Thread: Postal service slow ?

On a good note it looks like the abrasive powder finally arrived so I'll be able to share my joy with a few people around here There is a note about a parcel from the mailman and I'm not expecting any other packages.

hmm, well i got an email back they said it normally because uk customs have delayed the package, just have no idea what to do now. I have spoken to the UK postal service and they can not track it using the numbers given and HM customs have no idea about it. I did get two tracking numbers from Classicshaving and one is a customs number but i have no idea where to use this?
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Hi Rich,

Your order,placed on the 21st shipped on the 22nd and according to the USPS website left the US through Kennedy Airport at 1:19 Pm on the 24th. Once the package leaves the country our postal system does not update the tracking from this side. Please find below the GPM number and Customs Number to help you investigate from your side, usually a delay this long is due to an order being held at your customs.

GPM# LY106215991US
Customs #: LC265089268US

We hope this information is helpful. Please keep us posted,

Also, we must convey deep apologies for your razors shipping directly to you rather than first to our sharpening service in Ohio, we were both lax in our connecting of the two orders, and confused by the different ways your name was entered, as Richard(with no surname listed) Richard Wild, and RG Wild. We connect the orders by “eyeballing” them, not a very efficient system.

We will credit your card the 31.32 that was paid for the sharpening of the razor.

Thank you for your patience and patronage,

Customer Service Team
ClassicShaving.com


SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME

USPS says your package left Kennedy AMC @ 1:52pm Nov. 24

USPS also says that once the package leaves the USA it cannot be tracked via their system.

Royal mail says that items shipped from overseas to the UK cannot be tracked via the Royal mail system.

Sounds like customs, but 14 days doesn't sound too bad for a transatlantic package, especially considering the time of year.

I've got a flyer from Canada Post that has the suggested minimum mail dates for the Christmas season. It lists Europe at Oct. 27th as the suggested cut off date for mailing from Canada via SURFACE mail. It lists AIR mail to Europe at Dec. 4th , if you are planning to have the package arrive for xmas.

So that's 20 days via airmail if sent on the 4th. It was send about a week earlier, so two weeks+ sound about right. I know some packages get through sooner, some slower, but I'd expect it soon.

I know, waiting is the hardest part!

ok thanks for your reply, maybe i am just being paranoid but i really hate using my disposable and shavette. bloody things i think i will leave it till after Xmas and then start going nuts

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

I just got a package in yesterday from DMS. It was sent from Texas (the next state over) on 11/20. I got it on 12/5. That's 2 weeks to get about 500 miles, from one state to the next. It also had a footprint on it when I got it. Thankfully, it was packaged well, and wasn't damaged, but I dare say the 'tards working in some of our Post Offices have more to do with the delay of packages than anything else. Occasionally, a package will get misrouted, which is to be expected when they handle more than a billion packages and pieces of mail per day. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the postal system, but occasionally, you have a package that makes you wonder. I sent a package to Bill one time with 4 razors in it. It arrived with 3. That just floors me.

Being that I'm a letter carrier here in San Jose I can say that part of the postal problem, at least on the delivery side of things, is a shortage of carriers. It's become a "Catch-22" situation. The carriers, especially new ones without much seniority and working mandatory overtime, are putting in fifty to sixty hours a week and many quit after only a short while. The reason they don't last is because they're being made to work fifty to sixty hours a week and the reason is because there aren't enough carriers. And the reason there aren't enough carriers is they're being worked like rented pack mules. Boy, do I HATE this job!!! It isn't going to be long before I'll qualify for a handicapped placard on my vehicle.

I sent a razor to a SRP member recently (actually, at the end of November!) and it has yet to arrive, as far as I'm aware. The package was insured and has a tracking number, which I thought would allow me to view its progress southward. All it says on the website, though, is "Accepted at the Post Office." Well yeah, I know that much!

