USPS Priority - WHAT HAPPENED??

Bardagh

Bardagh

Well-known member
For years I used USPS Priority regularly to ship smaller items. It was always reliable and a good value, that is up until about two years ago and it has just gotten worse. I am not exaggerating when I say almost every single package I have shipped or had sent to me via USPS Priority in the past year or two has gotten lost or misdirected. They eventually arrive where they're supposed to go, but it may be as much as a week or even two later than it was supposed to. My wife has had the same experience and a couple of friends who I've talked to expressed the same, so this can't just be my isolated experience.

Last week I ordered a bunch of stuff from Amplified Parts and it qualified for free shipping...which turned out to be USPS Priority. I thought to myself, what are the chances this one gets lost or waylaid too? Well, I was supposed to get it this past Monday and it was already in nearby Atlanta last Friday...but ever since it has just ominously said that it is "in transit - arriving late." Where'd it go? Where will it end up next? Maybe it will go somewhere fun and tropical, or maybe it will go for a rugged Alaskan excursion. I can't wait to find out, that is if it ever emerges from this black hole.

At this point using USPS Priority is like paying extra to make sure your package gets lost and arrives nowhere near on time.
 
A recent package I had coming to me here in GA ended up in Puerto Rico, where it bounced back and forth between two locations for a week before eventually making it back my way. A buddy of mine up in Louisville just told me he ordered something from a business across the river in Clarkesville, IN that should have arrived the next day or maybe two at the most. It sat in limbo for about a week and now says it's in Hawaii. I can think of a handful of similar instances from the last couple years and many more cases of items almost getting here and then just sitting in limbo for days until they eventually just show up.

It is probably 20% or less of USPS Priority packages I have sent or received the past two years that actually arrived in the expected time frame.
 
The Postal Service is the only business I know that can offer such crappy service, and still get away with raising their prices all the time. Talk about a monopoly, but nothing can be done about it because it's a government entity. When I was working on my last project truck, I would buy a lot of smaller parts and have them shipped USPS Priority. It was almost a given that it would be at least a day late, and at times it would bounce back and forth between two locations or completely circle me a few times before it would end up delivering. It always got here, but I just never knew when it might arrive. Once, I had a package that was pinballing between two local post offices that were about 30 miles away. I finally just called the one that was closest and asked them to hold it there for me and I'd come get it. Ridiculous.
 
They are understaffed, have consolidated routes but don't pay OT. So, you have Mailpersons that have no chance of getting the mail to you in the normal time frames. Which sucks. I've had things 'out for delivery' and they still never show. I get the mail preview so I know when an item is coming, yet sometimes they never show.
Very frustrating. But, they've had cutbacks after cutback trying to remain viable...of course, this is all 20 yrs after Bush and Co robbed the USPS of most of their profits re routing those funds elsewhere. So, it always shows the USPS losing money but doesn't take into account their revenue gets diverted in the first place.
 
Don’t think I’ve ever had an issue with USPS and I’m a pretty frequent customer. Maybe you gotta spend more with them to get the Preferred Status
 
shar-vell Dan said:
USPS Priority mail has no gaurantee that it will make it there in 2 to 3 days.
Its just assumed.
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No, there's no guarantee but that is very different from routinely having packages get lost or sent on wild cross country detours. No exaggeration, it is nearly every time, especially in the past year or so.

What's particularly funny is I don't usually have any problem if I send something through the cheaper, non-priority mail service. Of course you can't track it, but shit shows up in roughly the timeframe you expect. The point of Priority mail is of course you can track it and it is supposed to be faster than standard mail, depending on where it's going - and again, it used to be. I used it a lot and it was reliable and consistent. Now it is like paying more to arrive slower than regular mail, and the tracking is there so you can play the game of seeing how badly they're fucking up this time.
 
Bxlxaxkxe said:
Don’t think I’ve ever had an issue with USPS and I’m a pretty frequent customer. Maybe you gotta spend more with them to get the Preferred Status
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Maybe part of the problem is almost everything coming to me gets processed in Atlanta first.
 
They also deliver (or fail to deliver) for others. My mail carrier dropped off a package on a Sunday. I asked her; “Workin on a Sunday?” and she said yeah we deliver for others now too.
 
SpiderWars said:
They also deliver (or fail to deliver) for others. My mail carrier dropped off a package on a Sunday. I asked her; “Workin on a Sunday?” and she said yeah we deliver for others now too.
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So increased workload with decreasing resources - a recipe for success!
 
Bardagh said:
No, there's no guarantee but that is very different from routinely having packages get lost or sent on wild cross country detours. No exaggeration, it is nearly every time, especially in the past year or so.

What's particularly funny is I don't usually have any problem if I send something through the cheaper, non-priority mail service. Of course you can't track it, but shit shows up in roughly the timeframe you expect. The point of Priority mail is of course you can track it and it is supposed to be faster than standard mail, depending on where it's going - and again, it used to be. I used it a lot and it was reliable and consistent. Now it is like paying more to arrive slower than regular mail, and the tracking is there so you can play the game of seeing how badly they're fucking up this time.
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When your PM shows up late there is no refund, you have no recourse. Its happened to me.
Thats when the Post Office tells you there is no gaurantee.
If you think the PO [the place you get one stamp for a dollar] is going to give you something because your mail is lost or late you live in another country and not this one.
Should it be on time / yes. Is it always on time / no.
Should you be comp'd / yes. But you never will because its a Federal Bureaucracy.
Also USPS tracking lies almost every time. Same with FedEx / UPS & all shipping.
Only thing gauranteed in life is death & taxes.
BTW USPS is your tax dollars at [work] pun.
 
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I don't care who appointed who in the USPS, they've always been sketchy. After 22 years of having a USPS account, I think I know. I've switched to USPS Ground Advantage instead of USPS Priority Mail. Why? It's less money and it gets there in 4-5 days, instead of 3. I can live with that. They are cheaper than FedEx now, and FedEx is trying to lower my rates to match....but it hasn't happened yet.
 
Let’s face it: the USPS sucks because they can suck. If it was a private business — apart from a “systematically important” business I guess — they would no longer be in business. Don’t listen to partisan clowns trying to blame it on past administrations or conspiracies about stolen profits. The truth is that like any government program, they can never fail, they always only need more money. 🙄
 
My postal driver pull in near the gate and chucks my stuff out the window of her vehicle.

How to make sure something doesn't work right: put the government in charge and provide comparatively high pay and benefits for a moron level job.
 
Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in on this thread. I only ship USPS Priority over the last 10 years probably. Granted most everything has been smaller stuff that fits in either the flat rate envelope or boxes. Maybe I've been lucky but so far I've not had a single issue. Most of the time it gets to its destination in three days max. A lot of times it gets there in two days. The tracking has always been accurate and they haven't lost or damaged anything. Again, maybe Ive just been lucky. I absolutely hate UPS and FedEx.
 
I've had similar experiences as OP with USPS Priority. A recent purchase; coincidentally from Amplified Parts, bounced back and forth between the regional facility and distribution center in the same town for several days before actually making its way towards me. Many times the tracking will update to "in transit" with no expected delivery date and stay that way until it arrives at my house. Everything always gets delivered, but hardly ever within the expected time frame.

I can't say too much better for other carriers though. Well UPS & FedEx will generally be on time, though it's a crapshoot if my package has been crushed to death or not. USPS may arrive later than expected, but generally stuff isn't beat to all hell.

Maybe it's a matter of the tradeoff... do you want it good or do you want it quick? Pick one.
 
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