Tracking

[yonder]

I don't know about you guys, but to me the new tacking method used by usps sucks. Waiting on two items and the only thing tracking says is it's in transit to my town. Well no sht. They don't show to which Post Office the item arrives or from which it departs. The only update is it is on the way. I hate waiting without knowing.

 

[Poinzy]

And it isn't even holiday season. FedEx and UPS tracking are, on the whole, much better (what else is new?). That's the way it goes.

 

[yonder]

The lack of information is what gets me.

 

[Poinzy]

Yeah, there's no point in providing a "tracking" service if it doesn't actually allow customers to track packages.

 

[gadget73]

yeah the USPS tracking is pretty lacking. Considering that UPS and FedEx had tracking for years before USPS even offered it I'm not surprised. My favorite trick from them is changing the expected arrival dates. More than once I've gone on there wondering where something was, found the expected delivery date was today or sometimes even yesterday, yet it still says "On Time". Checking later shows a delivery date pushed out a day or so, and of course still "On Time".

 

[whoaru99]

Play-by-play maybe helps the excitement build, but I find the first or second line to be most important - "scheduled for delivery on". For me their delivery dates have been accurate, and in some cases revised for the better. Last package was initially to arrive on a Tuesday, but later that was revised to the Saturday before and indeed it arrived on Saturday.

 

[yonder]

Play by play has always been more useful than the 3-5 day window of due dates.

 

[whoaru99]

Play by play has always been more useful than the 3-5 day window of due dates.

My USPS tracking notice always comes with a single date, and very seldom changes. Apparently, YMMV.

 

[yonder]

I've never received a single date delivery schedule. From any carrier.

 

[whoaru99]

Very strange. Do you order by economy/free shipping? Sometimes they initially give a range but usually once it ships an expected arrival date is provided.

Here's the initial tracking notice and final notice I got from USPS on my last order.

Expected Delivery on: Saturday, October 7, 2017 by 8:00pm

Your item was delivered in or at the mailbox at 2:37 pm on October 7, 2017 in City, ST Zip.


I just placed an order on Amazon this AM, and they're already saying Friday delivery; no range, Friday.

 

[yonder]

Two recent orders. One is a book with free shipping and I don't care when it gets here. The other is an sr-929. Excited, concerned, worried,..yes. a bit of a rant, yes. I talked to the seller and she agreed to ship it by Greyhound bus and without telling me she ships usps. Sale date was Oct 5th and still not here. Normally I would know where it is every step of the way and this time I have no clue. I don't like the change and the cause of my rant.

 

[yonder]

I just looked again and it was shipped out on Oct 11th with an estimated delivery of Oct 13th to Oct 21st.

 

[whoaru99]

Just curious, what classification/category of shipping was chosen/paid for?

 

[yonder]

Yes

 

[hjames]

I think the newer hybrid shipping service are pretty frelled!
It ships part way via some weirdly named firm,
then get dropped at the local post office for them to do the final leg of the delivery to my door!
With unknown actual delivery dates!
Oh well, I hope its at least cheap to ship that way!

 

[yonder]

Yes, the book shows it's coming through a "shipping pardner", but the tt I have no clue.

 

[gadget73]

UPS does that with certain shipment classes. I forget what they call it, but its the cheapest option by a small amount usually and adds a couple days to the transit time. I try to skip that one, the extra buck to save a few days is worth it to me. Extra fun is that sometimes when shipping that way the post office wants a signature, adding an extra day to the trip so it can be driven past my house and returned to the post office and adding a trip into town for me.

 

[whoaru99]

Yeah, I don't recall the specific category but I imagine it has to with an estimate of when they will have enough load somewhere along the line to make it worth rolling another truck.

Guaranteed delivery is often an upcharge. A lot of that for me comes part of Amazon Prime with the 2-day shipping thing.

 

[yonder]

Wish the seller would have spent an extra couple of bucks because tracking shows 7 or 8 stops/transfers/delays and still no clue on location of the table. I don't have as much hope of it arriving intact.

 

[whoaru99]

I am actually sorry to hear of your trouble even though I probably sound critical. Waiting in limbo is no fun.

But, in this case, a more clear understanding of shipping method/expections between buyer and seller seems be the real crux of the matter, not the carrier schedule.