USPS Fast Priority Mail Service

I ship a ton of stuff using USPS, I have no big issues with them.  I've had at least as much problem with UPS or FedEX as USPS, no complaints here.

Chris, I guess it depends on which end of the country you are on. I have a package that shipped Fri. from WV via USPS Priority and it was a no show today.

Cross country normally takes three business days.

I do a relatively small amount of buy/sell but I always use USPS Priority with Delivery Confirmation.  I find it to be a good value and service has been mostly excellent. For anything other than cross country it just about always takes 2 business days. 

If you use USPS Express mail it's time stamped for when it's received into the USPS system .They've got 24 hours to deliver it , no if 's ,and's or but's if they don't you get your money back guaranteed .
I've used it and all but one time they were on time . Once they were 3 hours over and I got my money back so it works.
David

Track your package

So I'm in Portland and it's now going to take five more days to get from the Post Office to my house?  "Last Mile"?  Hah!  This ain't service folks ....

It was shipped on Friday, so Monday is the first full business day.  Exactly what are you expecting?  It's hard to believe they're going to take until the 10th to deliver it!  I get stuff in the 2-3 day timeframe.

Purchased 2 Lionel boxcars from ebay Weds.  One was shipped UPS the other was USPS.  The UPS box looks like they played football with it all the way from California,  the other by USPS looks like it was just boxed up and waiting to be shipped.  Not a scratch or mark on the box.  

I have used priority mail by USPS for the last decade, nearly. Never a problem.

Until lately. Now it depends on what mail handling center your package goes thru.

One from Maine to me here in Western Maryland took six days, spend a lot of

time in two major sorting centers.

Next one, from Baltimore to here, three days.

It was great. Now with the layoffs, who knows.

Ed Mullan

Ordered bunch a guitar strings Friday, 3/2, mailed from New Hampshire. They were in the mailbox this morning, 3/5, Central Texas.

Pete

Kerrigan,

That expected deliverty date is wrong.  You'll probably get it today.

I see it was from Fedex.  Whenever my pacakages get handeled between Fedex and the USPS it always takes an additional day.

For the most part, my USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail packages arrive in two business days to my customers regardless of their location. No complaints from me or my customers.

I sent an Erie Legacy GP7 to Lionel on Friday for warranty service. They received it yesterday. The total cost for Priority Service, Tracking, and Insurance came to $16 or so. Not too shabby.

Now let's see how the repair goes

Ron

I share the enthusiasm for my local USPS! They work  hard in all weather and take care of all packages. Somehow management can't make a profit. It doesn't make sense. Now they may shut down another distribution center in NEPA. Where do those folks go?

My local postal guy is great. I live rural - and my 'driveway' is about 200 ft long. So anytime I get a package, he has to make the trip down the rock driveway. He knows both of my dogs by first name, if I'm not home - he puts the packages in a plastic bag on my carport, and the only time he has ever shown any annoyance with all the deliveries is when he asked me - what in the wide, wide world of sports are you building in there?

They're shutting down a distribution center here as well(Roanoke,VA).
I talked to one of my friends at USPS and all employees will be offered jobs at the new expanded center in Greensboro,NC due to the very strong postal union.
They'll have to relocate but it's hard to find a $ 30 an hour job these days.
Basically all the USPS is getting is less buildings with more trucks on the road and more fuel costs. Also look for postal rates to increase sharply because all the contract carriers will have a heck of a lot further to go to get the mail delivered to each post office each day which will mean a lot more involvement from UPS and Fed Ex further adding to costs.

From Greensboro to the post offices here it'll add another 3 1/2 hours to their daily trip and that's one way.

I love our Government they're the same as when I worked for a very large company.
It seems to me they're mind set is not if it aint broke don't fix it, nope they're just the opposite. With the government and corporate America it's : Mess with till it's broke and then we'll have something to fix.

David 

I only ship USPS Priority Mail and have never had a package arrive damaged that I shipped. I also buy quite extensively on-line and receive from Fed Ex, UPS and USPS Priority Mail and can say that the only packages I have had delivered battered were UPS and Fed Ex shipments. Just my experience I know others here have had different experiences. My mailman is a great guy, very hard working and pleasant. I have my mail when Sam is working 9:30 AM latest. He has hauled a great deal of my trains, and everything else for my layout just about, and is very appreciated in my neighborhood. I have had packages arrive from all 3 carriers the same rainy day and only one was put in a plastic bag and stayed dry, you got it was the USPS package. The Fed Ex package (A new engine) was left near the garage door, 6 inches from the gutter downspout, by the time I got home the cardboard was falling apart it was so wet. I called and told them I was refusing to accept delivery and had them come back and return it to the shipper, let them see what Fed Ex did to it.

Lol.  The tracker says it will be delivered this Saturday, but it came today.  Love that tracking system!

I have great USPS service at my home.  My carrier takes great care of my packages, and there are never delivery errors.  I prefer shipments to come to me via USPS when I can. I have had United Parcel Sercive toss packages up onto my porch much like the recent videos that got a lot of attention.  My USPS carrier would never do this. 

Last Saturday, (March 3) at 12:25 PM I sent off a custom built, super-detailed O scale 2 rail B&O dining car model to its new owner.

USPS Express Mail, 2 day gauranteed delivery, insured, with return receipt from Tulsa OK to eastern PA. Cost was $ 75.45 with delivery promised by Tuesday, March 5 at 3:00 PM. The box was 31" long, 7 1/2" high, 9 1/2 " wide and weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. Having the tracking number, I  monitored the progress of its 1,300 mile or so trip.

The local PO sent it to regional sorting by 6:57 pm that evening. It left the sorting facility by 8:31 PM on March 3 and arrived in Philadelphia at 3:10 AM March 5th, a bit over 30 hours.

The Philadelphia sorting facilty sent it to the SE Pennsylvania sorting facility at 9:50 PM that evening, some 17 1/2 hours later. About 8 hours later at 5:50 AM the next morning (March 6) it arrived at the local PO for delivery.

It went on the delivery route at 7:25 AM. A delivery attempt was made at 10:08 AM but no one was home to sign for it so a notice was left.  At 4:15 PM the package was signed for by the recipient, perhaps at the local PO.

I took three days instead of two for it to reach that person but I'm happy to have been able to track it so precisely up to the point of delivery. I still need to hear from him as to how well this model traveled.

Certainly not trying to over generalize, but this thread appears to bear out the fact that USPS (especially when using Priority and/or Express) service is pretty darn good. And not a bad value. Always going to be exceptions, but they continue to be my first choice when shipping trains. 

And a very nice looking model at that Ed!