The USPS SUCKS

[Dan Gould]

13 minutes ago, jcam_44 said:

I feel with the lack of activity in this thread we’ve all just given up. Haha

Well I'm a predictable participant but I've hardly done any purchasing this month and most that's been sent here has been FedEx or UPS.  With them the problem is leaving it at the street, 300 feet away and not driving down the driveway - but not failure to adhere to scheduled delivery days.

[Dan Gould]

We have a new(?) competitor for worst regional/local USPS office, to go with Newark and Chicago: Philadelphia.

I shipped something to former member Joel Fass who lives in Philly. Its been at the Philadelphia Network Distribution Center since February 2nd, a week ago.

[Big Beat Steve]

Competitors for delays like that happen all the time.
I ordered an LP from an Italian eBay seller before Christmas, and it was marked as being handed over to the shipping agency on Dec. 17. Then nothing happened and the tracking info remained unchanged at that status. I knew holiday shipping loads and the virus were likely to cause delays but around New Year I became a bit worried and contacted the seller who promised to check with the shipper.
But stil nothing happened in the tracking status. Then, a couple of days later (around Jan. 7) I finally got an updated tracking info link that showed that the parcel had actually made it to the main sorting center of that shipper (Hermes) in Germany but for 3 days had been marked as leaving that sorting center to go into the distrubution center, then back into the sorting center, out again to the distribution center, and so on. I managed to get hold of someone at that center on the phone around that time and they promised to check it out by the tracking number figuring that maybe there was a problem with the address o the parcel. But things remained unchanged for several more days - into the sorting center, out to the distribution center, back in, and so on. Then, after having already worked out the details of a possible refund with the seller and after some TEN days of this endless circle of to and fro shippings in one and the same center showing up in the tracking info, lo and behold - on Jan. 16 the LP all of a sudden showed up on my doorstep. The original address label had been totally correct but though a new one with my (identical) address had been stuck on the parcel on the day I phoned them (according to the fine print on the label) the parcel still remained stuck for about a week before it finally moved on and then some 300 miles down to my place. Go figure ...

Anyway, all was well that ended well but it DOES worry you in these times ...

Edited February 9, 2021 by Big Beat Steve

[jazzbo]

My most obvious postal mess up was a fuse I ordered from eBay. Came from Japan. It shipped April 3, 2019. By July I decided it was not coming but asked the seller for any other tracking he might have. He refunded my order. A month later that seller withdrew from eBay. Saturday the fuse arrived! TEN months after the shipping date.

[Brad]

1 hour ago, jazzbo said:

My most obvious postal mess up was a fuse I ordered from eBay. Came from Japan. It shipped April 3, 2019. By July I decided it was not coming but asked the seller for any other tracking he might have. He refunded my order. A month later that seller withdrew from eBay. Saturday the fuse arrived! TEN months after the shipping date.

Except for ordering from CD Japan, I’ve given up on buying anything from Japan because of postal restrictions. For that matter, anything from Europe as well. Back in November I ordered a book from Amazon UK. It just arrived last week. In late December I ordered several records from a German audiophile company called In and Out Records. Who knows when they will arrive here. The tracking hasn’t changed since it was shipped. Patience, extreme patience, has to be the watchword. 

[ejp626]

50 minutes ago, Brad said:

Except for ordering from CD Japan, I’ve given up on buying anything from Japan because of postal restrictions. For that matter, anything from Europe as well. Back in November I ordered a book from Amazon UK. It just arrived last week. In late December I ordered several records from a German audiophile company called In and Out Records. Who knows when they will arrive here. The tracking hasn’t changed since it was shipped. Patience, extreme patience, has to be the watchword. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the shipping from Amazon.co.jp was.  They were using DHL and it usually made it to Canada in a couple of days.  I don't order from Japan often (and try not to even look most of the time so there is less temptation), but it wasn't really a hassle.

On very rare occasions the shipping from the UK to Canada is a bit cheaper than to the US (I guess the Commonwealth connection  ), and certainly a lot of UK (and EU) vendors won't bother anymore with shipping to Canada, but once in a while there are still deals to be had (probably because vendors have forgotten to update previously set foreign shipping rates...). 

