This past weekend, I placed an order for a small part with Gary from his VOM site.
Never had any issues for years with him.
However, it's the USPS that I'm disgusted with.....
From Gary in Michigan to my place in Philly Pa.....it's not a huge distance, yet.... Tracking says my package is now in....
SAN DIEGO?
Never had any issues for years with him.
However, it's the USPS that I'm disgusted with.....
From Gary in Michigan to my place in Philly Pa.....it's not a huge distance, yet.... Tracking says my package is now in....
SAN DIEGO?
Recently I got a postcard from England that took over three months to get to New Jersey.
The English postmark date was one day after it was mailed and the US postmark date was a few days before it arrived so not sure who screwed up.
It would probably would have been quicker to put it in a bottle and throw it in the Atlantic.
The English postmark date was one day after it was mailed and the US postmark date was a few days before it arrived so not sure who screwed up.
It would probably would have been quicker to put it in a bottle and throw it in the Atlantic.
There are two potential reasons why a package would go the opposite way:
1) It is a routing error where they loaded it on the wrong plane. When it reaches the sorting center, it will be scanned and re-routed in the correct direction.
2) For the cheap shipping options, shipping companies will often route packages through their large shipping centers or shipping centers that aren't as busy, as they are under no contract to get you your package by a set date. This has happened to me before where a package first goes all the way to Anchorage, AK, before then being routed to a shipping hub in the next city over, then driven by truck all the way to my city. We have a large enough airport here that for express shipments, they usually ship direct to my the city airport.
1) It is a routing error where they loaded it on the wrong plane. When it reaches the sorting center, it will be scanned and re-routed in the correct direction.
2) For the cheap shipping options, shipping companies will often route packages through their large shipping centers or shipping centers that aren't as busy, as they are under no contract to get you your package by a set date. This has happened to me before where a package first goes all the way to Anchorage, AK, before then being routed to a shipping hub in the next city over, then driven by truck all the way to my city. We have a large enough airport here that for express shipments, they usually ship direct to my the city airport.
All my prior shipments over the years from Gary/VOM in Michigan (dozens and dozens!) to my knowlege have never been routed in such a rediculous way.
I get them usually in 4-6 days.
But this "way out" to the other side of the country from me is silly.
Besides, they talk about gas price increases, energy consumption, global warming, all kinds of other crap, yet this cross-country "trip" for an 18 (+shp) dollar part - how much is wasted on its jolly travels?
No, this is not acceptable to me.
I get them usually in 4-6 days.
But this "way out" to the other side of the country from me is silly.
Besides, they talk about gas price increases, energy consumption, global warming, all kinds of other crap, yet this cross-country "trip" for an 18 (+shp) dollar part - how much is wasted on its jolly travels?
No, this is not acceptable to me.
It's bad enough that a bunch of mailbox thieves have been stealing checks out of mailboxes, and I lost 4 bill payment checks that way last year.
They were never cashed or get to their destinations, however I had to waste my time and write new ones out, plus 60 cent stamps.
I now have to put my mail-to-go inside my front door for the mailman to get them.
They were never cashed or get to their destinations, however I had to waste my time and write new ones out, plus 60 cent stamps.
I now have to put my mail-to-go inside my front door for the mailman to get them.
And Nigel.......
Wouldn't you be just thrilled to hop around and visit those places on a vacation, like that package went on?
You're the only person I know that still uses cheques. All my services are paid electronically either directly from my bank account, or by credit card. Cheques are obsolete, and a waste of money (it costs ME money to write a cheque, but nothing to pay electronically). Even my "first and last" rent was paid by bank draft.
Also we have Interac. They have a service called "e-Transfer". Not sure if you have something like that in the USA, but it makes payroll services obsolete / expensive, too. Why write a cheque for 2.50$ when you can send an e-transfer for free?
https://www.interac.ca/en/consumers/products/interac-e-transfer/
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Given the incredibly ridiculous failures that I have experienced with the USPS in the last two months I figured that it wouldn't take long for a thread of this sort to appear. I couldn't be the only one.....
Backstory:
I have been shipping my PC boards all over the world for 15+ years the same way. One to four boards go into a USPS flat rate envelope for delivery inside the USA in 2 to 3 days. This cost $4 when I started in 2007, and about $9 today. International orders go in an envelope from Uline and ship by USPS first class mail. Costing anywhere from $12 to $25. There are a few countries where I will not ship due to corruption in the postal or customs systems. This has been reliable forever with one or two lost or damaged orders per year in 15 years and 1508 orders shipped. In both cases I put the envelopes in my mailbox in the morning for pickup and get a tracking scan on my PC when the mail girl takes it out of my mailbox around 10 AM. I get scans everywhere along the route that the envelope changes hands.
