United States Postal Service [USPS] review: A joke of a tracking system! 28

I totally agree. I ordered three items from the internet and when I started tracking them, I noticed immediately that USPS was shipping one of them. I got both of my packages (one from Chicago and one from Nashville) in two days. They were sent through FedEx which is a pretty good service and has great tracking info as well. I ordered all three products at the same time on Jan. 19th and granted the one being delivered by USPS was coming from California, but according to the tracking feature for the USPS, it has spent THREE DAYS in Hazelwood, Mo. If they would have got whatever is wrong with them together, then I probably would have had all of my packages at the same time. USPS sucks.

I agree! The tracking website is crap! It has said that my package left MI two days ago and that's the last update it's given me. When it does update, it's at least 24 hours behind. What a load of bull!

i get very poor serviceof packages i send or receive packages or mail

Hello neighbor.I am located in Northwest Indiana and feel for you.If you complain, they will just intentionally hold your mail and packages longer.One day hopefully enough people will complain and they will be FORCED to do their job.

I'm lodging a complaint about the Porter Square Post office in Cambridge MA and the postal workers there. I want it looked into.

On more than 3 occasions I was mailed either packages or letters to my PO box at zipcode 02140 that were not delivered to me.

In cases such as letters which were clearly addressed, they were returned to sender. In cases of packages, they were also precisely addressed to me and with tracking numbers.

With regard to the packages, it is a situation where the postal system/ worker there is scanning them in that they are received. However, the worker(s) are :

A: Not putting notice in my mailbox to inform me a package has been sent
B: Writing such things as: "Customer not available". "Business closed" on the same day they receive the package.
C: Returning to sender saying "No such person at this address"

This is unacceptable and I feel it is tantamount to the act of TAMPERING with the US mail and on the part of which ever postal worker (s) there wishing to SABOTAGE my right to receive mail delivered there.

Prior I had a situation where I had gone there asking where my package was and had gone in there with the tracking code from the company that sent it. A particular postal worker there told me: "The company must have not sent it given that they "had no record" of it being received at the post office. On 3 occasions, I went back to the post office telling them the company had indeed sent the package. Ostensibly they "looked for it" but it "was not there". About 1 month down the road, still not getting the package and with NO HELP from the postal workers other than to tell me; 'It was not received there', the company sent me PROOF that the package was delivered there shortly after they sent it AND the post office scanned in this delivery. It turned out that the package was delivered, yet not only did the workers there FAIL to give notice after they scanned it when they got but they also DENIED a package was there. At that point, I asked them: "Did you even look for a physical package?" It turned out they did not even LOOK for a package and they only actually looked for it after my having to insist they do so. Prior they were just telling me that a tracking number did "not mean the package was sent by the sender" and all they did was look to see there was a tracking number.

On another occasion, another package was sent to me by sender and I was waiting in line. The postal worker who I had confronted prior saw me waiting in line and saw it was my turn to have him as the worker. At THAT POINT, he retreated into the back room. Another postal worker noted it was ODD he do that. Yes, indeed, it was ODD even to the other postal worker, that he would retreat into the back room when I was next in line and for him to attend. She told me I needed to lodge a complaint and gave me the number of someone in charge. (But I misplaced the number.) as there was no reason for that kind of behavior on his part. The other postal worker did find my package. However, this was a case where the package had to be REDELIVERED to me because the first attempt was "return to sender".

Today on 16 March, after trying again to find out 'what happened' to a package that I KNEW the company had delivered (I know because I have been doing business with this company for the past 20 years and they are prompt to put in delivery!), yet AGAIN, I was told by a postal worker that 'It may not have been delivered'. I asked her to check and she said: 'No package found'. I called the company (Puritan's Pride Vitamins). They:

A: Gave me the tracking number: (removed here for my privacy)
B: Confirmed they mailed the package on 4 March and it was delivered to Porter Square office on 8 March.
C: Said package was scanned at 9:30 am on 8 March .
D: Postal worker who scanned it wrote: "Customer Not Available", "Business Closed". (and THAT was done INSTEAD of putting notice in my PO box that my package was delivered!)
E: Another note was written: "Contact local Post Office for redelivery. If not within 15 days, package will be returned to sender".

