New USPS Issue

I wonder if anyone else has had this happen.

I sold and shipped a watch last week (Saturday), which was out for delivery in record time (Wednesday). No one was home at the buyers house, so a notice was left. The buyer picked up the watch the next day but the PO did not update the Tracking process to indicate "Delivered". Note, it was shipped Priority with $3K insurance.

I hadn't heard from him by Friday, so I sent him a quick email to make sure he knew it was available for pickup. That's when he informed me he had already retrieved it. So I got perplexed (A) - Why wouldn't someone making a 3k watch purchase close the loop with the seller upon receipt? And (B) Why hasn't the PO indicated it is Delivered?

Since my history with Paypal sales is thin, they put a hold on funds in my account from purchases, until either the shipper indicates "Delivered" in their system; or for 21 days (as long as there are no complaints from the buyer). This is a policy, so not much to say about it at this time. Plus, buyer protection is important (IMO).

So I started a file with USPS yesterday. Surprisingly, I received a call yesterday and had a conversation with the lady who, upon hearing my side, said she would clear the matter up and close out the file. Today I got a followup email asking how my case was handled, and if I was satisfied. I'm longing to say yes, but alas, Tracking has still not been updated.

Anyhow, by the 18th (if my memory serves), PP will release the funds, so it will end well. Just when the USPS does something impressive (lightning fast delivery) they pull the rug out from under a good experience (can't manage to update the system).

An unscrupulous person might wait out PP, collect funds and file a claim with the USPS for insurance (assuming they never update the system). How could they prove it was delivered?.

I'll just be happy when PP releases my funds...

This is the item sold. I love it, but unfortunately the hands blend in with the dial too much for me to clearly see the time without my reading glasses on.

Small items seem to be a crap shoot for the seller. At least in my case the watch is insured. Plus, since he received it, pp will ultimately release the funds. If he wanted to create mischief, I suppose he could claim to PP he never received it and demand a refund, which would complicate things on my end (and probably his before it ended). However, based on my assessment of his character based on our communications, he wouldn't do that.

Yes it is a modern model. Like I said, I love it, I just can't enjoy it when I wear it as most of the time I don't have my reading glasses on. All my other watches are legible, at least to tell time, without my glasses. I hated to let it go, but it's better with someone who will wear it. I let it go for about what I paid, so no foul there either.

https://www.calibre11.com/review-tag-heuer-autavia-cbe2110/

I ship to US and use french post so usps at the end ...

it s always a lottery ... delivery time and sometime fanciful signing ...

May be, but at least you could count on Priority Mail arriving in 2-3 days. The day DeJoy took over that ended and it gets worse every day. He has destroyed the USPS.

Many of those previous issues are tied to the crazy 2006 requirement that a republican congress and president imposed on the USPS to prefund 75yrs of retirement health benefits. To say that business has "evaporated" is silly. Decreasing in areas yes, but first class mail volume is more than 50 billion per year and obviously the volume of packages is increasing. Got an issue with 6 day mail delivery, take it up with your representatives. This again is a requirement set by congress. Sunday delivery is nothing new. priority mail express has long been delivered 7 days a week. They've just now expanded to delivering amazon packages as well. Must be all that evaporating business. Do you have an proof that person who delivered your package was earning overtime? I would be willing to wager that they were one of the many many part time employees that USPS has been adding so they can have them work long shifts without paying overtime and benefits.

Nothing new at all. The USPS has been circling the crapper since the 60’s. My Uncle retired from there in the mid 70’s, and a friend of mine just retired last Sept. they both had just about the same stories. The only difference were the names.

I am torn between supporting the post office (one of my photographs is part of a post office series on aerial views) and just wanting to pay my bills on time. I have switched all my bill paying to email delivery and paying online.

The USPS is in such a quandary between having to prepay retirement benefits into a fund and having Lovejoy destroy it from within. That requirement takes a lot of money away from their ability to convert over to more efficient vehicles and systems.

On January 23rd, I received a Christmas Card from my sister in the upper Midwest. She mailed it December 9th. In early February, I received credit card bills that arrived two weeks after they were due. (fortunately, I had already switched to also receiving notification of bills via email.)

I will not use the Post Office for shipping anything of value. I recently sold a watch via Chrono24 and it was shipped to the buyer via FedEx.

[QUOTE="JimInOz, post: 1738667, member: 1543First time I posted a small package in Paris, addressed to a town in Austria (about 1000k's away).
Package went AWOL for weeks and weeks, but eventually arrived after having made it to BRISBANE AUSTRALIA and back.
I now address things to Österreich instead of Austria.
[/QUOTE]

I send regular packages to France and have learned that La Poste do not understand the British way to write by hand the digit "1" so now I print all labels. Their own label printers won't replicate what handwriting looks like in France so they are used to that. The second is that it's better to put the name of the country to which you are sending (and on return labels) in the normal usage of the country from which it will (then) originate. So for you the destination country could have been better as "Autriche".

For return labels on the stuff I send I vary between "Grande Bretagne" and "Royame Uni". Have considered "Perfidious Albion" but never used it. Might be quite popular in 2021 🙄