At 23.40 PST on the 23rd, I received an e-mail from an eBay seller that they had already sent my item and here was the tracking number. This was three days after I sent an e-mail asking about tracking info and shipping, as I had used the “buy it now” feature on the 14th and hadn’t been contacted at all. When I checked the USPS tracking number on-line I got this message:
" The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper or shipping partner on July 24, 2003 to expect your package for mailing. Status is updated every evening. Please check again later. "
The eBayer is in LA, so it isn’t a difference of time zones, so how could they have notified them on the 24th, when I read this on the 23rd? That doesn’t seem to make much sense, that statement, but any elucidation anyone can provide would be welcome. Just curious 
Also, doesn’t this mean the eBay seller is fibbing? This message only means (according to the site’s FAQs) that the shipper has notified them of their intention to mail something, not that they have received the package and put it in the system.
Then again, the site says that it updates every evening, which I know from past experience isn’t so.
Bonus question:
Does this qualify as the most boring SDMB question?
You checked at 20 minutes to midnight in California - the USPS server is simply in another time zone, where it’s already tomorrow.
FedEx is similar - AFAIK, all of their systems are based in Tennessee. It gets confusing when you’re processing packages late at night (I use them exclusively for my eBay shipping) and the system asks if you’re dropping the package off at the FedEx depot today or tomorrow. It’s 10:30 at night - they closed at 6:00, so how could I drop it off today??
The “we were notified to expect a package” bit is the same deal - once I print the airbill and have a tracking number, tracking will give that message until I actually get the box to them.
I think they do. It’s a large box that they put things into and leave for a day or two. When they remove them somehow, they have been in there for twice as long!
Email: Obfuscating communication for over a decade!
gotpasswords I thought it might be such a thing, but wanted confirmation, plus I wanted to experiment with “boring threads with vaguely interesting titles” generation.
gatopescado Oddly, I would go the other way with the USPS. I do a lot of online shopping and I have never had a UPS package beat USPS. I have ordered something 5day shipped by UPS three days before ordering something on half.com and even with their confirmation process and media mail shipping, that item has beaten the UPS package.
Geez, I’m a dork: “Woo-hoo, I love the USPS! Go Lance! Go funny little jeeps! Little people in funny hats with huge calves! Woo-hoo!”