OT: Domestic vs International Mail delivery times

[J Miller]

Last Tuesday (1-27) I bought some parts from VTI in CT. The lady said they'd go out Wednesday the 28th. They are not here yet.

Last Wednesday (1-28) or Thursday ( 1-29) a gun part purchased from another forums member was sent out. It's not here yet.

Last Friday ( 1-30 ) morning I dropped Game Keepers saddle ring in the mail and he received it today (2-04 ).


What is going on with our domestic mail delivery????
If I can send a 5"x6" padded envelope across the Atlantic Ocean to England and it gets through their system and to the recipient in five days, why the heck does it take so long for mail to get half way across this country?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Joe

[Modoc ED]

Depends on how the poster puts the package in the USPS system Joe.

Priority Mail
Express Mail
Registered Mail
Certified Mail
Parcel Post

They all have their time limits.

Just bought a LEE Loader (.444 Marlin) off of "e-bay" on 25 Jan and had it in-hand on 29 Jan. The poster mailed it "Express Mail".

[Hobie]

I've had priority mail take 30 days (but it is usually 2-3 days and only very rarely goes over 4 days), mail to CA go in 3 days and to Richmond (120 miles) in 7 days. I've had mail to Europe take as little as 5 days and as much as 2 months. If I COULD explain it I would!

[Don McDowell]

Part of the problem right now is probably weather related, with all the bad roads,closed roads, power outages etc. Domestic mail going cross country is going to have a few hiccups.
The stuff going overseas most likley got on a airplane with in 24 hours of the time you gave it to the post man, 12 hrs later......

I once sent a check to a friend in Saskatchewan, took almost 3 weeks before he got it.

[Griff]

Joe,

After my Dad retired from the U.S.P.S., he sez service went to hades in a hand basket... said workers started shootin' each other and what-all... So, I guess you can just accept it, my Dad retired!

[El Chivo]

So they improve overseas service and you're complaining.

Parcel Post, Media Mail, and heavy Priority Mail packages go by truck, which means they work their way across the country in steps (it's not the same truck for the whole trip). 10 business days is two weeks, remember.

First class and light Priority Mail packages go by air. Airplanes arrive at their destinations in just a few hours, overseas or not.

Did you know Fedex subcontracts Priority Mail? If you want to send Fedex 2-day, just use Priority Mail.

[J Miller]

Joe,

After my Dad retired from the U.S.P.S., he sez service went to hades in a hand basket... said workers started shootin' each other and what-all... So, I guess you can just accept it, my Dad retired!

OK then, Griff has the winning answer. I'll get the prize in the mail to you It ..... should be there ...... someday .

In all seriousness, the envelope to Game Keeper went First Class International.
The package from VTI will most likely come First Class or Priority. What the other one will be I don't know. We'll see when it gets here.

It just seems to me that in years past, lots of years, before computers, before modernization, that the mail, especially First Class, moved faster. Lots of letters to and from Texas and Illinois when I was a child. Most of my moms aunts and uncles were alive then and there was lots of letter writing. Two to Three days from Arizona to IL, and the same from IL to AZ.
Now with all the technology and improvements we have and it takes twice as long or more???? It just doesn't make any sense to me.


Joe

[J Miller]

So they improve overseas service and you're complaining.

Parcel Post, Media Mail, and heavy Priority Mail packages go by truck, which means they work their way across the country in steps (it's not the same truck for the whole trip). 10 business days is two weeks, remember.

First class and light Priority Mail packages go by air. Airplanes arrive at their destinations in just a few hours, overseas or not.

Did you know Fedex subcontracts Priority Mail? If you want to send Fedex 2-day, just use Priority Mail.

No I'm complaining about domestic mails slowness and using international mail as a comparison.
None of the mail I'm griping about is P.P., M.M., or Heavy Priority mail. I'm talking about regular mail and padded envelopes.

