Reports Criticize USPS over Tracking and Delivery

by: Volvo351

Letter carrier in my neighborhood is top notch....courteous, helpful, and dependable. Unfortunately the USPS still has too many employees who consider a lackluster effort to be "close enough for gov't work."

by: Shop and Ship

If "reliable" means knowing what to expect, and when, then the answer is Hell No!

by: Massachusets Howler

If you read the report and the Post article I think it is pretty darn obvious that the post Office is trying to put off acceptance scans until items reach the sort center to hide how long packages actually take from counter to customer. The overall time has lengthened because of closed sort centers and this report they are required to do LOOKS BETTER and the mail delivery LOOKS FASTER if they are not scanned as accepted at the counter but 2 days later at the sort center- that is why they try not to do the acceptance scans at the counter.

It IS ALSO TRUE that legislators, under pressure from their BUDDIES at fed-ex and ups, forced USPS to pre-fund their retirement plans 75 years IN ADVANCE- they have to fund retirement for carriers and workers who ARE NOT EVEN BORN YET and this is a true conspiracy to privatize the post office and WE DO NOT WANT THAT to happen.

No other company or government branch has that requirement and as planned- this is sinking the post office.

They are actually being forced to pay BILLIONS OUT OF THEIR operating budget each year to fund retirement for carriers and workers who WILL NOT BE BORN FOR ANOTHER 20 YEARS- without this ABSURD requirement, the post office WOULD BE SOLVENT.

HYPER-WEALTHY Apple would go broke under a similar requirement.
It cannot survive if this is not changed so people need to cut the post office a break (but they DO need to scan).
Mass Howler

by: Massachusets Howler

The OIG is DEAD WRONG- it has nothing to do with carriers or technology.

MH

by: comments

I commend the office of the inspector general for taking notice of the issue. USPS package delivery was very good and very quick until recently.

"Cost cutting measures" are putting under qualified mail carries on routes that are not scanning and delivering properly. Packages are getting delivered or stolen, but being marked as "notice left" because the carrier can't be bothered to get a signature as just happened to me on a $500+ item.

First class packages are no longer leaving local post offices daily which is not included in delivery estimated.

Package scans are not being done routinely at first pick up.

Postal workers are refusing to collect prepaid mail at the counters or gives scans as a matter of routine. This is despite that postal workers are supposed to scan packages on receipt at the counter......

They make promises to ebay as part of a deal struck to deliver mail in specific timeframes, but is grossly missing the mark......

Had this story been written a year ago I would be strongly defending the post office. Mail was moving very quickly. Tracking scans were never perfect.....but packages were scanned daily as they left to the sort facility even when they missed acceptance scans.

I certainly hope conditions improve because the consumer simply does not have another viable option of package delivery that makes any sort of sense.

by: Leesantiques

While not perfect, the USPS does a great job in my opinion.  Post offices in this area (Washington-Baltimore) will scan packages at the counter, sometimes without even being asked to - they willingly volunteer.  Deliveries certainly all seem to be timely as well.

by: sasikat9

We ship over a 1000 packages and 500 first class mail envelopes weekly.

Of those maybe 2 take the scenic route and 1 will drop in the postal black hole each week.

Not bad at all.

by: mcfiver

As a 15 year eBay seller, I've used USPS approximately 98% of the time for shipping. From my experience, all things considered, I'm satisfied with the prices and service.

My issue is with eBay for imposing shipping and delivery standards upon sellers who, once we've postaged and placed our packages with our local post office, will be

''•...penalized when Tracking shows item was delivered after the estimated delivery date, and there’s no acceptance scan within your stated handling time or there’s no confirmation from the buyer of on-time delivery, or

• ''Buyer confirms item was delivered after the estimated delivery date, and there’s no acceptance scan within your stated handing time or there’s no delivery confirmation by the estimated delivery date.''

My question is what kind of policy is ready for prime time in which sellers are to  blamed or penalized for standards they have ZERO control over?

by: Chicago48

We have packages delivered to our front doorman and he catalogs all the packages....guess what?  Half of them are from AMZ.  The PO has its priorities with AMZ and the rest of us just have to wait.

by: Chicago48

Overall, I agree with some of the above.  The PO, for the price, is the best we have.

by: davealex

I mail 75-100 tracked packages a day through USPS. Misdelivered packages happen to me so much, I just have standard boilerplate text I send when a buyer says: ''Tracking says it was delivered, but I never got it.''

After they get this text from me and wait three days, only about 1% of the cases require me to resend something.

''This item shows it was delivered to:

NAME
STREET
CITY, STATE ZIP

on MONTH DAY at TIME.

If this is the correct address, please check with your neighbors on either side of you. Postal Carriers give packages to the wrong address all the time. If the immediate neighbors don't have it, please wait a day or two more. If it was delivered more than one house away, that neighbor will usually bring it to the correct address when they get around to it. Almost every single instance of “Tracking says it was delivered, but we never got it” issues are resolved this way. It's actually quite amazing how inconsiderate neighbors are. They toss the package on a table and say, ''I'll get it over there tomorrow or the next day or whenever I'm going in that direction...'' If after a couple more days you still don't have it, let us know and we will send it again. Thanks.''

It's quite sad that I have to mail this text out several times a day...

