I have been waiting for a package that was picked up from the sender on March 11.
They sent it Priority mail.
Priority is supposed to deliver in 2 - 3days, correct?
I am using the tracking number to follow it online and it shows that it has sat in the local post office since Sat. March 12.
It's now March 16 and I don't have it.
I wonder how often we pay for Priority mail but don't really get it. My friend could have sent it First Class and it'd get here in the same amount of time for less money.
Grrr.
If it doesn't arrive today I'm going to call the Post Master and complain although it won't really do any good.

Speak to the postmaster at your post office. I think they may refund your $ if you paid for Priority Mail. It does not hurt to complain. I have received refunds.

If it had been sent 1st Class Mail, there would be no way to track it. I ship Priority Mail & it is scanned from my doorstep when picked up.

I noticed this a few months back. I have started shipping First Class instead of Priority. The only Priority I do anymore is the Flat Rate packages.

I have discovered here lately that I can send some items priority cheaper than I can parcel post. When it comes to saving $1.50+ per item that works for me. I bought two patterns off the Debby Maddy website today and the shipping was a whopping $1.50 for both patterns.

Is the earliest line "Electronic Shipping Information Recd" - or something like that? And that message is dated March 11?

That does not mean the PO received the package.

All that means is that the Seller printed out your label - via PayPal or USPS.com - in her home on March 11. The package could have sat in her home all weekend, until SHE brought it to the post office Monday morning,or later. That would not be the PO's fault.

I had a seller on this board who sat on the labeled package for over a week. Amateurs :roll:
It was very annoying as I don't go to my POBox every day, and here I was checking the box only on the couple of days I thought it should have arrived. When I checked the tracking, I found it had NOT even been mailed out.

When I print my postage, it puts in the date that I print it and it is also the date it is to be mailed. Are you saying that the PO accepted it with an old date on it?

I got an email on March 11 from USPS and it says "order was shipped Priority 2nd day (inc Sat delivery)".
Would I get that if she had only printed the postage and label?
Now I wonder.
I'll have to contact her.

I've never ever had a package returned if I had the incorrect date on it - say, I printed the label out Saturday night and neglected to change the mail date to Monday. Especially if the rate is unchanged. You could drop it off a week later, but really, as the shipper/seller, you're only doing yourself a disservice as that becomes an INR (Item Not Recieved - at leas on eBay).

The DelConf tracking (which isn't tracking ;) ) would show the Electronic Info was received on Saturday night.

However, the next time the package got scanned could be at the P&DO or even regional center. Technically, there is NO obligation on the part of the USPS to scan the item other than at delivery.

However, luckily for us, they do seem to doing it on a much more frequent basis, so you can, in fact, "track" the package

The fact that you have a tracking number and it verifies that it sat in the local post office for 4 days before being shiped out... that's evidence enough to get a refund... But wait till your package arrives... they could just not deliver your package.

USPS.com might word it differently than PayPal (especially if it's an eBay related transaction). But if you received an email, she most definitely printed the label at home (you'll see when you get the package). You don't get the option of giving the clerk at the PO or kiosk an email address to notify the recepient of the shipment. Can you imagine how that would (or wouldn't) work? :lol:

And March 11 was a Friday. What time was the email created?
And what do the additional tracking lines say when you look it up?
Wait until you get the package before you ask the seller.

Not that items don't go missing, but I have to say, it's usually very fast. I sent something out yesterday morning and it's already in CA (from the east coast). ANd it's not that I'd don't engage in my own PO bashing :wink: :wink: from time to time.

Yes, it certainly will do good. You can get a refund for whoever paid for the Priority Mail. But remember you can't count Sundays. It's only mail delivery days. So, it's actually only 1 day late.

Also, I send to NC from CA in the flat rate Priority Mail boxes, and they do make it in 3 mail days all the time. But I have to take it to the PO by mid-afternoon, otherwise sometimes it takes 4 days. The sender can have an effect on the amount of time.

almost every time they tell me it will take 2 to 3 days, it taks 4 or 5 days. every time.

Show me exactly where on the USPS site it states that Priority mail is guaranteed to be delivered in 3 days. Provide the link, please.

Which is totally beside the point because the US Post Office isn't the problem in this case. It's most probably the seller.

[quote=MTS]USPS site states that it is delivered on an average between 2-3 days.

