USPS black hole?
 

Tracking history - most recent (yes really) first:

April 9, 2021
In Transit to Next Facility
Your package is moving within the USPS network and is on track to be delivered to its final destination. It is currently in transit to the next facility.

April 5, 2021, 8:37 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JACKSONVILLE FL NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 29, 2021, 7:52 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
SEMINOLE-ORLANDO FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 29, 2021, 2:07 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
TALLAHASSEE FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 28, 2021, 11:02 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
TALLAHASSEE FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 27, 2021, 4:05 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JAMAICA NY INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 27, 2021, 5:05 am
Arrived at USPS Facility
DISTRICT HEIGHTS, MD 20747

March 27, 2021, 4:18 am
Arrived at USPS Facility
HYATTSVILLE, MD 20785

March 27, 2021, 2:07 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
BALTIMORE MD DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 26, 2021, 9:05 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
BALTIMORE MD DISTRIBUTION CENTER

March 26, 2021, 4:52 pm
Departed Post Office
LISBON, MD 21765

March 26, 2021, 9:00 am
USPS in possession of item
LISBON, MD 21765

March 26, 2021, 12:01 am
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
LISBON, MD 21765

March 25, 2021
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS

Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around. April 10, I bought a set of Tektro r539 brakes from an eBay seller in Bridgeton, MO (outside St Louis). They went to the USPS distribution center in St Louis and as far as I could tell, never left, getting the “in transit” message for 2+ weeks. Seller refunded my money and I bought the same set of brakes from a seller in California and the brakes shipped from (derp) Bridgeton, MO! These disappeared into the St Louis distribution center as well for about a week before landing in my mail box without any tracking updates.

Yesterday, the first set of brakes landed in my mailbox. I let the seller know and he emailed me a shipping label. It will be fun to see how long it takes them to get back.

Yeah, USPS is still struggling! I'm having a similar experience with a couple of rolls of bar tape. You can see below that I don't even have an update since 10 days ago--yes, this is current USPS tracking info:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b31f81e71b.png

Yeah, nothing like waiting for weeks with no movement and all of a sudden see it out for delivery and nothing in the box....next day check says it's across the country waiting to be processed to destination......Oh the (De)joy

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c88824d811.png
Dejoy is a the other kind of Boy Scout.

If it makes you feel any better, I just last week received a book that I ordered November 2, 2020.

Just a personal experience throughout the whole Post Office fiasco this past year - of the big three, FedEx has been the most reliable. Also, whenever possible I have begun to specifically request either UPS or FedEx shipping from the vendor, even if it costs a little more. Not always, and lately the PO has been less terrible here, but if possible and I want the item sooner, I'll ask.

Make a claim for it if it's Priority Mail.

Enjoy this one. Hasn't moved since March 16th: https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfi...05496414068442

-Kurt

I had a set of rims sit for about 3 weeks before finally showing up yesterday. It was USPS standard mail. You're not alone, and it's a case of just having to sit and wait for it to arrive unless you have a guaranteed transit time or delivery date.

If you really want some fun, order from abroad. I had a wheel coming from Poland. For two weeks, tracking said "Origin Post is preparing shipment"

Then suddenly it cleared customs in New York. Then nothing for a week.

Then suddenly it was delivered, and it was like the tracking entries backfilled.

Yup, ordered a Campagnolo 49t chainring from a UK seller on eBay back in mid April. Item moved quite quickly till it got processed through ISC Chicago, that was on April 22nd, no movement since.
Guess it’s not that long, but still frustrating, that bike has been on my stand for awhile now.
Tim

Prior to last year, I was constantly buying vintage watches - the cheaper kind - on Ebay and with very, very few exceptions, they arrived within 3 days of shipping, from anywhere in the US. Well, THAT'S been buggered.

I had a similar experience with USPS in March. According to the tracking log, the package kept getting bounced back-and-forth between regional distribution centers for over a week.

I initiated a claim/tracing request online to USPS. A couple of days after that the item began to move, and was delivered a week later.

