How often does the USPS lose/misplace/severly delay stuff?

This is pretty frustrating. I don't hardly sell at all. In the last few months, I've maybe sent out half a dozen packages. Recently I sold a Maddux PSA/DNA auto on ebay and for the second time in this recent history, with only a handful of items, my package has been very delayed. I've got the buyer asking me what's taking so long. I'm calling USPS to find out what's going on. Hopefully the buyer is understanding as it was shipped the day after paying. For those of you that send out a lot more than me, does this happen to you a ton? It's happening too frequently to me with my limited sample size.

I ship hundreds of packages a month. Others on here ship much more.

From my exeperience, in the past 12 months, I've had one that was severely delayed. It was a high dollar item too -- a Kobe Bryant patch auto -- that was going to South Dakota, I believe. Shipped the day after he paid. For whatever reason, and no one at USPS could explain this to me, it was stuck in Des Moines, IA. The buyer was understanding, but filed a Paypal claim, which he won. After 15 days, the card popped pack up in the system and was finally delivered more than a month after I shipped it. Once it showed as delivered, Paypal reversed the claim and I got re-paid.

bigpops65 said:

I ship hundreds of packages a month. Others on here ship much more.

From my exeperience, in the past 12 months, I've had one that was severely delayed. It was a high dollar item too -- a Kobe Bryant patch auto -- that was going to South Dakota, I believe. Shipped the day after he paid. For whatever reason, and no one at USPS could explain this to me, it was stuck in Des Moines, IA. The buyer was understanding, but filed a Paypal claim, which he won. After 15 days, the card popped pack up in the system and was finally delivered more than a month after I shipped it. Once it showed as delivered, Paypal reversed the claim and I got re-paid.

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Just curious, did Paypal automatically do this? Or did you have to apply a large amount of persuasion over the phone?

I had a situation a few months ago where a buyer won three separate auctions from me. I do combined shipping, so I shipped them all in one package. About two weeks later the buyer was messaging me asking where his items where. I pulled up the DC on USPS.com and it showed that the item had left my facility and was "in transit". I supplied this to the buyer, but he went ahead and opened a claim. He won the claim and left neutral feedback.

Fast forward four more weeks. Out of curiosity, I tracked the item again and it showed that it had delivered a week earlier-- 5 weeks after I shipped it.

I messaged the buyer and got no response. After two or three messages, the buyer finally responded. The buyer refused to send payment again but, luckily, did agree to ship the items back at my expense.

It has been very strange as of late. I had two packages get delayed almost two months and multiple birthday cards 3-4 weeks later than normal. But then I had a PWE arrive from Canada in 5 business days.
Everything has arrived so it just comes down to patience. Seems to be happening everywhere

I am awaiting a very sought after card from Canada, that I negotiated down from $15 tracked shipping to around $3 regular shipping, because I have never had a problem from Canada. Bingo, we do the deal and this card is now a problem sitting at about 40 days since it was supposedly (i am trusting the guy actually mailed it after all the hub-bub I made) mailed! Hoping it is just a record setting later comer. Will hate to lose it, and I'll explain why if I finally give up on it, but it is possibly one that can be replaced (it's /10), so not a total loss if it never arrives.

Sorry to the OP. That buyer is an impatient ass. It’s one thing to have USPS perform a trace, that’s about solving a problem. But making what is clearly a USPS problem yours to handle? That’s worth a block. I generally speak quite favorably about USPS. I will send probably 2,000 packages a year on average and receive maybe 500. My defect rate is less than .5%, and I bet half of those are PWE where they lose the envelope and I just cannot prove it. Generally people are good, honest, and decent. Don’t let the losers get you down. Block them and move on. . Sorry for your troubles! FWIW had that happen recently and had an uppity buyer whine to me about it. I blame Amazon and how they ruin everyone with their expectation of two day free shipping.


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There was one trade I sent to northern Cal and it took 5 months to get there

chippercards.com said:

Sorry to the OP. That buyer is an impatient ass. It’s one thing to have USPS perform a trace, that’s about solving a problem. But making what is clearly a USPS problem yours to handle? That’s worth a block. I generally speak quite favorably about USPS. I will send probably 2,000 packages a year on average and receive maybe 500. My defect rate is less than .5%, and I bet half of those are PWE where they lose the envelope and I just cannot prove it. Generally people are good, honest, and decent. Don’t let the losers get you down. Block them and move on. . Sorry for your troubles! FWIW had that happen recently and had an uppity buyer whine to me about it. I blame Amazon and how they ruin everyone with their expectation of two day free shipping.


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you do realize this thread is 9 years old , right....

Honestly I almost never use FCB anymore and did not even notice.


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FCB has been getting spammers posting in old threads lately..

gamecockfanatic said:

you do realize this thread is 9 years old , right....

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To be fair, it’s not like the USPS is exactly running like a well-oiled machine after 9 years.

Philip J. Fry said:

To be fair, it’s not like the USPS is exactly running like a well-oiled machine after 9 years.

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True that! The thread is as relevant now as it was 9 years ago, maybe worse!

I visited my local PO because for the first time, one of the ebay standard trading card envelopes did not arrive, despite being "delivered". it happened while my mail was on hold and I was on vacation, but 3 days after my mail resumed and things are back to normal, still no sign of this letter that supposedly delivered 6/23!

It's not a huge loss, the card was actually something like 75 cents, but it was a color variation of a 78 Topps that was brighter than most I have seen. An oddity I wanted to see in hand.

The PO doesn't recognize these tracking numbers that ebay uses, so the postmaster basically said they have no way to track them. I know Deliciousbacon has talked about them with first hand experience. I wonder what ebay would do, if anything, when an untrackable letter shows delivered with their own secret tracking number that the PO doesn't acknowledge!?

thankfully, given all the mail I have received in the last several decades, a very minimal percentage has gone missing...still, anything you don't and ends up lost get is a huge bummer no matter what. we trust the PO to deliver our mail and sometimes they fail us.

Philip J. Fry said:

To be fair, it’s not like the USPS is exactly running like a well-oiled machine after 9 years.

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thats actually what i meant , though i didnt feel compelled to write a novel...due to the recent issues suxc as covid , the shuttering of some branches m removal of some sorters/boxes , several publicized occurrences of mail theft/tampering/destruction by employees , misinformation about certain delivery options/rates , etc there is likely to be more mail lost or delayed now than when the original thread was posted...as such , even if the buyer in the scenario was impatient , a little complaining back then may have been a wee bit more understood simply because it was less common or understood

local small PO can't scan the 91 cent ebay . 1/3 don't get scanned when delivered .

mrmopar said:

The PO doesn't recognize these tracking numbers that ebay uses, so the postmaster basically said they have no way to track them. I know Deliciousbacon has talked about them with first hand experience. I wonder what ebay would do, if anything, when an untrackable letter shows delivered with their own secret tracking number that the PO doesn't acknowledge!?

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I haven't heard of anybody trying but I would assume if it says delivered you're going to be SOL. From the selling side the tracking would be worthless if it said delivered and eBay still sided with the buyer.

I've had probably 50-100 of these things delivered since the program started and have only had one that said it was delivered but it wasn't. It was a $3 autograph that was easily replaceable so I didn't sweat it, not really anything I can do.