Anyone Else Notice A Major Slowdown in the Mail? 4 4

[F For Fake]

Still waiting on a package that was supposed to be delivered on 7/31. No movement since around July 26th. But again, the way things are going, I'm not surprised, and I'm not blaming the seller. Yesterday I couldn't get any tracking to upload at all, or schedule a pickup. USPS site kept giving errors. Meanwhile, like some of your examples, a lot of my media and first class shipments as a seller are showing up on time. So who knows? It's chaos. That's the point.

[Pat Thomas]

USPS lost a longbox I sent to mycomicshop at the end of May.  My local branch told me to quit bringing my heavy prepaid boxes into the lobby, and instead drop them in the warehouse. That particular day, I had 2 longboxes and another regular sized box, and the warehouse guy and I loaded all 3 onto a skid. I didn't find out anything was wrong until I tracked them all 2 weeks later. Two were already delivered, and the other one hadn't been scanned into the system yet. It has not turned up yet, and I still don't have confidence that anybody physically looked for my big, heavy, white box. It cost me about $400 in store credit with mycomicshop.com, but I can't prove anything. I'm pretty sure they couldn't care less.

[manetteska]

Looking for answers to this as I, admittedly, am coming at this one-sided.

Why are we asked to pay the USPS for insurance to deliver our packages? Delivering mail is, essentially, its main job. 

 

When I go to get an oil change they don't ask me if I want insurance in case they break my car. When I go out to eat, the restaurant doesn't ask if I would like to purchase insurance in the event they undercook my food and I get sick.

(I may not have this all correct) Doctors, etc have insurance in case they mess something up; they pay for that, the patient doesn't (though it may be baked in to the cost of a procedure a bit).

[MatterEaterLad]

Two eBay buyers have sent me messages saying they haven't received their comics.

Both were sent USPS Priority, which has always been reliable for me. It's 10+ days and no delivery yet. Tracking shows they're still midway to their destinations. 

On the other hand, I ordered something from Amazon and it arrived a day early via USPS.

 

 

[kairos70]

i had some comic supplies shipped from MO that was supposed to be delivered within 2 days(on a Thursday) to me in NC. My informed delivery email came from the USPS on that Thursday saying the package was out for delivery. When my postman came with the mail he didn't have the package. Confused, I went back to the USPS website to check the tracking number and it showed the packaged had been delivered.....to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It stayed there a week before it shipped to me the following Monday. It seems that delays and misdirected mail are the norm for now.

 

[evilskip]

I'm waiting on a small package of comics from MCS and this is NOT their fault. On 8/10 the package arrived at my local post office. An hour later the damned thing decided to go to the Huntsville Post Office, which is 50 miles away. And it has been sitting there ever since.

The mail has slowed down to a crawl, and we all know the political reason why. This is why I don't have my prescriptions delivered via the mail.

[Robot Man]

3 hours ago, evilskip said:

I'm waiting on a small package of comics from MCS and this is NOT their fault. On 8/10 the package arrived at my local post office. An hour later the damned thing decided to go to the Huntsville Post Office, which is 50 miles away. And it has been sitting there ever since.

The mail has slowed down to a crawl, and we all know the political reason why. This is why I don't have my prescriptions delivered via the mail.

Yep... Just wrong. There are so many people who can’t get out to the pharmacy. My comic mail has been OK for the time being. 

[F For Fake]

Today I received my first message from a panicked buyer, as the package I sent was last scanned on 8/10. I told him that was actually relatively good, as I've personally had packages last scanned on 7/31 that haven't moved yet! Very frustrating as a buyer and seller as well. I wish eBay would issue a blanket notice to buyers, telling them to be patient and not blame the sellers automatically. I'm hoping stuff starts moving soon. In the meantime, I've stopped shipping business for the remainder of the year.

[JazzMan]

After reading through this thread I can only conclude that there is a deliberate and systematic targeting of delaying comics from their intended destinations.  I believe this community has been singled out because we are dependent on the US Postal Service to effectively deliver our important wares to their intended destinations.  

