“I wanted to let you and my fellow readers know about the agonizing experience I had with the US postal service recently. They didn’t quite lose my “2 to 3 day” Priority Mail package, but inexplicably shipped it back and forth across the country for over 5 weeks, missing Christmas by over a week, and then told me I did not deserve a refund!”
I mailed the package on November 27, 2007 via USPS Priority Click-N-Ship from Salt Lake City to Great Neck, NY. It contained heirloom Christmas ornaments and 25-30 year old hand knit Christmas stockings that I was sending to my daughter, as we were spending Christmas at her home this year. Although the package was insured, these items are not really replaceable, so I was very distraught throughout the whole ordeal. The total postage was around $19.
Priority Mail between here and there consistently takes only 2 days, which is exactly what the USPS.com web site says as well if you price the postage. After a week I feared it was lost and started calling, and calling, and calling… Over the next 4 weeks, I made at least 50 phone calls, talked to 18 different USPS employees, including several supervisors (some as many as six times) in Salt Lake City, Denver, Jersey City, NJ, and Great Neck, NY. My package was finally delivered on January 2, 2008 to Great Neck. Here are the search results from the online “Track & Confirm” link, which detail my package’s bizarre journey:
Label/Receipt Number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
Detailed Results:Delivered, January 02, 2008, 1:24 pm, GREAT NECK, NY 11021
Arrival at Unit, January 02, 2008, 8:13 am, GREAT NECK, NY 11021
Processed, December 31, 2007, 10:33 pm, KEARNY, NJ 07032
Processed, December 29, 2007, 3:27 pm, JERSEY CITY, NJ 07097
Processed, December 21, 2007, 9:39 pm, DENVER, CO 80217
Processed, December 16, 2007, 6:46 pm, JERSEY CITY, NJ 07097
Processed, December 07, 2007, 6:44 am, DENVER, CO 80217
Processed, December 02, 2007, 12:02 am, JERSEY CITY, NJ 07097
Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 27, 2007What happened? I am still trying to find out. The first error occurred in Salt Lake City, where the package was sorted visually by an actual person. My package was put with the bulk mail, which is processed at totally different facilities than the Priority mail. Then, every time it was scanned in Jersey City, it was sent to Denver. No one can explain why this happened. I got the number for the Jersey City bulk mail center and started calling them on December 7, when I saw that it was sent to Denver. No one could explain why it was sent to Denver. What is most baffling to me is that I was told that the scanners do not recognize packages as “Priority”, despite the fact the package was prepared online and the barcodes are full of more than enough information to figure out the package is Priority mail! Apparently the postal service does not use their own informational databases to error check their package sorting. If it is incorrectly sorted at the beginning, good luck ever fixing it!
When I explained the the package contained irreplaceable items intended for Christmas, Phil and Richie in Jersey City assured me that they would “flag” the package so it would be manually removed when they got it again. That did not happen, and they sent it to Denver again! By now I was so frustrated that I was in tears. I was calling the Denver bulk mail center and the Jersey City center nearly every day. Lillian, a supervisor in Jersey City, said they had notes all over the facility to look for the package. Finally Phil found it on Saturday, December 29th, called me, and later delivered it to the nearby Priority Mail center.
Both Phil and Lillian claimed that an old UPS label on the bottom of the box was the cause of the problem, but it was not only half torn off, but also blacked out with marker. I am reasonably sure the barcode was not readable by scanner. Besides, Phil admitted the packages are scanned only once at each facility. Since my package was entered into the tracking database every time it was processed, it was obviously scanned correctly and the mutilated UPS label was not the problem. They simply refused to accept any kind of responsibility for their repeated errors.
Every person I talked to in consumer affairs during this ordeal told me I was entitled to a refund, which I certainly agreed with. After the package was finally delivered, I called, explained the situation, and requested a refund. I was told I did not qualify for a refund, because they do not guarantee any delivery except Express Mail! Despite the fact ALL of the literature for Priority Mail says “2 to 3 days”, apparently 5 weeks seems like a reasonable timeframe to them. I had to do even more calling, escalating, and fax my copy of the label (even though their own tracking database clearly shows all of the errors they made) to get my refund. After all this, they would only refund me by giving me $19 in stamps, despite the fact I had paid for the label with my credit card on their own web site. As if I ever want to send anything with the USPS again! I contacted my credit card company to initiate a chargeback.