I later went in a few minutes past closing and approached the particular worker with whom similar problems were coincident with prior. I demanded an explanation as to WHY this happens frequently and under circumstances where his behavior was both ODD and inappropriate in OTHER circumstances. He told me: I was "irate". Well of course, I'm going to be "irate" when on many occasions, I find that my ability to receive mail is being SABOTAGED in this way. I shall note again that THIS is the particular worker who on prior occasion failed to do a physical check for a package that was indeed delivered to me and instead told me that 'all a tracking number meant was the company sent notice but did not mean they actually shipped it' and by doing so, FOR ONE MONTH, prevented me from getting a package that was indeed delivered there. It took some time to get the verification that it was delivered and scanned. It was also the same worker, who upon seeing I was his next customer (on another occasion) retreated into the back room which also seemed ODD to another postal worker (who told me to lodge a complaint against him).

I wish to know WHY soon after a package is delivered to me and scanned by the post office (worker/s) an electronic message is sent via the Post Office in Porter Square that they "attempted" to deliver my item. In this particular case, a package was received at 9:50am on 8 March and in the SAME MINUTE classified the delivery as "attempted". How is it that a package delivered and SCANNED is assessed as an "attempted" delivery. Fact of the matter seems to be it WAS delivered BUT a postal worker classified it as an "attempted" deliver. Furthermore, the company who sent the package informed me that the notice they got was: "Customer not available", "Business closed".

Could it be that if I am not in the post office THE MINUTE my package arrives, a postal worker there opts to classify the package as "attempted delivery"? Could it be that doing so is easier for a postal worker to do RATHER than noting the package was delivered and putting notice in my box that such occurred and also holding it for me. Also the tracking info says; "Notice was left" (to me) of such an attempted delivery. I NEVER get any "notice" of these "attempted" deliveries. Case in point, an "attempted" delivery on 8 March at 9: 50 am. What's happening is that the postal workers are receiving my packages and CLAIMING an "attempted delivery" the SAME minute they receive them! Yet no notice is given to me of this even when I alert them that a package was sent to me. The situation resolves to my having to WAIT a long time ONLY TO FIND my package was indeed received there, yet the postal worker opted to classify as "attempted" delivery furthered by entering the 'reason' as "Customer not available" and "Business closed".

The situation seems to be one where a postal worker (who perhaps does not like me), has some 'leeway'
to 'loop' my packages through the system so that not only do I not receive them but also, I get NO NOTICE of any "attempted delivery" EVEN AFTER inquiring about an expected package.

I find it UNACCEPTABLE that postal workers at that office, DESPITE actually SCANNING that a package was indeed received there, PERSIST in telling me they 'have no record' of it being delivered or don't even physically look to see if it's in the storage room.

I feel this veers on being tantamount on TAMPERING with the US mail as to OBSTRUCT delivery of items delivered to me and to DENY delivery. It's WRONG. The system should not be one where they have the liberty to SABOTAGE delivery of mail to me. In essence which ever postal worker who is doing that to my mail, is doing it because 'he can' as there is some opportunity for him to get away with not putting notice in my box after a packaged is scanned for arriving there.

I am requesting that you look into this situation as I wish to CLOSE THE OPTION of what ever 'leeway' your postal worker(s) have with regard to doing this sort of thing on numerable occasions.

Cordially,

Is what you got Delivery Confirmation? Because they give you a tracking number but that is all it is, deliver confirmation, as in confirmation that the item was delivered.

If you get any extra info, see it as a bonus, but don't EXPECT it.

I got the same message.

So I call up the USPS Help phone number listed on their website. The computer gave me a run around for half an hour and kept hanging up on me on purpose till finally I figured out which topic allows me to speak to a person.

I tell the person my problem and they say, "I'm sorry our system is different than the local USPS systems in Las Vegas, let me give you a phone number to call their local office." At this point I'm completely blown away, there is no way the USPS can be this [censor]ed. Long lines, idiot employees, the phone service is a joke. HOW IS THERE SYSTEM DIFFERENT?

