Silk Road forums

Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: foxfire1326 on July 26, 2012, 11:15 pm

Title: Longest domestic delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Also, should I worry?
Post by: foxfire1326 on July 26, 2012, 11:15 pm
So I made an order about 20 days ago that never arrived.  The vendor speculated that perhaps the letter had weighed more than an oz and that one stamp wasn't enough postage, resulting in the letter being rejected at the P.O.  They offered to re-ship my order, and said that the second letter went out last Saturday.  Both letters went out First Class without tracking, the first never arrived and it's now Thursday, 4 business days later, and still nothing.

I never got a love letter from the first missing package or anything...  What do you guys think?  Am I just being impatient or should I be worried about my receiving address being compromised? I should also point out that in the meanwhile since placing the original order I have had another, completely separate, successful transaction with another vendor.

Edit:  Out of curiosity, what is the longest delivery time other users have experienced for domestic U.S. orders?
Title: Re: Delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Slow delivery or potential seizure?
Post by: deadfuture on July 26, 2012, 11:21 pm
Well there are a few variables here.

1) Was it domestic or international because that makes a large difference.

2) What is the vendors reputation?  Are they on the forum and do they have a good rep.

3) All overweight packages I have received come with a postage due letter from my P.O.  If I go in and pay it then I get the package and bitch to whoever sent it.

4) You're address obviously isn't flagged since you have received other packages but that doesn't mean the vendors packing hasn't been profiled which would lead to it being seized. 

4 days isn't really long enough to wait for a reship as I would give it at least 10 if it was domestic and up to a month or more if it was international. 
Title: Re: Delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Slow delivery or potential seizure?
Post by: foxfire1326 on July 26, 2012, 11:26 pm
It was a domestic package.  The vendor has a 99.5% rep so I don't think they tried to screw me over.  In fact they have been nothing but helpful and understanding through the whole thing.  The only reason I've been increasingly worried about it is because the vendor boasts that most of the time their First Class mail arrives to customers' doors in about the same amount of time or less than priority packages.  Every other order that I've placed has arrived in 4 business days or less, with or without priority.  I am just certain that it wouldn't take 20 days to deliver a first class letter, and I'm worried the re-ship might reach a similar fate.

Also, if their packaging had been profiled, wouldn't other customers be experiencing the same?  The vendor has received nothing but fantastic 5/5 feedback in the time since my order was initially placed.
Title: Re: Longest delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Also, should I worry?
Post by: deadfuture on July 26, 2012, 11:45 pm
Interesting.  Well I'm glad they at least offered a reship.  I'd wait a few more days before worrying too much.  Are you positive you're address and name are legit?
Title: Re: Longest domestic delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Also, should I worry?
Post by: foxfire1326 on July 26, 2012, 11:49 pm
I am absolutely sure.  I mean the first time I can't be as sure about, but I don't think I would've fucked it up.  When I resent my address before they re-shipped it I double checked that shit.

There is one little thing there, however.  This specific vendor insisted that the state the letter was being sent out to be spelled out, not abbreviated.  Don't have a damn clue why.
For instance:
John Johnson McJohnJohn
21 Jane's Fine Ass Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90210 (Instead of CA)

That couldn't be why, could it?  I mean no one else was complaining of the same thing in the review section.
Title: Re: Longest domestic delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Also, should I worry?
Post by: deadfuture on July 26, 2012, 11:56 pm
I doubt that would have any impact, the USPS may be slow but they aren't that dense.  It's really hard to tell what's going wrong without a tracking number. 

Occasionally things get lost but 2 out of 2 from the same vendor would be fishy.  I would wait a few days before calling bullshit though, 4 days is just wayy too soon.  I've had domestic orders turn up after 10 days but not 20.  Hope everything turns out well and keep us updated!
Title: Re: Longest domestic delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Also, should I worry?
Post by: Shinma on July 27, 2012, 11:03 pm
Out of curiosity, what is the longest delivery time other users have experienced for domestic U.S. orders?

While it wasn't an order, I had a completely legit 1st Class parcel take 13 business days to be delivered.  To the next county.  A 20 minute drive up the road.  I could have walked it up faster.

The USPS is going to shit. They've been bankrupted by a 2006 Government policy aimed at bleeding them dry to shut down a huge legal monopoly and sell the bloated corpse off to private companies.   They're almost dead.  As such, service has gone to complete hell, and continues to decline as they're forced to continue to cut staff and close down sorting operations.
Title: Re: Longest domestic delivery times w/ First Class Mail? Also, should I worry?
Post by: foxfire1326 on July 28, 2012, 07:18 am
Seriously?  I find that hard to wrap my head around.  So unless anyone can top your story you've got the longest wait on a first class letter that I've ever heard of.  Even with that, after 20 days I'm not holding my breath about this package ever showing up.  Especially since I had yet another completely separate order show up in the mail today.

I've pretty much accepted my losses.  It sucks but what can ya do?  I did PM the vendor and suggest that they consider modifying their packaging in case it was intercepted and LE is profiling their packaging methods.  Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I kinda feel like a little paranoia is a healthy thing when using SR.