| Author | Message | ||
     Sifo |
I'm expecting a package today and the UPS tracking system has this line... "Addison, IL, United States 01/15/2013 11:07 A.M. Package transferred to post office " I've never seen that before. Is UPS really using the post office for local delivery now? | ||
| Froggy |
FedEx and UPS have economy class shipping options that hand off the package to your post office for the final stage of delivery. FexEd calls it SmartPost, I forget the name of the UPS version. | ||
| Hootowl |
Yes, but only in cases where the shipper selects that shipping method. It's a bit cheaper than UPS to your door. | ||
| Xb1125r |
this is why the USP is loosing money. they should charge the UPS and fedex doudle the charge. | ||
| Froggy |
I assume you mean USPS, and no it is losing money because it is forced by congress to pay $5.5 Billion a year into healthcare, but before factoring that in it is indeed profitable.
And then the USPS would make less money as they have one less source of income due to UPS/FedEx discontinuing the program. (Message edited by Froggy on January 16, 2013) | ||
| Hootowl |
Do you think the post office isn't charging UPS and FedEX to deliver packages? They're making money on the deal. If they weren't, they wouldn't be doing it. | ||
| Gregtonn |
Sifo, Just last week my sister-in-law got a similar UPS tracking message. The package was delivered by UPS to her house the next day. G | ||
| Aesquire |
The United States Postal Service does indeed deliver packages people send Federal Excess and Ooops. ( just my pet names... they tend to be great guys at the actual delivery level. UPS management now, that's a different story ) The USPS also delivers packages for a variety of other freight services. The reason is simple. The Post Office is cheaper. Also the Post Office does not charge extra to deliver on Saturdays and even delivers Christmas Day at no extra charge. ( Express mail only ) Why doesn't the PO raise it's rates for the competition? 2 simple reasons. As Froggy says, make the service more expensive than doing it yourself, why do it? They'd lose the business. The other reason is all rates are approved by a Congressional Committee. ( assume 5 minute rant here ) Any questions? The bit about the healthcare is a major part of the USPS's problems. When the Post Office was spun off from Federal Service, Congress took all the benefit money. Part of the deal in making it a government controlled, but not "run" company was the Post Office had to pre-fund 75 years of healthcare benefits, in 10 years. ( this part of the fiasco started in 2006 ) http://my.firedoglake.com/mmonk/2011/08/19/the-pre -funding-mandate-bringing-down-the-american-postal -workers-union/ In simplest ( and really oversimplified ) terms, Congress stole all the money, makes the Post Office pay it back, at 7 1/2 times the actual rate, and is still stealing the money. I could do a rant on poor management decisions and the Iron Law of Bureaucracy ( Jerry Pournelle ) but it wouldn't be germane to this thread. Have a nice day, and use your zip code. ( and while you are at it, use penmanship, please. The poor computer trying to read your letter has complained )  | ||
| Sifo |
I really wouldn't care, but I miss the days when UPS would actually deliver it on the day they said they would. No doubt there's a cost savings, but there's also a cost. | ||
| Froggy |
It should also be noted that UPS can determine the exact cost of delivering a package to you, and if it is not profitable, and the seller picked the cheapest shipping tier, they will hand it off the USPS to do the delivery. Their computers can do the math factoring in gas, wear and tear on the truck, driver salary, making multiple attempts at delivery, other deliveries in the area, and so on. They then compare it to the cost of dropping off at a nearby post office which will be around to accept on the first try. In addition to probably being cheaper, it is also more efficient too, as the mailman would be heading there anyway regardless. It does not apply to the higher level shipping plans, so if you are really bugged by the mailman doing a delivery then spend a few bucks more up front to get it overnighted. | ||
| Froggy |
Short of a major storm, I've never seen my packages get delayed from UPS or USPS. | ||
| Sifo |
Short of a major storm, I've never seen my packages get delayed from UPS or USPS. Well, I didn't start this thread to bitch about it being late. It wasn't even late yet when I first posted. It was just the first time I'd seen the tracking info include being sent to the post office. Ironically, I've done plenty of business with this company in the past, and I did notice an extra day built into the shipping schedule from what I've become accustomed to, but didn't think much about it. I assume that's to have the post office time to do their thing. It didn't show up with the mail yesterday though, so now it is late. Nice sunny weather BTW, but a bit chilly. I'll see if it shows up today. I expect it will. As I said though, there's a real cost to UPS for doing this. It may, or may not turn out to be worth that cost. I gather this is fairly new. | ||
| Crusty |
I bought some parts from Precision Engineering for my XT a few years ago. They shipped them UPS. Shipping cost me $13.00+ change and it took 8 days to get from Montana to Massachusetts. A month later, I bought the same parts for my wife's Ss, but I asked Precision to send them Priority Mail. It cost $4.95 and I had the parts in two days. Guess who I prefer to use? | ||
| Crackhead |
Sifo, some of us live out in the country and unless you pay for something more then Ground from UPS/FEDUP/ Ect, the USPS does the final leg of delivery. They have been doing it for a while now. | ||
| Xb1125r |
I assume you mean USPS, and no it is losing money because it is forced by congress to pay $5.5 Billion a year into healthcare, but before factoring that in it is indeed profitable. every business pays healthcare | ||
| Froggy |
You never posted the original expected delivery day, so only you know if it is really late or just not when you thought it would arrive.
