On the veracity of USPS tracking numbers
CaptHenway
Posts: 33,079 ✭✭✭✭✭
I just now, at 6:30 AM local time, tracked a package I have coming from eBay, and it shows as having left the Denver Regional Center, presumably for my home town. at 9:48 this morning!
If only it could give out lottery numbers more than three hours in the future!!!!
Numismatist. 54 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Author "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," due out late 2025.
4
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Yes, Houston, we have a problem. Keep in mind, it is 8:46 AM in California as I type this:
Tim
I've been noticing the time off too.
I got that "pre-shipment info sent" message this morning on a different package that went into the abyss yesterday.
Got an email that says that the item is in my P.O. Box as of 10:31.
I think I will wait a day before going over there.
Probably a safe option but I generally trust the delivery notifications.
Tim
PS - after my shipment listed “out for delivery” at 1:10 PM, it now shows delivered at 8:34 AM.
Working with time is actually a difficult proposition, especially if your coders are idiots.
In any modern computer language, libraries and standard codes handle this correctly, and universally. You get garbage like this:
A timestamp like 18/5/2023 13:01 will break most idiot implementations. It doesn't sort, idiot code mistranslates it, and a host of problems.
https://www.iso.org/iso-8601-date-and-time-format.html
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The "Estimated delivery" date is a joke.
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"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I consider it final when I see the package on my porch - up to that point, I generally do not follow it. Cheers, RickO
Yea. Lottery.
Take straws on if you'll get it at all.
This is the Postal Service we're talkin' about. (I assume).
Pete
Ya, I hear ya. Waiting on this package. Lol
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Maybe they are using DeLoreans to transport mail about!!!!
The tracking history is so often jumbled up that I don't even look at it anymore. I just tell myself that it's the USPS.
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