Here - look at this link:

http://trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInt...82300546248835

The item was paid for on Feb 2 (Wed).
Seller finally gets around to printing the label from her home on Feb 5 (Sat)
Then it sat in her house/car until she got to the PO late on Feb 8(Tues).
It took 3 days to get delivered, which is fine.

So the PO really did nothing wrong here. Just a lousy seller.

Which is very, very different from being a "guaranteed" service. Ask your postmaster next time you're in the PO.

The service at the Post Office is going down hill quickly. I have a problem with them ripping open packages in their machines. We have had gift cards come up missing due to the envelope being torn. I now ask everyone if they are going to send things via the snail mail to please package it well because the item might get completely lost.

Not all mail facilities scan items when they are dropped off. For instance, if taken to Office Depot on Monday, it is not picked up for delivery to a USPS office until Tuesday. Depending on the truck picking it up, that could make it arrive late on Tuesday. This is why I no longer use the smaller delivery sites and only go to an official USPS office. That same item dropped off at Office Depot on Saturday would sit there until picked up on Monday morning.

I worked at the local Post Office for five years. But with Piority, I have noted that the date the postage was placed on the package is not necessary the date it was shipped, it is just the date the postage was printed. I have noticed 2 to 3 days difference before the package arrived at the Post Office. If there is a delivery comfirmation, the USPS scans the package everytime it is handled. I have no idea why it has been at your local Post Office for several days, I would call them with the information you have. We had strict orders to see that Prioity was delivered quickly.

If this was something you purchased using PayPal, your first notice was probably sent by PayPal. The Post Office does not send e-mails to individuals. Once you have the confirmation Number you can go to track & confirm and request updated information via e-mail, however this information is usually not updated in minutes/hours sometimes just overnight. There have been times when I received the package before the updates, but I have a P.O. Box and mail is put up between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. At our Post Office Parcels are put up first. We were small and P.O.B's only, so we frequently called customers who were waiting for packages to let them know it had arrived.

I have never had a problem with Priority, especially with delivery confirmation.

I don't think the Post Office has service *guarantees* on Priority Mail. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Maybe they do on Express Mail... but good luck trying to get a refund with USPS.

Do call your postmaster. Someone isn't doing their job. Also, go to www.usps.gov and enter a complaint. It will be forwarded to your local post office and THAT really gets their attention! It should have been delivered the same day it reached your local po.

My post office wont ship if the label says a diffrent date. I found this out the hard wat last time I sold things on the board. I took things down to get prices and he printed labels and put them on. When I went to walk out he aske me where I was going with all the packages.(small town one trafic light ,three parking places at the post office etc) I told him I would bring them bach when I recieved the money. He said it had to go out that day. Must be a pretty strict rulle cause my Postmaster is a happy go lucky guy that wouldn't do that if he didn't have to.

this is getting a bit overheated, don'tcha think? ;-)

i will use myself as an example. i usually manage to get things to the PO on the same day i print the postage. but there have been times that i've been so swamped at the office, i just can't get away long enough to make the trip and drop them off. i've carried packages around for days before turning them over to the PO. fortunately, none of them have ever been returned.

your Postmaster stuck to the rules. Nobody could fault him for that. If you read all the complaints in this one post alone, add all the nasty things people have written about the post office in past topics at this board alone, you'll understand why the post office wants people to mail things on the day the postage was printed.

if something arrives later than expected, nearly everyone automatically blames the post office. they forget every instance in which packages were delivered in less than 2-3 days. they forget that mail handlers and mail carriers are our friends and neighbors. they forget that it's a back-breaking and nearly thankless job performed consistently under conditions that would keep most of us huddled at home with our binkies.

so ... this essay is to verify both sides of the story and to publicly apologize to every mail carrier who's been blamed for my failure to get the packages into the system on time.

.

It all goes back to 9/11. If it weighs over a certain amount and meets other criteria, it is considered a possible hazard and stickered. It has been a couple of years since I left the Post Office, but there were specific instructions on how to handle such packages. I once found a parcel in our outside box that had a postage tape on it, from another Post Office locally. There was no reason for it to be in our outside box -- it was handled as a possible hazardous parcel.

You would be surprised what people will try to get by with, someone tried to use the cover from a book of stamps as postage.

I was frequently surprised at how some mail ever reached its destination. It became apparent a lot of individuals have no idea how to address an envelope. I could understand the very old customers who probably never finished school. But High Schoolers, had no clue where the address should be. Plus, all those cute little stickers people put on the outside of envelopes can screw up the machines putting barcodes on envelopes and they can wind up thousands of miles from there destination.

