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Nov 20, 2022
2,775
27,997
Wisconsin
Update: boring update. SP told me to contact them if I did not receive my package by the 22nd, so I contacted them again today by Email. They told me to wait for another couple of days.

I will wait!

I ordered a unique pipe, so I hope that it comes through eventually. If not, it wasn't going to be my favorite or anything. I bet it burns tobacco similar to my other pipes.
 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
6,087
16,689
I once received a package that was in perfect condition, delivered without fanfare like any other... that spent two years in the system.

Obviously it had been dropped behind a desk or something, discovered when the furniture was re-arranged (or whatever), and tossed back into a send bin.

Rare, but it happens.
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,340
41,824
RTP, NC. USA
It's like Russian Roulette with postal/UPS/FEDEX. You have a better chance of something going wrong than one in six. Unless you play Polish Roulette. That like Russian Roulette, but with a self-load.
 

Dr. Internet

Might Stick Around
I have had many issues with packages, especially those touched by the USPS. They have this newish deal, where UPS carries the package to the local post office and the USPS delivers it to the final destination.
The first thing to do is to use the tracking number to find out who has the package. It could be at the origin point, waiting to be picked up. It could be in transit. It could be at the destination hub. It could be at the local post office. Or, it could be out for delivery. The tracking is usually fairly good, as it is mostly automated.
If the status is 'out for delivery', keep an eye peeled. I have had deliveries denied because my mailbox was too small! Now, I go out and meet him/her at the curb.
My latest adventure was this week. Package from SP due on Monday. No delivery. Went to tracking and read that there was no access at the destination address (which is a mailbox on a post at the end of the driveway). Next day I was waiting when she pulled up. I asked for my package and she said "I have no packages for this address." From outside the mail truck I could see the package from SP. I said, "How about that one?" She said "It's for somebody else." "Can we look", I asked. "OK", she said as she picked it up. "Oh, look, it is for you!", she exclaimed. I bit my tongue and said, "Thank you".
I hate to say it, but it might be worth the extra money to go FedEx...
 

sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,395
14,198
37
Lower Alabama
I dunno, the only package issues I ever had were FedEx. Maybe regular FedEx is fine, but FedEx Ground sucks the big one. It's independent contractors that do the package delivery and for me, every time it has been a nightmare. I've never had issues where I live with USPS, UPS or DHL.

Some of the issue may be due to the same issues that everyone in every career is facing lately... not enough staff, unreasonable productivity demands, etc leading to lots of burnout. I mean, half the grocery store is recalled due to listeria now, Amazon workers pissing in bottles because they can't take breaks, people going hungry because they don't have time to take a lunch break at their 60-hour per-week job that still only barely keeps their head above water and all this ass-busting still can't afford them a house, etc.

Shipping in particular has had a hard time since everyone started ordering everything online now, package delivery shot up dramatically over the past decade or so.

The only time I don't bother tracking a package, there's this super cheap option from USPS, but it can take forever to get your packages (I don't think SP uses or gives this option), but that's because it'll go around to a particular hub, but then it'll sit there forever until a truck headed in the right direction from said hub is full. They treat it like a side-quest where the package is picked and pulled if someone happens to be already going that way or if they happen to have some space. Though again, not very many people offer this shipping option. It's called Ground Advantage, though depending where you live, that could be just 5 days instead of 3, though other places it's more like a month instead of 5 days. Just depends how far it has to go.
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
4,186
54,852
Casa Grande, AZ
While I’ve had a few mishaps in the couple of decades that I’ve been buying/selling/trading online, I must say that the sheer number of hassle free packages that have made it from one end to the other is a testament to the achievements of modern man.
As with any other pile of measurable “whatever”, there is a bell curve, and the negative slope always gets the most attention.

@Doctor Chopper-I hope it shows up. It always hurts most when it’s a unique item affected, but at least you’ve got a vendor that will most likely make it good.
 
Nov 20, 2022
2,775
27,997
Wisconsin
Update:

I waited 3 days (SP suggested 2 more) and still no package. As @Dr. Internet suggests, I have been following the tracking. The tracking has not changed and stopped updating on the 30th as ”In transit to next facility” - not specific for location, and the same message appeared for the previous 3 days. Last stated location was Columbia SC.

I contacted SP again by email yesterday morning, and have not gotten a response yet. Considering the weekend, I don’t expect anything until next week. Hopefully ‘Todd’ is not on vacation. Not sure if ‘Todd’ is a real person, but I expect SP will do good by me. I may have to go through the USPS to submit a claim, and if that is the case I may have to write this one off.

-Doc
 
Nov 20, 2022
2,775
27,997
Wisconsin
Final Final, this time I mean it Final update: SP contacted me today stating the package was returned to them. I was going to tell them to recharge me and send it on to me, but I noticed the pipe was back on their site. I did not want it to be purchased whilst I was playing email tag, so I bought it again with another load of tobacco.
:col:

What a great made for TV story! And just in time for the holidays.
 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,913
21,607
SE PA USA
I have had many issues with packages, especially those touched by the USPS. They have this newish deal, where UPS carries the package to the local post office and the USPS delivers it to the final destination.
The first thing to do is to use the tracking number to find out who has the package. It could be at the origin point, waiting to be picked up. It could be in transit. It could be at the destination hub. It could be at the local post office. Or, it could be out for delivery. The tracking is usually fairly good, as it is mostly automated.
If the status is 'out for delivery', keep an eye peeled. I have had deliveries denied because my mailbox was too small! Now, I go out and meet him/her at the curb.
My latest adventure was this week. Package from SP due on Monday. No delivery. Went to tracking and read that there was no access at the destination address (which is a mailbox on a post at the end of the driveway). Next day I was waiting when she pulled up. I asked for my package and she said "I have no packages for this address." From outside the mail truck I could see the package from SP. I said, "How about that one?" She said "It's for somebody else." "Can we look", I asked. "OK", she said as she picked it up. "Oh, look, it is for you!", she exclaimed. I bit my tongue and said, "Thank you".
I hate to say it, but it might be worth the extra money to go FedEx...
FedEx routinely leaves my deliveries out at the street, 75 yards from my doorstep.
Here’s my delivery from TireRack a few days ago. You can barely see our house, so I can’t see the driveway or street, either. I’ve had a few of these “remotely situated” FedEx packages stolen.

IMG_8103.png
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,835
31,580
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
FedEx routinely leaves my deliveries out at the street, 75 yards from my doorstep.
Here’s my delivery from TireRack a few days ago. You can barely see our house, so I can’t see the driveway or street, either. I’ve had a few of these “remotely situated” FedEx packages stolen.

View attachment 346832
though in all fairness that does look a bit like the kind of house that has a few bodies in the basement some still semi alive.
I don't really mean that.
I loved how at my last place I had the same issue with ups sometimes. Some of the guys would not only make sure it was on the porch but hidden from the street the worst time they left it on the sidewalk and I actually watched a random stranger pick it up look at the label and walk it too my door. Yeah some random person cared more about my package not being damaged or stolen more then the UPS guy.