So I call up the phone number the lady gave me...sorry the robot, I refuse to believe actual people work at the uSPS, and the phone number is out of service...

I'm done with USPS, this is what we get for allowing the US government control another aspect of our lives. It blows me away when I talk to these health care reform nuts, they obviously have never been to the post office, or the DMV, or a public school, or a public library. I can't think of a single thing the government controls that isn't completely un-organized and run by idiots.

USPS tracking is usually useless. Most of the time they don't scan anything, so you are basically paying for nothing. Last time I used it (Oct. 7, 2010) same thing happened- here is the message I received.. " Label/Receipt Number: [protected] There is no record of this item" (Oct. 20, 2010). I hand delivered it to the post office, a postal employee accepted payment and the package. He obviously didn't even bother to scan it as accepted.
The item was supposed to be delivered to Lancaster, NY 14086 (from Florence, KY 41042). I guess I should have insured it, then collected (I bet that would be a bureaucratic nightmare).

I've never found the USPS tracking system to be updated with any valuable information...worthless...it might as well not even exist.

And they want to take over our health care system!

I hardly get my mail and always get someone elses. 4 yrs of this mess. It's getting worse.

I have a package being sent to me from india paid extra for tracking which was useless. The only update is that my package is being prepared by sender. Its been almost a week...no recent info. Usps is crap and i will never use them again.

The ENTIRE US Postal Operation ( I don't want to Say "Service" Because the Whole Postal Agency doesn't know what "SERVICE IS" ever since Congress allowed these fools to "privatetize" Our Postal Service has gone to Hell! Congress should turn over the USA Mail service to UPS or Fed-X and UNLOAD THE TAX PAYERS OF THE LAZY GOOD FFOR NOTHING POSTAL AGENCY AND THEIR RUDE - CRUDE - INGNORANT WORKERS FOR GOOD. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND VOICE YOUR DISPLEASURES WITH THE POSTAL AGENCY AND THEIR ROTEN "UNION & MAMBERS"!

I am waiting on a letter sent from India. When I go to the Indian postal system site, it tells me that the item has left India (that was ten days ago) the usps has said for the last two days, "there is no record of this item"
This has happened before:Two months ago, the same message from the Indian Postal service, your item has been shipped to the u.s. The usps site kept saying the same crap, "no record of this item" it remained that way THREE days after I had the letter in my hands. Even though the letter was registered and the person who sent it, emailed me to say she had received notification that it was delivered. Talk about being screwed up. Why bother with this usps tracking crap? It's a waste of time, it's very, very, frustrating, and can lead to bad feelings when a sender tells you they have sent you something and you go to usps, put in the tracking number and have the system tell you there is "no record of this item" You email or phone the sender and complain, and this puts you in a bad light/you are accusing the sender of NOT sending the item.

Don't waste your time looking up tracking numbers on usps/it is a joke.

I just received a letter from India, the Indian postal service tracking site told me it was on it's way to the U.S>
This was a registered letter, and I had to sign for it/the usps has been telling me there is NO record of this letter. The usps tracking site has been saying this for the past week, long after it left India.
This is NOT the first time this has occurred. I will never go there to attempt to track a letter again.
It's insane...

Everytime a vendor sends out a package via U.S.P.S., the tracking system does not work! The U.S. Post Office has rarely really used this method of tracking for its customers. This is why the U.S. Post Office is going down the tubes with other inept ran companies. What a joke they are!

I agree i tried to return the product. The company claims I did not send it back right and basically still have not gotten my money back.

I agree...it is a joke. Absolutely good for nothing whatsoever. That's the government for you. They probably spent millions of dollars implementing the system...

i have been waiting for item from india supposedly shipped 7/14 then they said shipped 7/21 then at usps in new york, i guess waiting to go into customs on 7/24, i ordered this 7/11 STILL WAITING, WHAT A JOKE

Ive been waiting 9 days for them to update the track and ship... Delivery to me in Australia was meant to be 6-10 days, its been 10 so far, and its still in grand rapids MI apparently. Luckily for USPS tho they ship overseas they do not allow any foreigners to contact them in any way... freecall number isnt free and isnt manned enough to be useable (on hold for 15 minutes @ $3 a minute isnt fun!) the email option demands a US address and theres no option to select that you live in another country.