One envelope last year was addressed to a residence in Poland and shipped at the start of the Christmas rush. It did find its way to the residence in Poland after first going to Canada, then to a US Air Force base in Germany, then back to the New Jersey in the US where it went to Miami, then to Jamaica (the country) then to the international mail center in Jamaica New Youk, USA, then to France, then finally to Poland where it was delivered. The boards wandered the earth, saw 6 countries for over two months and travelled more than 10,000 miles! Postal efficiency at its best!
Things went haywire sometime in mid November of 2022:
At first there were missing scans, and slow deliveries, from one to three days late. By December there were missing boards, no scans and two to three day deliveries taking 2 to 4 weeks. When someone doesn't get their board in two weeks, I send out another one at my expense. Some, but not all of those boards did eventually reach the customer, but only ONE buyer offered to pay for their extra board. Tubelab is already in the red for 2023 in just over three weeks.
Things went from bad to ridiculous around the turn of the year:
I worked for Motorola for 41 years. Some Wall Street Wizards bought into the company heavy enough to get two of their henchmen on the board of directors, and eventually assert enough control to break up the company and part it out like a junk car. During that "optimization" period about 100,000 people worldwide lost their jobs and everything was outsourced including the pension fund and 401K management, probably to the lowest bidders. I was one of the 100,000 who were "strongly encouraged to leave." The 401K management went to one of those high fee financial companies that advertise on TV. We must have wound up on the lowest tier of service because it was nearly impossible to get a human on the phone or move my money out of their company via their web site. It took nearly two months for them to finally send me a rollover check. They refused to send one to the new institution or even acknowledge their correspondence. I sent their check to the new institution directly by certified mail with tracking on January 7. The check was within 3 miles of the new institution on January 9, and was dispatched to the "next facility" on the morning of January 10. It was never scanned again, and the tracking still says, "moving through network, in transit, arriving late." Several days passed with no activity so I filled out a missing mail form which got no response. I also started calling the new financial institution daily asking if they had seen it.
I ordered $90 worth of parts from Mouser in Texas on Jan 12. They were shipped via USPS on Jan 13. I still do not have them.
I spent the day of Jan 17 Googling up the phone numbers of every USPS facility in the Salt Lake City area, where the check was mailed, and calling them. In my random calling I stumbled upon a USPS "consumer affairs" office and a person who tried his best to help. He said he would call back in an hour and he did but could not find my check. He did tell me lots of places where it was NOT.
I spent about an hour on hold with the 401K management company on Friday the 20th trying to get the check replaced but lost my patience and hung up. About an hour later the new institution called with the news that they had my check. She knew the actual name of the 401K plan and the dollar amount, so she did have it. The USPS still (Jan 26) shows it as missing in the "airport post office." I started receiving emails and phone calls from the USPS in Salt Lake City asking if I knew where my check was! I let them squirm for a few days before I finally told them that it did find its way to the new institution, but without the certified mail sticker. I never got any confirmation of delivery from the USPS.
Maybe I'll call off the search and send the hounds after my Mouser order? Nah.....
I had gone back and forth with the USPS and Mouser for a week with no solution. The USPS has lost, misdirected, or severely delayed 6 incoming or outgoing mail pieces in the last two months. They claim, and their tracking shows that Mouser pulled a tracking number but never shipped the order. The USPS will not even accept a lost mail search request, since they can't lose what they never got. Mouser said that scenario is virtually impossible in their workflow, but they would investigate it.
Daily calls to Mouser went to the same person who said that they were still investigating, resulting in a "call back Tuesday" request last Friday. Tuesday's call was answered by a different guy who said that they had multiple issues with the USPS in the last few months as well and that they would reship the entire order for no charge, but it would go UPS, not USPS.
Mouser STRONGLY SUGGESTED that I should NOT use the USPS for future parts orders due to several similar issues. They would not replace another parts order for me that was lost by the USPS. The USPS mail girl will drive her personal 4WD car down our dirt road every day and deliver mail. UPS and Fedex will often bypass us on days like today where the road looks like the mud bog at a truck pull competition with some extra ice for added fun and the UPS man's route brings him here well after dark. Well, slow delivery beats no delivery. Future Mouser and Digikey orders will come via UPS.
If the issues with the USPS does not resolve soon, Tubelab Inc. will cease operations as I can not afford to ship boards that never get to their destination, and nobody will pay the UPS or Fedex retail rate of $25 to $29 to ship a $35 PC board inside the US.
