How long would USPS tracking info have stop updating for you to start worrying about interception?

The reason I ask is I have a shipment(first class international letter) with about $200 of a schedule II substance which has made the following movements.

There have been no updates since Thursday night. Honestly I expected it to be delivered Friday or Saturday, the airport it departed from is only about an hour and a half flight away from me (500 miles or so). There is no estimated delivery date on the USPS website but the vendor quoted 2-4 days shipping (making the expected delivery yesterday I think if you factor in Veteran's day). Looking at the tracking info on Canada Post's website, the estimated delivery is 11/19 though so maybe I'm over thinking this.

Should I be worried there were no tracking updates Friday or Saturday? Does that fact that it "departed" the international shipping center mean it cleared customs? I am starting to get worried at this point mostly because I feel is what the tracking info would look like had it gotten seized.

I feel like it is possible I am making a mountain out of a molehill at the same time though. I know USPS int'l shipping and even mail tracking is notoriously unreliable and shitty, this international shipping center particularly so. I've found some posts of people having their (legitimate) packages stuck in it for 7-10 days or tracking info not being updated until the package is delivered. I was just hoping to get some advice about this from someone more traveled than myself in these matters. Should I lock shit down, clean my house, etc. just in case or am I over thinking this?

If the package were intercepted would I get a love letter and maybe a visit from a postal inspector or would $200 possible enough to warrant more?


Comments


[1 Points] throwawayfortherood:

What did you order if you feel comfortable saying it here? Recently read a post where the guy actually predicted both of the CD's that happened to him by looking and questioning his shipping just like this. One of his orders being international and having delayed shipping update just like this. Again you never know. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.


[1 Points] None:

Keep a clean house for a few days. Shit gets stuck sometimes.


[1 Points] OFCwhite:

There's a buffer time between when a package arrives at ISC and when it's actually marked as arriving. Meaning just because it was marked as entering ISC at 7PM it could have actually come in around 9AM. The same goes for days of arrival, meaning if it says it arrived on the 5th it could have already been there since the 3rd but not normally with a gap longer than 72 hours.

If for some reason things get backed up and inspectors don't mark package arrival after 72 hours it actually arrives, often times it isn't marked at all and tracking will show that it never goes through ISC when in fact it did.

For times when packages are marked and kept at ISC for what seems like forever, often times this not because the package is being heavily scrutinized but because they really are backed up or delayed.

They do all this specifically for the topic of this very conversation.

Unfortunately, there is no way to tell with tracking if a controlled delivery is in play. Although, if for some reason you know a CD is about to take place and manage to avoid the first attempt, you can confirm the CD by checking the tracking as it will not change and will continue to be Out for Delivery throughout the night until the next CD attempt the following day. If it's not a controlled delivery, tracking will update accordingly as if the postal worker has missed you (if they're doing their job properly).

Edit - Now that I think about what I just said, it may be a good idea to always avoid the first delivery attempt and if the tracking updates to anything then you should be good to go. But please note that this could change in the future but as it is now once marked as "Out for Delivery" LE will assume full responsibility of the package from the postal worker and will not have the equipment to update the tracking as it requires completely different paperwork to acquire the equipment and then train an officer on how to use it. It also requires even more paperwork and almost impossible to acquire approval to have a postal worker scan it for them which would require LE to pull a fellow government worker off task and comply properly with an investigation which would take a very long time to push through approval due to liability issues. Damn, I don't know why I never thought about all that before hm.


[1 Points] agorathrow8080:

If you have the time, there was a post about ups, i know ots not usps, the guys engine he ordered disapeared. ..but in reality they sold it as unclaimed.

I dont trust any mail service 100%, if its.a good vendor, more likely than not, it got fucked in the middle bh incompetant people