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Ordering parts or gear? USPS Caution

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If you are planning to order gear, materials or boat parts it may be wise to find an alternative to USPS.

The K.O.E Foxyotter sent me took 2 weeks to arrive, but that delivery delay has been soundly beaten. I had a custom canoe seat shipped, with tracking, on July 21[SUP]st[/SUP] from Rochester NY to my home in Freeland MD. 283 road miles away.

The NY Post Office forwarded the package the same day it was received to a USPS distribution center in Pittsburgh PA, where it arrived the next day. It then enjoyed a sixteen day vacation in Pittsburgh before moving on to a distribution center in Washington DC.

The seat departed DC August 6[SUP]th[/SUP] and. . . . . .vanished. The last “tracking” update, August 10[SUP]th[/SUP], offered this comforting reassurance:

“In Transit, Arriving Late. Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.”

If “the next facility” is my local Post Office in Freeland that is a whopping 72 miles “in transit”, for 15 days and counting. Fortunately I do not have a pressing need for that seat, and it has become part of the day’s comedic relief to check the tracking updates, or lack thereof.

I want to order some peel ply and Dynel sleeve. Think I’ll pay the upcharge for UPS or FedEx shipping; I may need it sooner than October

Please don’t turn this thread political, it is intended only as a caution for anyone needing to order parts or materials.
 
I think that all of us in the USA are feeling the same frustrations.

Over the years about the only way I could afford production shop quality power hand tools and industrial woodworking, metalworking and welding equipment was to learn to repair and overhaul them and then to rebuild and sell 2-3 of each to pay for what I kept. Happily, it was also about the only way to accumulate those tools or machines and stay married. The advent of the internet turned projects for which it often took months to accumulate the needed parts into projects I could flip in a few weeks or a month and turn over my "play money" faster.

I had an increasing batch of heavy duty portable power tools, some mine and some accumulated from garage and flea sale kind of sources, that need various repairs. I recently picked up one of my cherished but now very rarely used old school worm gear and chain drive Porter-Cable "locomotive" belt sanders for some heavy duty sanding and heard some bearing growl. That was the last straw so I now have assorted bearings, oil seals, cords, brushes etc inbound for two Porter-Cable locomotive sanders (one each PC 503 and A3/504) a Model 126 Porta-Plane, a 3-1/4 horsepower plunge router, two production laminate trimmers etc. It has been painful, slow and very frustrating watching the parts trickle in.

And it took more than a week for seat webbing and a pair of Kohler ignition modules to arrive from the west coast that usually get here in 2 business days. Even a McMaster-Carr online order that almost always arrives in one business day took three days last week.

Sadly, even before the surge in virus related online shopping FedEx and UPS had been delivering in longer than normal time frames too and that has just gotten worse also.

I have a nephew who has worked for years for the USPS and a son who has been an independent rural delivery contractor for 8-9 years both of whom are very frustrated by what they have for some time viewed as deliberate efforts to slow the mail and drive business away from the USPS. My son often delivers full truckloads of Amazon Prime packages for which the USPS gets paid extra to hit the contracted delivery times and even those generally arrive late now.

Making the Post Office better my eye!.

Best regards,


Lance
 
I have a friend who has worked for the USPS for nearly 30 years. In all those years, he has not seen anything like what has been recently implemented. Changed work rules that require him to leave the P.O. to do his route before all the mail is sorted and no overtime if needed to get the mail of the day out. He told me there was nothing wrong with the sorting machine they took out of his branch; it was used every day and sorting slowed down after it was removed. I have personally seen the effects; days with no mail in the box and days with only one or two pieces. In the 20+ years we have lived here, with the exception of when we have a blizzard or lose power due to a major storm, I have never had a day where no mail is delivered.
 
The upside is that my mailbox has less opportunity to receive political ads! For those who get medications by mail the slowdown is a crime.
 
Hahaha, i have a tent coming... and between MLD crapty service(hope the tent is a good one) then USPS and to finish it up Canada Post, it is taking its sweet time to show up at my door lol!!
 
USPS has been a mess for months. It took nearly one month for me to receive a paddle which was located four hours from me.
 
I beg y’all, don’t turn this political. Shipments from any transporter can have complications.

Years ago I ordered a, to me , a very expensive bent shaft paddle. It was manufacturer-shipped UPS or FedEx, I forget which. I watched the tracking and it arrived the day after we had a snow/sleet/freezing rain storm. Our hilly driveway was understandably impassible.

When I saw that the paddle had been “Delivered, left at mailbox” I walked up. No paddle. The snow was glazed with a slippery coat of ice, and I began wandering concentric circles ISO. It was breezy out.

I finally spotted a box, down in a neighbor’s steep valley lawn, 150 yards away. My paddle had crossed the road, slid across his ice glazed lawn and Flexible Flyer sledded down the hill before coming to rest.

The best “delivery” I have ever witnessed. My wife orders her clothes on-line from catalogs (which is another 2lbs of catalogs every freaking day story). I know our USPS mail lady, UPS guy and the Fed-Ex driver. I (pre-covid) always walked out to meet them before they exited the truck, saving them the walk to our door.


I didn’t recognize the usual FedEx guy, and as I walked out the shop door towards his truck Diane’s new dress came flying out the window, thrown Frisbee style, out (almost) onto the lawn.

When the mail lady finally arrives with my custom seat I will walk out to greet her. She’s in for a surprise. The plumber, a well known local friend, about busted a gut when he knocked and I shouted “Hang on, I need to put my mask on”, before flinging the door open.