Joe

[86er]

The postal service is becoming semi-privatized. There is a strong reliance on part time and temp help. Less trucks are operating due to recent fuel prices and highway transportation related fees. (Of course the price keeps going up anyway). Once our mail is sorted Int'l and gets in the hands of the Royal Mail Service, or similar Government controlled service is seems to travel seemlessly and expeditiously. I send stuff to South Africa, Namibia and Botswana all the time and it take the same week to 10 days that some domestic mail travelling less than 1500 miles will take.

[morgan in nm]

I actually have an answer for this one from a local post master because the same things happens to me all the time. I live in Eastern NM. If I order something from NY, it gets here in 3 or less days while if I ordered something in Lubbock, which is only 2 hrs away, it will take a week or more. I was told and it made sense at the time that it depends on which hub its coming from. From where I am at, Albuquerque is the largest and closest hub. If I order something from NY, one of the largest hubs, it goes on a plane due to the large volume. It will arrive in Alb the next day then travel south to my post office. Lubbock, mail doesn't run all the time so it must be shipped to the most convenient hub then travel to Alb, then south. What has happened over the years is that the USPS has consolidated resources with these centralized hubs.

I am not positive this is the truth but it is what he said.

[Old Time Hunter]

It is because, even though they claim that USPS is semi private...it was set up by the government. So go figure. How come FedEx and Buster Brown got it right and USPS didn't?

[AmBraCol]

There's no accountin' for results. Last year a forum member sent me a cable tester, it's not yet arrived. In December I had our forwarding agent send us a flatrate box full of books and accumulated mail and stuff. It arrived about six weeks later - give or take a week or so. ??? What's up? Well, I don't know. Weird. We've had stuff take months to arrive - and sometimes it never does. In Brazil one time they checked out an elevator in the post office that quite working, it wasn't going down all the way like it should. There was a HUGE pile of mail under it. Someone was opening foreign origin mail an dumping it in the hole. They were looking for cash and such I guess.

[El Chivo]

In Brazil one time they checked out an elevator in the post office that quite working, it wasn't going down all the way like it should. There was a HUGE pile of mail under it. Someone was opening foreign origin mail an dumping it in the hole. They were looking for cash and such I guess.

That's the horror story of mail overseas to places like South and Central America. Whatever I send there goes registered, someone needs to sign it in and out every step of the way. Thank goodness it's not the norm here.

First class letters arrive the next day locally and two days or so all the way across the country, which is a great deal. Faster than ever. I send music orders out all the time and have only had a handful go missing in 10 years. Once a year an order takes an extra week, due to misrouting or hub quirks. But the service is fast and reliable, and CHEAP.

I end up sticking up for my buddies at the Post Office a lot. At the retail counter, people complain about the line, but when they get up there, it's like this is the first package they've ever mailed in their life. They need a box, tape, stamps, forms aren't filled out, etc. Big fat ladies stuffing clothes into boxes right there at the counter, without a clue. Don't get me started. No wonder these guys wig out.

Try putting a letter in an envelope and taking it somewhere across town (much less across the country) without it taking 3 hours and costing you $10.00 in gas.

Oh, and UPS, and Fed Ex? UPS can't figure out how to get into our building, so they stop 3 times, leave NO notices and then send the package back to the shipper. Last time I had something sent Fedex they printed a label with my name and a completely different address to stick on the package. Then they gave my mom different tracking numbers. Two packages were lost; one made it only because my mom wrote my address on the box in pen. The driver tried delivering it to the bum address and after a week tried the handwritten address. But two other packages were lost this way. Yes, they paid $100.00 each for them, but one was cassettes of old live recordings of bands I was in, talk about irreplaceable.

Anyway, after this, USPS is a breath of fresh air.

[Steve Redgwell]

I realize that people have different experiences with the post office, but you can chock me up as a USPS supporter.

I deal with the Canadian post office every week. My books have gone all over the world. In North America, the USPS is miles ahead of Canada Post. Books that go the US usually spend 3 to 5 days to travel 300 miles to the US border and then 2 days to go another 1000+ miles to their destination.

The only commonalaity between the US and Canadian post office is that, around Christmas, things get crazy. I takes weeks after the holiday is over to get back to normal.

[RIHMFIRE]

you guys crack me up!
USPS