I send almost everything First Class Pkg or Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope. Both are mis-delivered although Priority tends to make it back to them faster from the neighbors because it has an official-looking Red, White and Blue flat rate envelope.

by: thebobman

I shipped a package to someone 10 miles away. In the town where the package goes after my time. It took 4 days to get there. I shipped another package to Minneapolis. The sort facility for my area is there. Usually it arrives the next day. It took 5 days and somehow ended up in Columbus, OH before getting to the receiver.

by: Anonymous Annie

My best guess is that USPS management is putting pressure on the carriers to improve their on-time delivery performance... and the carriers are responding by providing management with (false) data... NOT by actually improving their on-time deliveries.

In my opinion, there's been a lack of follow-through and double-checking the accuracy (and honesty) of the data.

It's the equivalent of a parent asking their slacker high-schooler if they've completed their homework. Of course the answer will be ''yes''... but without follow-up, how can they be sure?

The dishonest (or slacker, do-the-bare-minimum) carriers know what their bosses want to see, they also know how to manipulate the data so that it appears as though they're performing well.

Perhaps some random ''test packages'' shipped to ''mystery-shoppers'' are needed to measure and verify. The test packages could represent many types of scenarios to see how well the carrier handles the situation. (For example: how well does the carrier perform for the basic duties, such as: signature required, adult signature required, delivering to a non-existant or incomplete address, deliverying to a closed business, delivering oversized packages to a curbside mailbox, etc.)

by: The End

USPS is crawling with "lessers", "borderline idiots" that don't give a damn about their job. Undercover video can weed them out.  

by: Moonwishes

Happy to say I have had no trouble with the USPS at all. O the many thousands of packages I have shipped over my 14 years of steady selling I can count on one hand how many packages went missing. My PO is very efficient. One of the clerks is ex-Marine (or a Marine as I don't think they ever consider themselves ex-Marines) and even though he isn't the postmaster there, he keeps the place running as if he were. My stuff goes out and is delivered promptly. I receive lots of incoming mail from Amazon since I do reviews for them and also buy from them and rarely does anything take more than 3 days to arrive. I feel blessed and am very happy with the USPS.

by: toolguy

Once in a blue moon the carrier will scan picked up packages as "delivered"

Otherwise the USPS is the best bet for shipping eBay items!

by: Caje

A Buyer opened a case against me when the tracking said the package was delivered and he had not received the package. The tracking said it was delivered prior to the estimated time he was to get the priority pkg.
Currently I am waiting on a pkg of medication for my Dad. He lives close to Dayton Ohio. There was NO tracking from 9/25/15 through 10/3/15. On the 3rd the pkg was in Cincinnati then sent to Indianapolis, then to Michigan, now it is in Pennsylvania! Strange routing when it was 50 miles away.
Two weeks ago a pkg was mailed to me close to Cincinnati from 10 miles of my address. It was also lost and then ended up north of Detroit Michigan. It took 2 weeks to get the priority package.
There is definitely a huge problem. Two months ago I mail an overnight package to California from Ohio. Shipping cost was $45.00. The tracking said the receiver was not home when they tried to deliver. She was home!!!

by: songe-d-automne

I find the USPS to be less and less reliable. Things sent Parcel Select would get there faster if I drove it there myself. Two weeks to send something from Mass to Kansas?

Lately breakage has been my biggest beef.

Been packing and shipping the same way for 16 years.

Between 1999-2013 I had TWO packages break in all those years.

In 2014 I had 3 or 4 break. This year I have received complaints about breakage 5 times already I ate the first two because they were under $20, and filed a case the last 3 times. I am tired of paying for a service that I don't get, which is delivery of an intact item.

I brought 8 packages to the PO yesterday, 3 were marked clearly "FRAGILE" and the clerk dropped one on the floor from counter height right in front of me and just shrugged and set it on a stool. Case in point.

*headdesk*

by: iheartjacksparrow

I live in Los Angeles County, and it used to take one day to go to an address within the county, as well as surrounding counties such as Orange County and San Bernardino County. Recently, it's been taking two days just to go to an address that I could drive to in an hour. From looking at tracking scans, it appears that packages are not leaving for the sort center until the next day.

A couple weeks ago I got a frantic e-mail from a buyer who said the tracking showed her package was delivered, but she didn't get it. I told her to check with her neighbors and her mail carrier to be sure the package was actually delivered. Even though the package was fully insured, I told her the post office would not pay on a claim where their records showed it was delivered. I heard back from her two days later that she talked to the mail carrier, and that the package then "magically" appeared in her mailbox. So I'm assuming that the carrier marked it as delivered and then for whatever reason left it in his truck.  

by: JustTheFacts

In my particular area I have a great postal service and carriers.
However, the same cannot be said for elsewhere even in my own state, let alone across the country.

I am not sure how many packages some of you are sending out but I ship a lot and there are MANY that just SIT in sort facilities and others that get scanned as "delivered" when they are not, I caught several of them not being delivered until the next day or TWO.

Others saying they delivered at the "mailbox" when in fact it is a business and there is NO mailbox.

Yes carriers are under more pressure to deliver but that is their job and they get paid very well to do it.  Of course they think they are "under paid" but let them go out in the world and they will see they get paid very well for a job with much less stress and work.

I think it is over due for the post office to get jacked up a bit about their performance. Granted it is not all areas but there are a LOT of problem areas and they need to be addressed.