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  1. #1
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    Default Sluggish USPS Delivery Times

    How is anyone else faring? I've been waiting in vain by the looks of it for a pair of circlip pliers I paid for six weeks ago. USPS tracking shows them being "in transit" since the 18th of June.

    BT

  2. #2
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    I've found USPS tracking to be unreliable at best.
    Last package I received still showed as in transit a week after I'd received it.
    Actual delivery times have been the claimed 5 to 10 working days.

  3. #3
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    Sounds then like in transit translates to lost in my case. I really wanted those pliers.

  4. #4
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    Bob, I wouldn't give up hope yet, I have had a couple of parcels take more than 4 weeks and in both cases they were held up in Oz customs.

    Maybe a query to USPS might get things moving?

    Funnily enough on Monday I received a parcel from China, it was posted on 4/6/12 and the Ebay seller refunded my money in mid July. It arrived on the same day as a replacement one I ordered! I now have 2 and the original supplier doesn't want me to reverse his refund!

  5. #5
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    Ueee is offline Blacksmith, Cabinetmaker, Machinist, Messmaker
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    I have always found usps and ups to be both pricey and slow. To top it off customs can basically hold any parcel to check at random so it can be really bad. Despite all the jokes about royal mail (3 million years? thats about average for second class post..) I have found it very quick and cheaper than the US services.
    I sea freight sword steel from the US, it takes about 3 months and the price is as much as the steel is worth, to top it off i once had it delivered to the wrong house- right number but different street. When i called Aus post they couldn't care less.
    1915 17"x50" LeBlond heavy duty Lathe, 24" Queen city shaper, 1970's G Vernier FV.3.TO Universal Mill, 1958 Blohm HFS 6 surface grinder, 1942 Rivett 715 Lathe, 14"x40" Antrac Lathe, Startrite H225 Bandsaw, 1949 Hercus Camelback Drill press, 1947 Holbrook C10 Lathe.

  6. #6
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    The last time I used them, the exact same thing happened to me, keep showing as IN TRANSIT.

    I emailed them and they wrote back and said it was lost so they would look into it.

    Couple of days later they wrote and said that they had found it, it had fallen of the conveyer belt.

    I have no idea if what they told me was true, but in the end I received the package.

    Cheers

  7. #7
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    Default books

    Quote Originally Posted by Anorak Bob View Post
    How is anyone else faring? I've been waiting in vain by the looks of it for a pair of circlip pliers I paid for six weeks ago. USPS tracking shows them being "in transit" since the 18th of June.

    BT
    I've been buying used books from the USA recently, machining books . Most are ex library books . The transit time is hit an miss , sometimes they get here in good time, but other times it takes many weeks . I cant explain it

    Today I got a 1941 "New Encyclopedea of Machining Practice" 560 pages . Its great , no photos but line drawings of everything . Must have been skilled artists back then as the drawings are very good . I think there was a trade known as "Commercial Artist"

  8. #8
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    can take up to 12 weeks! most take 6 to 8 weeks unless it gos by air

    Jake

  9. #9
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    All my USPS experiences have been good.

    About 10 years ago I had about 10 kg of books sent and the parcel must have disintegrated somewhere in the US as the books arrived in a USPS mail bag which I still have and uses as a general tote bag.

    ANother time I ordered 36" long pieces of tool steel and the steel punctured the side of the parcel and it had been taped up by someone in the US because the puncture was repaired with multiple layers of US newspaper.

    Most of the stuff has been 6-8 weeks. Longest I've had was 14 weeks.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    All my USPS experiences have been good.

    About 10 years ago I had about 10 kg of books sent and the parcel must have disintegrated somewhere in the US as the books arrived in a USPS mail bag which I still have and uses as a general tote bag.

    ANother time I ordered 36" long pieces of tool steel and the steel punctured the side of the parcel and it had been taped up by someone in the US because the puncture was repaired with multiple layers of US newspaper.

    Most of the stuff has been 6-8 weeks. Longest I've had was 14 weeks.
    I've seldom had to wait that long for mail from the States Bob. I 'd say the norm would have been 2 to 3 weeks.

    I'm currently waiting for some Swiss goodies winging their way here via Dutch Post. The package is trackable. Since the initial arrival date which was Monday, the website changes the arrival date to each current day. I'm just hoping that one of these days it will arrive. Fingers crossed.

    BT

  11. #11
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Anorak Bob View Post
    I've seldom had to wait that long for mail from the States Bob. I 'd say the norm would have been 2 to 3 weeks.
    Maybe it's because most of the stuff has been large, chainsaw bars, tool steel etc. The stuff that took 14 weeks was timber and that was almost certainly held up in quarantine.

    I have received some small packages here in 2-3 weeks. One time it only took 5 days for some tool steel to arrive but that was sent accidentally by Enco by priority air (cost was around $100!) but they only charged me for surface mail.

  12. #12
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    I've only had small items shipped from the states by USPS, but over the past 12 months or so their prices have gone up and service has definitely gone downhill. Now very hit and miss IMHO. Could be due to them finally working out that they were losing money hand over fist.....?

    Meanwhile, that old dark horse UK Royal Mail ("What's A Few Days Between Friends?") seems to be doing a better job. Postage from the UK is very reasonable, and I've experienced very rapid and reliable delivery on several shipments. For smaller woodworking handtools (e.g. chisels) I'll generally check a few UK suppliers in preference to the USA outlets, as they are often very competitive when shipping is taken into account.

  13. #13
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    Been watching this thread with interest as I had also noted an increased time delay recently in stuff I ordered ex US sent via USPS............Interestingly, way back in mid May I ordered parts from the US....I paid for them and the merchant posted them air freight on May 24th......a receipt was sent to me with the tracking number..normally only takes a few weeks...anyway, I waited until their expected delivery mid June and nothing happened, tracking still showed it was in the US - so I got onto the merchant and he immediately credited my account no questions asked and I purchased elsewhere - didn't give it another thought...

    Lo and behold Australia post delivered the package today just over 10 weeks later... I didn't accept delivery but on examination of the package with the Aus Post bloke it showed that the AWB was cut in the US on 28/7/12 for QF94 to Australia.......all the other labels had been removed so we were not able to tell when it was originally posted but I have no doubts the merchant posted when he said and it's been sitting in some depot ever since.....

    I sent the merchant the details today and his reply being it wasn't out of the norm with USPS this year..............which I thought rather disconcerting coming from a pretty large US supplier.....just makes me more wary now.........FWIW.............Lee

  14. #14
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    On thing that I have noticed with USPS deliveries of late is that the supplier can do the paperwork online and get a tracking number to forward to you, then order the goods and pack them once they arrive in their inwards store, call USPS and have them collected to ship to the customer.

    I have had stuff recorded as collected from the supplier three weeks after the supplier has advised me that it has been shipped and provided the tracking number.

    Also USPS offers some categories of tracked postage where the category does not comply with international tracking standards and the tracking stops once the package leaves the last US airport.

    Used to deliver for Aust Post parcels, and we were in deep poo if we scanned parcels in that category for delivery.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    All my USPS experiences have been good.

    About 10 years ago I had about 10 kg of books sent and the parcel must have disintegrated somewhere in the US as the books arrived in a USPS mail bag which I still have and uses as a general tote bag.
    the mail bag might have been the original packaging.
    USPS used to have a special rate for books called IIRC "book bag"
    a friend with a relative in the US used to regularly receive "bags" of books
    regards from Canmore

    ian

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