I got yer mask right here.
 
My meds are shipped from Anchorage, AK VA to Soldotna, AK. I see no change in the amount of time that I receive them from the time that I order them.
 
I'm in the mail order business, USPS is in general terms a bit slow these days but really not that bad. I ship from Niagara Falls, First Class Packages are taking 1 or 2 extra days, Media Mail is taking 2 to 5 extra days, I don't use Priority enough to make any comment.

On the other hand, there are known bottlenecks at certain USPS facilities, not actually a new thing but the delays are longer.

Distance really doesn't enter the picture much because of the hub and spoke system anything that goes by air is subject to the whims of FedEx (they have the USPS contract) and almost everything passes through Atlanta at some point in the journey unless it's in a local zip code.

Bad places to have your mail pass through are Chicago, Houston, Jamaica NY, Miami and anything going to or coming from the Northwest always takes a few extra days.

The big kerfuffle over "no overtime" and "removed sorting equipment" are mostly affecting LetterMail and Addressed Bulk Mail with a smaller impact on packages.
 
recped said:
I'm in the mail order business, USPS is in general terms a bit slow these days but really not that bad. I ship from Niagara Falls, First Class Packages are taking 1 or 2 extra days, Media Mail is taking 2 to 5 extra days, I don't use Priority enough to make any comment.

On the other hand, there are known bottlenecks at certain USPS facilities, not actually a new thing but the delays are longer.

Distance really doesn't enter the picture much because of the hub and spoke system anything that goes by air is subject to the whims of FedEx (they have the USPS contract) and almost everything passes through Atlanta at some point in the journey unless it's in a local zip code.

Bad places to have your mail pass through are Chicago, Houston, Jamaica NY, Miami and anything going to or coming from the Northwest always takes a few extra days.

The big kerfuffle over "no overtime" and "removed sorting equipment" are mostly affecting LetterMail and Addressed Bulk Mail with a smaller impact on packages.
Click to expand...

I think some Maine poultry farmers would disagree. There is enough delay in USPS that their chicks are arriving all dead. It is a huge issue here.
 
LanceR said:
My son often delivers full truckloads of Amazon Prime packages for which the USPS gets paid extra to hit the contracted delivery times and even those generally arrive late now.
Click to expand...

Amazon Prime is now a joke. I haven't received anything in two days in many months. And it's not just a USPS problem because Amazon often takes a lot more than two days even to begin the shipment. I don't know why I keep paying for this non-service from the world's richest man. Well, I do know: I'm addicted to UK police and mystery shows that play on Amazon Prime and its affiliate channels.
 
I just got a package standard delivered in two days from REI via LaserShip. They even took a photo of the package on my porch to prove delivery.

It was a CamelBak 32 oz. Chute Mag vacuum bottle. I've been so impressed by the cold water retention of my 64 oz. Klean Kanteen that I decided to take advantage of another REI Deal of the Day to get a more portable insulated water bottle for around the house and in the car. And I'd even take this one in a canoe for a day trip. It has a small carry handle to which a carabiner can be clipped. I got white to reflect the sun.

U1BVKzx.png
 
That happens occasionally with REI Deal of the Day items. I guess if REI doesn’t sell out their stock they list it again, often at a slightly lower price.

So Glenn, that is now two modern canteens. Are you becoming a canteen aficionado? Will you soon own as many canteens as knives, and provide us with a review of their relative merits?

About your giant 64oz tractor-carried KleanKanteen, I have plenty of Reflectix and FlexFix tape, happy to mail you enough to make a coozie for that hot-to-the-touch canteen. Just let me know the circumference, height and diameter of the bottom and you can easily DIY a Reflectix coozie that won’t scorch your delicate digits.

You do own scissors, correct?
 
Glenn MacGrady said:
Amazon Prime is now a joke. I haven't received anything in two days in many months. And it's not just a USPS problem because Amazon often takes a lot more than two days even to begin the shipment. I don't know why I keep paying for this non-service from the world's richest man. Well, I do know: I'm addicted to UK police and mystery shows that play on Amazon Prime and its affiliate channels.
Click to expand...

They're one of the targets
 
Mike McCrea said:
That happens occasionally with REI Deal of the Day items. I guess if REI doesn’t sell out their stock they list it again, often at a slightly lower price.
Click to expand...

The deal Lance pointed out is for the 40 oz. version. I got the 32 oz. last week, which is doing a good job. These models have a foldaway cap that attaches magnetically so it doesn't flop on your nose when you drink.

I'll pass on the "coozie" offer as I'm not sure it's an OED proper spelling. I was looking at some "PNTK" emails yesterday and couldn't remember what the heck that stands for.
 
Glenn MacGrady said:
The deal Lance pointed out is for the 40 oz. version. I got the 32 oz. last week, which is doing a good job. These models have a foldaway cap that attaches magnetically so it doesn't flop on your nose when you drink.

I'll pass on the "coozie" offer as I'm not sure it's an OED proper spelling. I was looking at some "PNTK" emails yesterday and couldn't remember what the heck that stands for.
Click to expand...

PNTK.. Video games involving guns.. better not go there
 
yellowcanoe said:
PNTK.. Video games involving guns.. better not go there
Click to expand...

No, it was the acronym for a McCrea DIY project that he used in some emails to me.

On edit: Egads, it turns out that I named the device and acronym -- Portable Night Table & Kitchen -- in a thread that shows that I will go beyond the pale to play with words and Mike will go beyond the pale to play with tools.
 
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