USPS Incompetitence

[shopgun]

I shipped a long gun to Oregon from Indiana on 7-28. It is now 8-7. 10 FREAKING days and the reciever calls and says it's not there yet.WTF!!!!!! He is not happy and I Sure As Hell am not.

the guy at the post office said 5 to 7 days max. Yes it's Insured and yes i'l call in the morning to find out where in the known universe it might be, BUT WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO ??????? You don't have to work to the post office to want to go POSTAL

[LadyinBlue]

We seem to have a similar irritation going on here. We shipped a long gun from New Mexico to Idaho on Aug. 4th and there is still no tracking information available. (3 days?)

Yes it was insured and we did send it priority mail.

For all the shortcomings of the big shippers like UPS and Fed-Ex, you can find tracking info by the evening of the ship date with both of those places. What does USPS use for computers anyway? And, why do they bother using tracking numbers if you can't use it to track your package? Hello...

[Rob Boudrie]

I had an Area 7 application, shipped to a PO box, take exactly 14 days to me.

A box of two slides, send "Priority Mail" from MA to TX in one of the USPS special two day boxes took 11 days, with no intermediate tracking info once it got to the major PO office near the destination.

Rob

[Run n Gun]

I bought an upper from a fellow Forum member that lives in Ohio (I think) to me in Oregon and it took 11-days to get here, but I DID get it. So there is at least, a little hope...

Ed

[JKSNIPER]

Worried now.

Just ordered from Lyman and Sinclair Intl.

A bunch of the stuff from Sinclair is on back order so its already going to take forever to get here.

Please use UPS or FED EX!

JK

[Pstmstr]

Worried now.

Just ordered from Lyman and Sinclair Intl.

A bunch of the stuff from Sinclair is on back order so its already going to take forever to get here.

Please use UPS or FED EX!

JK

If you guys will pm me with specifics on any USPS problems I'll try to find out what I can.

[ChrisStock]

Sorry to hear about your missing shipment. Inexcusable.

Kind of like a PC that I sent from St. Pete, Fl to San Francisco, Ca a few years ago. It went from Fl, to DFW, to Portland, then L.A., east to Phoenix, then further east back to Virginia for a rest, then finally to SF after 32 days and umpteen thousands of miles of travel. Needless to say, it arrived with nary a corner on the now round box and in pieces. Everything major since has been Fed-exed.

[Thomas Moore]

ship it FedEx next time and tell them it's a golf club.

[J-Ho]

Wait a second. USPS is a government agency. How can they make mistakes? The only lost 1.1 billion dollars in 1 frickin' quarter.

I too have had them lose something. It killed a deal with a forum member.

[ong45]

You misspelled incompetence

[smokshwn]

You misspelled incompetence

You beat me by "that much"

[open17]

Had a flat-rate box of 2000 9mm bullets spin off into a different dimension somewhere

between Mississippi (Precision Delta) and Oregon. Been several months ago. I keep

expecting it to show up with stickers etc. on it like an old steamer trunk.

Bill

[shopgun]

Typing when you're mad will do that. But I'l be reel kerful fum now on. I called the PO at 8 am. said they would check and get back to me. I called back at 11am after no callback. They said it takes from 7 to 14 days( no apology for not returning my call). I said "but when I shipped the counter guy said 5 to 7 days" She says "thats what our computer says but we know from CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS it averages 7 to 14 , if its not there by then, call back and we will TRY to find it But what the hell, it only cost me $27.53.

[shopgun]

Just did a check on cost with UPS. Would have cost me $23.82 guaranteed 4 day delivery.

[ChrisStock]

Wait a second. USPS is a government agency. How can they make mistakes? The only lost 1.1 billion dollars in 1 frickin' quarter.

I too have had them lose something. It killed a deal with a forum member.

Oddly enough , I had USPS kill a deal as well, and yes it sucked. Shizzle happens sometimes, no hard feelings, we moved on.

