Anyone else having issues with USPS amid the pandemic?

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
Not that USPS is known for stellar service anyhow, but since COVID started they've just gotten worse.

I'm on my second package in a month now not showing up on time and having to submit a claim to have them find it.

I always urge people to ship UPS or FEDEX as I rarely if ever have issues with them... the post office is just a big fat nightmare.
 
I've not had any issues with the USPS. In fact, our postal worker goes over the top taking care of issues, dropping off packages at our house when they won't fit in the mailbox (down the road). We have a personal relationship with her. My wife often has chats with her on the porch.
 
I've had more issues with Fedex and UPS.

USPS has always done well.

Just this past week, I dropped off a box at FedEx, and their pickup guy didn't feel like carrying a heavy box, so he left it there for a couple extra days. I went back to that fedex and saw my package there. The staff was nice, and left a note on the box, and it went out the next day. But I was kind of surprised. I'm not strong and I can lift the box with relative ease. But they are likely over worked at this time. So, all is well.

In the past I have had a one day shipment take three. sucks when a 2lbs package costs like $75. I should have got my money back, but I was busy at the time and didn't have time to worry about it. Had the same thing happen with UPS, but two day air that took longer.

I tried to send a 7" monitor, and the guy at fedex wouldn't let me send it, because he thought I was lying. He thought it was a Samsung tablet. After some back and forth, I just went to USPS.

UPS also mixed up packages. They sent a $5000 steadicam thing to another address. And party supplies ended up at my friends house. Luckily, it was just switched boxes, and he was able to go to the other address and swap packages.

All understandable stuff, but I have used USPS ten times more with zero issues. With fedex and ups feels like every other shipment goes wonky.

I hear the USPS is under financial trouble right now. Something about the way they structure pricing, and the change in mailing trends, they are losing money now?
 
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Mike Krumlauf said:
I feel your pain man. I have an HDVF-C30 viewfinder bouncing around their system somewhere from Indiana. :/
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Actually I mailed it 14 days ago today (just checked), but still.

Apparently USPS has a shortage of workers and lots of delays.

Tons of "in transit to next facility" complaints all over the world wide web.
 
I've also had much better luck with USPS than fedex and UPS.

USPS Priority mail has been far and away the best bet for me as a seller and a buyer.

But I'd imagine all three are extremely taxed at the moment. Bit of a thing going on.
 
My problems haven't so much been with the shippers, per se, as with the merchants. Now whether that is directly related to the shippers not servicing them or being able to service them like they used to, I don't know. Normally B&H ships in-stock merchandise the same day if the order is placed before the cut-off time and to me, free/ground shipping is two business days. So if I order something on Monday, I have it by Wednesday. Same thing with anything ordered over the weekend. It took me almost a week to get my last order. I believe I placed it on Saturday when their system re-opened and instead of shipping out Sun Night/Monday, they didn't ship it until Wednesday, which is when I would have normally received it. Quickly scanning right now, they aren't shipping orders until Tuesday. And I was talking to a rep at another big dealer and they have reduced their shipping schedule to every other day and only two or three days a week total. And who's tried to buy anything from Amazon recently? I've basically given up on them, for the time being. Besides "extended" shipping times on a lot of items, they aren't doing a great job protecting the customer from merchants that are price gouging.

I know we're in a very tough situation right now, but it definitely feels like we've stepped back two decades or so with regards to shipping and ordering.
 
Just a reminder about politics and the forum, because we’re starting to cross that line and I’ll be deleting posts. Once we delve into the relationship between Congress and the USPS, we’re there.

James0b57 said:
I've had more issues with Fedex and UPS.

USPS has always done well.
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This has been my experience as well, except for the last couple of weeks. The USPS is dealing with understaffing and lots of stuff is falling through the cracks, but this is also directly related to the pandemic and all the dominos that have fallen out from there.

As for FedEx vs. UPS, I used to prefer FedEx by far and had several issues with UPS... usually packages damaged in transit that they always had a reason not to claim as their fault, even though it was. But UPS has gotten their act together the last few years, at least in this area, and FedEx has gone downhill. In the last 6 months I have dealt with FedEx problems like a package delivered to the wrong address (and a driver who quit when asked about it, and didn’t say where he left it... it was never located), and drivers forging my signature on sig-required boxes so they can leave the packages on my doorstep. Mine is not the kind of neighborhood where I want gear shipments left unattended.