That said, I certainly order less than I used to and have mostly gone digital, and this is probably overall a good thing.  Certainly my children will agree if there is even less junk/stuff around for them to have to deal with...

[Brad]

14 minutes ago, ejp626 said:

I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the shipping from Amazon.co.jp was.  They were using DHL and it usually made it to Canada in a couple of days.  I don't order from Japan often (and try not to even look most of the time so there is less temptation), but it wasn't really a hassle.

On very rare occasions the shipping from the UK to Canada is a bit cheaper than to the US (I guess the Commonwealth connection  ), and certainly a lot of UK (and EU) vendors won't bother anymore with shipping to Canada, but once in a while there are still deals to be had (probably because vendors have forgotten to update previously set foreign shipping rates...). 

That said, I certainly order less than I used to and have mostly gone digital, and this is probably overall a good thing.  Certainly my children will agree if there is even less junk/stuff around for them to have to deal with...

That’s what CD Japan does and the big companies probably have a corporate rate because of volume. Unfortunately, the small sellers don’t and to ship something by DHL can be prohibitively expensive. 

[jazzbo]

Shipping via DHL is not cheap via cdjapan either and in "normal" times there are less expensive options but not now, still total shipping via DHL for 8 to 10 cds is about 28 dollars, so ordering that many is not exorbitant imo. Especially as they arrive in three or four days. That fuse I think was a victim of the first shut down of regular postal service from Japan and got lost in the shuffle until recently. I have in fact ordered other discs from Japan from private sellers when the price was right and though a little patience is required, there have been no real snafus.

Edited February 9, 2021 by jazzbo

[ejp626]

11 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Shipping via DHL is not cheap via cdjapan either and in "normal" times there are less expensive options but not now, still total shipping via DHL for 8 to 10 cds is about 28 dollars, so ordering that many is not exorbitant imo. Especially as they arrive in three or four days. That fuse I think was a victim of the first shut down of regular postal service from Japan and got lost in the shuffle until recently. I have in fact ordered other discs from Japan from private sellers when the price was right and though a little patience is required, there have been no real snafus.

24 minutes ago, Brad said:

That’s what CD Japan does and the big companies probably have a corporate rate because of volume. Unfortunately, the small sellers don’t and to ship something by DHL can be prohibitively expensive. 

Maybe there was some discount for 1 or 2 CDs, but I'm sure I didn't pay $28 for shipping.  No question smaller merchants are getting squeezed.

My cousin just mailed a book from Brooklyn to Canada, and it cost him $20!  That is by far the most outrageous I've seen (and I think he was screwed by USPS).  Still, if this becomes the new normal, I won't order anything from the States going forward.  And so our worlds become that much smaller and closed off...

[rpklich]

Very sympathetic to everyone posting.  The USPS lost only two packages for me last year. (One was books the other cds.) That doesn’t bother me as much as it is ten days since I received my regular mail.  Junk mail, bills, tax statements, letters etc.  Nothing.  I live in a 3 flat in Chicago and nobody else in the building has received anything either.  Same with six flat next door.  They are making the case to go paperless.  Emailed USPS, and only got an automatic response.   Having good results with packages by getting them sent to a relative in the suburbs.

[Brad]

1 hour ago, jazzbo said:

Shipping via DHL is not cheap via cdjapan either and in "normal" times there are less expensive options but not now, still total shipping via DHL for 8 to 10 cds is about 28 dollars, so ordering that many is not exorbitant imo. Especially as they arrive in three or four days. That fuse I think was a victim of the first shut down of regular postal service from Japan and got lost in the shuffle until recently. I have in fact ordered other discs from Japan from private sellers when the price was right and though a little patience is required, there have been no real snafus.

Correct. It’s not terribly expensive when you order several cds. I asked a Japanese eBay seller about using DHL as I was contemplating buying a few cds from him and he told me it was too expensive, around $80.  For the time being I’ve excluded Japanese sellers from my searches. 

