When I look at the "Tracking" links in "My Requests", all they tell me is that the senders notified the PO they would be mailing the item on a certain day. Whether they actually did, or the progress of the item in transit, is not revealed. Is this all I should expect? If so, what good is this feature?
It takes the PO a couple of days to post the info, when it leaves the main facility. I live in Oregon and all my Media Mail has to go up to Federal Way,Washington- then the info that it left from there is posted. That alone can take 2 days. It usually only says where it is shipped from and not updated until it reaches your home. Sometimes it just doesnt get scanned, then it does not do you any good. The main thing it's good for is if they have scanned it then it gets lost in transit.
If it's been delivered, this helps the sender but not the recipient who's wondering way before that why it hasn't been delivered. Why call it "Tracking" if it doesn't show the intermediate steps leading up to delivery? I guess the POs handling my deliveries aren't scanning the items, which sucks for me and the sender who paid extra for a service not being provided.
This exact thing happened to me. I shipped a hardback book (2 months ago). Tracking says the item is still expected at the post office. The book was never scanned and never reached its destination. I paid to ship a large, hardback book and paid extra for "tracking". I refunded the point to the trader, I'm out shipping costs, and I've lost a hardback book. When I contacted the post office they were unable to find the package, and had no record in their tracking system, I didn't purchase insurance so there was no refund. Very unhappy with the USPS, but our other options aren't any better. I've traded quite a few things and this was my first loss, I guess I'll just have to take my chances, I'm certainly not paying extra postage for insurance on these "free" trades. Honestly, paying extra for the tracking doesn't do anything.
In my experience, very few items are lost by the Post Office, though some really strange things have happened over the years to items I have shipped.
When you add up the cost of insurance, and then deduct your actual losses, insurance is the biggest USPS ripoff of all time.
I wish a private company could offer insurance that reflected something closer to the real costs.
Until then, I only insure items valued at over $100.
Sooner or later, everyone will lose something, but by not paying insurance, in the long run we come out way ahead.
Some of the "tracked" items I send are "trackable" on a hit and miss basis, but all seem to be scanned upon delivery.
Since we're only paying 14 cents for the tracking service, you can only expect to get your 14 cents worth. Sometimes, a delivery confirmation is priceless.
Every single package I have shipped thus far with delivery confirmation (about 35) has been scanned the day I drop it at the post office (and I don't take them to the counter, I just use stamps and drop them in the box), and then at every place along the way (I like to check the tracking to see when they will receive it). I have a few items I've requested, however, that were marked 'shipped' almost immediately after I requested them but the tracking still says that the post office was notified on [04/10, 04/13, and 04/17] to expect the package for shipping, blah blah. Since they marked it shipped I can't cancel it. Guess I just have to file a dispute if I never get it. But anyway, just seems weird that the packages I ship are all scanned and tracked just fine but not the ones I'm expecting.
Thanks, Prunella (seeing your name always reminds me of the British actress Prunella Scales from Fawlty Towers) - anyway, reading the link is darkly amusing since it is written in legalese with the apparent purpose of absolving the USPS from any responsibility for the actual tracking and delivery of your package!
I find that annoying too since it means that as the sending trader I feel an obligation to keep checking a package's progress and report it to the receiver.
Dual tracking capability for sender and receiver would save me time -- and irritation!
If the item is scanned I see as a requestor the posts when I click on "tracking". I have two now that show where they were last scanned.
The item does have to be scanned by the P.O. for it to have a message other than the received into the system message.
Personally, I have quit using Delivery Confirmation when I quit going to the P.O. counter. The labels just were not being scanned until delivery, which is fine but I thought I would try a simple label and see what happened. I print from the "old label" link for US shipping. Found under the box with the new label information.
I didn't see any difference in delivery time for media mail. It is truly hit and miss.
