Where Is It Going To Next?

This has started to be fun. I bought a soprano case from a fellow UU member and here is the USPS tracking record to date (most recent at top). I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, it was here 5 days ago. Wonder where it's headed to now?

October 21, 2015 , 4:40 pm Departed USPS Destination Facility
LOUISVILLE, KY 40231

Your item departed our USPS destination facility in LOUISVILLE, KY 40231 on October 21, 2015 at 4:40 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

October 21, 2015 , 4:36 pm Arrived at USPS Destination Facility, LOUISVILLE, KY 40231

October 20, 2015 , 8:23 pm Departed USPS Facility, LEXINGTON, KY 40511

October 20, 2015 , 5:32 am Arrived at USPS Destination Facility, LEXINGTON, KY 40511

October 17, 2015 , 9:05 am Arrived at USPS Facility, LEXINGTON, KY 40513

October 17, 2015 , 4:42 am Arrived at Post Office, LEXINGTON, KY 40513

October 16, 2015 , 1:47 pm Arrived at USPS Destination Facility, CINCINNATI, OH 45235

October 14, 2015 , 9:33 pm Arrived at USPS Origin Facility, JERSEY CITY, NJ 07097

The USPS can be amazing (amazingly fast and amazingly slow). I'm assuming that was standard post (a.k.a. parcel post), not priority.

I once had a USPS parcel take 22 days to go from GA to VA (an 8 hour drive).

Well, at least they think they know where it is.

Doc_J said:

Well, at least they think they know where it is.

Click to expand...

I think they lost it, and they're covering - hoping they either find it or that WhenDogsSing forgets about it.

I bet the tracking shows Indianapolis next...

I think the OP said that the case already arrived ("It was here five days ago"), but is somehow making another trip?

I think he meant it arrived at the post office in Cincinnati (where he lives), but instead of delivering it to him the USPS sent it on an all-expense paid tour of Kentucky.

river_driver said:

I think he meant it arrived at the post office in Cincinnati (where he lives), but instead of delivering it to him the USPS sent it on an all-expense paid tour of Kentucky.

Click to expand...

Ah, that makes more sense.

It came to Cincinnati 5 days ago but they didn't deliver it. It went on its who-knows-where trip then.

My experience with USPS tracking is most times it is completely wrong, once in awhile it's correct. The system is so convoluted and I doubt if many of their carriers even bother with entering the correct information, My carrier consistently enters that it was delivered when he loads it in his truck, not when he delivers it, which has often been the next day. It's even worse with a substitute, who just leaves a lot of mail and packages for the regular carrier to deal with.

I will call my branch and ask them to explain why the tracking info is inaccurate, most times they apologize but don't do anything about it. You might try, have them look at the tracking site and explain what happened. You could also try the national office 800-275-8777, Monday - Friday 8 AM - 8:30 PM ET, Saturday 8 AM - 6 PM ET.

My personal experiences with USPS has generally been good, and my personal experience with their tracking has been right on the button. I have had problems with tracking when the shipper sends it through another carrier, who then hands it off to USPS. I have had a few packages go astray, but not many over the years. I bought some strings one time that went from Missouri to San Juan, via Seattle, Washington. But we have a home in Iowa, and another in San Juan, and we have mail forwarded between the two all the time. USPS has always come through. It is interesting, that there are a lot of companies that ship stuff through USPS that will not ship to Puerto Rico. I can not figure that out, because it is the same USPS. But some won't ship to Alaska and Hawaii either, which is strange. People are always telling me that shipping is significantly higher to those places, but it doesn't cost any more to send a package from Iowa to PR, than it does to send a package from Iowa to New York City, where my son lives. Often times, especially with small things, if I am in PR, I will have them shipped to my address in Iowa, and then USPS forwards it to PR, which makes me wonder what is going on there. It adds three days to delivery, and tracking stops in Iowa, so I can't follow it between Iowa and San Juan. But when I have items shipped to San Juan, which I do when I can, it always arrives at Catano, which is on the other side of the bay, and it sits there a day before it comes over to Old San Juan. So I will see that it is there, and I can see Catano from Old San Juan, and I think, "so close, but so far away." But it always arrives the next day.

Looks like it is out for delivery today.

If you actually want reliable tracking, send your items Priority mail they get processed ahead of first class and parcel package deliveries. Years of experience with this and seeing how USPS reliability has gone up and down over the years, but has generally leveled off on the reliable end in the last 2 years.

The only real issue I ever had with the Postal service was when I had sent a gold coin going to California from NY that I sent via USPS highest secure service - Registered Mail. These items are covered up to $50,000 value and at each stop go into locked "cages" at each distribution center. It turned out during my shipment, some USPS employee(s) were keen on looking at registered packages and the package I shipped went "missing" in a mid-west state distribution facility I won't name here. I was required to file a claim which followed with me speaking to USPS Postal Inspection Police investigators who eventually charged employee(s) with multiple registered package thefts. The coin I sent was never recovered, unfortunately, and I had to refund the buyer their payment. Some two months later, USPS finally paid the loss claim, including the original shipping fee, of course.

I love watching the tracking. But, sometimes it does strange things. I do believe that the OP's package hit all those stops, or at least the truck it was on did.

Sometimes I will opt for the slow shipping vs. the "guaranteed in 2 days" shipping when the item isn't that far away. Like from Las Vegas to LA. In those cases I sometimes see that the package has made it to the local distribution center, but it will sit there for a few days, before being put on the truck for delivery.

I feel like someone at USPS is saying, "You didn't pay for two day shipping and you're not going to get it in two days!" Which is fine.

Unfortunately, I also feel that writing "FRAGILE" on the side of the box is an invitation for abuse. Just from experience...

Must be a Cincinnati thing....

I bought some coffee from Mama's Kona Coffee - they ship 3 days by USPS. It made it from Kailua-Kona, HI to Nashua, NH (about a 60 minute ride from me) in three days, but then it was off to Cincinnati!! It arrived from it's world tour yesterday - maybe it was hanging out with your case.

I love tracking things, it adds to the excitement and reassures me it really is on its way. I have a uke that has so far been processed through Texas and then Chicago. It amazes me how many places packages go in the US before they cross the ocean to Australia. Mind you, I've had Australia Post packages that have gone to the complete opposite side of the country before getting to me.

A couple of years ago I ordered a uke online from a store located in Philadelphia, I'm in Los Angeles. They told me it was on a boat from China and would arrive in about a month (no joke intended). Almost three months later it finally came, posted from Philadelphia, but I'm pretty sure it ported here in Los Angeles, was put on a truck to Philadelphia, labeled by the store and put on a truck back to Los Angeles.