[ejp626]

Sometimes you just get lucky. 

I've had good experience ordering directly from the UK from BFI and now Cult Films.  The shipping prices were reasonable, and I think in both cases actual shipping time was under a week.

[Dave Garrett]

5 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I've had good experience ordering directly from the UK from BFI and now Cult Films.  The shipping prices were reasonable, and I think in both cases actual shipping time was under a week.

Good to know. There are a few BFI blu-rays I've been meaning to get, and as I've never ordered directly from them before, I was wondering about their international shipping rates. 

[ejp626]

32 minutes ago, Dave Garrett said:

Good to know. There are a few BFI blu-rays I've been meaning to get, and as I've never ordered directly from them before, I was wondering about their international shipping rates. 

Surprisingly reasonable (after the shock of Amazon.co.uk base shipping).  Now again, that was to a Commonwealth country...

Anyway, I wouldn't hesitate to order directly from them again.

[Pim]

Well I don’t know if it’s USPS or PostNL (and believe me, they suck at least as much) but it’s now the eighth week that I am waiting for a record from the USA.... I think it’s probably lost

[riddlemay]

On 2/9/2021 at 10:33 AM, rpklich said:

Very sympathetic to everyone posting.  The USPS lost only two packages for me last year. (One was books the other cds.) That doesn’t bother me as much as it is ten days since I received my regular mail.  Junk mail, bills, tax statements, letters etc.  Nothing.  I live in a 3 flat in Chicago and nobody else in the building has received anything either.  Same with six flat next door.  They are making the case to go paperless.  Emailed USPS, and only got an automatic response.   Having good results with packages by getting them sent to a relative in the suburbs.

When I started reading your post, I made a bet with myself that you live in Chicago. I won. I don't know what neighborhood you live in (we're in Lakeview), but something's gone terribly wrong here. Hearing from friends all over the city. For us, out of the last 18 mail-delivery-days, we've had delivery on 6 of them.

Edited February 21, 2021 by riddlemay

[Brad]

I don’t know who to blame, German mail or US mail, probably the former but I ordered several records from a German company called In and Out Records and the tracking hasn’t moved since December 22. On the other hand, I just received a book from Amazon UK that I ordered in November so I will give it until the end of March. 

[Dan Gould]

16 hours ago, riddlemay said:

When I started reading your post, I made a bet with myself that you live in Chicago. I won. I don't know what neighborhood you live in (we're in Lakeview), but something's gone terribly wrong here. Hearing from friends all over the city. For us, out of the last 18 mail-delivery-days, we've had delivery on 6 of them.

Philadelphia may be a close second ... outside of the whole "we'll deliver your daily mail if and when we feel like it" thing.

I sent a box to former member Joel Fass in Philadelphia. The package reached the Philly distribution center February 2nd. it was delivered to him this past Saturday, more than 2 1/2 weeks after.

[ejp626]

56 minutes ago, Brad said:

I don’t know who to blame, German mail or US mail, probably the former but I ordered several records from a German company called In and Out Records and the tracking hasn’t moved since December 22. On the other hand, I just received a book from Amazon UK that I ordered in November so I will give it until the end of March. 

My favorite was when I had an UK company that was shipping a couple of DVDs and a book marked on the invoice that the shipment was complete (when only the DVDs had arrived).  I wrote them and said are you sure about that?  They said, yes everything is shipped.  I waited quite a while and finally wrote back and said I'd like a refund.  At that point, they went back and said that I was in luck, they could send as a replacement the exact book that hadn't arrived.  Sure.

This did eventually turn up, so it was a happy ending, but was it that hard to confirm (or admit) that they just hadn't shipped the item in the first place? 

[ejp626]

I was checking with this small indie press.  They took two chapbooks to the USPS, where they wanted over $20 to mail to Canada!  So I said, sorry but no.

Sometimes you can slip stuff into a thin envelope and get a lower rate, but it is just getting harder and harder to escape these ridiculous rates.  Fortunately, I have built up a big enough collection of everything that I can basically just accept that I won't be getting anything from the States from here on out.  And my kids are basically of the mind that they aren't interested if it isn't digital.

