Shipping is Frustrating These days....

[BrokenolMarine]

Had a package shipped Friday from another state. Seller went to the FFL and since it was a handgun he was told that they had to be shipped Second Day Air, required by the ATF.... With fees and the shipping, $177. Told they would arrive on Monday. Checked the tracking number all weekend. Nothing, got a message that read something like: Only track labels back 120 days. Around NOON on Monday, the message pops up: Label Created... the FFL finally entered the package for pickup. The business is closed to the public on Sunday and Monday. Seller calls on Tuesday and told that UPS doesn't make commercial pickup and delivery on Saturdays/Sundays, but ATF requires the Second Day Air. I'll make sure we don't ship handguns on Friday again....

I shipped a small package on Monday... Priority Mail, USPS. Supposed to arrive Wednesday / Thursday. Checked the tracking number today... Not in the system. My luck sucks.

[Ozarkwoodswalker]

Shipping is becoming a nightmare... that is if you want the item to show up. Either the shipping outfits are getting way understaffed or the have too many incompetent or thieving employees... a sign of the worlds current condition i fear....

[rickhem]

I agree, the shipping aspect of on-line purchases is the hook. How does Amazon do such a good job, while everyone else struggles?

I bought a ball cap from a shop on eBay a couple weeks ago. Did the "make an offer" thing and seller accepted. Charge went to my credit card as soon as they accepted. They shipped USPS, which is the least expensive, but also the one with the most issues. Their tracking gives three options when I look it up, it's either shipped, or in transit, or delivered. I click on the numbers for more detail, and it adds a bit more, but isn't updated with any regularity. So I get a notification that my package will be delivered on a Tuesday, but it wasn't. Then again, another notification that it would be delivered the next day, and it wasn't. Then finally it says "delivered". I get home from work, no package. I search around the porch, look by the garage, nothing. Sometimes my rural delivery person takes an extra day for a package, maybe forgets it in their car, but the next day, still nothing. Now I look at the tracking and it says "picked up by individual" from a facility that is over 90 minutes drive from me. What the heck does that mean?
So I go back into eBay and tell them I haven't received the package. A new process starts, and eventually the seller issues a refund. Great seller, good communication, just trusted the wrong shipper. About a week later, my hat gets delivered. I went back into eBay to address that, but even the seller said it was already refunded. Luckily I had the return address on the package, and I told the seller I'd send a check, can't have that bad Karma on my new hat. But I have to say that this is not an isolated event with USPS. Of all the major shipping methods, they're the least reliable. But in a confusing contrast, all the Amazon orders that my GF makes are all delivered quickly and efficiently, and are delivered by that same mailperson. Figure that one out! Maybe Amazon has some kind of "ours get priority" deal with USPS.

[Sir Henry]

When I lived in Woodinville (near Seattle) if I ordered from Amazon by noon it was delivered the same day on an Amazon truck. Now that I live in rural Wisconsin it’s hit or miss. Return are very difficult and Amazon sellers know this so they often send broken “new” merchandise. I don’t order from Amazon anymore. eBay on the other hand mostly uses USPS service and while slow they always seem to deliver. You don’t move to Ogema for fast mail service; you move here because there are 8 people per square mile.

[BrokenolMarine]

Yup, I paid extra for priority mail and the extra insurance shipping a custom made knife to a friend. I hoped that with priority mail, less time over the road, it would be less risk. This package tracking number has NEVER been scanned out of my local post office. The $200 insurance was also placed on the knife to help "Insure" it arrived. HE doesn't know it's coming... now it might not get there.

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[daytime dave]

I know what it used to be like. You send in an order for something mail order. You filled out a form, included a check and mailed it off for your wanted item. You didn't get any notifications, tracking numbers or further information until your item arrived. Your item showed up a week or two later.
Now, we get instant confirmation of the order, a tracking number that shows us wonderful progress or great incompetence, the whole journey up to being out for delivery. Many times you get a time frame for delivery that you may be able to change based on your daily schedule. You are also told that your item was delivered with possibly a picture or description of where the item was left at (hopefully) your home.
I'm currently awaiting a package of socks that was supposed to have been here yesterday. Last night, after the hour (7:00pm) they were supposed to have been there by, the carrier information had today's date and a new time. The original email that said it was shipped, with a shipping link, now showed that there was a delay and it would arrive today. What technology used to create the anticipation, let down and subsequent reassurance of fulfillment.

Yop, the old ways are gone. I also feel your pain Marine. I'm on that roller coaster too. Your luck will change, hopefully for the better. We all have seen the horror show of a package that got sent all over the country, only to arrive late, or not at all. Sometimes I think we are getting too much information.

That's a beautiful knife by the way!!!!

Yet Amazon can ship me a bag of candy overnight and if I check at the right time, I can see how many stops away the truck is away from my house on a real time (more or less) map. Incredible.

My feet are tingling now. I'm going to check again to see if my socks have an update. Maybe they will be waiting outside my door when I'm finished with today's errands.

[BrokenolMarine]

I remember those days. As a kid, I saved all summer to order the "real firing Colt Peacemaker" from the back of my comic book. I was seven. My mom rolled her eyes and told me it wasn't going to be what I thought, but took my collection of coins, and wrote the check for me. She even provided a stamp.

I ran to check the mailbox every day, the excitement killing me. The ad said allow four weeks for delivery but I checked that box every day after I mailed the order. I started checking the Very Next Day. You can't tell a seven year old: "It's too soon..." It doesn't register.

The big day arrived, the company logo was on that box, but wait... the box was awful light for a Real Colt Peacemaker. I ran up the drive to the house, and cut through the tape, there it was... ...MY Colt Peacemaker had arrived. My heart sunk.

My first lesson in reality. My Colt Peacemaker was plastic. The advertised metal barrel was a thin tube inside the plastic, and it really shot alright.. BBs. But they flew about six feet, propelled by the included roll of caps. A rippoff. My mom somehow managed not to laugh... In my view.

[clovishound]

I'm still waiting for my Coco Puffs train.

[rickhem]

I'm still waiting for my Coco Puffs train.

Probably got hijacked by the Sea Monkeys.

[BrokenolMarine]

I'm still waiting for my Coco Puffs train.

I was gonna order some x-ray specs...
But after the devastating disappointment of the Peacemaker... I went with Candy from the corner store... Much more satisfying.