[NoTenX]

secret classified documents are regularly shipped by usps registered mail, does that put you at ease or scare you?

[Scooter]

One guy on another forum many years ago posted his UPS tracking number for a rifle he was sending to a smith. It was going two states over on the east coast, sent 2 day. The rifle flew to Oregon 3 times before arriving at the destination a week later.

[ken hebert]

Had a flat-rate box of 2000 9mm bullets spin off into a different dimension somewhere

between Mississippi (Precision Delta) and Oregon. Been several months ago. I keep

expecting it to show up with stickers etc. on it like an old steamer trunk.

Bill

Had almost het exact same thing happen to me, and with Precision Delta too. Gotta give PD props though, as they made it up to me. Still doing business with them, but now I specify that I want my items shipped FedEx and not USPS, and I will gladly pay the small extra charge.

Recently sold a S&W610 to a forum member here, boxed it up and gave it to my wife with a $50 bill to go and ship, told her specifically not to use the super expensive guaranteed overnight by 10am. What does she do? You guessed it, and $74 and some change later the package is on its way. What do I get for my $74? Delivered 4 days later.

I REFUSE TO SEND ANYTHING OR TRY AND RECEIVE ANYTHING VIA USPS ANYMORE.

[Rob Boudrie]

USPSA announced: http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroo...08/pr08_049.htm

In other action, Postal Service Consumer Advocate Delores Killette told the Board national on-time performance scores for the delivery of First-Class Mail continued at record levels in the second quarter. National overnight service was 96 percent on-time, a record high for four quarters in a row. Two-day service was 94 percent and three-day service was 92 percent on-time. All these scores are the highest ever achieved in quarter two.

Consider what this means:

• One out of 25 items on their "guaranteed" overnight service is delivered late. Care to guess what would happen to a Fedex manager if he claimed "1 out of 25 late" was good performance?
  
• One out of 16.7 items on two day first class service is delivered late
  
• One out of 12.5 items on three day first class service is delivered late
  

And to think they acting like these performance levels are something to be proud of.

[HighVelocity]

I mailed a letter from Fort Worth to Houston on Monday and it's STILL NOT THERE.

[Nik Habicht]

USPSA announced: http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroo...08/pr08_049.htm

In other action, Postal Service Consumer Advocate Delores Killette told the Board national on-time performance scores for the delivery of First-Class Mail continued at record levels in the second quarter. National overnight service was 96 percent on-time, a record high for four quarters in a row. Two-day service was 94 percent and three-day service was 92 percent on-time. All these scores are the highest ever achieved in quarter two.

Consider what this means:

• One out of 25 items on their "guaranteed" overnight service is delivered late. Care to guess what would happen to a Fedex manager if he claimed "1 out of 25 late" was good performance?
  
• One out of 16.7 items on two day first class service is delivered late
  
• One out of 12.5 items on three day first class service is delivered late
  

And to think they acting like these performance levels are something to be proud of.

Rob,

I like numbers to tell a story ---- but I also consider this:

Does FedEx move the same volume of mail as USPS? Will they take my letters, bills, and greeting cards for a small fraction of a dollar and get them where they need to go?

Will FedEx and UPS deliver anything I need to send for the same amount of money the post office charges and be able to perform to the same standard as the USPS?

I'd like to see the postal service perform perfectly --- to know with 100% certainty that what I ship will get to its destination when they say it will. Comparing the postal service to the very limited, and usually more expensive options, seems a little like comparing apples to oranges....

[warpspeed]

I sold a shotgun barrel to a guy back east. After 10+ days, it was not there. It was an EBay/Paypal thing and so I had to refund his money. Oh Well.

2 months later he sends me an email saying it arrived and that he'd be sending me a check. That is my happy story.

My unhappy one can be found over on AR15.com, in the feedback forum under the heading of "-1 for TORQ"

[Rob Boudrie]

Does FedEx move the same volume of mail as USPS? Will they take my letters, bills, and greeting cards for a small fraction of a dollar and get them where they need to go?

