I just was informed by one of my vendors the according to the USPS to them shipping may be delayed by up to 30 days. Bah Humbug dagnabbit. I am experiencing 11 to 15 day delays in shipping items just 500 miles in the US.
With the hell they used to put my wife through during the holidays this doesn't sound right. Unless they are laying off people or there is just that many people out sick (which is possible all things considering). I have had a slight delay in some shipping but mostly things are not too bad in my neck of the woods. Hope it gets better for ya.
I suspect your vendor may just be covering his own arse!!! Or misunderstood. I imagine what he might have been told was that 'packages MAYBE be delayed DURING the next 30 days' ---- NOT that any individual packages would be delayed 30 days. Unless they are going overseas...... I have sent a package to a friend that lives 1300 miles away. After 10 days has still not been delivered. It usually takes three days to get him a package. I have a package coming from an eBay seller about 250 miles away from me that so far has taken 5 days. It could have been delivered faster by Carrier Pigeon.
The problem seems to be in the hubs where the hang ups are occurring. And the tracking system has been down off and on for weeks now. I got lucky in that the printer ink I ordered came via Fedex to West Va where it was handed off to the Postal Service. It took 4 days for the Postal Service to get it to me from one state away. It took Fedex Ground just three days to get across 6 states to the hand off point. If one has the option I would chose Fedex, UPS, or DHL to get it shipped by. Those folks hire temp help for the holidays, don't know about the USPS.
A friend works for the Post Office distribution hub in Tulsa and said they are getting slammed, they are loading and unloading outside because the building is full of packages. Joe
I’ve got some HO bits shipped from an EBay seller, they showed up at the usps distribution center 55 miles away on the 11th. Still haven’t made it here. Rick H.
Hey, Rick H. and John Moore, According to my mail USPS delivery person, she said they are swamped, people out sick and equipment in ill-repair. Doesn't sound good . She said this has been coming on for sometime. I ordered four things for my model railroad from E-pay and got all of them in a very timely fashion via Fed-ex. I was surprised they delivered at and around 7:00 p.m. at night. Wouldn't that be overtime. Now, I can dig into that wiring project. Harrumph. Oh, before I forget, tracking worked just fine. Really !!
I just checked on an RX I was expecting yesterday. The USPS web site indicated that they are having problems with "limited employee availability" due to the pandemic and that my shipment will arrive late. I think they are doing the best they can under the circumstances.
!) It's the CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY shipping season. If you ordered any thing to be shipped the whole month of December, I hope you didn't want it that bad. 2) With all the people out for COVID, ONLINE SHOPPING has gone through roof, and almost ALL of that stuff has to be shipped. 3) If you can, go to your LOCAL HOBBY SHOP. Support them and maybe go home with your supplies in hand. 4) I don't know exactly what is happening at USPS. I am not an insider, but they have been needing help for years, and I think it is all catching up with them. Amazon--Wally-World--Sam's Club--COSTCO--Target the Big Box Stores, they have their place, but give me, my LOCAL HOBBY SHOP any day.
Just had a package delivered today that was sent a week ago. Have two packages coming from Germany sent on Nov 8th. Both sent out same time by same supplier, One sat in Chicago customs for a week. On Monday said left Chicago and I should get Friday all of 400 miles can drive there is 7 hours. The other package last I knew was still sitting in the Frankfort Germany custom office. rich
I am going to be selling some hobby surplus items. But am waiting until after the beginning of the new year, just because of worries over potential shipment headaches.
I really try to support my local hobby shop, but to be very honest I cannot afford hobby shop prices on locomotives. Also my local hobby shop does not carry the line of DCC decoders I prefer. I'm really not trying to start a flame war, but there is something wrong when I can purchase a locomotive from the "hush hush" online hobby shop, have said online hobby shop collect sales tax for my state and still have it shipped to my house cheaper than the price I'd pay at my local hobby shop and the same holds true for decoders. I have even thought about going retro, but the same holds true for DC locomotives purchased online. Which opens another can of worms, at what point in the future will we no longer be able to purchase DC only locomotives. Look at one major manufacturer, they've already begun creating frames to accept speakers for DCC + Sound. Even if you purchase a DC only locomotive, the provision in the frame still exists for a speaker. I do agree 100% it's the Christmas holiday shipping season and with all the COVID restrictions, the majority of the public has been shopping online. Since mid November, I've seen shipping times doubled because the USPS along with UPS and FedEx are just swamped with packages. I think it's good advice to wait until mid January, because after Christmas you're also going to see some shipping slow downs because of returns. And yes, overseas shipping because of COVID is a nightmare. Sent a package to a friend in the UK, it sat in Chicago for a week, then went to Tokyo. From Tokyo it went to London and it took Royal Mail another week to deliver the package to my friend and this was 3 months ago.
According to the USPS tracking my package, which showed up at a distribution center in Queens a week ago, finally left an Indianapolis carrier facility after sitting there for three days. Hopefully it won't sit in a local facility that long before I see the "out for delivery" status, which in the past can take several days. Predictions are there will be a permanent increase in volume after "things get back to normal", so that should entice the carriers to invest in increased capacity.
Well an order for metal etchings and two tubes of modeling putty are hung up in Richmond 60 miles away for the last three days. My GHQ V-22 Osprey is also hung up in Richmond for the last four days. A Christmas present ordered back in mid November is now going to be a birthday present for next year. And the USPS tracking service is about 2 days behind.