Alert: USPS is experiencing unprecedented package increases and limited employee availability.....

You should heed these words if your are sending coins to PCGS.
I assume USPS Express Mail is still one day guaranteed.
That's quite an alarming news alert for USPS shippers and recipients.
Alert: USPS is experiencing unprecedented package increases and limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19.
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First classes packages are very slow. They seem to spend a lot of time just sitting somewhere. Then you see the dreaded "In Transit, Arriving Late".
priority mail is slow also, i shipped a package on Tuesday and it hasn't even left the state yet, it was supposed to be delivered today, lol
I have multiple packages overdue right now. I've never seen things this bad.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
The perk is that when you send next-day express guaranteed and it takes 2-3 days instead ... you get your money back, so it turns into free priority mail. That has happened twice now for me in the past couple of months.
On the other hand, they’ve still been doing a very good job in regular mail cases....so I’m still mostly impressed.....knock wood.
The PO does great work all things considered. 🇺🇸⭐️
A stupid holder from California to Chicago bought on eBay has been processed through my local sort facility ON TIME. But my coin sent out Priority will turn my remaining 3 gray hairs grayer
This thread, started December 5, with 1600 views and more than 100 replies, has been on page one for most or all of its life on the forum:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1047910/usps-delays/p1
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I agree with @MFeld , more threads about this sure can’t hurt. 🤓
Same here in Canada shipped 2 coins express mail usually takes 2-3 anywhere in Canada. Sent a coin a few hundred miles away and took 4 days another will arrive Monday so 5 days. Not so bad but still double the time.
Interest: Latin American history with an emphasis on colonial Mexico & Peru
Sports: NHL & NFL
Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!!!
What's happening right now is your packages are getting tossed into a container and sitting until the next driver who picked up the previous overdue container to deliver to the next sort facility comes back a couple of days later. I realize the USPS is overwhelmed. So far all my customers seem to understand also. I've got 2 Priority shipments at 10 days now. 1st class seems to be on par with Priority. 4-5 days late instead of 7-10 days late.
Or there is not enough planes to deal will all the overload and once they get to that container you see updates.
Interest: Latin American history with an emphasis on colonial Mexico & Peru
Sports: NHL & NFL
Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!!!
I continue to be deeply appreciative for the work they do in some of the toughest times we have had in our history.
I just insure my stuff if it shows up good if not I get my money back. I know for rare things it's not the same. But most stuff are replaceable.
Interest: Latin American history with an emphasis on colonial Mexico & Peru
Sports: NHL & NFL
Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!!!
If you shipped a package to Alabama, give it at least an extra week or 2.... they had a covid outbreak in the main postal center for the state I hear.
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Maybe I was lucky, but I shipped my privy's priority on Monday and they arrived on Wednesday. The line out the door and 30 minute wait to ship was another thing, but to be expected this time of year I guess.
TTT for MFeld.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Gee, I wish PCGS would complete my 2 month old reholder submission and mail it back so I could enjoy some slow mail service.
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TTT again
express may still be the same timeline but in November I had 2 express packages take an extra day.
I could ask for a refund, but it's covid. 1 day late is acceptable to me.
LOL, you mean considering the government is trying to put them out of business? "Great" isn't a word I typically associate with widespread incompetence and zero accountability to customers.
Usps has updated its refund system in the last year or two; you don't have to go to the local post office with embarrassment, but can just request it online with your account and get a refund check. That's the deal; they guarantee delivery by a certain time, and fail at that and need to make good. I have had a corporate express account for years where you get an automatic discount and get charged with your credit card on file. Sometimes the shipper on my express account does not get it logged in or scanned when picked up which is a problem for guaranteed delivery which is an incentive that they need to follow.
I believe the big red banner alert just popped up today, unless of course it has been posted on another thread.
I do my best to find older threads on the topic....I guess I didn't do a good enough job.
I have an account, too. I'm not going to beat on them for 1 day late in these exceptional times.
and barring nov-dec. mail in my area had been running as usual. my post office is good. much competence there.
I had a package ship from JM Bullion a week ago. They ship out of Vegas, I live in Vegas and the package is currently in Fort Worth TX. LOL!! Got to love public sector unions. Inexcusable, covid or not!
Just so you know, I wasn’t implying that the red banner wasn’t new, as I had no idea, either way. But if it appeared only recently, it was late.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Alert: USPS is experiencing unprecedented package increases and limited employee availability.....
The more people in line the more windows they close. How will covid impact that?
