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Odd question, maybe, and I'm not completely sure that I'm asking about it in the correct location, but I gotta ask somewhere and this'll do.

I've had a few shipments from multiple locations drop off the map for the past three days; no tracking updates, and two of the items had guaranteed delivery dates of the 20th and 21st, which are obviously long gone. Would I be right to assume that it's because USPS is getting hammered to hell and back with mail during this last stretch towards Christmas, or is there an extended mail holiday I'm not aware of?

...I'm glad they're not Christmas gifts. Mostly just worried that I'm going to have to call up USPS and run around in circles until I give up and lose all that money I spent (I've had absolutely horrible experiences with them and lost mail in the past, where everyone I talked to on the phone/emailed did absolutely nothing to help other than say that they were "looking into the problem").

Speaking of gifts, don't get me started on Amazon. They shipped me a gift that I bought for my father as new with only half of the packaging - you know how some items have a cardboard backing and then a plastic shell around the front of the item? It was just the plastic shell when I got mine, and you could tell that someone ripped it off by the pieces of cardboard on the shell's adhesive. Someone slapped a barcode sticker on the back, too, right on the item inside, so they were well aware of it being ripped apart. I was a bit angered by it, as it's frickin' Christmas and I paid full price for an opened product (cue the Gamestop comparisons), but most of all, who likes to give their family and loved ones pre-opened gifts?

Got a partial refund for it, sure, but it's too late to get a replacement in time for the big day. Grr.

Unless they were shipped by USPS Express Mail USPS does NOT guarantee delivery within a certain time frame. Yes Priority is supposed to be 2-3 days and First Class is supposed to be 2-5 but their is no guarantee.

Somewhere in the U.S. their was a winter storm this past week because I have packages that got delayed by UPS and the explanation on the tracking page was "Extreme Weather Delay".

Edit: Was the item you purchased sold by Amazon or sold by a 3rd party but was FULFILLED by amazon?

The item I bought from Amazon was sold by Amazon. I actually went and double-checked the seller after I received the item because of the fact that it was in the condition it was in, since I've never had Amazon themselves do something like that.

And thanks for the info about the shipping dates only being guaranteed by express. Dunno if the winter weather had anything to do with my shipments, but that would explain it pretty well, too.

How were your packages shipped?

Monday is still a full delivery day although most P.O. will be closing early. Priority package should definitely arrive in the 2-3 day window---they almost never get delayed but it isn't uncommon for First Class to go longer then the 2-5 days and it is very common for Parcel Post to take longer then the 5-10 days they are estimated at.

Most are First Class, so there you go. If you say it's not uncommon for them to take longer, then I'm not going to worry about them making it here in one piece. I'm just so used to them always getting here within the five day window that I was put off a little by the long delay.

Thanks again for the info.

I've had USPS delivery on Sunday(last Sun being precise). This time of year all rules are off. Enough said.

Originally Posted by nas6034 I've had USPS delivery on Sunday(last Sun being precise). This time of year all rules are off. Enough said.

Yep you can get Sunday and Holiday delivery with Express Service (contracted through FedEx) at an extra cost. You will not be getting first class mail or any other USPS services on Sunday though... not through Amazon.

My stuff has been taking forever. I had items from Canada, Poland, and France take just a little over 3 weeks to arrive. I am normally assuming that things are lost by this point. The holidays turns the mail upside down.

OP was the the item you bought by chance part of the frustration free (pakcing) promotion on Amazon? If so that would explain the item condition.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200285450

the amazon package that got yesterday was the same way. Usually they ship with cardboard with plastic but yesterday the items showed up just in a box. lucky was not damaged. yea a few years ago i got a parcal post package delivered on christmas day. I was like darn. The carrier said that any items in the post office had to be delivered. yea i must say this time of year anything goes.

Originally Posted by GBAstar Yep you can get Sunday and Holiday delivery with Express Service (contracted through FedEx) at an extra cost. You will not be getting first class mail or any other USPS services on Sunday though... not through Amazon.

Funny enough it was an Amazon item.

yup..purchased a video game on december 2th which was coming from california to North carolina... and after the second day there wasn't anymore tracking.. and just yesterday it arrived to north carolina so i should be finally getting it tomorrow i hope.. Also i was suppose to get a package yesterday which was sent using priority mail but it did not arrive and the tracking hasn't updated ...

i think the crazy weather in some states and the amount of packages getting sent out is causing a major delay.

The post office is definitely being slammed right now. They're under estimating their online tracking delivery dates by quite a bit giving people false hope since there are no guarantees. And things seem to be a disorganized mess. I've had several packages scanned as out for delivery then not arrive with other packages that were scanned as out for delivery. They ended up arriving the next day. Either they were scanned incorrectly or the mail carrier just left them on his truck and was like " it, I'll be back tomorrow anyway."

Originally Posted by nas6034 Funny enough it was an Amazon item.

Yeah? And I ordered a McDouble at McDonald's yesterday and received a Whopper. Weird.


I'm not going to doubt that you received non-express USPS mail on a Sunday however that is not typical. Even considering holidays I have never ever seen a official USPS employee deliver mail on Sundays and I get mail every single day from both USPS and UPS. The only way that USPS mail is supposed to get delivered on Sundays is through contracted employees (either FedEx or 3rd parties).

I have had random people deliver my mail (not federal postal employees) at all kinds of random hours but these are employees that are contracted out and run their own delivery service.

And now that USPS has proposed a new plan of going to just 5 day delivery instead of six (Monday - Friday) we may no longer see any type of weekend delivery.

chances are any ground shipments cross country would have been delayed this last week because of the weather in the kansas city area. weve got I-70 east west and I-35 north south and they were both parking lots for much of thursday.

This Sunday delivery topic is relevant. Here is what I just saw on the DC from one of my eBay shipments sent via USPS Media Mail:



Delivered

December 23, 2012, 12:38 pm


23rd = Sunday, and like I said, it was shipped Media Mail which is potentially the slowest and cheapest shipping method (it was some books that qualify for media mail). So it seems like USPS made Sunday deliveries in this particular city in Florida, unless for some reason they contracted out to private carriers to deliver mail today. The only other explanation would be it was wrongly scanned.

My post office told me because of the influx of online shopping for Christmas that they have hired 3rd party contractors to handle large portions of the mail. Those 3rd parties are probably those ones coming on weekends. I had one drop off a package at 11:30PM in a white rapist van.

Originally Posted by kodave The post office is definitely being slammed right now.

Yeah; it's like this every year.

Originally Posted by GBAstar I'm not going to doubt that you received non-express USPS mail on a Sunday however that is not typical. Even considering holidays I have never ever seen a official USPS employee deliver mail on Sundays and I get mail every single day from both USPS and UPS. The only way that USPS mail is supposed to get delivered on Sundays is through contracted employees (either FedEx or 3rd parties).

I used to get (international, but non-express) postal packages on Sundays occasionally, throughout the year, from a USPS mailman. However, I did live about two blocks away from my city's main branch at the time.

Agreed that it's unusual, but it has happened with USPS employees doing the job.

I know the post office that i work at was open this sunday just to deliver packages, and others in ny have been opened prior sundays this month due to the amount of packages. It definitely happens around this time of year