Question
I won an auction on eBay, paid promptly and they shipped Priority Mail Flat Rate Box on June 8th from North Carolina. Just got it today in NH. So much for fast delivery.
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I once had a priority package to my parents take over 10 days to get to them. It is really frustrating but if you read the fine print the USPS doesn't guarantee a 2-3 day delivery. I think they should refund though when priority packages arrive slower than parcel post. JMHO
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While USPS does not guarantee delivery in 2-3 business days for Priority Mail, I would consider filing a postal complaint about the lateness of their deliveries.
The only way we can correct their problems is to call their attention to the issues when they come up. I'd expect the standard form letter to arrive which says the delivery date is not guaranteed except by Express Mail. Still, it makes them aware that someone in their employ is poossibly sitting on packages.
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If it came from Raleigh, NC, I bet I can tell you which branch!
The one 1/2 mile from my house is quite scary...
I had more late/lost mail from there in 6 months than I had in 6 years!
Media Mail was guaranteed to be strapped to the back of a blind, 3 legged
turtle for delivery.
Luckily, the branch that is 5 miles, but strangely more convenient, is MUCH
better!
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The vast majority of my USPS Priority shipments has been chocolates, with very few problems. Have not been so lucky with other items, though.
Once when I was still printing my own shipping labels, the USPS put a useless-looking sticker over the TO address. So the FROM address (mine) became the default destination. 10 minutes aftre getting that mess straightened out, I hopped onto here and found the link to the USPS online shipping label with free DC, figuring they were less likely to screw up their own labels.
Though perhaps that wasn't a good assumption, because a year later a magazine in a flat rate Priority envelope made it all the way to the customer's post office, then went MIA for weeks. Finally I refunded the customer's payment. About 2 weeks later he emailed me to let me know the package had finally arrived. (I verified the arrival date via the USPS track and confirm page to reassure myself he wasn't scamming me.)
The third was a package of brown sugar pecans that took a long detour to go two states over. I sent the customer a replacement package, which arrived just before the original box showed up.
Again, I haven't yet had any problems shipping chocolates, so maybe the key is to stamp "PERISHABLE" all over the box.
Ms. C.
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I just had a first class package take three week to arrive. Generally, my shipments to CA make it in ~3 days (1st class). I don't know where this was the other 2.5 weeks.
Beth
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One of my first sales at Amazon was shipped Priority Mail. It just showed as "in transit" for weeks, and thank goodness the buyer was very nice about it.
I told her I couldn't file for a lost package until day 30, and I kept checking the DC.
I was in contact with the buyer on day 29 and told her I'd file the next day.
I printed out the forms I'd need and the next day I was getting ready to fill out the form and thought I'd check one last time.
Lo and behold it said "delivered at xx time that day". I emailed her that it showed as just being delivered and she ran over to her house, and it was there, in good shape, and she was happy.
Who knows where it had been for 30 days?
So Priority means very little in the grand scheme.
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Figuring out the USPS is like trying to figure out eBay.....just aint worth the waste of brain cells.
This is what happened with 3 shipments all sent the same day from the same PO in Florida:
First Class to a suburb of Los Angeles.....2 days
Air Post to a little town outside London, England.....4 days
Priority to Denver proper......5 days
Earlier this year I had an 8# media mail package beat a 1# priority box to the same city.
It's ALL just a roll of the dice I think.
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It's ALL just a roll of the dice I think.
How true. You just never know.
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I've had several packages delivered to me because they read the from address rather than the to address. Now I use yellow highlighter on the to address. Seems to have taken care of it (knock on wood).
I've had several more returned to me as "terrorist mail" - which come by slow boat - because the clerk didn't cancel the stamps. Now they tell me they can't cancel the stamps any more so I know longer stamp anything over a pound. Slows down the line but it wasn't my idea!
So far every postage printing I've checked out costs money. Are there any free ones?
Maryanne