Gotvapes shipping problem

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Wickedvalve

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Apr 29, 2012
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I'm new to the ECF so hopefully I'm posting this in the right place. Ive been vaping for about a month now and and have been using cartos only. I decided last weekend to give the new Phoenix bottom coils and vivi nova a try. I placed a ordered late Sunday night and received a email saying its been shipped early tuesday morning. Then on Wednesday night saying shipment acceptance. Which means they have the package at the post office ( i think). At this rate I'll be lucky to get my stuff by next Monday or Tuesday. I also paid for priority mail. Now I'm not blaming gotvapes ( I'm pretty sure it's the post office) but just wanting to know if anyone else has experienced rather slow shipping from them.
 

sailorman

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I'm new to the ECF so hopefully I'm posting this in the right place. Ive been vaping for about a month now and and have been using cartos only. I decided last weekend to give the new Phoenix bottom coils and vivi nova a try. I placed a ordered late Sunday night and received a email saying its been shipped early tuesday morning. Then on Wednesday night saying shipment acceptance. Which means they have the package at the post office ( i think). At this rate I'll be lucky to get my stuff by next Monday or Tuesday. I also paid for priority mail. Now I'm not blaming gotvapes ( I'm pretty sure it's the post office) but just wanting to know if anyone else has experienced rather slow shipping from them.
When you get that shipping notification, it doesn't necessarily mean anything more than that the label has been printed. When you get the shipping acceptance notice, it only means that the post office has scanned your package, but it could have had it the day before the info was updated.

I have shipped and received thousands of packages via UPS priority mail over the last 3 years or so. I have not once, regardless of the season, had a package take more than 3 business days to arrive. That includes cross country shipments. Many times, the tracking will be a day or two late and it's not unusual to get a delivery notice update after the package has already been delivered.

Say what you will about USPS. Their tracking system on anything but express mail is NOT "real time". It doesn't claim to be. If you want real time tracking, choose UPS and pay a hefty additional fee for that luxury. But you can also expect UPS to take 3-5 business days (not including Sat.), and cost far more than USPS priority.

If your package really shipped Tuesday, you will almost certainly get it Friday. If the label was printed Tues. and it shipped Wed., you'll likely get it Saturday. The tracking info might not be updated until Saturday or even Monday, but if you want it to take a week, pay a few extra bucks and try UPS. You'll enjoy real time tracking so you can watch it being delivered to the wrong address.
 

sailorman

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Sorry man :( the USPS, moving at the speed of government. 'Tis why I always pick UPS or FedEx if I have the choice. But a lot of vendors don't offer that.

Probably because UPS and Fedex will charge you $8 to ship a pack of cartos via ground and take a week to deliver them. USPS will deliver that same box in 3-5 days for $2.50 or in 3 days for $5. Some vendors do not offer USPS. I will not do business with them unless my order is over $50 or so and there is no alternative.

Over the last 3 years, I have kept records about delivery times (from FL) and incidents of mis-deliveries and damage. USPS beats UPS with a record of 0 mis-deliveries in well over 5000 shipments and only 3 damaged items. OTOH, I had 2 damaged items and 3 mis-deliveries in the first (and last) 100+/- packages I shipped via UPS. That's about a 5% screwup record. Plus, they cost more and they're slower. It's pretty much a no-brainer to me. Oh, and I won't even mention the PITA it is to get a damage insurance claim resolved by UPS. So I understand completely why a vendor wouldn't offer UPS. I sure won't.
 

sailorman

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Yep 15 biz days to ship from the U.S. to here in Canada yet 7 biz days for a shipment from China :confused:

Every time I ship something to Canada, it sits in their customs office for a week. I recently shipped two identical packages via first class mail. One went to Canada and one went to Germany. They were both delivered in 15 calendar days. The difference was that the Canadian package spent 10 days in Customs and the German package spent 5 days in customs.

The p.o. takes a lot of heat for delays that they have nothing to do with. I could print a label today, mail the item 3 days later, and the recipient would complain that the P.O. took a week to deliver a Priority package. If they updated their tracking system to be more accurate, people would realize what's going on. But then, they'd complain about the extra cost to mail stuff.
 

Vapoor eyes er

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When I order internationally it usually sits in Customs 1 day and released to PO. Luck of the draw as I know some have had Cdn Customs hold their stuff for weeks. Our tracking system here is much better than the U.S. but still has it's quirks. Also Canada Post is losing business and trying to operate at a profit so major cutbacks in OT.

The p.o. takes a lot of heat for delays that they have nothing to do with. I could print a label today, mail the item 3 days later, and the recipient would complain that the P.O. took a week to deliver a Priority package.
Actually it is deserved heat. As soon as the package arrives in Canada our tracking system kicks in so I know exactly when it has "landed" in Canada.
 
