Is there anything more utterly worthless...

[Jude Terror]

...than the US Postal Service and their shamefully inadequate tracking system? I ordered some juices an atomizers from FreedomSmokeUSA last week, and they were promptly shipped. In fact, I know that they left the Tuscon, Arizona USPS facility on November 12th at 8:48 PM because the tracking page at usps.com helpfully tells me:

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

This message was very helpful last Friday, and throughout the weekend, as I anticipated the arrival of my wonderful new juices and atomizers. However, when Monday came around, and I checked the site repeatedly during the day, I was greeted with the same message.

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

Hmmm. Well, I know that the package left the Tuscon Arizona facility because that happened days ago, US Postal Service. But where is it now? Well, perhaps it's still in transit. The next day I checked again.

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

And again the next day.

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

And again today.

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

Where is my package? Has it arrived at another facility after leaving the Tuscon Arizona Facility? Has it been lost? Is it in New Jersey, waiting to be delivered? Has it been captured by pirates? Has it been caught in a temporal anamoly and transported to the distant past, where cavemen are currently catching a wicked nicotine buzz? I don't know. Why don't I know? Because all the USPS will tell me is...

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

This isn't exactly helpful. Sure, I understand that it must be very difficult to take a barcode scanner, point it at my package, and click it when it enters and leaves a new regional facility. Sure, I understand that competitors like UPS and Fed Ex have only been tracking packages efficiently for twenty years or so, and it takes time to join the rest of the world in the twenty-first century. But would it be too much to ask for a message more descriptive than...

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

Maybe my package will be delivered tomorrow. Maybe it will be delivered Saturday. Maybe it will never be delivered, and I will end up in the insane asylum, repeating over and over, over and over...

Your item was processed through and left our TUCSON, AZ 85726 facility on November 12, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.

Thank you for your time. I needed to vent.

 

[Richie G]

I had a package a couple of weeks that was reported by USPS tracking to have "passed through the sorting center" on a Tuesday. The following day the tracking service said; "the USPS has received electronic information that a package is being sent. This does not mean that the USPS is in receipt of the package"

So, they processed it and sent it on its way BEFORE they received it. Nice trick, right?

 

[Jude Terror]

I think I may have been a little angry in that last post, so I'm going to express my frustration with this package in haiku form from now on.

Why, USPS?
Scanning barcodes isn't hard.
I just want my juice.

 

[Automaton]

Ugh, I agree! And our poor vendors take the heat for it.

I hadn't dealt with USPS much before I started vaping, so I didn't realize their tracking system was so inadequate. I ordered something from Good Prophets, and day after day, it said they had only received electronic information for shipping.

I sent GP an email asking what was up. They said it went out. I was skeptical, and wondering if I got screwed.

2 or 3 days later, I got my package. And my tracking still said it wasn't even received yet. Idiots. And poor GP, for taking the blame for USPS's mistake.

Now I just disregard USPS tracking all together, and give it a week. Why even bother having it, if no one uses it?

 

[KissMint]

USPS doesn't scan nor update their tracking # till next facility I think. Unlike Fedex/UPS etc that charges you more but have better up to date tracking system. Good news (?) USPS is going bankrupt and hopefully in a bailout of some sort there will be change, a good change.

I notice that too when i ordered from FSUSA or pet food from California, basically any where from west coast. If the mail is somewhere across country there's no update for few days till it arrives east coast. Then i would get an update that it is at a PA sorting facility and then the next day another update that it is out for delivery. Not often, but there are times nothing was updated till delivered.

My recent order was placed Sat. 13th.
Delivered, November 18, 2010, 12:47 pm, PA
Out for Delivery, November 18, 2010, 8:27 am, PA
Sorting Complete, November 18, 2010, 8:17 am, PA
Arrival at Post Office, November 18, 2010, 6:26 am, PA
Processed through Sort Facility, November 16, 2010, 4:37 pm, TUCSON, AZ 85726
Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 15, 2010

 

[RedForeman]

USPS just sux for tracking and priority mail is a fraud. I'm in the same boat as the OP with a shipment from the same vendor on the same day. But all the crappy catalogs I don't care about are coming in like clockwork

 

[KissMint]

But all the crappy catalogs I don't care about are coming in like clockwork

haha that's so true!

 

[Elendil]

It's NOT tracking. It is delivery confirmation.

It is NOT designed to track your package. it is designed to confirm delivery of it..

Until this is universally understood these types of threads will continue to appear.

 

[Automaton]

Ah, I suppose that's true. But it still said they hadn't received my package for shipping, even after it had been delivered.

 

[KissMint]

OMG you are right.

 

[RedForeman]

I disagree.

Yes delivery confirmation is a service offered by USPS. It shows nothing until the delivery is made.

Priority Mail has tracking. On a good day you actually can watch reasonably accurate progress. Most of the time you get less than that. In their defense, there's nothing on the USPS site that makes any claims to accuracy.

The bashing will continue until they either quit offering an unpredictable service or improve what they claim to provide. For delivery time, I expected a calendar week from AZ and the box will probably show tomorrow or Saturday, pretty much as expected. Any sooner and I'd have considered it a bonus. So it's not like I expected anything special.

Frankly, it's pretty common knowledge that this particular service from the post office is an overpriced marketing gimmick and nothing more. It's no faster than 1st class and costs way more. But they do give you "free" boxes and envelopes to put your mail in. If I was truly out of juice or just couldn't wait till they got around to delivering, I'd have paid full price to get overnight service - probably upwards of $20 for the same package.

 

[Jude Terror]

Priority mail.
It's not just confirmation,
but might as well be.

 

[Jude Terror]

FSUSA.
They're not to blame, I know that.
Postal Service sucks.

 

[andygee]

My most reliable status reports are from folks who use USPS through stamps.com, next is USPS priority, next is EMS from PRC, last is a tie between UPS and USPS via stream something.

 

[Wilvin]

Ah you are in the same boat as me Jude!!! I ordered stuff from fsusa last week and got the email that the post office got and then processed and sent the package from Tucson on friday the 12th!!! That is odd that both of us had the same thing happen from the same place on the same day. The times before when it was ordered from fsusa and the email said it was processed and sent I got it usually the next day.

 

[Fopa]

The ONLY classification of mail at the USPS that provides accurate tracking is Express Mail. Priority mail does not have tracking. Delivery confirmation does not provide tracking.

 

[908Tracy]

Well, I am so happy to see this thread as I too have ordered from FSUSA on the 11th, got the exact same message as you, that it left AZ on the 12th, but still no package. I just found it so odd bc it's usually so fast from shipment to door. I too am in NJ and was wondering if someone else has gotten their hands on my Hypnotic Mist....Grrrrrr! Hey, maybe our juices have decided to bond in the warehouse and steep together? LOL

Anyways, here's hoping we get our juices TODAY!!! =)

 

[Princessa]

Ooh, Tracy, good point! The USPS is just aiding us by forcing us to let the liquids set for a bit before we dig into them.

What a helpful bunch!

 

[Wilvin]

Well with so far four of us that had something from fsusa that was shipped on the 12th. Since the post office says it was received and processed at Tucson then sent out make you wonder if something happened to the shipment? Truck wreck or something like that? Usually when the post office site says it was received and sent I get it the next day or so but it being a week then something is up.

 

[Vaping4Sanity]

My pro smoke is pretty useless. My last order was in my hands and tracking said it was still in the originating state.