Little help confirming something about USPS shipping

[jakedeez]

Hey - idk about you guys, but I sell a fair amount of stuff online, and ship mostly with USPS priority mail... I know I, and others have encountered the problem with USPS that tracking numbers don't update right away and often you can even get a package before the tracking number will show anything other then "label printed" or whatever....

My thought was that if a couple of people who have had this experience could post here agreeing that they have had this issue too, then people could link to this thread when a customer or trading partner is a little worried, understandably, because their tracking number doesn't update for a few days....

Anyway, if anyone has had this experience and wouldn't mind just posting to confirm it, I know I would appreciate it, and I think it could be useful to others as well.


I mean btw just for a little while, not that if its not updated after a week or something, but for a few days, I think its a common problem.

 

[keeleysam]

The thing that customers need to understand is that they are NOT tracking numbers, all they are for is to indicate delivery. If it's scanned along the way, sure, that is great, but it is really just an added bonus.

 

[EKKC]

customers: your seller is trying to scam you GO GRAB $$$ BACK REVERSE PAYPAL NOW OMGGGG!!!!!
j/k

yeah they suck at the numbers, but they tend to ship pretty fast, maybe because I'm in NYC, i usually get mose Priority mail packages in 2 days or so.

 

[jakedeez]

no one else has noticed this?

 

[Saint Nick]

Actually, I do sell a lot of stuff online, at least once or twice a month. And I always ship with USPS Priority and I agree--it takes a pretty long time for them to update the information. I have had a couple of transactions where the customer is wondering why the number information isn't updating.

 

[Ika]

In my two experiences with USPS Priority and their tracking numbers, I've found they update the number about 24-48 hours after you ship it out. Say you send it out 2 pm on one day; on the evening of the next day, the status will be updated.

But they disclaimer that the tracking number is rarely updated. Besides, it's not really a "tracking number" at all...

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: keeleysam
The thing that customers need to understand is that they are NOT tracking numbers, all they are for is to indicate delivery. If it's scanned along the way, sure, that is great, but it is really just an added bonus.

Exactly why it's called Delivery Confirmation. Granted, it's horribly inconsistent, but if you want updated tracking information, switch to a different carrier.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: jakedeez
no one else has noticed this?

I have noticed this all the time both on the shipping and on the receiving end. I still choose to use them both ways because they are so fast and so in-expensive.

 

[mcvickj]

In the past I've gone as far as scanning the DC receipt and the PO receipt for the seller to make them happy that their package was shipped.

 

[fatpat268]

The original purpose of delivery confirmation is so that the sender can actually confirm that an item has been received. This eliminates a little bit of fraud.

The misconception is that DC is a tracking number. It is not one. Yes, occaisionally USPS will scan the packages when it gets to a certain distribution center, but they're very inconsistent in doing so. USPS has way too much volume to reliably provide tracking information, and they only do it on express mail, IIRC.

Simply put, if you expect that Delivery Confirmation will act like a tracking number, you'll be sorely dissappointed. I suggest that you explain to your customers the purpose of delivery confirmation (although the name says it all) as they may be uninformed of the standard practices of the USPS. Like someone said before, if you want actual tracking, FedEX and UPS provide wonderful results, and they're able to estimate the date of delivery fairly accurately.

 

[Baked]

The purpose of DC is for the seller's protection so he knows the the package has been delivered. DC is free when you use Click-N-Ship on USPS.com, so I don't see why people are not getting it.

Delivery Confirmation is for the seller to confirm the package has been delivered, not for the buyer to track the package like a UPS/FedEx package. If the buyer's complaining about lack of status update on DC, tell him to pay for UPS/FedEx next time around.