I have learned a few things from this experience:
- 1. If you really want any accountability, guaranteed delivery times, or solid tracking, don’t use USPS.
- 2. Be sure to plaster Priority Mail labels all over your boxes to make sure they are sorted correctly.
- 3. Just use FedEx, UPS, or someone else!
In the end, it still seems no one has any idea why it was sent back and forth between Jersey City and Denver in the first place, and they don’t really care enough to debug their system so it doesn’t happen again.
Thanks for reading!
Really USPS, a refund in stamps? The Post Office can guarantee delivery dates, but only if you shell out a few extra bucks. If you want an extra measure of security, or a refund in greenbacks, you can always use one of the private-sector competitors—but we hear they are no better.
(Photo: The Library of Congress)
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Here is a thought experiment:
Think of how many pieces of mail your receive at your home each day. It can be anything: bills, greeting cards, books from Amazon, magazines, etc. In a given week you probably receive dozens of pieces of mail, in a month, hundreds. Now think of how many pieces of mail have been “lost” by USPS in the past year. Even if you’ve received particularly bad USPS service and they lost 10 pieces of your mail, that still puts their accuracy up around 99% – not bad in my book, when you considered how bad it could be.
@kc-guy: The USPS is owned by the govenment, but it does not receive funding from it. It is paid for completely by postage.
There ARE special delivery options, but they aren’t inexpensive. Registered mail is da bomb, short of carrying the item yourself.
I have had some delays by the good old USPS before, nothing this bad though!
Nothing though, NOTHING compares to the attitude behind the counter when trying to mail a package. After last week, and the disgruntled lady who blamed me for forgetting delivery confirmation (I did tell her I needed it) it is either UPS delivery or I will use the automated postal machine in the lobby.
I would rather send out my packages at Best Buy, and that is saying a lot.
@swalve: The problem is that the scanners may be able to read old barcodes, but that would not update her tracking number. Her tracking number is connected to the new barcode.
If the old barcode was scanned, it would not have update her tracking information. Rather than knowing it was in Denver, it would have simply disappeared into the ether.
I’m not saying there wasn’t a lot of fault on USPS here, but the OP and some of the comments bug me badly. On a site like this, I would really expect more people to know what the services are and what they do. Delivery Confirmation is NOT a tracking service. It does not CLAIM to be a tracking service anywhere. It is exactly what it says, confirmation that the package was delivered and when. It’s puspose is not to tell you where the package is, or when, or when you should expect to get it. If you want *tracking*, they have a service that does that step by step. Buy that instead.
I had a situation where my local postmaster signed for an insured, delivery confirmation package which I never, ever saw (an expensive, unlocked mobile phone). He even used his real name, which helped me put two and two together after doing some research.
This was an eBay purchase. PayPal didn’t care that I never got the package, only that someone had signed for it so I must have received it.
My recourse consisted of making a ton of noise at the postal inspector’s office, and disputing the credit card charge through PayPal (never, ever let PayPal do a bank transfer, always use a credit card!)
As far as I’m concerned, the entire USPS can suck my cock. In my experience FedEx has been the least inept and most careful in handling of the letter/package companies.
Oh my $deity- this is why I prefer to do in-person pickups for all my purchases and why I only buy from people that will do so. Shipping has been a pain in the arse.
@Buran: and @ sccoosdad
The track and confirm is a misnomer – they probably use it because you can track multiple delivery attempts, and because Express Mail does actually have tracking.
While the USPS Priority mail site does use the “track and confirm” term, the actual description of the service only promises that you will know if and when it’s delivered:
Verify delivery with Delivery Confirmation. Our low cost Delivery Confirmation service gives you the date, ZIP Codeâ„¢ and time your article was delivered
[www.usps.com]
The UPS label is what did it. Sure, it was “half torn off [and]
blacked out with marker.” Obviously, the scanners can read through the
marker.