That missing package was in the middle of a feature film and contained a lot of important stuff, including some custom cables and a set of Ursa Straps and Ursa Shorties that I needed for the production. The order was re-fulfilled within a couple of days because Remote Audio is awesome, but only partially because I’d ordered the last of the Shorties stock. So that was fun.
 
James0b57 said:
I've had more issues with Fedex and UPS.

USPS has always done well.

Just this past week, I dropped off a box at FedEx, and their pickup guy didn't feel like carrying a heavy box, so he left it there for a couple extra days. I went back to that fedex and saw my package there. The staff was nice, and left a note on the box, and it went out the next day. But I was kind of surprised. I'm not strong and I can lift the box with relative ease. But they are likely over worked at this time. So, all is well.

In the past I have had a one day shipment take three. sucks when a 2lbs package costs like $75. I should have got my money back, but I was busy at the time and didn't have time to worry about it. Had the same thing happen with UPS, but two day air that took longer.

I tried to send a 7" monitor, and the guy at fedex wouldn't let me send it, because he thought I was lying. He thought it was a Samsung tablet. After some back and forth, I just went to UPS.

UPS also mixed up packages. They sent a $5000 steadicam thing to another address. And party supplies ended up at my friends house. Luckily, it was just switched boxes, and he was able to go to the other address and swap packages.

All understandable stuff, but I have used USPS ten times more with zero issues. With fedex and ups feels like every other shipment goes wonky.

I hear the USPS is under financial trouble right now. Something about the way they structure pricing, and the change in mailing trends, they are losing money now?
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I've had issues with ALL of them. I've shot inside the main facility of one of the two private carriers and I'll say these two things:

1) Pack the hell out of whatever you are shipping. It's a wonder 99% of our shipments aren't broken into 1,000 pieces by the time we get them.

2) It's a wonder we get anything at all, on time. It is absolutely amazing to see the process in action.
 
Alex H. said:
Just a reminder about politics and the forum, because we’re starting to cross that line and I’ll be deleting posts. Once we delve into the relationship between Congress and the USPS, we’re there.



This has been my experience as well, except for the last couple of weeks. The USPS is dealing with understaffing and lots of stuff is falling through the cracks, but this is also directly related to the pandemic and all the dominos that have fallen out from there.

As for FedEx vs. UPS, I used to prefer FedEx by far and had several issues with UPS... usually packages damaged in transit that they always had a reason not to claim as their fault, even though it was. But UPS has gotten their act together the last few years, at least in this area, and FedEx has gone downhill. In the last 6 months I have dealt with FedEx problems like a package delivered to the wrong address (and a driver who quit when asked about it, and didn’t say where he left it... it was never located), and drivers forging my signature on sig-required boxes so they can leave the packages on my doorstep. Mine is not the kind of neighborhood where I want gear shipments left unattended.

That missing package was in the middle of a feature film and contained a lot of important stuff, including some custom cables and a set of Ursa Straps and Ursa Shorties that I needed for the production. The order was re-fulfilled within a couple of days because Remote Audio is awesome, but only partially because I’d ordered the last of the Shorties stock. So that was fun.
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I've had way more issues with FedEx over the years and some of them have been biggies and not just mere inconveniences. The most egregious that come to mind, right now:
1) Left one of my Betacams in the Sony Steal Me case sitting on my front porch while I was out of town on another shoot.

2) Lost a brand new Betacam, until the Loss Prevention team was informed of the replacement cost and then it miraculously was found within an hour or two(the way it was found, someone was planning to steal it).

3) Shipped gear ahead to a hotel for a shoot and half of it didn't show up, despite talking to CSR's on the phone swearing it was going to be there on-time when I had the tracking info and it was nowhere close. Then when it finally shows up the next day, it's HOURS later than the driver usually delivers and HOURS later than the first half of the shipment the day before. Our shoot day was probably 3/4 over by the time we got it. And then it was all delayed on the return shipment home to me.
 
The first Amira I bought from AbelCine and they shipped it to my apartment front door without requiring a signature, so I got home from a shoot to find my brand new expenso camera sitting outside ready to be stolen. That may have been AbelCine's fault though for not requiring a signature.

The bigger one from a few months ago was when I shipped one of my Amiras to Arri repair in NY for a basic fan repair and Arri repair stated that the well packaged camera had been so damaged in transit that the sensor was cracked, the CFast weren't working, antena torn off, etc., resulting in $17k of damages, about the same price I paid for the used camera. I don't know how a camera as durable as an Amira surrounded by bubble wrap could have been so damaged; I suspsect the UPS employees decided to play football with the camera and not every pass was recieved. My insurance company (not UPS since I didn't get additional insurance through UPS) sent me a $16k check to cover the loss/damage of the camera. I've decided to not repair it, and have asked Arri to send me the damaged camera back, but they said they're closed now due to the pandemic, so who knows when I'll get it back.