[mrwoogieman]

It's been hit or miss since the start of the pandemic, not experiencing any increased delays lately. I ship 10-15 ebay packages a week by first class and media mail for the most part with lots of coast to coast packages.

[miraclemet]

On 8/1/2020 at 8:42 PM, comeaux said:

New York Times? 

Man you need to loosen the strap on your tin foil hat. 

 

Looks like the Times report was right...

[miraclemet]

General slowdown is hitting FedEx too. My last two CGC signature deliveries have taken two days once they're "out for delivery" instead of the usual one day. Im assuming their volume is up and they cant get their days deliveries done so they are frequently spilling over into a second day.

[MatterEaterLad]

Okay, I talked (complained) to a good friend whose dad is our local Postmaster. 

She said it's been as busy as the Christmas season since March.

Because of covid, more people are ordering online, ordering from places overseas, and they can barely keep up, and processing those orders takes manpower away from other areas. She said her dad's been working 7 days a week for 5 months, that it's the busiest she's seen the USPS in 23 years. She also said people are quitting under the pressure and that she's never seen her dad look so defeated. 

When I asked about all the reorganization she said that basically they're busier than they've ever been because of covid, so the timing of their budget cuts and consolidations is a nightmare.

Evidently, the processing center where I live is slated to close and all that mail will be sorted three hours away, at a facility that's already overworked and can't keep up.

 

 

 

 

[Frederic9494]

USPS shipping is driving me crazy. Shipped a box of CGCed books to MCS on July 30th. Cleared customs in NY on August 1st and since then... nothing.

In parallel, I sent another box of raw books to MCS on August 6th and it was delivered on August 11th, as expected.

In both cases, books were shipped by XPressPost (=Priority Mail Express International)

Buddy at MCS has been much more helpful (and encouraging) than the folks at USPS... When I called them they told me that they are not even sure that they received the first parcel from customs.. but all of this is being done in their own facility (ISC NY)... I am speechless.

And if my first parcel indeed reached the North Texas distribution center, online reviews are not encouraging... Crossing my fingers is probably my only option at this stage 

[kav]

I keep thinking this thread says "Anyone else notice a major showdown in the mall"

[DavidTheDavid]

https://www.kbtx.com/2020/08/15/usps-announces-temporary-price-increase/

[batman_fan]

I have seen any slowdown.  Package I sent via USPS priority quoted an arrival date when I mailed and that is when they were delivered.

[Randall Dowling]

I have a buddy who's a mail carrier and he says it's a complete joke what's happening internally.  None of the reorg changes make any sense given the current volume and his view was "if you were trying to gum up the works, I can't imagine a more effective way to do it".

Posted this in the paperback thread in the Gold forum but I'll say it again here.  I ordered a book for my brother who lives in LA.  It was sent out from Culver City (approximately 5 miles from my brother's place) and I even paid extra for overnight delivery.

It took 8 days to finally get there last week.  Unbelievable.

[Hamlet]

I’m waiting on a check from MCS that they mailed on 8/5.  Ironically, they shipped an order out to me the same day and I got it on 8/11.  I always choose their cheapest shipping option, which ends up being UPS with the USPS handing the last mile. The package arrived when expected.

I’ve never had a check take more than 3-4 days to get here.  I’m wondering how long I should wait before I just ask them to cancel the check and put it in as store credit.

[Hamlet]

10 hours ago, Hamlet said:

I’m waiting on a check from MCS that they mailed on 8/5.  Ironically, they shipped an order out to me the same day and I got it on 8/11.  I always choose their cheapest shipping option, which ends up being UPS with the USPS handing the last mile. The package arrived when expected.

I’ve never had a check take more than 3-4 days to get here.  I’m wondering how long I should wait before I just ask them to cancel the check and put it in as store credit.

I just looked at this a little closer.  They actually paid me in store credit.  I assumed that they cut me a check and mailed it, since that is what they did with the other items on that consignment.  I've got a new consignment with them that I had set to store credit for the payment option.  They must have switched the older consignment to that as well.

So nevermind.