I mailed a USPS priority package to Paul’s sister on December 11th, and it was supposed to arrive on December 15th, which was this past Tuesday, three days ago. I thought just now to check to make sure it had arrived—and it has not, and it is marked as “arriving late.” The last time it was checked in was on the 15th, the same day it was supposed to have arrived at its final destination, when it instead arrived AT OUR LOCAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN THE NEXT CITY TWENTY MINUTES AWAY. Its status is “in transit to the next facility,” even though there isn’t the usual progress line about it leaving the local distribution center, so I think it’s more likely it’s still sitting there 20 minutes from my house. This is a little stressful/frustrating. I am trying not to think about it. It will not help to worry about it: there is nothing I personally can do about that package at this point. I’m extra glad I mailed it two weeks before Christmas, because it’s been traveling a week so far and MAY NOT EVEN HAVE LEFT THE STATE
I heard on the radio this morning that I am definitely not alone in shipping woes, and in fact am luckier than most because I only have a couple of packages in limbo. But I wish those didn’t include THIS PARTICULAR package: if it were something for Paul or one of the kids or my brother or my parents, I would just print out a picture of the item and wrap that, and they’d have the actual item soon enough. (I’m probably going to have to do that with some used D&D magazines I ordered from eBay for Henry, which shipped on the 11th and have been stuck at a processing facility since the 13th.) But Paul’s sister is the one where I feel like what we send is MOST of her Christmas, and so it’s important to me that it be there in time for Christmas. Well. There is nothing I can do about the package at this point except go back in time and mail it EVEN EARLIER. Or send it UPS instead, which didn’t even occur to me to do. And I wish I’d insured it.
I’m also trying not to order anything by mail right now that I don’t need sooner than Christmas, to avoid clogging the system still further.
I feel your pain. Don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but when I was worried about a late Priority Mail package, I signed up for text alerts on the tracking page. I don’t know if it pinged the system and alerted someone about the package, but in 2 instances the package was shortly after on the move and was delivered within 2 days after that. Good luck!
If it’s a coincidence, it happened to me too! I have been anxiously been keeping tabs on the progress of a package (and by keeping tabs on, I mean loading and reloading the tracking page multiple times a day and staring resentfully at the unchanged “In Transit” status) that contains a Very Important component of a Christmas present. The package was mailed December 7 and was scheduled to be delivered December 10. They updated the delivery date to December 11, and then nothing happened for a full week. Yesterday I thought to sign up for the text alerts and then today it has moved into Out for Delivery status and is supposed to arrive by the end of the day. I mean, I’ll believe it when I actually have it in hand, but it definitely seems like signing up for the text alerts did *something* in the system…
I am going to further test this theory! Just signed up for text alerts. :o)
Be sure to let us know! I just got mine, hope it works for you too. :)
Well, I forgot to confirm the text updates until yesterday, and today it has checked into the Atlanta facility (after leaving somewhere up north). I am buying into this method (is it a conspiracy theory? That makes it sound more intriguing!).
I tried this and 2 of my 4 missing packages all of a sudden moved after sitting for more than a week!
Several cards I mailed to people IN MY OWN CITY have not yet arrived, three days after I mailed them. I’m trying to remember that pretty much everyone knows mail is unreliable this year, and it’s ALSO fun to get some cards AFTER Christmas, etc etc but it now feels like a risk to mail LITERALLY ANYTHING.
Oh no oh no oh no. That is SUCH a bummer. I hope that it will somehow magically get there on time! There is still hope!
My kid bought himself a stuffed animal, and to get free shipping, I added some animals for the local toy drive. (This was directly from the stuffed animal brand’s website) I placed the order Dec 1. That seemed like enough time. Hahahahhaha! They shipped it on Dec 10 (which is a little annoying). According to tracking, the last thing that happened is Acceptance Pending on the 10th. Guess I’ll add those stuffies to next year’s donation instead! (If it ever arrives)
When you posted about this last week, I commented that I had been avoiding the post office and would go the next day. And I did! And they told me that my Priority Mail package would likely take 12 to 14 days to arrive. I feel a little bad, because I was a little cross with the lady, but she was telling me that they only way my package would arrive by Christmas for sure was if I paid to send it next day air. Which would be fine if I had left it until the last minute. But it was two weeks before Christmas! And there are three presents that I ordered for my mom (from the same place) before Thanksgiving that have been sitting in Baltimore for weeks. Just “in the system” and not moving. And I feel a lot of pressure to make her Christmas nice, particularly this year, so I completely understand how you feel about Paul’s sister.