Backstory:
I have been shipping my PC boards all over the world for 15+ years the same way. One to four boards go into a USPS flat rate envelope for delivery inside the USA in 2 to 3 days. This cost $4 when I started in 2007, and about $9 today. International orders go in an envelope from Uline and ship by USPS first class mail. Costing anywhere from $12 to $25. There are a few countries where I will not ship due to corruption in the postal or customs systems. This has been reliable forever with one or two lost or damaged orders per year in 15 years and 1508 orders shipped. In both cases I put the envelopes in my mailbox in the morning for pickup and get a tracking scan on my PC when the mail girl takes it out of my mailbox around 10 AM. I get scans everywhere along the route that the envelope changes hands.
One envelope last year was addressed to a residence in Poland and shipped at the start of the Christmas rush. It did find its way to the residence in Poland after first going to Canada, then to a US Air Force base in Germany, then back to the New Jersey in the US where it went to Miami, then to Jamaica (the country) then to the international mail center in Jamaica New Youk, USA, then to France, then finally to Poland where it was delivered. The boards wandered the earth, saw 6 countries for over two months and travelled more than 10,000 miles! Postal efficiency at its best!
Things went haywire sometime in mid November of 2022:
At first there were missing scans, and slow deliveries, from one to three days late. By December there were missing boards, no scans and two to three day deliveries taking 2 to 4 weeks. When someone doesn't get their board in two weeks, I send out another one at my expense. Some, but not all of those boards did eventually reach the customer, but only ONE buyer offered to pay for their extra board. Tubelab is already in the red for 2023 in just over three weeks.
Things went from bad to ridiculous around the turn of the year:
I worked for Motorola for 41 years. Some Wall Street Wizards bought into the company heavy enough to get two of their henchmen on the board of directors, and eventually assert enough control to break up the company and part it out like a junk car. During that "optimization" period about 100,000 people worldwide lost their jobs and everything was outsourced including the pension fund and 401K management, probably to the lowest bidders. I was one of the 100,000 who were "strongly encouraged to leave." The 401K management went to one of those high fee financial companies that advertise on TV. We must have wound up on the lowest tier of service because it was nearly impossible to get a human on the phone or move my money out of their company via their web site. It took nearly two months for them to finally send me a rollover check. They refused to send one to the new institution or even acknowledge their correspondence. I sent their check to the new institution directly by certified mail with tracking on January 7. The check was within 3 miles of the new institution on January 9, and was dispatched to the "next facility" on the morning of January 10. It was never scanned again, and the tracking still says, "moving through network, in transit, arriving late." Several days passed with no activity so I filled out a missing mail form which got no response. I also started calling the new financial institution daily asking if they had seen it.
I ordered $90 worth of parts from Mouser in Texas on Jan 12. They were shipped via USPS on Jan 13. I still do not have them.
I spent the day of Jan 17 Googling up the phone numbers of every USPS facility in the Salt Lake City area, where the check was mailed, and calling them. In my random calling I stumbled upon a USPS "consumer affairs" office and a person who tried his best to help. He said he would call back in an hour and he did but could not find my check. He did tell me lots of places where it was NOT.
I spent about an hour on hold with the 401K management company on Friday the 20th trying to get the check replaced but lost my patience and hung up. About an hour later the new institution called with the news that they had my check. She knew the actual name of the 401K plan and the dollar amount, so she did have it. The USPS still (Jan 26) shows it as missing in the "airport post office." I started receiving emails and phone calls from the USPS in Salt Lake City asking if I knew where my check was! I let them squirm for a few days before I finally told them that it did find its way to the new institution, but without the certified mail sticker. I never got any confirmation of delivery from the USPS.
Maybe I'll call off the search and send the hounds after my Mouser order? Nah.....
I had gone back and forth with the USPS and Mouser for a week with no solution. The USPS has lost, misdirected, or severely delayed 6 incoming or outgoing mail pieces in the last two months. They claim, and their tracking shows that Mouser pulled a tracking number but never shipped the order. The USPS will not even accept a lost mail search request, since they can't lose what they never got. Mouser said that scenario is virtually impossible in their workflow, but they would investigate it.
Daily calls to Mouser went to the same person who said that they were still investigating, resulting in a "call back Tuesday" request last Friday. Tuesday's call was answered by a different guy who said that they had multiple issues with the USPS in the last few months as well and that they would reship the entire order for no charge, but it would go UPS, not USPS.
Mouser STRONGLY SUGGESTED that I should NOT use the USPS for future parts orders due to several similar issues. They would not replace another parts order for me that was lost by the USPS. The USPS mail girl will drive her personal 4WD car down our dirt road every day and deliver mail. UPS and Fedex will often bypass us on days like today where the road looks like the mud bog at a truck pull competition with some extra ice for added fun and the UPS man's route brings him here well after dark. Well, slow delivery beats no delivery. Future Mouser and Digikey orders will come via UPS.
