What's Up with the USPS?
I know, I know, they need more money, the stamps cost more, they are offering more services, Saturday delivery is going away, no it’s not, yes it is.
But seriously! What is UP with them?
I was very excited when they announced more tracking. It’s great to think that I might get a notice when a package is coming. When I do tracking with UPS and FedEx, I get a listing of where my package is almost up to the minute. I can practically watch the box as it moves from the sender, to the hub, out to a nearby city, then “on a truck for delivery.” That last bit can be the most frustrating as packages can get put on a truck at 5am only a couple miles from my house and then have no update to their tracking until after 9pm when they’ve been delivered to my house. But while I might be chewing my nails down to the quick waiting for my latest batch of Scharffenberger chocolate to arrive, at least I know that the box is out there coming. I have one package that was sent to me “with tracking” via the USPS back on April 26th. This is what has been tracked so far: [caption id=“attachment_816” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]
Tracking where nothing is tracked[/caption] Okay, I realize that this could mean that the company that sent this to me printed out a mailing label and then dumped all of it in the trash. In other words, the USPS never got anything. And neither did I. So I now have another package that I know has been mailed, because I mailed it. I printed out the mailing label on May 12th but then didn’t get a chance to mail it until today. Here’s the package: [caption id=“attachment_817” align=“aligncenter” width=“225”]
the package[/caption] And here’s the tracking page: [caption id=“attachment_818” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]
on USPS.com[/caption] What’s upsetting to me is how it was received at the post office. I walked into our local branch and stood in the line (2 people in front of me). When I got to the front of the line I handed the package to the postal worker and asked for her to scan it and give me a receipt. She replied “you already have one, you just go online and type in the number and it’ll show you the tracking.” Then, and this is the worst part, she takes the package, and tosses it over on another public counter. Then she smiles and asks to help the next person in line. She didn’t scan it, didn’t put it in a box, did nothing with it beyond putting it on a counter. And of course, three hours later as I write this post, it hasn’t been scanned. For all I know it’s still sitting on that counter. What is UP with the USPS? How is this considered “tracking?” When I have a box for FedEx or UPS, I take it to the shipping counter and they scan it into their system right then! Then when it’s moved off the counter and onto a truck it’s scanned again_!_ And so on until it is “on a truck for delivery.” And did you notice the other flaw? On the package it states that it’s being sent “Priority Mail 2-Day” but on the website it says that the postal product is “Priority Mail 1-Day.” Which is it USPS?
So I ask again, what is up with USPS?
Why would I use them for package tracking when they seem to believe that pasting a statement on your labels that the package can be tracked is all that is required for tracking a package?
Updated May 21, 2014 7:43 AM
Apparently my package did a quick hop to Daly City, CA (only a few miles from Burlingame where it’s headed) but then realized that it would be defying physics and postal rules if it got there that quickly, so it came back to Kent, WA to get on its truck bound for California. [caption id=“attachment_822” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]
Daly City, really?[/caption]