I sold a razor on eBay recently, too. I shipped it out on monday to the US and I got an email from the guy on Saturday asking me to explain the "hold up." Ha ha. If the other reports of 2 - 3 week delivery timeframes for over the border shipments in this thread are any indication, he's going to have a new understanding of what a "hold up" is.

I waited for a month when I ordered a razor from ClassicShaving.

Well I just noticed this thread. I have to admit it has been even handed. I'm a rural letter carrier. I like my job and I get paid what is similar to a salary. I'm assuming Agamemnon is a city carrier (they wear uniforms) and he gets paid by the hour. (Different union.) Which means management is on him from the time he punches in. In my case, the sooner I get done the sooner I go home. If I'm there over my "route evaluation" I'm working for free. My pay is based on the route including many variables: mileage, number of mailboxes, volume of mail, etc. In both "crafts" we sometimes rely on help with our routes but in general the substitutes/casuals aren't going to be as good as the regular carrier. They have a tough position and turnover is high.

Also, I'm a union steward and worked at a mail processing plant (during the holidays ) before I became full time. So, I may be able to tell you a few things or maybe find out the answer to some US mail questions. One thing, once mail leaves the country, for the most part, it's out of our hands. Including mail sent to the military. They process it themselves.

As expected, this time of year is horrible for volumes. So expect slow processing of the mail. All year round, Monday is the worst day due to the fact that even though mail isn't delivered on Sunday it is still being processed 24/7. In general, I personally tend to mail parcels on a Tuesday. Less mail and less chance something may happen. I also ship with insurance (remember to pack well it's a rough ride) and Priority Mail. Priority Mail parcels I deliver usually arrive in 2 days but they advertise 2-3 days. The closer to Christmas the more likely it is to take 3 or, sometimes, more days. Bill is correct about parcel post. Pay the extra money because parcel post can be delayed by management in order to move the priority and first class parcels. Remember to look at the postmark to see when the parcel or letter went into the mail stream. More than once customers of mine have said the company told them they mailed it out and it's the post office's fault. Then I show them the postmark showing when they really sent the item out. If you get mail that has been delayed check the back of the item for another postmark. If it has gone to another office second class mail (magazines) and higher are supposed to get "backstamped". Oh and by the way UPS, FedEx, DHL, Airborne drop off some of their parcels at local post offices to be delivered by USPS carriers. It's due to an agreement with the post office. So check the label to see who had the parcel before the post office. Yes I'm willing to spread the blame.

In case some of you are wondering the cutoff for Christmas delivery to Canada (and Aus./NZ/Europe) from the US:

Global Express Guaranteed (GXG): Dec. 20 (to Aus./NZ/Europe 19th);
Global Express Mail (EMS): Dec. 16 (to Aus./NZ/Europe 15th);
Global Priority Mail (GPM): Dec. 13;
Global Airmail Letters and Cards: Dec. 11;
Global Airmail Parcel Post: Dec. 11;
and Global Economy (Surface): sorry too late.

Also, due to shipping restrictions caused by 9/11, some items sent domestically may go ground instead of air. Therefore, ask a clerk if your parcel is going to be sent that way due to what it is.

John

Thanks for the deatiled explanation, John. Glad to have a better understanding of how our goodies get from A to B.

Yes, I am a city carrier. I just came back to carrying after spending seven years in collections. Now THAT was a nice gig! All I did was show up in the early afternoon and grab my scanner and keys and head off to my route. I usually didn't speak to a supervisor until I returned in the evening. The problem was it wasn't a full time forty hour a week job and being that this is a very expensive area in which to live I finally had to cry uncle and go back to the salt mine(carrying ). Now I truly dread going to work each morning. I lay there in bed committing serious snooze button abuse and praying for a massive earthquake or terrorist attack to justify not showing up. So far, no luck. Well, this next year after the blasted credit card is paid off I'm going to finally get around to getting my commercial driver's license and either put in for MVS(Motor Vehicle Services) or go drive truck in the private sector. Hopefully I can get out of this hell before it does too much more damage to my feet and joints. I don't sound too disgruntled, do I?

You sound like you might go postal!