USPS delivery confirmation not reliable
12-04-00, 02:01 PM
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Hi all, I just posted this note in another thread and thought it might warrant some wider attention.
I have recently had 3 orders with online merchants that were shipped via priority mail with delivery confirmation tracking that were indicated as "delivered", but they weren't.
I had received email ship notification from 1 order from buy.com, and 2 orders from 800.com. When the items seemed to be late, I checked my accounts on the websites. I followed the package tracking numbers to the usps website, and all 3 packages showed that they had been delivered about 5 days earlier.
Thinking that they could have been put in the wrong box in our office building, or perhaps even stolen, I started "lost order" replacement shipments with the vendors.
Of course this invoked the Murphy's Law of mail-order, and all 3 packages showed up a day later.
Luckily, I was able to catch two of the replacement orders before they shipped, and am in the process of returning the other item for a credit.
Anyway, I just thought some of you might want to know, because this is the first time I've ever had this happen, after at least 50 online orders during the last couple of years. The items actually arrived 5-7 days after they had showed delivery on the tracking site. It just seems very odd because the mail carrier has to physically scan them in right when they're being delivered.
In the future, if this occurs again, I would notify the merchant, but I wouldn't get a replacement shipment started without giving it some more time. Just thought this might be helpful if this happens to anyone in the future. Perhaps this has been covered here before, but I never saw it mentioned.
C ya
I have recently had 3 orders with online merchants that were shipped via priority mail with delivery confirmation tracking that were indicated as "delivered", but they weren't.
I had received email ship notification from 1 order from buy.com, and 2 orders from 800.com. When the items seemed to be late, I checked my accounts on the websites. I followed the package tracking numbers to the usps website, and all 3 packages showed that they had been delivered about 5 days earlier.
Thinking that they could have been put in the wrong box in our office building, or perhaps even stolen, I started "lost order" replacement shipments with the vendors.
Of course this invoked the Murphy's Law of mail-order, and all 3 packages showed up a day later.
Luckily, I was able to catch two of the replacement orders before they shipped, and am in the process of returning the other item for a credit.
Anyway, I just thought some of you might want to know, because this is the first time I've ever had this happen, after at least 50 online orders during the last couple of years. The items actually arrived 5-7 days after they had showed delivery on the tracking site. It just seems very odd because the mail carrier has to physically scan them in right when they're being delivered.
In the future, if this occurs again, I would notify the merchant, but I wouldn't get a replacement shipment started without giving it some more time. Just thought this might be helpful if this happens to anyone in the future. Perhaps this has been covered here before, but I never saw it mentioned.
C ya
12-06-00, 05:57 PM
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USPS has one of the most negligent services I have ever had the displeasure of encountering; their delivermen leave my packages lying precariously on the doorstep 8:30 in the morning, instead handling them in the more secure and "old-fashioned" manner of person-to-person delivery. The result? My last two packages from them have been "lost", or more accurately, STOLEN, but what else do you expect when I live half a block away from a high school, with droves of teenagers passing by in the morning on their daily commute? Just thinking about their methods of operation leaves me in a swirl of passionate anger, frenzy, and disgust; if I am the average customer, then USPS must have a paltry delivery accuracy rate of 40% at the greatest. Seriously, how the #!@# do they get away with such bungling bull$hit? If only there were an option to tell online merchants such as Amazon to utilize UPS exclusively, I wouldn't even have to trouble myself with such a question.
12-07-00, 04:02 AM
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Received a Buy.Com package in my mailbox that had delivery confirmation on it. Problem was it was for my next door neighbor. Good thing I'm an honest person.
Sure the postal service delievered that package....just to the wrong home.
Sure the postal service delievered that package....just to the wrong home.
12-07-00, 11:11 AM
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I didn't intend this post to bash the USPS service in general. I only wanted to point out the odd fact that several items that showed confirmed deliveries had not been delivered yet, and then showed up a week later. It's like they were brought to our building, scanned in, taken away, and then brought back a week later. I suppose it's possible that they were put in the wrong box, and an honest person returned them to the postal service instead of bringing them to our floor. But 3 packages within a week?
In general, I have been very happy with service from the Postal Service, and I really like priority mail. I've used it for shipping lots of items from ebay sales, and never had a lost package or damage.
One thing that I think is fair to say is that it's a miracle that some letters and packages get delivered at all, considering some of the scrawl that some people try to pass off as legible writing. I've received some items in the past that must have required a handwriting expert to decipher where they were going.
In general, I have been very happy with service from the Postal Service, and I really like priority mail. I've used it for shipping lots of items from ebay sales, and never had a lost package or damage.
One thing that I think is fair to say is that it's a miracle that some letters and packages get delivered at all, considering some of the scrawl that some people try to pass off as legible writing. I've received some items in the past that must have required a handwriting expert to decipher where they were going.