Nope, they have been using it for about 10 years now from what I've read.
You need to re-read the post by Aesquire above, Congress screwed it up and is making them over pay. Some more reading: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/five-things/t he-u-s-postal-service/11433/ | ||
| Badlionsfan |
This is also done the other way around, meaning USPS hires ups and FedEx to move their packages between cities. Most air mail flies on FedEx planes. How many of you know that the USPS doesn't move anything from hub to hub? It's all contracted out. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
funny this is here i ordered from Amazon, didnt know it'd be shipped UPS, so i had my PO address in I noticed a couple days later, it was being shipped UPS, I called them and wanted to get the address changed to physical address, they told me not to worry. The very same day it was at the post office waiting for me i think its a great service! | ||
| Sifo |
You never posted the original expected delivery day, so only you know if it is really late or just not when you thought it would arrive. That's because this thread didn't start as a thread about delivery being late. I did mention when it was due when I pointed out it was late though. One more thing I don't care for is that the USPS tracking kind of sucks. UPS will tell you that it's out for delivery the morning it goes out. The only information I have now is an arrival scan in Addison. It actually got scanned twice at the Addison P.O., once Tuesday morning, and again Wednesday morning. I'm assuming it got sent to Carol Stream Wednesday and will be delivered today (Thursday). Here's the thing, it could have been handled better by both sides in a number of ways. The UPS hub is in Addison, that would be why it went to the Addison P.O. The Addison UPS hub delivers in Carol Stream though and could easily drop packages there, which happens to be the USPS sorting facility. If I lived in a neighboring town, the package would still go to Carol Stream, then to the destination P.O., then out for delivery. That would add yet another day. IMO, UPS is blowing it on that point. I'm not sure why it spent 22 hours between scans in the Addison P.O. Generally the USPS moves things quite efficiently, but in this particular case, 22 hours for a package in transit, isn't exactly fast. I don't know the schedule for mail going to the sorting facility though. My point here isn't that I'm pissed about this, it's not a big deal. In the past though UPS would get that package that originate in St. Louise, MO on Friday to my door on Tuesday. That has become kind of the expected level of service, and you could see exactly where your package was on any given day. Now the expected delivery date was a day later than normal, AND they missed it by a day so far, AND there's no information on it ever leaving Addison. It's just kind of sad to see a company that made a name for itself by being a leader in their field suddenly take such a downward slide in service. I'm glad this wasn't something that I really needed by Tuesday. The shipper gave no notice of this change in their UPS ground shipping either, so bad on their part. Sifo, some of us live out in the country and unless you pay for something more then Ground from UPS/FEDUP/ Ect, the USPS does the final leg of delivery. They have been doing it for a while now. Could be, and it makes a lot of sense. I've just never seen it here before. I'm only about three blocks away from businesses that get daily UPS service too. | ||
| Yamafreak |
DO NOT DOWN LOAD any part of that e-mail. It will kill your pc.  | ||
| Sifo |
The package came in today's mail. One day later than promised, 2 days later than I've gotten accustomed to. 2 days doesn't sound like much until you look at the fact that it used get done in 3 business days. I've always found that to be impressive. 5 days, not as much. | ||
| Barker |
Yep, I still waiting on my USPS/UPS package from Brooklyn. Sloooooooow. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Specify you want ups only. Ups doesn't just decide to pass off packages to the USPS randomly. |