So basically ive paid money for an item... which hasnt been delivered, track and ship hasnt been updated for 9 days, i have no idea where my item is, cant contact USPS and the person i bought from has emailed them twice and got no responses...

If youre shipping outside the US .. PLEASE DO NOT USE USPS... the person youre sending to may never receive it, wont get updates and cant track it.

I agree with all the prior comments. The USPS tracking system for international shipments is a complete joke. It doesn't work for anything that leaves the country, and they act as though they shouldn't be expected to provide tracking information if the individuals working in the recipient country don't update the system. ? Hello, what is tracking? If USPS can't track outside of the country, be clear on that. I'll never use this company in my life and I'll advise everyone I meet to never send anything using this sham for a company.

Okay, so i bought a pair of shoe on Poshmark (iphone ap) && they use USPS . I've bought lots of stuff from there and never had a problem until now ! My package is priority mail so it shouldve bee here in 3 days ! I tracked it and it said 'notice left:business closed' i went there the next day and they said it was 'out for delivery'. Never got it that day ! I was supposed to get the package on Valentines day and i still dont have it, its already March! I went to the post office 5x and they finally gave me a number to call but i havent heard from them ! Its BS !

HAVE AN ITEM I ORDERD ON EBAY ON FROM HON KONG ON 8/13/13 IT ARIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO ON 8/21/13 WAS PROCESSED AND DEPARTED ON 8/21/13 . THERE HAS BEEN NO TRACKING INFO ON THIS PACKAGE SINCE 8/21/13 I HAVE CHECKED ON IT DALEY . CALLED COUSTERMER SERVICE TODAY 8/ 30 /13 DID NOT GET TO SPEEK TO A LIVE PERSON SHOULD JUST ASKED MY SELF .JUST TICKED ME OFF. MY QUSTION IS HOW DOSE MAIL GET FROM HON KONG CHINA TO THE U.S IN TWO DAYS BUT CAN NOT GET TO OHIO IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME? TRACKING TELLS ME THAT IT HAS BEEN IN CA . FOR 9 DAYS NOW. JUST WHAT IS GOING ON?

USPS = US Goverment = joke. Time for them to go the way of the dinosaur.

I should have checked before I sent the envelope with the "tracking number" - it never updated when the package was delivered, it never said my package was even picked up for delivery. LUCKILY, I had an honest person on the receiving end and notified me that the package had arrived! If that weren't the case, I would be worried and I'd owe what that package never delivered to my buyer...! I am in total SHOCK that there is a tracking number and the package is NOT TRACKED! It's the most absurd thing imaginable to me and only the government could be getting away with this crap. A private company would never survive because they actually LISTEN to their customers. On some level, I hope the USPS does go down, just for crap like this, if nothing else and yes we'd all be forced to use Fed Ex or UPS, but at least we'd know what was happening, rather than just a cold emptiness. I tried calling the USPS to speak to someone directly and you CAN'T! You'd have to make up a story and find a way in there, because if you just type in your tracking number, they'll simply repeat (via recording) over and over again that the information online is the same as any customer service people have, and that's it, you can't even speak to anyone - it's AWFUL! I will NEVER use them again if I need a package tracked - be safe and use fedex or ups.

FAILURE IS OUR MOTO stands for the USPS. It needs to be shut down and a private company pick up this service.

Typical, this is what happens when the govt. Is involved. Use ups or fed x if you need something sent somewhere. The post office around the cou try are ran by people who gravitate towards those jobs for benifits and security. They have no incentive to do a better job. Just waiting to finally get that retirement.

I just wanted to add my two cents on the USPS tracking system. How difficult would it be to implement a great tracking system as opposed to this farcical (I won’t even call it a system) thing used now. I’ve been looking at the same msg. for a week. You know the one that says “a label has been created” but we’re waiting on the package. Who creates a label then just sits on the package? The last time I saw this and called about it, the package showed up the next day. We need accountability throughout our government systems and contractors. The P.O. needs to get with the times or find themselves left in the dustbin.