Friday, January 20, 2012

I don't know why the USPS bothers with tracking numbers

when they can't figure out where anything is.

Item ordered. Tracking number inquiry shows in 'New York Sorting Facility'. On January 9.

Yesterday, after no change in ten days, contacted USPS, who searched and said "It's in our New York Sorting Facility".
"Still?!?"
"Yes."
So I sent a "Why is it still there?" through their contact form.

About three hours later comes knock on the door, and it's the mailman delivering it.

So they can't actually track it, from their own system? Jeez.

3 comments:

Jeffro said...

That is because they don't track it. If all you bought was delivery confirmation, the only places data is collected is at the originating post office and when it's delivered. The only items that are tracked continuously are Express Mail and Registered Mail.

So, it wasn't at the sorting facility where it was first entered into the system - it really was winding it's way to you.

I used to work for them, and am damn glad I'm out. Lots blame the unions, but in this case, it's management's fault. They refuse to commit to point to point tracking, saying it's too expensive because of the labor. Hey, guess what, UPS is unionized and their services are competitive. They'd have to beef up their data infrastructure if tracking became a reality - it wasn't designed for the load it would get.

But, UPS and FedEx seemed to manage quite well, and turn a profit.

Marja said...

Hm. Itella (Finnish post office, changed their name a few years back, and frankly, I think that's a damn stupid name) has faults, a lot of them, but even they do have working point to point tracking for packets.

Firehand said...

It was sent to me registered, at least according to what I have.

Ah well, at least it did get here