USPS Delays Spike As Peak Holiday Shipping Sets In
USPS on time delivery hits lowest rates since Summer 2021 as buyers and sellers alike complain of delays in shipping and tracking scans.
Government Executive reported this week that USPS delivered only 87.7% of First-Class mail on time in the week ending November 17th, with a Postal Service spokesperson citing insourcing of several Surface Transfer Centers and a two-week shutdown of a facility in St. Louis as exacerbating factors in addition to increased holiday shipping volume.
Eric Katz
USPS delivered 87.7% of First-Class mail on time in the week ending Nov. 17, the most recent data available, matching its rate for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 to that date. That marks a decline from 91% in the previous quarter and 92.5% in the same period last fiscal year.
On-time performance has reached its lowest rate since the summer of 2021, when postal management cited pandemic-related employee absenteeism and “street crime” for the significant delays. That followed delays so significant during the 2020 holiday season that eventually forced Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to concede his agency “missed our service standards by far and disappointed the nation."
On-time mail delivery has declined for most weeks of the current quarter and for two consecutive quarters. The delays come at a perilous time for the Postal Service and the mailing public, as the holidays mark its “peak season” and is the agency’s most profitable period of the year. They also come after, in a controversial move, DeJoy in 2021 slowed down USPS service standards to give the agency additional days to deliver some mail.
Albert Ruiz, a Postal Service spokesperson, pointed to two specific incidents that have exacerbated delays: the agency insourced several Surface Transfer Centers—buildings that serve as staging areas where mail gets dropped off before it gets rerouted elsewhere—previously managed by third parties and a two-week shutdown of a facility in St. Louis after an illegally shipped package caused a mercury spill at the plant.
eBay sellers and buyers are discussing their recent experiences with USPS, with many concerns about delays and a lack of tracking scans in transit.
Since just before Thanksgiving nearly 1/3 of our shipments are arriving 7-10 days late. The biggest problem is that there are no scans for most package until they arrive in the buyers state. Anyone else experiencing this problem?
USPS, the worst I have seen it since this season in 2021. No problem getting pickup scans by the carrier but scans are sketchy after the initial scan and some days late to 7 days late at this time.
UPS is experiencing delays as well on some shipments, but none appear to be off into the abyss as they can get with USPS.
Just received a call from a USPS help request. I was not expecting any help but was just hoping that the help request would have generated an entry into the tracking as I have seen in the past. Nada with this one.
I made a post in the Shipping thread a couple of days ago about HUGE MAJOR delays out of the Richmond VA processing facility (supposedly the 2nd largest mail processing plant in the US). I have 5 packages (which yes, for the snarks, I got scanned at the counter) that haven't moved since 11/28/23. 4 customers are understanding of the situation.
I'm told workers aren't showing up for their shifts. At this facility they have an all hands on deck to try to get everything processed. They have opened a nearby training facility to get mail processed and they appear to be diverting mail to other processing centers as my last drop-off went to Philly not Richmond. They have/had a 500,000 backlog and my packages are still waiting for a scan... any scan.
Seems USPS knows they have a problem at this facility, local news has been reporting on this and I made my post in the Shipping Thread but eBay is not has not adjusted delivery times for they packages I am mailing. Why not? I really don't think buyers should be able to open INR's so quickly.
I finally received a package that shipped 11/27 i bought from a seller in the same state i live in. The package only had to travel about 150 miles and took 13 days G A. To me that is slow
Are you seeing shipping or tracking scan delays from USPS or other carriers? Let us know in the comments below!