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sailorman

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When I order internationally it usually sits in Customs 1 day and released to PO. Luck of the draw as I know some have had Cdn Customs hold their stuff for weeks. Our tracking system here is much better than the U.S. but still has it's quirks. Also Canada Post is losing business and trying to operate at a profit so major cutbacks in OT. Actually it is deserved heat. As soon as the package arrives in Canada our tracking system kicks in so I know exactly when it has "landed" in Canada.

Yeah, our tracking system sucks. But I've also noticed that it costs much more to receive a package from Canada than to send one there.

Actually, the USPS does make a profit. Here's the hitch. Back in 2006, enemies of the USPS (and their union) passed laws demanding that they be given 10 years to pre-fund all their retiree health and pension benefits for the next 75 years. So the USPS is currently being handicapped at the rate of $50 Billion/year to fund pensions for employees that haven't even been born yet.

I'm pretty sure that Canada Post, or any other business in the world, doesn't have to do that and couldn't survive such a mandate. There are efforts to relieve the USPS from that ridiculous obligation. If they are not stymied by lobbyists for UPS and Fedex, perhaps the USPS will be able to afford to update its tracking and keep post offices open. As it is, it's a miracle they can do as good a job as they are doing, given the ball and chain they've been shackled with.
 

sailorman

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...
Actually it is deserved heat. As soon as the package arrives in Canada our tracking system kicks in so I know exactly when it has "landed" in Canada.

Next time you order something from the US, have it shipped UPS.

I can ship a 4lb package, via priority mail, to Canada for less than $14 and it'll get there in a week.
That same package would cost over $40 using UPS. How much would it cost to send a 4lb package from Canada to the U.S.?
The last thing I got from Canada took a solid 2-1/2 weeks to get delivered and cost considerably more than it would have if it went the other direction.
 

sailorman

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I guess altsmoke spoiled me on shipping. There over 1300 miles away from me and I always get my packages in 2-3 days from the day I place my order. It's really not that big of a deal, I guess I just hate playing the waiting game. Nothing against gotvapes or USPS in general, just the post office gotvapes use's.

If you ship from some remote place, not near a hub, it's not uncommon to see a days delay while it sits in Podunk P.O..
I'm a little lucky that I live near a major P.O. hub and I can get a package from FL to Ca in 3 days, sometimes even 2 days via priority mail.

A lot of the lead time depends on what you have for a post office in your area. If they start closing post offices, you can expect even more delays. I'll be lucky. They'll never be closing down my local post office as it serves a major international hub. Companies that ship from small towns will be hard hit and some may even be unable to get service at all from the cherrypickers at UPS. I have a feeling that Gotvapes is shipping from some podunk town in NY, not a major city. They're a TX company, so maybe they should think about having a distribution facility right there in TX.
 

Ratchet

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Sometimes the tracking system is so screwed up. Just last week, I got a shipping notice, 3 days later I had my priority mail package in my hand but the USPS tracking still showed "electronic label created". It made it from NY to TX without getting scanned AT ALL! Never showed a accepted or delivered. Don't believe the system, u'll prob get it tomorrow or Saturday. ;)
 

sailorman

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Sometimes the tracking system is so screwed up. Just last week, I got a shipping notice, 3 days later I had my priority mail package in my hand but the USPS tracking still showed "electronic label created". It made it from NY to TX without getting scanned AT ALL! Never showed a accepted or delivered. Don't believe the system, u'll prob get it tomorrow or Saturday. ;)

Yep, that happens all the time. In reality, the package was scanned, but the tracking website wasn't updated with the data. Nonetheless, I'll bet if you "tracked" it today, it would finally have been updated to show delivery. Except for express mail, the tracking is not for the benefit of the recipient. It's really only designed to confirm to the shipper that the package was delivered, and then only if delivery confirmation was selected or included in the service chosen. It ain't made to comfort anxious vapers waiting on a package, that's for sure.
 

Vapoor eyes er

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LOL sounds atrocious. I could tell you some stories of friends that worked for Can Post. Sometimes they'd do a double shift in less than 8 hrs :D

Yeah, our tracking system sucks. But I've also noticed that it costs much more to receive a package from Canada than to send one there.

Actually, the USPS does make a profit. Here's the hitch. Back in 2006, enemies of the USPS (and their union) passed laws demanding that they be given 10 years to pre-fund all their retiree health and pension benefits for the next 75 years. So the USPS is currently being handicapped at the rate of $50 Billion/year to fund pensions for employees that haven't even been born yet.

I'm pretty sure that Canada Post, or any other business in the world, doesn't have to do that and couldn't survive such a mandate. There are efforts to relieve the USPS from that ridiculous obligation. If they are not stymied by lobbyists for UPS and Fedex, perhaps the USPS will be able to afford to update its tracking and keep post offices open. As it is, it's a miracle they can do as good a job as they are doing, given the ball and chain they've been shackled with.
 
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