I can totally share your woes. I have had several things spend days and days marked “in transit”. It has been frustrating, but it has helped to think of my packages being sent on a USPS stagecoach that is occasionally waylaid by bandits where shootouts are being waged between the mailmen and the desperate criminals. Naturally, between these epic battles and forging the inevitable rivers, they would be running late.
It is more helpful than thinking they slapped my package on the back of an indifferent, geriatric camel who is ambling his way in my general direction with no regard to the fact that CHRISTMAS IS COMING.
This is lovely, thank you for sharing your reframe, it helped me.
To add to the laments, I have three priority-mail packages in various states of ‘in transit/arriving late’. All were shipped on 12/4. The friends will understand, but I thought I was doing so good by shipping the first week of the month!
The package I’m waiting for that is in shipping limbo is my dog’s arthritis medicine. I ordered it a week earlier than normal, and it’s sitting in my city’s USPS hub. It’s been there since 12/10, and my pup will run out of her medicine on Sunday. Sigh.
I ordered stuff from Sephora 12/1 (including presents for my mom that I’m supposed to be bringing tomorrow to a brief outdoor gathering). I got notice that it shipped 12/8. When I go to USPS tracking, it says cheerily “SHIPPING SOON.”
I really thought 18 days was more than enough time. UGH
Along with literally else in America, I feel these woes!! I am extremely lucky that this was the ONE YEAR in my entire 40 years on the planet that I completed xmas shopping during black friday/cyber monday week, so the majority of my stuff has limped its way to its destination. The exception is a pair of earrings for my mom that I bought from etsy, but had to ship to myself first so I could switch them from pierced to clip ons, and those… well. I may as well save them for my mom’s October birthday now ;-D
As I saw in a tweet [or something] this week: @$%@#* the GOP who tried to cripple the USPS to affect the election outcome… and while they luckily failed there, instead managed to ruin Christmas.
This is non-Christmas shipping related but over the summer I had a USPS package (coming from very nearby) go back and forth between my city & the city of origin for 2 weeks. The status update every morning was OUT FOR DELIVERY and then by end of day be back in facility. It would have been quicker for me to walk to the distribution center, pick up package (60 miles R/T) and walk back. It did show up a week later. I’m hoping for a better outcome for your SIL gift!
Yes – multiple packages with no updates for weeks! Will try the trick in the first comment about adding text alerts.
Relatedly – I ordered a t-shirt for my nephew from an Etsy shop. Yesterday I went to Etsy to see if it had shipped and the seller has DISAPPEARED! Just… no longer available as a vendor. Was it a scam? Am feeling extra bummed because it was a shirt related to a specific video game and I don’t think I’ll be able to find anything similar locally.
It’s a long shot, but you can search both ebay and etsy with filters for location, then contact the sellers for contactless pickup? Good luck!
Can you contact Etsy directly? It’s so disheartening when something like that happens!
I have 4 packages in limbo – 3 incoming, one outgoing. The outgoing I sent 12/7 via 2-day priority. it had no update until yesterday (12/7) when it was at a distribution center about half way to it’s destination. Today it’s in the correct town. Hopefully it will get to the person by 12/24.
The worst is something I ordered in November, which shipped priority on 11/23 from FL. It sat in Atlanta for 5 days then went to NY and IN and is now has been at my local OH distribution center for 4 days. Will it every arrive? WHO KNOWS!
Update: I signed up for text alerts on 12/18 and the outgoing package I sent 12/7 was delivered the next day, one of the other packages was delivered early this morning (12/21).
The item that shipped priority on 11/23 from FL has been sitting in my town’s distribution center since 12/10, and the final gift I ordered on 12/7 is still sitting at the vendor, waiting to be picked up. Of course, both of the missing gifts are for the same kid.
I had a very stressful moment when I went to the post office this week and they told me it would take weeks for the package to arrive. I had expected to pay extra for a faster option, but not that there would be no faster option. So I went to UPS instead, and they’re expecting the package to be slightly delayed but to arrive by Sunday. I’m crossing my fingers that they’re right.
Don’t even get me started with this! I have at least six packages in limbo. Some are coming to me some are ones that I shipped. I have so many tabs open on my phone with tracking information for each package it’s ridiculous. I don’t think I will ever ship anything via the post office again for Christmas. I will pay the extra money for FedEx or UPS. So infuriating.
