipment. Collectively air shipment is now takes considerably longer than it did 10 years ago.


Another nail in the coffin is customs. Because there are no bribes to be paid for inspections of Mail parcels, in some countries they get very low priority as a result. In other situations, all goods from certain countries are subject to intense scrutiny by customs, and that can also produce substantial delays. Coming into the USA, a parcel from the UK is unlikely to get much attention. A parcel from Central or South America is very likely to be delayed for actual inspection.

The final problem is often manpower at the local post office. When I lived in Phoenix, it sometimes took 6 days from the time a parel with a tracking number arrived in the post office, until it made it into my PO Box. The local manager didn't want to pay overtime, and as far as he was concerned, parcels were his lowest priority. Tracking would show a parcel actually sitting in the Post Office for days. AT least with the USPS that is much less of an issue now that mail volume is down substantially.

IN my experience very very few parcels are actually lost by USPS, substantially delayed, yes. However that isn't the case in all parts of the world. I even have had a registered parcel go missing in Italy...

LOL ... here are my thoughts on the subject, the Postal system regardless of what
country is just like the Bermuda Triangle. You know it has gone in but you never know
when it will come out again.


Longest I have had to wait for a parcel from the US ...... 7 weeks, Kansas to London
Shortest I have had to wait for a parcel from the US ...... 3 days, Florida to London

It does help when the sender lives near an USPS International Service Center. There
are five of these in the US, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco
all International mail, incoming and outgoing are processed through one of these 5 centers

It also helps if the "package" is seen by the Postal system as a letter. Letters do not have
to be processed by Customs.

Okay just wanna keep up, suddenly yesterday 3 of 7 packages I waited from US are coming to my place. I asked the mailman again and he just said this week kinda overworked all of a sudden because large batch of shipments from US is coming. So I guess, little bit relieved.

I agree with tx101, I have also received one particular package from powerpax twice. Using priority mail it's taking exactly 7 days. It happened twice in April. So I thought it could be someplace have faster dispatch for international delivery, some place still normal / longer delivery time.

@DM51 : understood not to turn this into carrier rants and the intent actually is to find out the reason for sudden huge delay in USPS because normally it's not taking that long.

double post

LOL ..... I learnt a long time ago that dealing with the Postal system is an exercise in patience.
I do fully understand that after waiting 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks you start getting paranoid
but packages very rarely go missing in the Postal system.

Nowadays, half the time I forget that something is arriving in the Post

At least your guys' postal service isn't out on strike. Canada Post was doing rotating strikes, but they were locked out last night. No delivery 'til they get back in.

I haven't experienced any delays myself. I just received an item from Hong Kong that I ordered less that two weeks ago....probably the FASTEST delivery ever.