Is there anything worse than USPS tracking?

catgirl

I won something on ebay that was shipped a week ago - USPS tracking shows it in Washington for the last four days. No update, nothing. It is SO annoying. They only update everything after delivery - well, what is the point of that?!

Okay, rant over.

13 years ago

General

13 replies

Latest reply was from Echo

Thistle

Veteran

I think they only update when it gets to a major destination,
. With you in Alaska, it probably won't update again until it comes through Juno or Anchorage.

13 years ago

Raisin

Veteran

And if it's shipped over the border, there will never be another update after it hits customs. That's crappy Canada Post there, though....lol

13 years ago

MNsara

Veteran

Yeah, sometimes many days worth of activity all show up at once!

And then there was the time I shipped something to Kansas, and I could see the darn package go to Washington state(?!) and hang out for a day before it went on to Kansas.

WIthout my watching and seeing the tracking, it would have just been some inexplicable delay.

13 years ago

Anonymous

Yeah, I was going to say, Canada Post!

Sometimes it is amazingly fast. But other times a parcel will go from BC to Montreal to Ottawa to Toronto and THEN finally arrive.

13 years ago

Kalli

Active Member

FedEx! They delivered my package without signature even when it explicitly asked for one before release and then I have to file a report because someone stole it off the front porch. Needless to say, I much prefer UPS and/or USPS because I haven't had this issue with them yet.

13 years ago

rae

(website)

Veteran

Yeah, many ebay sellers now have a disclaimer in their listing saying that USPS "tracking" is really just delivery confirmation. LAME. The tracking is only sorta kinda helpful, because at least then if it gets lost someone can call the last known post office and talk to the post master... not that I've ever had USPS actually follow up on a case I've opened. o_0 That said, we use them all the time, and they rarely lose anything outright.

13 years ago

ironkurtin

Veteran

When it first started it was AWESOME. Now I think they only scan at certain destinations, or, perhaps, the scan doesn't get posted immediately.

Ah well. It adds to the suspense.

13 years ago

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Canada Post does the same thing. Um, thanks but I know I picked it up already. I had a UPS package that was like that a few weeks ago too. It showed system error caused delay for two or three days.

13 years ago

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

Veteran

The only thing worse than USPS tracking, is USPS not listening to my answer when they asked if I wanted signature confirmation for delivery. I said NO. Which apparently sounded just like "please make it nearly impossible for my sister to pick up this package, and give her a really hard time, and make her have to take extra trips, and furnish multiple forms of I.D. before you let her have this box that I insured for forty bucks". Because that's exactly what happened between Atlanta and Chicago.

13 years ago

Beth

Veteran

Yes. FedEx "Smartpost" is worse. FedEx starts the shipping process, then transfers the responsibility over to USPS. No part of the tracking seems to be accurate and on the rare occasion it is, it's off by days.

I don't even try to track packages that are shipped by Smartpost. Bleh.

13 years ago

Anonymous

ASOS shipping and "tracking." What a joke! I suppose that's through USPS, though, too, right? Either way, it's slow and the tracking is woefully delayed.

13 years ago

dicey

Active Member

Totally with Beth on FedEx smart post. Having FedEx and USPS involved seems to make things exponentially worse rather than just double.

13 years ago

Echo

Veteran

Ugh, I ship through UPS whenever I have the option. USPS tracking is truly a joke, and the only benefit is in that you do have a number by which to search for it if it is lost in transit. But UPS shows every stop - sometimes more than once a day, and it has a confirmed delivery window. Even Priority Mail makes no guarantees about arrival within a certain time-frame (although they certainly make it sound like they do). So it is UPS all the way for me (unless the value exceeds their limit, in which case Fed Ex to the rescue!). I wish more stores felt the same.

13 years ago

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