Continental USA or USPS?

[Scott Winners]

I have passed on buying three items in the last four weeks. All three said "continental US" in the advert.

I get that within the lower 48 you got UPS and DHL and FedEx and whatever else.

If you are about to post an advert and are willing to ship USPS - United States Postal Service - please say so. USPS will deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, APO addys and FPO addys- at very reasonable prices for those of us that live there compared to the other shippers.

I get that you might have daily pickup at your office by DHL and don't want to deal with the post office. And there are a bunch more woodworkers in the lower 48 then therre are in the seventh fleet.

But if you are willing to ship your thing USPS please menttion that. Weight limit for USPS is 70#, I am not looking for a table saw.

Thanks

[John Keeton]

Scott, I understand your situation, but I have nearly abandoned shipping with USPS because of their inefficiency recently. In the last four months it has lost three packages I have shipped. One finally was delivered, but the other two cannot be located. Along with losing packages, their delivery times have become more and more extended and tracking is not dependable. It is hard to beat the USPS flat rate box deal on cost alone, but only if it reaches its destination. I don’t know if others have experienced the same issues, but that may have something to do with what you are seeing in the ads.

[Lance Mirrer]

John,
the last few months USPS has had some issues, but for many years before they have been very reliable. I am comfortable in looking forward to the Xmas and election surges to be over and them improving service.

Too early to give up on them, especially for our friends in AK, HI, etc.

Good luck shopping Scott!

[John Keeton]

Lance, perhaps the end of the year MAY make a difference. I was told by a local USPS employee that there is wide spread abuse of the provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which permits employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave in certain instances. Those provisions expire December 31 unless extended. The employee indicated it had crippled several distribution centers as well as local facilities. I have no personal knowledge of that - just passing along what I was told. But, whatever the reason there has been a significant decline in the efficiency of the system. On the other hand, both UPS and FedEx seem to be operating very close to the same efficiency they had pre-Covid.

It isn’t my intent to start a debate on this. I am just providing my personal reasons for using other shipping alternatives. Others may not be having any difficulties with the USPS.

[Curt Harms]

I was wondering if there was some sort of unsanctioned job action going on at USPS but John's explanation makes sense.

[Mike Kreinhop]

This has been an issue for the past 22+ years that I've been stationed overseas. Unfortunately, the APO/FPO system will not accept deliveries from commercial shippers.

First class mail and most Priority packages sent to APO/FPO addresses go from the local USPS center to the nearest USPS distribution hub at an international airport. From there, the packages are put on the next available U.S. flag carrier flight to the airport servicing the APO/FPO area, which in my case is Frankfurt. The APO/FPO staff working at the airport then load the parcels and mail bags onto the secure military or leased vehicles for delivery to the servicing APO. This process takes between four days to two weeks for most packages.

An alternate route for for packages that don't go by air is by container for surface travel by ship. This can take 30 to 120 days to arrive, which can create problems for PayPal resolution if an item doesn't arrive or arrives damaged. In most cases, the difference between surface and Priority Mail to APO/FPO addresses is not a lot, but the time difference can be months.

A few years ago, I bought some parts from my U.S.-spec car that I was selling. I paid with PayPal and the vendor assured me the parts would be sent Priority Mail with tracking. I never received the tracking information, and after three weeks, I requested the vendor file a claim with the USPS and either refund my money or send replacement parts. The vendor refused, and at the 40-day point, I filed a claim with PayPal for non-delivery. Since the vendor could not provide tracking information, PayPal refunded my money. A little over two months after that, the package arrived. The vendor sent it the least expensive way with no insurance or tracking and it went surface mail. I had already bought and received the parts elsewhere, so I refused delivery and the package was returned to the vendor.

Some vendors and individuals can't or won't use the USPS for shipments to APO/FPO addresses because it doesn't fit their logistics business model, or just can't be bothered. Fair enough, there are usually other options. Fortunately, the vendors I used the most, such as Lie Nielsen, Incra, Woodpeckers, Lee Valley, and McMaster-Carr, don't have a problem using the USPS, and I have never had a problem with a missing or delayed package from them.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

USPS has been fairly reliable for me and their flat-rate boxes are a great deal. I always message the seller and ask, and 90% of the time they don’t mind shipping to me.

I hate how Alaska gets left out of “continental” US. It’s on the same continent! I get “contiguous” but not “continental.”

Funny thing, however- although I am just a “territory”, I think I have it better than Hawaii as far as shipping goes. They have the Jones act and also are just so far out there. I can get priority fairly reliably in 3 days and no more than 5. Of it comes regular mail, it depends on the boat and how fast they fill the container. Might be a week, might be a month.

