Mail Delivery Speed: Slower Is the New Normal

by: lessthanthreerecords

First class (and even priority) tubes are consistently taking at least three weeks, and often as long as five or six weeks.  One to five days?  That would be an absolute miracle, not a slowdown!

by: hopeforthebest

I've had to start telling people USPS First Class mail is 10-14 working days, (and sometimes even that isn't long enough) instead of the 1-5 working days Etsy promises, and over the Memorial Day Weekend they promised a buyer clear across the country that a USPS First Class mail envelope containing a product sold on Sunday could be delivered as early as that coming Tuesday, even though Monday was a mail holiday. That would make it same day delivery - mailed on Tuesday and arriving that same day!

by: Eagle

I'm sure if USPS spent the millions of $$$$$$ to buy and replace the sorting machines DeJoy ordered removed and destroyed prior to the 2020 election that at least letters and flats could speed up. Probably would speed up everything considering employees wouldn't have to sort manually!

by: Chicago48

For packages, I use Fedex and UPS as much as possible.  Many times the rate is comparable to priority mail rates.

by: leavingNY

I just keep filing USPS insurance claims for the items that do not arrive in time. This works for USPS priority mail and express mail only.  

by: cvsharkey

I have a question: If this follows the announced definition, will Amazon finally STOP saying "Free two-day shipping?"  If now, why? Would it not be false advertising?

by: Disgruntled_Seller

No matter what they do, until USPS performs with "accountability" and behaves like a real business and gets rid of the "I am entitled" employee attitudes nothing will get better for them.  

by: fusgeyer

When it comes to First Class Mail, the USPS is the cheapest option for flats. You cannot send a letter sized or legal sized envelope through any other shipping service for the minimal amount USPS charges. Yes, it takes longer, but where else can you send a letter sized flat for $0.55 and if you were like me and bought a massive amount of forever stamps when they were really cheap, it is still a lot less.

I'm not a huge fan of the current situation at the post office, but in other countries it costs a lot more to send standard post flats domestically. For packages there are a lot of other options that are less expensive depending on the services you want - like included insurance from the carrier. Also, USPS has had a terrrible track record with destroying tubes we ship that contain artwork and technical drawings. For some reason carriers across the country are not leaving their vehicles to leave tubes at the door and they are not leaving a notice in the mailbox if it does not fit. Instead, they cram the 36" tubes by mangling them into the mailbox. This results in having to reship damaged artwork and plans. Yes, they pay the claims, but time is $$ and it costs to reprint. For artwork especially, we have chosen to go with other carriers, who deliver to the door.  

by: railady

I am shaking my head, just not understanding all the problems cited.

I am in fact wondering if some of the weird ''road trips'' packages are taking are new, or whether it's been going on all along, only now that we can read scans we are finding out about them. Example: an eBay item I won went First Class Mail from New Hampshire to Honolulu Hawaii and back, on its way to my home in New York state. That said, this package took a week to reach me - not bad, actually?

I ship packages and am experiencing almost none at all of the delays folks are complaining about here.  Certainly not shipping delays. It's pretty much back to pre-covid for my packages with an occasional not terribly bad exception.

I use USPS exclusively (with a rare exception of a too large/too heavy package) and have found them the best for fragile items.

I avoid UPS and FEDEX, the drop off for FEDEX packages is 30 miles away, so that's out. I did start a UPS account but discontinued it once I read the small type on the back of the waybills about what ''insurance'' would not cover (like most of what I was shipping?). FEDEX is better for incoming packages -- UPS packages arriving at my home are often damaged so badly that unless the shipper has packed with extreme care there is breakage. (It's the sorting facilities, not the drivers). And a damage claim against UPS can be a tooth and nail fight.

About cramming tubes into mailboxes, do you mean sticking a 3-foot package into a box as far as it will go with the rest hanging out ?  It really seems hard to believe that this happens routinely, and if it does, it is a very bad carrier not USPS.  I switched to a PO Box years ago because one or two of our rural carriers became impossible to work with (the worst instance was leaving mail on an unused open front porch in the winter - who knows what blew away).

All that said, I think much of any decision as to which carrier to use depends on personal experience. I am incredibly fortunate to have wonderful people in the Post Office I use now (quite the opposite in the local post office I no longer get mail through), and a truly great UPS driver (driver, not sorting facility).

by: RKTOYS

DeJoy is a saboteur, pure and simple.  Why can't people see that?

by: epuise

DeJoy needs to GO... He wants to destroy USPS so his UPS & Fed Ex stocks do well... Another clue-less multi-millionaire put in charge by 44 that is destroying small business.

by: The End

Picture it :
Going too fast doesn't work.....
Old school gets it done.

by: tniel

THIS COMMENT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE AND ACCURATE.
THE USPS IS A DISGRACE.

First class (and even priority) tubes are consistently taking at least three weeks, and often as long as five or six weeks.  One to five days?  That would be an absolute miracle, not a slowdown!

by: I Must be Crazy

Service through USPS used to be reliable. Over this past year, everything lacks consistency. Packages are not scanned timely every day. I have some carriers who will scan them on pickup. Others might scan them later in the day. Others don't scan at all until it leaves the local post office 2 days later. My shipping metrics are the worst they have ever been. Yet I still ship everything same or one day after purchase. I just do what I do, and things just happen as they will. I have no control over the post office.

As for the shipping metrics, maybe the platforms, especially eBay, will acknowledge they have no control over these shipping times and will stop providing unreasonable promises to buyers.

by: Disgruntled_Seller

Here is a fine example of USPS performance. This request was opened at 7:22AM (today) for a very much delayed (weeks actually) parcel that is probably setting at a final distribution center,

This message is to let you know that we have received your inquiry at the United States Postal Service®.

After we review and investigate the information you have provided, we will contact you and work with you until the issue is resolved.

We appreciate your patience while we investigate this matter.

Signed .....

At 9:23 AM (today) USPS closes the request as resolved,

Thank you for taking the time to notify us of your experience. Your USPS® Service Request xxxxxxxx has been marked as resolved.

Your package is still in transit from another facility. It will be delivered once your carrier receives it.

Please accept our sincerest apology for any trouble this may have caused you. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you again in the future.

Signed .....

Well no duh. Since we have insight into "internal" tracking, which is different from the customer facing tracking view, we know this person had no clue where this parcel is and this is a "get it off my plate" response. Not much help, nor will it get the parcel moving which so many think will happen. But USPS was able to resolve the request and that really shows they are up to speed, right? Wrong. It won't get moving until the basket or bag in which it is setting is dumped and worked. Since we have back door access into our facility, I can quite factually tell you that a lot of this stuff sits for weeks or more in a huge mess while later mailed parcels are handled in and out.

by: ShortSeller

Pretty clear they don't want you using anything other than package/parcel services at this point. DeJoy is an incompetent tool yet the Dems don't seem to care about him now that they have power? Typical.