I suspect that the root of her problem is that the ZIP code barcode
on the old UPS label was still visible. It is this barcode that drives
package routing, and the USPS uses the same format of barcode (in
addition to the Postnet barcode). It is very possible for the “find ZIP
code barcode” scanner in Jersey City to find the old UPS label
repeatedly, while the “find delivery confirmation barcode” scanner
found the USPS label and entered the tracking information in the
database.
Since the ZIP code barcode formats are identical between UPS and
USPS, a stray USPS label can cause similar problems on a UPS shipment.
I have seen it happen.
Unless new information is present on what, exactly, was on the UPS
label remnants, I have to blame the customer in this case. Their
failure to properly prepare the package by ensuring that contradictory
address information was removed completely caused the delay.
I’m sorry Mr. Poster, but the blame is on you for not taking responsibility for sending the package in a manner designed to arrive at its destination.
Clearly you should be well aware that big government is never responsible for anything, it’s always the civilian who is wrong. Consider yourself extremely lucky your package made it to its destination at all. Considering that it wasn’t damaged makes you one very fortunate man. Plus, you managed to get stamps out of the deal? If only I was as fortunate as you are!
It’s interesting that people talk about USPS’s “perfect record” – yes, they can usually deliver mail with some reliability and/or within reasonable time. HOWEVER, there is VERY little customer service and essentially NO backup in the case of error on their part. It’s impossible to check up on a package if you haven’t paid extra for special services, and even if you have it’s difficult. My family has had many pieces of mail delivered to us that was not ours – that were, in fact, supposed to be delivered to the other side of the US. The biggest issue is that nobody is held responsible – there’s no way to pin the responsibility on any one person or the postal service itself; there’s no way to get your refund, customer service, or help.
I’ve had a package stolen in transit, though it was listed as having been delivered… At my home city, rather than the destination. It contained a gift card, which when I checked had been used. I’m very sure the package was stolen by a USPS employee.
Sad fact: USPS hires many, many temporary employees for the Holidays season. They are not properly screened, a fact that permanent USPS employees have complained about.
Since I neglected to get insurance on my package, I can’t get a refund. I reported the incident to the inspection service. I don’t expect to get an immediate resolution but I do hope they eventually catch the thief.
As has been pointed out, Priority Mail is not guaranteed, only Express Mail. However, you’ll find most package delivery companies do not guarantee their services, except for the most expensive. Getting $19 worth of stamps is essentially “store credit”, so that’s not a bad deal.
And USPS does clearly state in many places, including their website, that Priority Mail packages should be clearly labeled and not contain other markings or labels. This situation is the reason why.
All that being said, FIVE WEEKS for a priority mail package is absurd, especially since she was in constant contact with multiple USPS employees during the time.
I once mailed a letter from Cumberland, Md. to Baltimore, Md. (154 miles) and it took 28 days to get there. The mail sat in the box on the street corner for 4 days (the Postmaster said that was impossible.)
USPS now has a new way for mailers to let you know the carrier has actually picked up the parcel from them.
When they prepare a click-n-ship label, they are offered the ability to also prepare a manifest for all the parcels. On that manifest is a barcode for the postal employee to scan when they pick up the parcels. That scan should show up the next morning to let the purchaser know his package is actually on the way.
Now when you see “electronic shipping info received” it means the company may just be trying to shift the blame for not having a product in stock to the USPS.
That being said, the USPS does a poor job of alerting mailers to this feature. I’m a mailman and I’ve never seen a customer use this feature. I even told one customer about it and they never used it.
The most likely explanation for this shipping delay is another old address label on the box. If I see a delivery address on one side of a possibly 50-lb box, I’m not likely to flip it over to search for other addresses. Likewise, if you want delivery confirmation service – don’t put the barcode on the BACK of the piece.