I was quietly told what is happening here after trying to track down a lost package. Half of the staff (mail processors) at my post office quit, as well as the local distribution center. The few newbies they hire, either dont last or two new to handle the work load affectively. Bins, upon bins of mail , packages are just left sitting in the back at various locations, and are processed when they can, no rush to do so, and with christmas load, it has made it far worse.
Should we post to both threads?
That, and/or start a new one.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Oh no, my 100 year old coins are going to have to wait another 5 days to get in my hands.
I think everybody will be fine.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I've got some BU rolls from the 1960s here. I'm going to crack them open and start a thread for each coin.
Exactly.
I've shipped 1000 packages this year. A LOT of them were delayed in shipping. If I recall, only one got lost. Everything seems to still get through. All we need is a little patience.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Have a couple in limbo right now. As long as they eventually arrive safely I don't care how long it takes but it's definitely an iffy time right now. Doesn't affect me much but feel for people who ship in huge volumes right now having to deal with delays that aren't in any way their fault but probably still cause them stress.
When you consider the immense size of the USPS and the immense scope of its daily logistics challenges — and yet still the mail 99% of the time gets there, just at times taking longer than it might normally — I stand by my comment!
The coolest coin I bought this year is so way late.
Ok- got me. I laughed.
It is not just usps, but other shippers as well. We had 2-day express shipping on a case of wine take 9 days, and we are thirsty. We had a ups shipment from Amazon sitting in Gallup, New Mexico(????) for 2 weeks, Amazon gave up and reimbursed..................
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I might agree with you if FedEx and UPS weren't also dealing with "immense scope and daily logistics challenges" and yet their packages don't seem to be getting stuck in hubs for days and weeks at a time. What you see as "great", I consider "barely adequate" and something of a national embarrassment, but Congress is largely to blame due to its inability to provide emergency funding during the pandemic. This has all been discussed at length here over the last several months.
I'm out.
USPS is out there doing the basically impossible. Every mail carrier needs a hug (or a wave I guess because it's 2020) and a big tip this season.
I will say with absolute certainty that the USPS does one heck of a job every year and not just a at Christmas..
It's weird that Amazon packages seem to arrive on time, but everything else...
Early American Copper, Bust and Seated.
I support the USPS workers & appreciate the job they are doing in tough circumstances. And I'm equally impressed over how well they performed during the elections, despite overt attempts to sabotage them.
That said, there needs to be a better system for tracking items. In our case, we're not dealing with coins, but important medication for my Mother-in-Law. On Dec 7, it was tracked as "in transit to the next station" & deu for delivery on the 9th. Other than updates to say it's "running late" and due dates updated to the previous date 2 days in a row now, there NO FURTHER updates on its whereabouts, and her supply is running dangerously low.
It's now 5 days since leaving NJ to her destination just outside Philly, and she has NO CLUE as to if & when it might get here.
THAT's concerning..........
Friday evening I requested a replacement credit card. They said will be sent out Fed Ex. Should arrive by 14th. We'll see. Saw another UPS delivery in my neighborhood. This one the driver was using his own open back pickup truck to delivery packages. Not weatherproof nor very secure. They must really be desperate for vehicles.
The post office I use the people that put the mail into the boxes are now working the retail counter sales. The 3 people who have been working the counter I haven't seen all this month.
I print my labels and drop them in the slot inside and hope for the best.
I did find a post office not to faraway that opens earlier that I'm now using.
My auctions close this weekend and anything not sold I'll wait till after the New Year to relist.
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I have suspended my ebay listings until at least Jan. It may take longer then you think for the situation to ease. The thing is that I will save a lot of drafts till then, so I will have more listings than ever before. If everyone does this, the postal situation may not ease for quite a while. I used to work for the post office. The employees are getting 12 hours a day work, everyday, if they want it, and sometimes it is mandatory overtime.
It seems this year has had an effect on so many businesses, and the Post Office is not unique in this respect. I also have had UPS deliveries from private vehicles - the driver still had a UPS outfit on though... Fedex still the same trucks. Cheers, RickO
Back in the days of the US Post Office Department they used to hire large numbers of college students to deliver the mail during the pre-Christmas rush. I did this during 1966 and 1967 when my break period from college coincided with the days they needed workers. I recall being paid $3.85 an hour, which was big money for a college student worker in those days (most college student jobs paid $1.50 -$1.75 per hour.) The USPS should have done what the USPOD used to do.
Just received a package - USPS priority mail - shipped from Houston, TX on 9 December... Three days... Nice. Cheers, RickO
I noticed yesterday everything I’ve got coming in now has that warning on the tracking
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/publishedset/209923
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/album/209923
Just read that UPS and FEDEx will be involved in vaccine delivery. Good news for vaccine...bad news for alternative delivery outlets for usps.
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