Hey friends,
I went to the Post Office to mail an item I sold on ebay yesterday, and an older man was at the counter trying to get a lead on where his item was. He had a tracking number, and had checked Informed Delivery daily he said, but no luck since January 17th, though it was marked as having arrived at our local Post Office but had not been delivered. It was now February 3rd, and his item was showing up "In transit to next facility, arriving late." The clerk at the Post Office said a few things that I wanted to share, since I think they may be helpful.
1. She said that mail 5x7 and under gets scanned at the distribution facilities, NOT the local Post Office (which I did not know). She also said that the "In transit" is more of a placeholder, it can be marked as that for quite some time.
2. USPS has more items than they can handle, and they are short on personnel.
3. Mail goes to the wrong post office FREQUENTLY. Machines scan and sort most everything, and items go in the wrong bin, on the wrong truck, to the wrong city ALL THE TIME. (This is why we pay such exorbitant amounts for postage, and still have slow service and items lost frequently).
4. I also learned that an item can be marked as arrived at your local Post Office, but may not actually be there! If the crate that your item was in arrived, but your item was not in there, you will get it marked as having arrived, but then a few days later, you will get it marked as "In transit to next facility, arriving late." Then, your option is to wait, according to the very nice lady at our local PO.
**Now, I do not like waiting 3 weeks for mail, and the gentleman made eye contact with me as he was leaving. I stopped him in the doorway, since there were several people in front of me, and said I couldnt help but overhear his dilemma (3 weeks and no package delivered!). I mentioned that he might try filing a missing mail request, which he was not familiar with. I explained to him that I had just last week filed one for an item I had waited over 3 weeks for, that had been delivered just yesterday, only 3 days after I filed the missing mail request. I told the gentleman I had filed at least 4 missing mail requests in the past few months, since when those get filed, someone has to go search for the item, otherwise who knows, it may just sit there for longer!
To give a little perspective: I mailed a Cubs scorecard to my best friend in Chicago, and he received it on Christmas Eve. It was in a 9x13 envelope with proper stamps and no tracking number. I live in Southern Illinois, about 300 miles door to door. He was all excited about his Christmas gift.....that I had mailed when I got it in a trade in JUNE! That's right friends, 6 months from here to there. I could have walked it there much faster!
Cheers!
Kevin
I went to the Post Office to mail an item I sold on ebay yesterday, and an older man was at the counter trying to get a lead on where his item was. He had a tracking number, and had checked Informed Delivery daily he said, but no luck since January 17th, though it was marked as having arrived at our local Post Office but had not been delivered. It was now February 3rd, and his item was showing up "In transit to next facility, arriving late." The clerk at the Post Office said a few things that I wanted to share, since I think they may be helpful.
1. She said that mail 5x7 and under gets scanned at the distribution facilities, NOT the local Post Office (which I did not know). She also said that the "In transit" is more of a placeholder, it can be marked as that for quite some time.
2. USPS has more items than they can handle, and they are short on personnel.
3. Mail goes to the wrong post office FREQUENTLY. Machines scan and sort most everything, and items go in the wrong bin, on the wrong truck, to the wrong city ALL THE TIME. (This is why we pay such exorbitant amounts for postage, and still have slow service and items lost frequently).
4. I also learned that an item can be marked as arrived at your local Post Office, but may not actually be there! If the crate that your item was in arrived, but your item was not in there, you will get it marked as having arrived, but then a few days later, you will get it marked as "In transit to next facility, arriving late." Then, your option is to wait, according to the very nice lady at our local PO.
**Now, I do not like waiting 3 weeks for mail, and the gentleman made eye contact with me as he was leaving. I stopped him in the doorway, since there were several people in front of me, and said I couldnt help but overhear his dilemma (3 weeks and no package delivered!). I mentioned that he might try filing a missing mail request, which he was not familiar with. I explained to him that I had just last week filed one for an item I had waited over 3 weeks for, that had been delivered just yesterday, only 3 days after I filed the missing mail request. I told the gentleman I had filed at least 4 missing mail requests in the past few months, since when those get filed, someone has to go search for the item, otherwise who knows, it may just sit there for longer!
To give a little perspective: I mailed a Cubs scorecard to my best friend in Chicago, and he received it on Christmas Eve. It was in a 9x13 envelope with proper stamps and no tracking number. I live in Southern Illinois, about 300 miles door to door. He was all excited about his Christmas gift.....that I had mailed when I got it in a trade in JUNE! That's right friends, 6 months from here to there. I could have walked it there much faster!
Cheers!
Kevin
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