Done with USPS...

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Okay, not really. This isn't a parody thread, just a legit (I think) question.

USPS service, as far as package delivery, has been getting sketchy as hell for me. The last thing I got from them had pretty normal tracking info...then said it was delivered. I had no package.

It ended up coming about four days later. First time I'd actually gotten an erroneous 'delivery' report, but random delays have become par for the course. I'm wondering if it's a local thing, or if it's been like this for everyone. The latest oddity:

http://webtrack.dhlglobalmail.com/?id=16119&trackingnumber=9274899999149812882013

So a company in AZ sends something through DHL on the 21st. It arrives in Memphis on the 24th. Generally that means it'll be to me (in Nashville) in a day or two, tops.

But after USPS receiving it on the 24th...nothing arrives on the 26th...nothing on the 27th...still no updates to the USPS tracking. When do I start to worry if my package disappeared?

I would chalk it up to holiday delays, but outgoing packages seem to not have these delays. I mailed something early Monday to Alabama...arrived Wednesday. Inbound keeps getting sketchier and sketchier, though.

Comments? Other than 'wait longer, douche'?

(okay, I'll take 'wait longer, douche.')
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,082
136
DHL is shit, especially when they get picked to be the middle-man at the last second cuz the other guys are overworked.

Lazer ship is no better. They drop stuff off at 2AM in the middle of freezing rain, dont even bother to put a plastic bag around the box.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
This was T-shirt Hell. I ordered a couple shirts as gifts. Knew they wouldn't make it by Christmas, but assumed they'd be here by the 28th.

FWIW I though DHL's ground was quite speedy...left AZ on the 22nd, arrived in TN on the 24th. Two days for ground across a good chunk of the country ain't bad.

Memphis is a giant hub, and usually only a day away from my door with any service- UPS, USPS, or FedEx.

I knew DHL didn't deliver anymore (at least not around here). Figured the shipper just had an arrangement with them.

You guys saying it's more likely that DHL fumbled the hand-off? I was just going by the prior problems I had had with USPS and their magical abyss that packages seem to sometimes fall into. (edit: on purely USPS voyages, that is. Have had little experience with 'mixed' shippers.)
 
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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,082
136
ANY hand off will have problems, because as a rule those companies dont work together and their systems are different.

DHL is almost guaranteed cuz they are a smaller, less experience, less organized service. With DHL you should thank jesus you ever get your package and if they do it correctly as the second company then its a bigger deal than jesus.
 

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
21,867
7
81
I've had pretty good experience with DHL. My packages were delivered from DHL labeled minivans.
 

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
Drop it
Hide it
Lose it

Regarding USPS, I bought something off ebay. I got the tracking number from the seller that evening. Cool. But a week later it still hadn't arrived and the tracking showed no activity at all (it was only going from NJ to OH). So I contacted the seller and asked if it had been shipped and he said yes it had. We started the process of double checking everything, but then that afternoon the package shows up. But get this - someone at USPS had taped a new tracking number over top of the old one! (The original label was one printed directly from paypal.) I checked the new tracking number info and somehow USPS had gotten it from NJ to some post office in KY o_O
 

dud

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,635
73
91
Okay, not really. This isn't a parody thread, just a legit (I think) question.

USPS service, as far as package delivery, has been getting sketchy as hell for me. The last thing I got from them had pretty normal tracking info...then said it was delivered. I had no package.

It ended up coming about four days later. First time I'd actually gotten an erroneous 'delivery' report, but random delays have become par for the course. I'm wondering if it's a local thing, or if it's been like this for everyone. The latest oddity:

http://webtrack.dhlglobalmail.com/?id=16119&trackingnumber=9274899999149812882013

So a company in AZ sends something through DHL on the 21st. It arrives in Memphis on the 24th. Generally that means it'll be to me (in Nashville) in a day or two, tops.

But after USPS receiving it on the 24th...nothing arrives on the 26th...nothing on the 27th...still no updates to the USPS tracking. When do I start to worry if my package disappeared?

I would chalk it up to holiday delays, but outgoing packages seem to not have these delays. I mailed something early Monday to Alabama...arrived Wednesday. Inbound keeps getting sketchier and sketchier, though.

Comments? Other than 'wait longer, douche'?

(okay, I'll take 'wait longer, douche.')



First, I'm not going to call you names because you seem genuinely concerned vice the douche OP of that Newegg thread. In your case you may have to find another shipping method in the future. this article I read the other day sprang to mind when I read your post:


http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/20/opinion/avlon-post-office/index.html?iref=allsearch


"Not to break the atmosphere of holiday cheer, but this Christmas could be the last for the U.S. Postal Service. It is losing $25 million dollars a day and staring down insolvency -- unless Congress steps in to pass a reform package that reduces its costs.

With just a few days left in the congressional calendar, there is still some small hope for a Christmas miracle -- maybe the Postal Service can be saved as part of a deal on the fiscal cliff. But with even Hurricane Sandy relief stalled, skepticism is growing."


Will the USPS go under? Not sure but they cannot continue with business as "usual" much longer. You may HAVE to use an alternative sooner than later. Good luck ...
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,082
136
I would also like to say on the west coast I had excellent service from FedEx and piss-poor from UPS. On the east coast it seems to be reversed.

Which I guess is good cuz Amazon prefers UPS and I shop online much more than anything else.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Well then...out for delivery now.

I'm gonna have to blame USPS again on this one. Kinda seems like it fell off a conveyer until a janitor found it or something. Or maybe it came to Nashville via drunken hobo.
 

rsutoratosu

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2011
2,716
4
81
they have a lot of these dhl over usps and fedex over usps also.. dont know how it works because once it hits usps, it takes longer !
 

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,666
21
81
why was something shipped DHL and then passed off to USPS?

Because DHL went through restructuring in 2008 laying off most of its carrier workforce. They no longer do residential deliveries and only act as intermediaries and international brokering.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2764163...cuit-city-dhl-hit-economic-woes/#.UN3wvpF4-3o

DHL uses USPS basically as a third party agent to deliver your mail. People don't realize DHL actually originated and headquartered in Germany as the Postal Service of Germany.
 
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GrumpyMan

Diamond Member
May 14, 2001
5,780
266
136
DHL has a product they call "Smart Mail", in which they hand off mailings to the USPS, saves them a ton of money on postage and the handling of their packages. My company uses it all the time.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
they have a lot of these dhl over usps and fedex over usps also.. dont know how it works because once it hits usps, it takes longer !

The idea is that FedEx/UPS/DHL handle the city-to-city legs and USPS handles the local delivery once it's in town, and no, it DOESN'T work well. Going 100% through USPS is more reliable.

It would be faster, cheaper, and more convenient for there to be a "Pick up at FedEx/UPS center only" option. You want home delivery, it costs more, but then you get a real FedEx driver.
 

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,906
4,930
136
The following is the heirarchy for all things shipping.

Bad <---- Worse -----> Worst
FedEx - USPS - UPS - DHL
 

hasu

Senior member
Apr 5, 2001
993
10
81
For some reason USPS (at least one agent I talked to) does not think that you are their customer. They think you are receiving some federal program though them.