[jlhoots]

I purchased a gift subscription to Vanity Fair for my daughter in early December. She hasn't received a single copy.

[Big Beat Steve]

10 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I was checking with this small indie press.  They took two chapbooks to the USPS, where they wanted over $20 to mail to Canada!  So I said, sorry but no.

Sometimes you can slip stuff into a thin envelope and get a lower rate, but it is just getting harder and harder to escape these ridiculous rates.  Fortunately, I have built up a big enough collection of everything that I can basically just accept that I won't be getting anything from the States from here on out. 

This has more and more been the prevailing thought for me too. And same for the UK, alas, it seems. I've just checked a few older magazines on eBay I still had fancied but shipping rates have not only gone through the roof (the UK postal services had increased their "overseas" rates for some time anyway) but they vary so heavily that I even am wary of the passably affordable quotes. Who knows if the seller won't say "Sorry, on checking closer is costs .... instead" later on? Fine new world ...

[ejp626]

5 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

... but they vary so heavily that I even am wary of the passably affordable quotes. Who knows if the seller won't say "Sorry, on checking closer is costs .... instead" later on? Fine new world ...

That happened a couple of times to me, where obviously the seller hadn't bothered to keep up with postage and was totally surprised when they went to post office.  Once was on discogs and once was on some book site (not Amazon, which I think really does lock you into whatever postal rates the seller has selected).  I followed through, as the alternatives weren't any better -- and they still weren't asking for $20 shipping -- but I was extremely aggravated.

[Ken Dryden]

The USPS continues to find ways to underachieve. 

I sold a CD on Discogs and shipped via media mail on 12/29 to Indianapolis.
It next tracked in Cinncinnati on January 6. Then on February 25, it arrived in Pittsburgh.

The empty package was returned to me today (3/19) by my carrier, with one end torn completely off - no sign of the tape I used to seal it) and it obviously had water damage. It was sealed in a bag with a form letter apology.

I was told that I could get my postage refunded by going to the post office where I mailed it.

No dice, I was told the claim had to be filed on line.

When I tried to do that, it was automatically rejected, since it has been over 60 days.

Screw the USPS...they need to be reformed or at least driven out of handling packages.

 

[Aggie87]

My turn for some fun.  I pre-ordered a signed book for my wife, from one of her favorite authors when she was younger, about 6 months ago.  Release date was March 16.  So the package started in Auburn, Washington on the 16th.

 

3/17 - Shipment received, Auburn, WA.

3/18 - Arrived at Seattle WA Network Distribution Ctr

3/18 - Left Seattle WA Network Distribution Ctr

3/18 - Arrived at Seattle WA Distribution Ctr

3/19 - Departed Seattle WA Distribution Ctr

3/19 - Arrived BACK at Seattle WA Network Distribution Ctr (Sigh. I guess the package was wined and dined here the first time, so it went back for more)

3/20 - Departed Seattle WA Network Distribution Ctr

 

** 5 days with no updates, so it's a mystery where the package went ** 

 

3/25 - Arrived at Philadelphia PA Network Distribution Ctr (Yeah!  Philadelphia is only 25 miles from my house!)

3/25 - Departed Philadelphia PA Network Distribution Ctr (ok, so it's gotta be getting closer)

 

** 8 days with no updates **  

 

4/2 - Arrived Jersey City NJ Network Distribution Ctr (crap, this is like 90 miles away, not the right direction, not touristy either so what gives, package? I could see going to Atlantic City or Cape May or something, but Jersey City??)

4/3 - Departed Jersey City NJ Network Distribution Ctr (hmmm)

 

** 3 days with no updates ** 

 

4/6 - Arrived BACK at Philadelphia PA Network Distribution Ctr (jeezus, Philly's a great food city but..  My package must REALLY show it's appreciation when it's wined and dined)

4/6 - Departed Philadelphia PA Network Distribution Ctr, to destination unknown.

 

Hopefully it arrives by my wife's birthday in June at this point.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Aggie87