Saaaaame. I shipped a box of many, many wrapped presents to family last year, and the box arrived with one thing left in it. There was an “oops, our bad!” note slapped on the box where it had been re-taped. I was furious and made a slew of phone calls, but none of the other gifts were ever re-couped. This year, I sent my things all UPS (and everything arrived FASTER than anticipated), but am STIL sucked in a crazy-delay game with USPS as a recipient. I want to like/support the post office so bad, but they do not make it easy to love them…
Only tangentially related to your comment @JM, but several years ago at this time of year, I got so sick of all the tracking tabs open on my phone that I downloaded every package tracking app in the Apple store and tried them all. I narrowed it down to one called One Tracker and I love it so much. Now I can check everything in one place (USPS, UPS, Canada Post, Fedex, Amazon, etc.) and it notifies me when tracking updates. I’m in Canada, so I’m no stranger to packages moving sloooowly but it is beyond frustrating when things just sit and don’t seem to update at all.
I posted a USPS lament on my FB page and got several responses of other people’s laments. In an FB group, we have 2 threads going. The first one is whose package has traveled the furthest/taking the weirdest detours. We’ve been comparing them to Jeff Keene’s Billy’s Trail Maps. The other thread is whose package is sitting the longest. It’s gobsmacking just how bad the Postal service is this year and even that UPS and FedEx have had issues.
The lament I posted was that my gas bill payment was going to be late because it took a week to go one state away which in normal times would be a two day trip. I mail the payment for this company because it still takes them 3 days to process an online payment and also want to charge me a convenience fee. So, for January, I’ll send the check as soon as the invoice arrives. Or maybe I’ll suck it up and just pay online.
I’d just like to note that DeJoy claimed in his hearing with Congress that he didn’t need the extra funds they had allocated to keep the USPS functioning just fine through the pandemic. (FIRE DEJOY PLEASE)(I know this would have been a messy mail season in any event, but it’s one thing when someone literally couldn’t have done anything about it and another thing when the individual in control simply *refused* to do anything about it.)
Okay, I would also like to note that a package I sent priority mail two full weeks ago has left Tulsa Distribution Center and been “in transit to next facility” three separate times now. And that the two priority mail packages that were picked up on Wednesday are still listed as not having arrived at the USPS yet. So right now 1 out of 6 on the packages I have sent priority mail in the last month have arrived or are on track to arrive at their destination at the time promised online (the last two packages are supposed to arrive tomorrow; given that the website doesn’t even know where they are, I am *fairly* confident they will not…).
So many of us in USPS woe boat! I ordered an ornament from Etsy on November 19; the shop shipped it on November 30. Today is December 18 and I still do not have it. It’s been “arriving late” since December 9. It was supposed to be for an ornament exchange that had a deadline of December 1, so I’m obviously quite late, and once I finally get it (assuming I get it at all…) I have to turn around and send it to Canada. Being late in any form or fashion makes me squiggy and this one is really pushing my boundaries. UPS all the way from here on out.
Your post made me think of this twitter thread I saw the other day from a postal service employee which I found very informative: https://twitter.com/Ghostalservice/status/1338681250677215234
Shows photos of the overloaded facilities!
I came to post this too.
That thread is great! Disorganized, as the poster freely admits, but informative!
I have NINE packages currently late/completely off the grid lol. All of these items were ordered on or before November 27th. I’m not mad at anyone about it, but it’s definitely frustrating. Well, that’s not true. I ordered from Uncommon Goods on 11/27 and it was supposed to arrive by the 14th. When it hadn’t even shipped by the 16th I finally reached out to them. I can handle the delays once it’s shipped, but at least get it sent out!
I have to mail two packages and the items just arrived today. I’m going to send them FedEx tomorrow and hope for the best.
I ordered a Secret Santa gift for a coworker on Etsy, and it is “arriving late” and apparently chilling out for days in the distribution center half an hour away. I wouldn’t mind if it was for a family member or a friend (they’d understand the lateness), but since it’s a coworker I don’t know well, I feel horribly guilty that her Secret Santa might miss the exchange deadline. :(
So much this. I ordered a gift on Black Friday. I chose USPS priority over Fedex because we have frequent issues with them. (We live on Very Common Street Name, and they frequently deliver to Very Common Street Name across town and in a different zip code. Which I thought was the purpose of zip codes but I digress.) They ship a few days later and it proceeds to show the label created status for over a week. I finally email the company but before they can respond is shows up in the system. And then sits for several days at the origin facility. I also signed up for text alerts and it finally moved so maybe this is really A Thing! I finally got it one day later than what they claimed it would deliver after it finally left the facility. All in three weeks ish?
