OT-ish USPS Tracking Issues

[ChazzC]

Please note, while this is a Mini-Rant, is only intended to provide some behind-the-scenes information, not to instigate a slew of comments.

After several packages were sent on tours of Central Pennsylvania by the US Postal Service (USPS), I considered contacting my Congressman, but realized this would have been useless.

Then today I figured I could reach out to my local Post Office for an answer to the latest SNAFU; here's the tracking for a recent eBay purchase (so I knew the address was correct); my comments are in Bold:

Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item eBay Seller got things rolling
ROCHESTER, NY 14624
April 24, 2024, 10:07 am

Accepted at USPS Origin Facility Seller has dropped off the package and it's in the system
ROCHESTER, NY 14624
April 24, 2024, 8:21 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility It's moving along
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 24, 2024, 9:36 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility Leaving NYS
NORTHWEST ROCHESTER NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 25, 2024, 5:55 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility Harrisburg serves my local Post Office so I should have it the 26th
HARRISBURG PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 25, 2024, 11:09 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility Yea! It will be at my Post Office the 25th and Delivered the 26th
HARRISBURG PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 25, 2024, 3:25 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility Wait, what? Why is it in Lancaster?? (Lancaster is 30 miles SE of me, and you have to drive past my location to get there from Harrisburg)
LANCASTER PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 25, 2024, 4:21 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility OK, Lancaster figured it out
LANCASTER PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 25, 2024, 9:56 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility It's early enough so that I should still get it the 26th
HARRISBURG PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 26, 2024, 12:14 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility Looking good
HARRISBURG PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER
April 26, 2024, 12:45 am

Arrived at USPS Facility Alright - it will be out for delivery today!
HUMMELSTOWN, PA 17036
April 26, 2024, 5:05 am

Arrived at Post Office What? How did it get here?
GRANTVILLE, PA 17028
April 26, 2024, 7:03 am

Processing at USPS Facility What do you mean "Processing?"
GRANTVILLE, PA 17028
April 26, 2024, 7:38 am

This is when I called the local Post Office. While they couldn't explain why this package (and two others this week) got a free ride to Lancaster, they could explain what happened once it got to them at 5:05 this morning – it turns out that there are multiple scans at destination: the Arrival Scan is the label on the Gaylord Box that per the system is where my package is; then there is an Accepted Scan, which is the actual scan of the package. If I could see behind the curtain (like the Hummesltown Post Master could), it would tell me that Grantville reported a mis-directed package and I "should" receive the package tomorrow (like the airlines back in the 90's: they would cancel a flight rather than have a late departure – late departures counted against them, cancellations didn't; I'm guessing that USPS doesn't want the General Public to know how bad things really are and how lucky we should be that we get most of our deliveries).

 

[ChazzC]

UPDATE: Package was delivered this morning, but not before going back & forth between Harrisburg and Lancaster one more time.

Oh, what was in the package? These: https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/tools-you-waited-too-long-to-acquire.7462/post-152156

 

[whydontu]

Back to our off-topic thread on stuff we used to have, and how the internet has changed our lives. Not always for the better. Twenty years ago we’d ask for something to be sent, we’d be told three to five days shipping time, and we’d be happy with that and expect it to arrive in a week. When it showed up one day early we’d be even happier. Now, we track in real time and get concerned when the package has had a better vacation this year than we had. $10 bet that USPS was doing the same stuff pre-web, we just didn’t know it!

 

[ChazzC]

UPDATE:

I called the USPS Customer Center and discussed the delivery with them: since they couldn't tell me the reasoning behind anything other than the mis-direction to Grantville, they started a "Package Research Case." This sounded good, but all they did was forward the request to my Post Office (the delivering Zip Code). The Clerk I had spoken with previously called me, and offered to send the request up the line internally.

I stopped by the Post Office to drop off a copy of the envelope showing that there were no issues with the label, etc. (so they could send this up the line):

Names & Street Addresses redacted by me.

and the Postmaster gave me a full print-out of the various scans and explained how the system currently works (for my area):

• At origin, mail is scanned and sent to an Origin Regional DC where it is again scanned and then sorted into Gaylords destined to the Destination Regional DC by category: envelopes, magazines, post cards, etc. and packages. I assume that Next Day stuff goes in with the envelopes, or maybe another Gaylord. The Gaylord is labelled & scanned, and goes it's merry way towards the Destination DC.

• Depending upon the relative locations of the Origin & Destination Regional DC's, the Gaylord may scanned at intermediate DC's.

• At the Destination Regional DC (Harrisburg for me), the "Packages Gaylord" is transferred to the Regional DC (Lancaster) which sorts packages (part of an overall efficiency improvement), and that DC sorts the contents by delivering Zip Code and sends multiple Gaylords back to the Destination Regional DC.

• The Destination Regional DC transfers the Gaylord(s) to the Delivering Post Office, who then sorts the contents for delivery. In my case, my package wasn't in the Gaylord it was supposed to be (up until now, the "scans were of Gaylords, not the package itself.

• Now the fun starts: Grantville unloads a different Gaylord, scans the individual packages, finds my package and reports as "mis-sent." They scan the package back out, the package gets scanned again when it arrives at Harrisburg (Grantville isn't very big so they apparently just send in a bag or bin, no Gaylord scan), then sorted into a package Gaylord (which is scanned) and the Gaylord sent to Lancaster.

• This apparently was another mistake, as Lancaster scans the Gaylord in, then reports "mis-shipped" and sends the unopened Gaylord back to Harrisburg.

• Harrisburg opens the returned Gaylord, scans my package and sorts it into a Gaylord headed to Hummelstown.

• Hummelstown, scans the Gaylord, opens it up, scans my package, sorts it for delivery, reports it out for delivery and finally scans it once delivered (with GEO Location so they can find it if it got dropped off at the wrong address - happens very seldom when there is a substitute driver on the route).

With the exception of a couple of hiccups, I at least understand the back & forth between Harrisburg & Lancaster. And all-in-all, all of the above happened in a relatively short timeframe and the package was delivered only a day later than estimated (USPS Ground, not 2-Day). If the tracking system would only report actual package scans rather than the container scans, UI only would have wondered what was going on with Grantville.