[Vadis]

The USPS seems to be much overloaded.Plants I ordered (and paid for) from a member of this forum have been more than two weeks in the mail. Needless to say I expect mush when and if they arrive. Along the same line, I believe it to be unethical for anyone to offer plants at this time of year knowing that shipping conditions are this bad. I've been had and others need warning to prevent being had...

 

[sbarbee54]

Pay for priority


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[MABJ]

The USPS seems to be much overloaded.

I've been had and others need warning to prevent being had...

Yeah priority is smart, and the first sentence is a given this time of year.

As for the second, it isn't the sellers fault if the plants arrive unhealthy. It is a buyer beware market, and with the common knowledge that all carriers are overloaded ATM, you normally would either wait or ship priority/express/overnight.

I hope your plants arrive safe and healthy.



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[Rob in Puyallup]

My experience with Priority. It is, but just barely.

There's not much of a guarantee that it's going to be quicker than first class.

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[n00dl3]

I think shipping anything within two weeks of Xmas, you're taking a chance that your package will arrived on time. Unless you're paying for overnight shipping.

Both as a customer and seller need to be bewared of the potential risks. Usually customers don't know nor care about the shipping hazard of shipping close to the holidays. Since they paid, they demanded to have their stuff ASAP. As the seller you could be waiting days to get paid for the item (customer don't care about) and once paid the seller hands are tied because you're under the mercy of the buyer demand to have their item ASAP.

If you don't do it, your customer will be angry that they don't get their asap. Some will understand the circumstances and wait. But most will not which leads to delay, lost packages, dead plants, dead fish. All equal to bad transaction and a public out cry from the buyer.

 

[bryony]

Apparently, the USPS may be gone soon anyway...

CNN article

 

[MABJ]

An opinion piece, but none the less, it has been worrisome. I could see all mail being privatized, but the transition would be awkward.


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[gordonrichards]

Who would ship plants via first class mail, unless they are within your postal zone?

Within Long Island/New York/Mass/Conn/Jersey a first class parcel would have the same delivery time as a priority box, 2 days. Transit runs to the hubs at the same rate. Even though its cheaper, I still send the boxes out via priority to make people happy.

For 2 weeks... I'd think there is some big issue... its cold out too!

 

[CharleeFoxtrot]

My experience with Priority. It is, but just barely.

I've found the same thing and have had the worst luck possible with using "priority mail" no matter what time of year.

I bought some fish and had them sent priority last year. That package went from the seller on the east coast across the country to Denver then back to me in Michigan. It was during the summer and took eight days to get to me. But the shipper did such a great job packing I only lost two fish out of ten so that was a plus. Since then I've never trusted the USPS with anything other than plants or dry goods.

 

[DogFish]

In maybe 60 transactions(?) in/out, I've had two that got lost/delayed at the Baltimore & Elk Grove , Ill distribution centers as shown by tracking. The Baltimore package of crypts arrived 4wks late and all survived. The Elk Grove package was 3 days late and the snails also survived.

I sent out MTS (dirt) last wk, Chicago to NJ, and I think it was there in 2days?

When I sell/ship, it's only by Priority and Tracking is always included.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Absolutely Dogfish! Priority and tracking! (BTW it is NOT guaranteed to get there in 3-5 days anymore. Now they call it a guesstimate.)

I also want to add that my best shipping times have been to mail out on Sat morning as opposed to Monday. Often by mailing on Sat morning it will be at the destination Mon or Tues.

IMO often it isn't the length of time, but how a seller packs that depends on live arrival. After receiving multiple bad packing jobs over the years, I'm super duper paranoid about insulation and packing. Okay...so I go kinda crazy on it... but it has kept my shipments safe when in transit for longer periods of time.

 

[somewhatshocked]

I think it's more than an opinion. Being safer up front tends to eliminate being sorry after the fact.

Insulation is cheap and it just makes sense to provide it.

IMO often it isn't the length of time, but how a seller packs that depends on live arrival. After receiving multiple bad packing jobs over the years, I'm super duper paranoid about insulation and packing. Okay...so I go kinda crazy on it... but it has kept my shipments safe when in transit for longer periods of time.

 

[gordonrichards]

Priority may not be guaranteed but I find that the majority, if not all packages are delivered within three days. I might just be lucky, as I'm located on Long Island and the distribution hubs are close.

If I ship out to California/Seattle on Saturday the boxes magically arrive on Monday which I seriously consider almost impossible but it works.

Holiday shipping stinks though, which is why I halted all orders till after X-mas.
Last year a box took 6 days to get one state over. Not worth the wait considering the weather!

Either way, hopefully the issue gets taken care of, but 14 days in transit seems unlikely. Hopefully you have tracking?


Did you order plants from someone in another country advertising rare species they have in their collection?
If so they are shipping the package slow and once you get it in you've broken federal law.

 

[Hmoobthor]

i just receive a priority package from New York to WI.

Took 4 full days days... I was expecting to to arrive on wednesday .... Came in on friday morning and all the shrimp make it...20'F here and blizzard

 

[DogFish]

The seller/buyers locations do come into play also. I'm 20 miles from two distribution centers and 35 miles from Chicago's O'hare airport. Most of my boxes in/outbound to major metro have been two days July to Oct. this last year. Which was pleasantly surprising.

I also like Sat ships as they are usually at the destination on Mondays.

One thing I did with plants was to not pull/package/ship until the end of the day. The less time in transit the better.

I also seldom buy plants from people that have them laying out for pictures in their posts if there has been more than a day that the plants have been removed from growing conditions.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I had several packages shipped a little over a week ago, and all took about 7 days to arrive. All were shipped priority. Priority is not a guarantee of any type. Normally shipping to me via priority takes 3 or 4 days regardless of where in the U.S. it ships from.

 

[sollie7]

I had multiple items come from CA, MD Etc all within 3 days to GA. Even Fedex which usually takes longer then that at a normal time of year. Maybe im just lucky or you're not?

 

[GeToChKn]

Guess i'm lucky as our "xpresspost" service in Canada does offer guaranteed overnight. It cost a bit but when I got my SSS shrimp shipped from 3000miles away, I had them in less than 24 hours. I just orders some other products from different suppliers, asked for xpresspost to avoid any holiday delays and had one with in 24hr, the other within 48 and both were just normal xpresspost, not overnight. Tracking info was a few hours delays in updating but I got them all in time.

 

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

Depends on how good your local office is. Any package, no matter where from in the Continental US (unless really close), or whether it's first class or priority, takes more than three days to get to me. IMO, priority shipping is kind of a scam. I've also had two packages take less than two days (one from WA) to arrive. Maybe I'm just lucky?

 

[hedge_fund]

I believe it to be unethical for anyone to offer plants at this time of year knowing that shipping conditions are this bad. I've been had and others need warning to prevent being had...

So you blame the seller? If you say it's "unethtical" for a seller to sell this time of year then I say it's "stupid" for a buyer to be buying.