And while I’m making suggestions – if you plan to ship a parcel with USPS, be aware we have some pretty antiquated methods for handling parcels. Imagine your parcel is the one at the bottom of a 6-foot container full of possible very heavy parcels. Pack it accordingly. And if you mail a small parcel, it WILL be tossed like a basketball into one of these containers. (I cringe when I see this, but managers look the other way. My bro works at UPS and had to make signs to tell employees not to do this – so this is not relegated just to USPS.)
If it absolutely has to get there on time, use Express Mail. Then you can at least get your money back. I’m actually surprised you got stamps back. The manager may have taken that out of his/her own pocket (or more likely the office morale budget – hah)
Oi. That’s the thing about USPS. I usually choose their overnight guarantee because it NEVER gets their overnight and I get reimbursed for shipping but I have to go through hell to prove it.
@TinkishDelight:
USPS will also fib about who signed your package. They’ll always say that it was signed by the first initial and last name of whoever it was that you sent it to and by something before 12. It’s not until you request the actual scan of the signature that you find out the real details. I’m not sure if this is some sort of default or what, but it ALWAYS happens and I send packages USPS express at least once a month.
@Buran:
TRACK is for the Express Mail (which provides free TRACKING), CONFIRM is for Delivery CONFIRMATION, pretty clear to me…
@Bobg: When a carrier is dispatched on a route to clear out street boxes, CPU’s, mail outlets, and the such, they usually need to scan a barcode on the inside of the street box, or in the premises to prove they picked up the box.
So, it very well may be impossible that your letter sat in a box for 4 days, unless it was late on Saturday with a Monday holiday thereafter
This person is pretty darn lucky to get a refund – Priority is not guaranteed to be there within any amount of days, and many people will tell you it’s a ripoff. There’s nothing “consistent” about it. Not blaming the victim, this sucks that this happened, but that’s the facts.
Even if Priority shipping isn’t guaranteed to get there within a few days, I feel like when something is obviously mishandled this badly, some supervisor should have the common sense and decency to say, “You’re right, this is way worse than anyone could reasonably expect, and you shouldn’t have to pay for it.” I mean, she mailed it a MONTH early.
That being said, that issue with the UPS label has made me feel a lot less paranoid for wrapping all my packages in heavy brown paper before shipping.
Sorry folks but I think the USPS does a fantastic job handling millions of packages a year, most without any problems. I buy and sell on e-bay and am always amazed how quickly I get my packages delivered and received. I get free boxes, I print the shipping label at home, my packages are picked up at my house (FREE) and in the last 6 years, 1 package was lost. The incredible thing is it showed up 8 months later! And at CHRISTMAS time???? They KILL themselves! Let’s not forget how pieces of mail we all get daily and how many pieces we send out! How many get lost?
Ok they screwed this one up AND she deserved a refund. My only words of wisdom is “always ask for the supervisor’s manager first, and work UP from there!
@ladylarkoflunacy: I would agree with you more if USPS had any notion of customer service. Because they’re The Government, they apparently believe they can get away with hiring surly window clerks, incompetent telephone support personnel, and doltish PO Box personnel – all three things I’ve dealt with in just the past few months. To be fair, I think USPS is *trying*, because they know they’ve got a lot of competition from the private shippers, but they need to do a hell of a lot more to win me over.
It’s hard for me to get excited over the USPS when I’m getting local mail at my business PO Box that’s anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks old – and the only thing the supervisors can give me as a reason is that “we’ve got morons working here.”
i retired from the usps in ’96. i was a mailman for years, then when i could no longer walk a route, i became a mail handler, doing everything from sorting mail to cancelling stamps to loading and unloading trucks. sadly the story is not only believable, but all too common an occurance. from my own experiences, i have learned that the post office is a whole other world, and they have gone from being the kind and gentle friend to the postal patron of the good old days to the greedy and uncaring monster they are today. a good part of the reason for postage increases is that they keep purchasing equipment that is often outdated by the time it is built and delivered, so they end up storing it, as no one wants to spend the money to break it down even for salvage. 2-day delivery coast to coast USED to be called REGULAR SERVICE. I have not sent a package by usps since i retired, and have never had a problem with ups, and their rates are not that bad, and you can track your package, and get answers when you call that make sense.