Yeah, this kind of thing happens when the government intentionally tries to sabotage an essential service so they can have an excuse to privatize it. They've been chipping away at USPS since at least the 90's, but it's gotten worse lately because they now think they can get away with literally anything, and they're probably right.

I don't hate the USPS because compared to the national mail/post systems in many other countries it is far better. However, I do think that there is some room for improvement. I recently sent a couple of rims to another BF member and I had them packed in as small of a package as possible. The USPS would have been the most economical way to ship except that the middle of the box was bulging slightly more than the 2 inch thickness of the edges. These were just rims and so there was nothing in the middle of the box and it could easily be slightly compressed less than 2 inches. However, the postal clerk said that I had to be charged for 3" thickness (which about doubled the cost) because if any other mail stop along the way decided that I had not paid enough postage they would just charge me more later. Just sort of silly if you ask me. So I went to UPS and paid their rate for 2 inch thickness.

I don't want to give USPS employees too much of a hard time because they are just trying to make an honest living like everyone else. However, on an organizational/institutional level I felt like the USPS treated me like I was just another guy waiting in line and they were somewhat ambivalent to whether I actually shipped my package with them. At the UPS store, on the other hand, I felt more like a customer and that they didn't want my $26.60 of revenue to walk out the door and go to one of their competitors.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e643e88467.jpg
First we're going to torture and dehumanize the postal workers. Then we'll fire them all anyway. And finally put them all out on the street.. With guns.........

I had a package going to Montana. It said it left Bethpage NY. After about two weeks of no further tracking info, I filed a search request. About three days later, I saw it was delivered. On the same day, I got a call from a very pleasant woman in Montana saying she was sorry about the "lost" package. I had to tell her it was delivered.

I had another going to Miami. It made it there and never went out for delivery. I filed a search and they told me it was lost. The PO made good on the cost of the contents and shipping.

One more: A package going to a small town in Pa. It made it to Philly and there was no further tracking. I put in a search request and 4 days later they closed the request. Package still didn't move. A week later I contacted them again. I was told that due to covid everything was delayed. The package finally was delivered two days later.

I sent a box to my daughter on the East Coast, from California. Took over a month, and was more or less destroyed when it finally got there. Good luck.

I don't have things shipped to me USPS if I need them. Always pay extra if needed for UPS or FedEx.

As an aside, everytime I see a post like this I think of government running healthcare. Can't help but see our local postal employee running a medical facility where I need treatment...

Good Help is Hard to Find!

I have three different items all in limbo now (the "in transit to the next facility..." thing). It is at least good to hear that others are having similar issues.

My vague impression is they not long ago changed how they update the tracking, they seem to be hiding more stuff from customers to minimize the number of complaints they get. I was seeing packages routed all over the place before this change, my guess is they were having to deal with a lot of complaints when that was happening. Or maybe there is some other reason.

keep in mind the guy in charge of the postal system wants it to fail, and told congress, "you have to put up with me"
until the three nominated postal board of governors are confirmed, it will be the same.
The cost of scrapping all those sorting machines last year, and removal of mail drop boxes.

Guess I'm lucky, I've only seen 2-3 day delays generally. Sometimes as much as a week.

What I have noticed recently is some bizarre routing / timing. Three recent examples:
Brunswick GA -> Jacksonville FL -> Tallahassee FL -> Aurora IL -> Madison WI -- longest leg (FL-IL-WI) took the shortest time (25 hr)
Lakeville CT -> Springfield MA -> St Paul MN -> Madison WI (only way to MN from points east takes you through/past Madison)
Washington DC -> Southern MD -> San Antonio TX -> Madison WI (at least this one didn't go through/past Madison on the way....)

And he stopped shipping first class mail by air (it is all trucked now), and the mail carriers only deliver what is put on the mail vans in the AM (no going back for a second load). Soon they'll all be contractors probably.

Even if the bucket's full?





(Oh wait, that's Amazon, nvm.....)