So What happened with this package?? Whose fault was it??

Well after reading the posts I see I'm not the only one who's been disappointed in Priority mail.
But somehow everyone thinks the package is for something I bought on ebay (I didn't) or paid through Paypal (no again).

I went to USPS and signed up for email alerts plus I had the tracking number.
We've had trouble with this mailman before because he doesn't like the landlord of my apartment complex. They got into a feud somehow. I don't know if it's personal or business.
But I've had to call the Post Master twice about my regular mail and she said "You're not the only one who's complained about him."
So why don't they discipline him?

BTW the package finally came late yesterday afternoon.

i ship priority mail so that it can be tracked...if you just send first class it can go missing for a long time (or forever) with no way to even start looking for it; at least with priority you can look to see where it is-it's peace of mind to me-also i have found there is a better chance of it not getting lost...they seem to pay a little more attention than otherwise.

I ship 1st Class everyday with delivery confirmation so they are trackable. I print my own labels thru Paypal. They get there just as fast as priority.

That is a totally different situation. The labels that are being discussed upthread are the ones bought, paid for, and printed at home on PayPal or USPS.com.

The postage metered labels that are printed AT THE COUNTER in the PO must be mailed that day. I'm not sure of the reasoning but it's always been that way.

Interestingly, the labels bought at the kiosk in the lobby of a PO aren't checked the same way. When my printer suddenly died one evening, I bought labels and didn't send them out until the next day or two after.

For whatever the policy is, it's just those small ones printed by a postal clerk that MUST ship the same day.

Well, it might have been helpful if you mentioned in your original post here:
that the post office you were referencing was your own, and the postmaster you wanted to contact was also local.

Really, I'm rarely on the USPS's bandwagon, but if you've got a rogue employee in YOUR LOCAL PO, it's hardly has anything to with Priority mail (which is not a guaranteed service).

And if it's a continuing problem, you need to start going up the postal food chain. Your local postmaster has a boss. Start there.

there is some confusion about PM vs. FCM - they go in the same mail stream from what I have heard. Priority is a way to get "first class" service for items over 13 ounces. I would not expect a PM package to go any faster than a FC package. And you can get tracking on first class if it is a "package" (not a letter or flat).

That's what "local" means...that it's my local p.o. Otherwise I would have said "their" p.o. :|
Sorry if it was misunderstood.

It is only tracked if you pay extra. Ask me how I know? Also I find 1st Class much more reliable and cheaper. I had one package I paid $4.95 for Priority, it was lost and I sent the second 1st Class for $1.90. I personally think Priority is a rip off.

"Their" being the qualifier. :wink: :wink: :wink:

I would request a refund UNLESS this package is coming from outside the US in which case Customs is the culprit and you can't do anything about it. I just went through this when my wonderful vintage red eye Singer was coming to me from Canada. It sat in Chicago for a few days. Also when I tracked it, it was still saying that it was in Chicago Customs while the mailman was knocking on my front door with my beautiful Canadian Rose (her name now). LOL

As far as I know, the only GUARANTEED services are Express Mail, and Global Express Guaranteed. Mail sent using these services is supposed to arrive by a certain time. And you will pay extra for this.

All other classes of mail will be there when they get there. Though USPS says "your packages reach their destination in 2-3 days", they do not make a promise about that. And of course, Sundays do not count in that 2-3 day total.

In our experience, packages DO generally get delivered in 2-3 days (not counting Sundays), though weather can cause delays, and the few days before Christmas are also "dicey".

:thumbup: As is clearly stated on the USPS website.
And, I think, those Dec 24th deliveries have a cut-off ship by time/date even for guaranteed services, where the PO is absolves themselves - with full disclosure - of getting it there by then.

I hear ya, it never works here, so now when it is offered, I say yes it is a priority but I don't want to pay, because it never gets there in that time, she said you can apply for a refund yada yada yada .

I was in a online swap. I sent stamps for the return postage. The swapper put the strips in the priority package and put the stamps on. At her local post office they sent it parcel post. Turns out they suspect anything of being a bomb if it's not handed to the postal clerk and declared to be "non dangerous". It took almost a month for the package to get to my house.

I sent a package Priority Mail and the buyer didn't get it for almost 2 weeks. The package sat in a post office somewhere in Texas for a loooooong time. When I complained at the post office I was told that the 2-3 day delivery isn't guaranteed, and no refund! :hunf: