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USPS Tracking - Should I be concerned

A.Goldberg

A.Goldberg

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 31, 2015
2,557
9,725
Boston
Once again I am the schlimazel.

I got a text alert that my eBay package from beautiful and sunny Oceanside, CA has arrived in Honolulu, HI after a couple days of being in transit limbo.

The problem is I live in Boston and so unless the package is being sent around the world in the opposite direction, we have at least some level of a issue. I'm not sure if the shipper got addresses confused, gave me the wrong tracking number, or if USPS put it on the wrong plane.

I have messaged the seller and attempted to call USPS's 1-800 number which was a waste because I don't think it's possible to speak to a human.
 

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I see you left the tracking # exposed, do you really want the world to see that?
 
I actually had a Tracking Limbo one time..... i believe it was a Amazon order, I checked the tracking and it stayed the same for 4 days until it finally updated
 
I do a large amount of selling & buying on Ebay. I buy many things in the US. It is funny the way USPS will route a package to its final destination. Does not make any sense. I had a package coming from New York State last week to Alberta, Canada. Package left New York and went to Kentucky, then to Chicago, to arrive here in Alberta.

You tell me why they would send it to Kentucky instead of directly to Chicago? Your guess is as good as mine. I have seen this kind of thing happen many time with USPS and have never understood the reasoning behind it. There has got to be mail flights from New York to Illinois.

I can only think your package got incorrectly routed. Even though I have seen this strange thing happen, my packages have always arrived.
 
Update,

It has departed Honolulu? Where is it going? Who knows. Alaska? Australia Perhaps?
 
Update:

Things get weirder? It left Honolulu twice according to my text messages. I checked the online tracker and it updated the 6:25AM time to 5:17PM. I'm quite baffled.
 

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your package is on vakay. ;)

i always suspect that's where mine goes when I don't see updates. the best is when my package goes to my local hub and sits there for the remaining days in the shipment mandated time block. it takes a day to get to the hub and waits two days to leave.

i think i had that once, I forget which product now, but it went somewhere it really should not have. theres nothing you can do but wait. i have my delivery guys on speed dial and gps their every move once its on their truck LOL.

on the three in Hawaii, it probably arrived, got scanned, went through inspection in and out, maybe on a truck to the beach, and then came back to the plane to take it all the way back to the mainland. maybe the box has to pick up your order in china first.
 
I had a fine time playing with what was in your package.

Tomorrow or the next day I'll send it along. I don't think I broke anything.
 
Wow now that's a detour! I live in NW Indiana and packages from USPS always go to Illinois before here even if they ship from Florida. I've even had one from a few towns over go to Wisconsin then Illinois and back here. It seems to make no sense.
 
I have a problem package with USPS right now also . I won a computer off ebay it shipped Dec 30's it's been to Dubai 3 times NY 4 times and Chicago once. I started an IG case before it's last trip to Dubai, the case was marked complete but it never made it here and went back to Dubai. My computer must really like sunny Dubai. :rolleyes:
 
And this is why the Postal Service has no money.

If only I could have bought a ticket for myself to travel from Boston to Southern California to Hawaii for the $15 it cost to ship this.

So much for that 2-3 day delivery window!
 
maflynn said:
FWIW, they're no better/worse then UPS/Fed Ex in this department. I've seen similar issues with them as well.

Good luck on getting you package.
Click to expand...

Which department? Fedex and UPS at least are viable companies. USPS is supported taxpayer money.

:(
USPS%20P%26L.jpg


I believe they all make mistakes. In my experience Fedex and UPS have much better tracking. I will admit for the cost of a stamp it's amazing how efficient USPS is, especially for being a government run business.

My package has departed Honolulu for the 4th time this morning.
 

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A.Goldberg said:
Which department? Fedex and UPS at least are viable companies. USPS is supported taxpayer money.

Image

I believe they all make mistakes. In my experience Fedex and UPS have much better tracking. I will admit for the cost of a stamp it's amazing how efficient USPS is, especially for being a government run business.

My package has departed Honolulu for the 4th time this morning.
Click to expand...


There are other reasons for that rather huge drop
 
lowendlinux said:
There are other reasons for that rather huge drop
Click to expand...

I was being facetious.

They're experiencing failure just by design. But they are designed to be an infrastructure rather than a profitable business. Having to have a post office in every town/too many post offices. Fixed Pricing. The requirement to deliver everywhere in the US. Etc. And then of course you have your pensions.

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prostuff1 said:
I hate the fact that Amazon has switched to USPS for most of it shipping. My tracking was so much better when they were using FedEx or UPS.
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I think USPS would "appear" better if they improved their tracking program.
 
A.Goldberg said:
I was being facetious.

They're experiencing failure just by design. But they are designed to be an infrastructure rather than a profitable business. Having to have a post office in every town/too many post offices. Fixed Pricing. The requirement to deliver everywhere in the US. Etc. And then of course you have your pensions.

----------



I think USPS would "appear" better if they improved their tracking program.
Click to expand...

That's not actually it. The government restructured how they have to employee retirement. They are the only NAFI that has to do it the way they do.
 
A.Goldberg said:
Which department? Fedex and UPS at least are viable companies. USPS is supported taxpayer money.

:(
Image

I believe they all make mistakes. In my experience Fedex and UPS have much better tracking. I will admit for the cost of a stamp it's amazing how efficient USPS is, especially for being a government run business.

My package has departed Honolulu for the 4th time this morning.
Click to expand...

USPS is not supported by taxpayer funding.
 
lowendlinux said:
That's not actually it. The government restructured how they have to employee retirement. They are the only NAFI that has to do it the way they do.
Click to expand...

If you're talking about the Accountability and Enhancement Act that does require the Post Office to prefund pensions rather than pay-as-they-go however they're still responsible for paying off the existing pensions.

I don't want this to become a political discussion, I'm curious to know what you know since you seem familiar with it.
 
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