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  #1  
Old 03-22-2018, 12:49 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
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Default I'm crossing USPS off my list.

I have a couple of instruments in the mail, one from California & one from Kentucky, bound for Chicago, selected USPS Priority after discussing with sellers on the phone. One reason was that I have had okay experiences with them in the past, especially tracking. Even if the routing seemed weird at times, at least I always knew where the item was.

But when I go to USPS tracking this time, what do I get? They were picked up, and then "In transit to next facility." For both of them. Ever since they were mailed. Oh, and they were both supposed to arrive yesterday, which I would have forgiven because stuff happens. But "In transit to next facility"? So, in other words, "It's in the mail."

That's not tracking. It's not what I paid for. Even worse that both shipments are late, now they're late and I don't know where they are.

I guess this streamlining of information, if that's the idea, saves them a few bucks. Probably enough to easily make up for the fact that I will never use USPS shipping again. Just thought the rest of you might like to know about this policy change of theirs.

Last edited by frankmcr; 03-22-2018 at 12:58 PM.
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:01 PM
Chedeng88 Chedeng88 is offline
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I swore not to use them again for shipping guitars after I had a similar experience on two shipments a few months back.

Basically that dreaded "In Transit" message means it's in limbo.
If it has been stuck in that status for several days without any updates, if you try to track it down nobody will act or claim responsibility on either end. The post office where you dropped it off will tell you, "Well, it's no longer here and I see that it left our facility at this date and time. It's no longer my problem". Calling the last hub it departed from will basically tell you the same thing. Then the destination post office will just say, "I cannot do anything as it hasn't arrived yet."

Thankfully in my case, both guitars eventually re-appeared after being in limbo for a week. It was a very stressful experience nonetheless.
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:08 PM
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I had a guitar coming in from Canada that was in MIA for 4 days. I called USPS to open a case and they explained that it could take up to 40 days to pass through customers. Once I open the case and articulated the value the rep promised me he will do what he could to find and expedite the delivery.

The next day the Guitar was back in tracking and arrived The day after that, unscathed.
Definitely open a case.

Keep in mind that there are weather related issue across the states.
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:14 PM
Jim in TC Jim in TC is offline
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I have had a similar experiences with USPS, for small - certainly compared to yours - items that suddenly turned back up on tracking and arrived OK but later than expected, one time more than a week after going to a few odd places. Hopefully yours will work out as well...good luck (as if luck should have any bearing)!
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:21 PM
Rosewood99 Rosewood99 is offline
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They were never on my list.
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:37 PM
mattd mattd is offline
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I shipped a OM-28 last month to the east coast, after two days it only gave the computer generated "in-transit" tracking and still after two weeks no guitar. I ended up refunding the buyer, doing three different package searches online, two local postmasters doing everything within their power to find it but still nothing, not even a tracking update. Ultimately filed a claim with them for the insured value providing all required documentation and it was swiftly denied!! The day I was going to appeal the claim and provide every shred of documentation possible the guitar finally showed up at it's destination one month after being shipped. The buyer has purchased another guitar and has been gracious enough to let me email him a UPS shipping label to get the guitar back to me. To make matters worse my wife works for USPS and was the one that shipped it for me and feels guilty about the whole thing but when they say it is out of their hands when it leaves the office it truly is, I unfortunately now know this.
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:58 PM
drive-south drive-south is offline
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USPS needs to get their act together, especially their tracking system which is ludicrous.
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Old 03-22-2018, 01:59 PM
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Kupuna50 Kupuna50 is offline
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Default USPS

USPS - an acronym for 'It might get there, it might not'
I've shared this before and would like to share again:
Shipped a Collings OM3 from west coast to east coast. 3-day Priority.
They lost it.
Actually, they admitted that it was stolen!
Three months later, after copious emails, texts and phone calls, and after DENYING MY CLAIM (twice), I received a check for the insured amount.
Similar to the post, the only statement on-line was 'in transit'.

I hope the folks who stole it are enjoying it.
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Old 03-22-2018, 02:08 PM
tippy5 tippy5 is offline
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I swore off acoustic shipping with them 5 years ago. I lost $1,100 on a insurance claim that went to second appeal (Washington) for 16 months with no action. BTW: Buying insurance for instruments with them is a waste of money. Get secondary insurance on your own.

They are good for electrics though. Fed Ex is my favorite for acoustics and I am going to get an account soon.
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Old 03-22-2018, 02:37 PM
Shoreline Music Shoreline Music is offline
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Every shipper has horror stories, no doubt.

I've shipped thousands of guitars with USPS (and hundreds of thousands of other packages). Only one case of damage (just this last year, as it turns out). No loss or theft. A handful of detours—things accidentally go on the wrong truck with every shipper.

I sometimes wonder if commercial shippers have better luck? Like maybe there's something in our barcode that says, "Make sure you get this right"?

In any case, I'll expect I'll keep using USPS for the foreseeable future.
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  #11  
Old 03-22-2018, 02:43 PM
Seagull S6 Seagull S6 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankmcr View Post
That's not tracking. It's not what I paid for. Even worse that both shipments are late, now they're late and I don't know where they are.
Actually, that is exactly what you paid for. You just didn't take the time to ask a USPS counter person the right questions. I did ask the right questions about tracking and if something gets lost, and i got an earful. It's always been that if they loose something there is no way to track it and it could take a month to settle a claim for something lost in the system.

I have to give the USP worker credit, though. I was not lied to but was informed as to why you should not mail something if it could be an issue if it get's lost in the system.
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Old 03-22-2018, 02:46 PM
TKT TKT is offline
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File a missing package claim immediately! They want zero accountability! As much as I hate UPS, my mail center guy says to use UPS or FedEx only, and to never ship USPS anymore for the above listed reasons.

Plus my local USPS will claim attempted delivery when they never did any such thing, and they will never answer the phone. They have the world's most ignorant, devious and just plain mean morons working here. They could hire gerbils to deliver mail and they would do a better job.

I filed a missing package claim over a year ago, it was lost for 6 weeks, finally showed up, and USPS still sends me regular update emails that they are sorry and they are still looking for it, have a nice day.
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Old 03-22-2018, 03:01 PM
Frankie2blue Frankie2blue is offline
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I would never allow anyone to ship a guitar to me USPS. They got to be about the worst there us for something like that. They can’t even get Priority mail straight. I recently bought another Collings and the store shipped me the guitar UPS and I sent them a check Priority mail because they were closed Monday and Tuesday so there was no hurry. Of course it got lost in the mail, tracking showed nothing so I sent them PayPal for the guitar as I could not put a stop on the bank check for 90 days. A month and a half later the check shows up at the store. Good news is I finally got my check back in the bank. Talking to USPS they said they can simply refund the amount of postage if I present my original receipt. Right. There is a reason why guitar builders don’t use them to ship guitars.
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Old 03-22-2018, 03:05 PM
Steadfastly Steadfastly is offline
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I've never had a problem with them and I live in Canada. It's always somewhere between 8-11 days and never had a lost or damaged shipment.
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Old 03-22-2018, 03:06 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoreline Music View Post
I sometimes wonder if commercial shippers have better luck?
I would be inclined to think so. Perhaps "influence" would be a better word than "luck", though.

............

It's the tracking that is my main concern. I can accept delays, maybe even a temporary "Hmm, it must be around here someplace ..."

But that "It's on the way to wherever it ends up" message is just too annoying.
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