Other than that, some delays of Amazon purchases recently but not too bad.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
The first Amira I bought from AbelCine and they shipped it to my apartment front door without requiring a signature, so I got home from a shoot to find my brand new expenso camera sitting outside ready to be stolen. That may have been AbelCine's fault though for not requiring a signature.

The bigger one from a few months ago was when I shipped one of my Amiras to Arri repair in NY for a basic fan repair and Arri repair stated that the well packaged camera had been so damaged in transit that the sensor was cracked, the CFast weren't working, antena torn off, etc., resulting in $17k of damages, about the same price I paid for the used camera. I don't know how a camera as durable as an Amira surrounded by bubble wrap could have been so damaged; I suspsect the UPS employees decided to play football with the camera and not every pass was recieved. My insurance company (not UPS since I didn't get additional insurance through UPS) sent me a $16k check to cover the loss/damage of the camera. I've decided to not repair it, and have asked Arri to send me the damaged camera back, but they said they're closed now due to the pandemic, so who knows when I'll get it back.

Other than that, some delays of Amazon purchases recently but not too bad.
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That all sucks...

Years ago, a UPS driver actually told me to never put a "FRAGILE" label on any packaging, because some of the drivers/package handlers take that as a challenge to try to damage the items by purposefully throwing them, etc.
 
Years ago, as a college summer job, I worked for UPS at a package sorting/mailing facility. Me and another poor b$%d stacking boxes in the back of a hot trailer being fed by a conveyer belt. The drill was to build walls as high as you could and then toss smaller boxes over the wall; step back a few feet and repeat. There were times that we couldn't keep up with the conveyer and would have to shout STOP, TURN IT OFF before being buried. That was in the 70s so maybe more modernized methods now? I do remember my foot going through boxes. Oops sorry about your guitar. But overall was impressed that they maintained strict uniforms and were washing the trucks everyday.
 
Sneakle said:
Years ago, as a college summer job, I worked for UPS at a package sorting/mailing facility. Me and another poor b$%d stacking boxes in the back of a hot trailer being fed by a conveyer belt. The drill was to build walls as high as you could and then toss smaller boxes over the wall; step back a few feet and repeat. There were times that we couldn't keep up with the conveyer and would have to shout STOP, TURN IT OFF before being buried. That was in the 70s so maybe more modernized methods now? I do remember my foot going through boxes. Oops sorry about your guitar. But overall was impressed that they maintained strict uniforms and were washing the trucks everyday.
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A friend of mines Mom used to work at UPS here, in I believe accounting. She said truck washing was actually a kind of coveted position. It was generally the older guys with seniority and years under their belt.
 
I still am amused at how they left my expensive workstation which consisted of several very large boxes with giant personal computer wording on it, yet would not leave my laptop in one small thin box with no identifying "steal me I'm expensive" markings on the box. I realize a signature can be required by sender or left to the discretion of the delivery person. As far as changes during the plandemic, for me it's been the same as before except some of the delivery guys try to keep a distance in an almost drop and run fashion.
A ups friend said orders are up. A fed ex friend said hes taking extra cleaning measures.
 
NorBro said:
Actually I mailed it 14 days ago today (just checked), but still.

Apparently USPS has a shortage of workers and lots of delays.

Tons of "in transit to next facility" complaints all over the world wide web.
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My package sent on April 17th was finally updated today with movement...just leaving New York. USPS ground.
 
I saw this thread earlier, and was going to say how my experiences with USPS have been overwhelmingly positive.

However, I just waited 13 days for something to be shipped from CA to OR. It was marked 'Out For Delivery' yesterday. My fiancee and I are both working at out desks near the front door and would have heard the footsteps of an approaching carrier on the walkway but we never did. When I checked the tracking status in the evening, I saw a flurry of activity: "Forward Expired", followed by "Moved, Left no Address", followed by "Departed USPS Destination Facility". Two phone calls and a visit to our local post office later, I learned learn that someone had written "Return to Sender" on it (not us) and that it was on its way back to CA! I had to pay $15 on USPS.com to "intercept" the package and (hopefully) have it rerouted back to our local post office. What a pain in the neck for a $20 camera part.

I imagine that the USPS is overwhelmed right now, so I'm willing to cut them a little slack. If my $15 is not refundable, then I'll consider it a donation to the valuable service that they provide.
 
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