If the issues with the USPS does not resolve soon, Tubelab Inc. will cease operations as I can not afford to ship boards that never get to their destination, and nobody will pay the UPS or Fedex retail rate of $25 to $29 to ship a $35 PC board inside the US.
Don't quit.
I found it cheaper to send boards to the USA by UPS than Canada Post... And if someone wants your boards, they'll pay the shipping for them.
The other week, I accidentally selected UPS worldwide saver for 5$ worth of boards from JLC. 32$ for shipping instead of 5$... At least they got here quickly, but the cost per board is now over 8$ instead of the 2$ pricepoint I was trying for.
Also, USPS isn't an option for Mouser to Canada (DDP)... Fedex is free (or 20$ if under 100$ order).
I prefer Digikey usually. Not owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
I found it cheaper to send boards to the USA by UPS than Canada Post... And if someone wants your boards, they'll pay the shipping for them.
The other week, I accidentally selected UPS worldwide saver for 5$ worth of boards from JLC. 32$ for shipping instead of 5$... At least they got here quickly, but the cost per board is now over 8$ instead of the 2$ pricepoint I was trying for.
Also, USPS isn't an option for Mouser to Canada (DDP)... Fedex is free (or 20$ if under 100$ order).
I prefer Digikey usually. Not owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
I just had a similar situation for an eBay purchase of some Hafler components from Colorado to California. Super slow to accept, got stuck near me then routed back near the sender then finally was received. The month before I tried to order potentiometers twice from 60 miles away and they started to track and never arrived. Only USPS Priority Express is guaranteed so take that into consideration if the extra cost is worth it.
Yikes.
I’m about to have $1200 worth of midranges/woofers shipped from USA to AU
FedEx, UPS and DHL seemed expensive (=more expensive than the value of the items)
So we are left with USPS.
Does it matter on the service?
Global Express Guaranteed® versus
Priority Mail Express International® versus
Priority Mail International®
I’m about to have $1200 worth of midranges/woofers shipped from USA to AU
FedEx, UPS and DHL seemed expensive (=more expensive than the value of the items)
So we are left with USPS.
Does it matter on the service?
Global Express Guaranteed® versus
Priority Mail Express International® versus
Priority Mail International®
George: I think each country has it's own issues at the moment. In Uk we've had a perfect storm as various factors stacked up. Over lockdown we got very addicted to ordering everything online and getting it delivered to home (for minimum postage charges). As a lot of people were out of work or on furlough there was a good supply of people willing to do the delivery. Once the economy started crawling back off it's knees a lot of those people got better offers* and took them. So the delivery business was stressed. Then in early december the post office started going on strike and so a lot of companies started using other delivery companies (who were already struggling). Upshot is we got a delivery today that was posted 8 weeks ago and we'd already got replacements delivered before xmas. I made two orders to one company 15 days apart and they both arrived on the same day (delivered to the wrong house!).
Whilst I dislike Amazon when I last used them the part I ordered arrived in the autobox just round the corner exactly when they said it would.
*The figures may be out of date but I understand for the likes of Evri delivery drivers get around 75p per parcel and have to use their own vehicles. In a rural area like mine makes it a hard way to make a decent paycheck.
Whilst I dislike Amazon when I last used them the part I ordered arrived in the autobox just round the corner exactly when they said it would.
*The figures may be out of date but I understand for the likes of Evri delivery drivers get around 75p per parcel and have to use their own vehicles. In a rural area like mine makes it a hard way to make a decent paycheck.
OK, the Mouser thing just might be on Mouser. The first guy that I talked to two or three times said that their workflow prevented something from getting lost after the tracking number was pulled on the first conversation. He also stated that all USPS shipments went directly from the Mouser warehouse to a USPS hub in Kentucky, no local post offices or distribution centers were involved. On the second conversation I was informed that there was a small possibility that my order was still in the warehouse, call back on Tuesday. Tuesday's call connected me to a different person who replaced the order and told me not to use the USPS any longer. I assumed that was the end of it.
This thread got my curiosity up enough to run both tracking numbers again. My missing check is still "moving through the network" though it also has cleared the bank, so it must have the magic property of being in two places at once. The Mouser parts do seem to be in two places at once. One place is in a brown truck which should be here tomorrow night. The other box must have found itself somewhere in Texas and made its way to a post office in Mansfield Texas. Maybe it will show up here Monday morning.
This thread got my curiosity up enough to run both tracking numbers again. My missing check is still "moving through the network" though it also has cleared the bank, so it must have the magic property of being in two places at once. The Mouser parts do seem to be in two places at once. One place is in a brown truck which should be here tomorrow night. The other box must have found itself somewhere in Texas and made its way to a post office in Mansfield Texas. Maybe it will show up here Monday morning.