[Ronald Blue]

Interesting insight to things. Mike I see the challenges you can face and the work arounds that you've found to achieve the end goal which is getting what you buy. I wasn't aware of the 12 week leave thing for USPS workers and that explains a lot. We have a friend who's worked for the USPS for 28 years and she said never in her career have they had the volume of packages that they are dealing with now. Everyone is buying and shopping online because of the pandemic and the system is overloaded. While UPS and FedEx are generally doing a better job they have also restricted some shipping as well. In a few days things should ease and return to somewhat normal shipping times again.

[Jim Matthews]

I have no personal knowledge of that - just passing along what I was told.

From the source: https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/emp...id-19-response

But, whatever the reason there has been a significant decline in the efficiency of the system.

There was a ban on overtime, last Summer. The backlogs started then.

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits...-trips/166917/

On the other hand, both UPS and FedEx seem to be operating very close to the same efficiency they had pre-Covid.

They're all over capacity. FedEx and UPS dumped their unprofitable cargo on a sinking USPS. This isn't news.

https://www.modernretail.co/retailer...ipping-limits/

It isn’t my intent to start a debate on this. I am just providing my personal reasons for using other shipping alternatives. Others may not be having any difficulties with the USPS.

Too late.

[Jim Matthews]

If you are about to post an advert and are willing to ship USPS - United States Postal Service - please say so. USPS will deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, APO addys and FPO addys- at very reasonable prices for those of us that live there compared to the other shippers.


But if you are willing to ship your thing USPS please menttion that. Weight limit for USPS is 70#, I am not looking for a table saw.

Thanks

What's on your Christmas list?

I can offer Secret Santa services.

[Jim Becker]

I believe that part of this is when the price includes shipping for CONUS. It's perfectly reasonable to ask the poster if they will be amenable to shipping to you for the difference between what they figured would be their cost for "free" shipping via flat-rate for CONUS and the actual cost to AK or similar. But I thank you for bringing this up and I will certainly add language to my own future Classifies that indicates I'm amenable to shipping to other US addresses that are not considered CONUS for whatever the additional cost would be.

[John Keeton]

From the source: https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/emp...id-19-response



There was a ban on overtime, last Summer. The backlogs started then.

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits...-trips/166917/



They're all over capacity. FedEx and UPS dumped their unprofitable cargo on a sinking USPS. This isn't news.

https://www.modernretail.co/retailer...ipping-limits/




Too late.

Jim, good links. And, it seems obvious that my comments spurred ongoing discussion, so for that I apologize. I debated about commenting, but since I have listed several things for sale and limited shipping I felt I should at least explain my own personal situation. I understand the OP's dilemma, but the reality is that I spent hours tracking the lost packages and subsequently filing insurance claims. I will say that payment on claims is quick once one jumps all the hoops. The bottom line is that, yes, there will be delays with any of the services, but it is only the USPS that has actually lost two of my shipments. It has been months ago on the first one and it is still MIA. The other has been well over a month. I have not experienced any issues with UPS or FedEx and the delivery times have been as estimated.

Again, I am sure others have had experiences that differ from mine, but my experiences have changed the way I approach shipping. I do hope things change after the first of the year as I get good service from the local USPS employees and the flat rate shipping is a great deal.

As to the CONUS issue, I agree with Jim Becker. Stating the willingness to ship outside the contiguous states for the extra shipping is an appropriate approach.

[Ted Calver]

The wife's Etsy store has mailed 241 1st class packages via USPS thus far this year. None were lost. All were tracked and deliveries were found to be averaging two to three days later than the normal three day delivery (coast to coast) she experienced last year. The cost saving measures had an impact on service, but any discussion of whether the measures were needed and the timing of their implementation would quickly become politicized.

All bets were off on packages mailed to Canada, which often took a couple of weeks to arrive.

Having lived in Alaska, I can appreciate the OP's request and think it's certainly worth the effort to make an exception to your shipping policy if it helps get your product where it is needed and appreciated.

[Ronald Blue]

Spot on Adam.

I also dispute the no overtime thing. That's not happening here. In fact they are doing Sunday deliveries in my little town of 3500 people and that has never happened before. They started that right after Thanksgiving. They might have mandated no overtime in the middle of summer and to some degree I think that makes sense. But it's certainly not happening here and hasn't been for at least a couple months. I see the mail delivery still running at 5 and 6 PM. The volume is overwhelming and unprecedented. Mail sorting machines are for letters. Not for packages of every conceivable size and shape. It's been documented for some time that letter volume is decreasing because of all the electronic methods to communicate the same things.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I’ve never been accused of wearing rose colored glasses and, frankly, think most politicians, regardless of party affiliation, are loathsome and cut out of the same corrupt cloth. But there is strong evidence that many of the recent USPS delivery issues can be traced to the dismantling and removal of these sorting machines.