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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.
I did notice a slight improvement throughout most of February and the very beginning of March, but the last couple weeks have been as bad as November/December. I am probably not the average shipper, as most of the boxes and envelopes I ship are via media mail, and most of the first class and priority mail I send are tubes (which take WAY longer than estimates even in normal times with practically NO exceptions). I also noticed that most of my recent first class and priority mail is going through Lehigh Valley, PA, which it never has (it typically goes through Philadelphia). Just before I noticed this change, there was a report on my local news saying that the Lehigh Valley sorting center was experiencing extraordinary delays. Why on earth would USPS decide to start routing my mail through a center it has never gone through at a time when that very center is already backlogged?
@lessthanthreerecords
That may be due to the fact that the USPS hires subcontractors to collect the mail parcels.
I also live in PA, and there are times when I see that my order and/or shipment runs to either the Pittsburgh Dist. Center, or one in Warrendale PA.
It also could be because Louis Dejoy has ruined the efficiency rate of the service.
It created an overflow to which backlogs have become more prevalent.
The same thing happened to PHEAA (student loan agency) when they decided to remove a third shift.
It created a 2 1/2 week backlog for processing payment.
Customers were getting late fees for on time payments. They ‘Thanked’ the agency wholeheartedly. : )
And PHEAA ended up paying a 50% increase on wages for overtime to cover the shift that was removed.
Sometimes management thinks more of making a name for themselves rather than maintaining a good operation. Very conceited, not at all a qualification to be running any operation. May as well be texting in the drivers seat.
I have noticed they are not scanning some first class until it’s delivered. I thought it was my post office and had gone to another with the same result. I had to refund a customer because the order never scanned. It went from California to Virginia and not one time did it get scanned. Took two weeks to get to customer. She received order the day after the refund. Of course.