My poor husband also had a gift shipped FedEx overnight by the vendor. Well, it did make it from the seller to the local facility, but then was on truck for delivery and then returned to the facility in the evening, wash rinse repeat, for a full week. It was both expensive and fragile so he was worried about damage with all the on and off a truck. It was also signature required but left very plainly and unceremoniously on our porch a week later. Very large obvious box. Thankfully it was ok.
May the odds be in all of your favor!!
This is currently happening to me! I’m on day two of a package being on a FedEx truck for delivery and then just…going back to the local facility. Like whyyyy?
Text alerts worked for me as well!
We have had so many issues with packages going over the border that I will henceforth do anything I can possibly do not to mail stuff from here to the U.S. again. The thing that’s made me the angriest, which I have finally figured out, is I keep getting told the package is “on hold” or “on exception” but it doesn’t tell me it’s because I need to pay duties – I have to contact them for them to tell me that. I would happily push the button that said “pay duties to have package released” BUT IT”S NOT THERE.
I totally get what you mean about ‘why does it have to be THIS package”. I hope it gets there in lots of time and you can stop worrying.
How have you found out about duties? I ordered
Something from Amazon that shipped from China. Apparently it’s in Canada, but I’m not sure if I have to pay or not.
I just want at least one of my daughters main presents to arrive on time. Unfortunately most of the stuff she wanted is not sent from Canada or being sent from relatives in the US. I’ve already warned her that things might be late, and she has a book and her stocking, but still, it makes me a bit sad that all her brother’s items are here and hers aren’t.
Package volume is insane right now. I’ve been to the PO twice this month and there was evidence of this both times. The first time it was not busy, but the package drop was jammed, which worried me because what I needed to do was grab a flat rate box, pack it, tape on my prepaid label (print your labels online, people, especially for flat rate! And bring your own tape), and put the box in the drop. Fortunately some invisible postal worker unjammed it while I was taping up my box. The second time, similar story- I had my postage and just needed a box- but the line of people with bags of unpacked gifts wrapped around the building! This was around 3 pm on Mon 12/14. I am sure everyone thought they were ahead of the game!
I had no idea it was this bad! I had heard there were delays this year, but this is too much. I am an Etsy seller and I just checked and ALL of the 15 packages I sent between December 11th -16th are delayed, nearly all of them seem to be sitting at the processing facility an hour from my house, but a lot are just non specifically in transit. I wonder if I should message my customers to apologize for the delays? Everything I mailed December 10th or earlier (expect international packages) have reached their destinations. It certainly has never been like this before. At least I mailed the one personal package that was going to my sister and her family on the other side of the country the first week in December and it has safely arrived, but I do really feel bad about all the delayed packages.
I worked for an e-commerce company for the pay several years, and here are my shipping tips!
We don’t send anything via the USPS that is bigger than their flat rate boxes. Their system is set up for smaller/lighter boxes and letters. Anything over 4-5lbs we send via UPS. (We have better rates with UPS than FedEx, but I assume as a consumer they are comparable)
Anything that is going cross the US/Canadian border we send via DHL. They have the best international rates and the fastest delivery. Their forms need to be completed very comprehensively to avoid getting stuck in customs. I always put the dollar amount and exact items in the box. I know this is not ideal for gift giving but the packages arrive faster.
At this point, is it still reasonable to expect to receive packages that have been “in transit” with no estimate of delivery? I mean, to expect to receive them at any point in, say, the next month? That’s what worries me – the packages just won’t get here at all.
I ordered a custom made linen dress from Lithuania and a few days later, a ball of yarn from Chicago. Guess which arrived first? THE DRESS
The text alert strategy worked for me too – thanks, everybody!
I’m so sorry to hear about everyone’s shipping woes. That is so frustrating! We have been so lucky, and I do wonder if it’s because we are not in the lower 48-so our mail has to be flown in? I got my daughter’s wish list late-and I was worried her presents would come after she had actually flown home for Christmas. She only lives about 360 miles away, but weather is definitely a problem for driving. We decided this year it is better to ship things to her place rather than her figure out how to get them on a flight. Anyway, I was apprehensive, but everything came much earlier than the projected date! Same with items from other retailers, Target, Etsy, Ebay and amazon. Usually we get the shaft with shipping (Anchorage-contiguous vs continental-don’t get me started!) so this was a very pleasant surprise. Fingers crossed packages get sent before Christmas for everyone having problems!