Will FedEx and UPS deliver anything I need to send for the same amount of money the post office charges and be able to perform to the same standard as the USPS?

The USPS offers more services, but falls down on several of the ones that have a direct private sector equivalent. USPS and Fedex both guarantee their overnight delivery (though, interestingly enough, USPS has more addresses to which they will not make such a guarantee), and Fedex will get it there the next day if you have it to a pickup center in the evening - USPS needs it at a post office by 10AM. Only one of these two services thinks "1 out of 25 late" is something to brag about.

UPS will tell you the exact day a 2 or 3 day package will arrive. USPS will guess.

Fedex and UPS online tracking is much more up to date, and contains more data regarding intermediate steps, than USPS on-line tracking. Only one service assesses a surchage if you want this tracking. Care to guess which .

But, if your position is that part of the price we pay for universal service is a lower level of performance in other areas, I can understand the logic. That does not change the fact that the service is, indeed, at a lower level of quality.

If I buy a gun for $X, I do not accept the premise that I should accept a lower quality for the money if the manufacturer selling me the gun is also busy making cheap guns and selling those as well.

[Pstmstr]

Does FedEx move the same volume of mail as USPS? Will they take my letters, bills, and greeting cards for a small fraction of a dollar and get them where they need to go?

Will FedEx and UPS deliver anything I need to send for the same amount of money the post office charges and be able to perform to the same standard as the USPS?

The USPS offers more services, but falls down on several of the ones that have a direct private sector equivalent. USPS and Fedex both guarantee their overnight delivery (though, interestingly enough, USPS has more addresses to which they will not make such a guarantee), and Fedex will get it there the next day if you have it to a pickup center in the evening - USPS needs it at a post office by 10AM. Only one of these two services thinks "1 out of 25 late" is something to brag about.

UPS will tell you the exact day a 2 or 3 day package will arrive. USPS will guess.

Fedex and UPS online tracking is much more up to date, and contains more data regarding intermediate steps, than USPS on-line tracking. Only one service assesses a surchage if you want this tracking. Care to guess which .

But, if your position is that part of the price we pay for universal service is a lower level of performance in other areas, I can understand the logic. That does not change the fact that the service is, indeed, at a lower level of quality.

If I buy a gun for $X, I do not accept the premise that I should accept a lower quality for the money if the manufacturer selling me the gun is also busy making cheap guns and selling those as well.

I think the Postal Service should go out of business, all 800,000 employees should be laid off and you guys deliver your own stuff. That way, you might truly understand the delivery logistics and realize it's not as easy as a few guys on a gun forum make it sound. I agree with some of your comments, the USPS does need to improve and shouldn't lose anything. Stuff does happen though, just as we all realize when the buzzer goes off at the next match. Again, if I can help someone with specific issues, pm me and I'll certainly try.

[Nik Habicht]

But, if your position is that part of the price we pay for universal service is a lower level of performance in other areas, I can understand the logic. That does not change the fact that the service is, indeed, at a lower level of quality.

If I buy a gun for $X, I do not accept the premise that I should accept a lower quality for the money if the manufacturer selling me the gun is also busy making cheap guns and selling those as well.

Since I so rarely get a chance to tweak your logic, I'm gonna take the second opportunity....

The difference between the USPS and the gun manufacturers is that the USPS doesn't have a choice in what services it offers. Again, comparing a governmental agency (and realistically that's what it is) to a private company (which may perform some, but by no means all of the required services) seems disingenuous to me. Then further comparing that to another private company in a completely different line of work ---well if that;'s not apples and pears, I don't know what is.....

Yeah, the post office could do a better job --- but I'm not sure I really want to pay for that. I've got choices -- I use all three carriers, depending on my needs and expectations. None of the three have ever failed to meet my expectations.....