This was the norm when I was selling on ebay. Twenty-four hours from Adelaide to LA. Two to three weeks from LA to anywhere else in the US.
A few years ago, I took pity on a fellow Doper who had missed the final episode of a television series I happened to still have on my DVR. I copied the episode on a DVD, got their address and sent it off. I live in Las Vegas, and it was being sent to LA.
Two weeks went by and not a single thank you or anything. Sort of pissed, I wrote and said, “did you get the DVD?” They wrote back, “no.”
Now I was sure that person thought I was a flake and didn’t send it.
About 3 months later, I get an email…the DVD suddenly appeared in their mailbox.
This year we sent Christmas cards, all on the same day.
My brother in Arizona got his two days later! Friend in NYC got hers two weeks later. Most friends in Germany got theirs in about 4 or 5 days, but one card to Germany took four weeks and just got there today.
Here’s something interesting. Re-sending a gift from Canada back home to the U.S. (the first one was sent Sept. 10 and never arrived) I used FedEx. And I had to fill out all this weird shipping paperwork. Like, I had to write down the country of origin, not where I purchased it, but where it was manufactured. Stuff like that.
With the post-office, there is just a customs sticker. Item: Dog chew toy. Value: $10 Cdn. That’s all. But I had to fill out a lot more for FedEx. It was kind of weird. But at least this time Barclay got is gift, and so did his humans.
But I’m still pissed at whichever post-office stole my original package four months ago! :mad:
Don’t give up yet. A package was shipped to me by USPS (or one of the companies that will dump the package at the local USPS hub) on 12/18 with a delivery estimate of 12/22 and it’s still not here. Nor have I yet received packages from two different households that always get a gift to me before the 25th. Even though there’s no snow on the ground, there are still plenty of backed-up packages.
Another vote for not giving up hope yet. Last year I had a present for a friend shipped from an online U.S based store to another U.S location. I received notice that it had been shipped in the last week of November. It turned up in - I kid you not - March.
I’ve been told I’ve got a present still coming - an mp3 player that was ordered and expected to arrive before Christmas but didn’t. According to the tracking info, in the course of a Michigan-to-Michigan shipment, it took a side trip into Ohio, for a little Christmas vacation I guess. I hope it brought back some buckeyes for me. As of Sunday it was sitting in a post office less than 10 miles away, but they apparently didn’t feel like sending it on down yesterday. “Eh, it’s already late, what’s an extra day or two…”
I also believe it will show up eventually. Either that or the mailman stole it.
I have shipped over 7500 items through the USPS as a seller on eBay, every package has arrived in a timely manner without any problems. As a buyer I just had a package take a tour of the US before I got it. Ordered some ink cartridges on November 30th from a seller on eBay, he shipped on the 5th of December. On the 10th it was shown via tracking at the Federal Way, Washington post office, this is about 10 miles from where I live. On the 17th the package had made it’s way across the country to New Jersey. On the 19th it was scanned at a post office in Louisiana. On the 22nd it was scanned at Federal Way for the second time and I received it on the 24th. I showed the tracking to my BIL, he is a supervisor at a post office in Tacoma, he said it was likely temporary help and a zip code was entered incorrectly a couple times.
My only real shipping horror story involves UPS. I bought a rare Monopoly game from a seller on eBay and it was shipped via UPS. Tracking showed the item was delivered to UPS and from there it disappeared. Because it was not insured, UPS will do nothing for me, only the seller can do anything. She is claiming she did her part and won’t do anything. A few weeks ago, 5 months after making the purchase, the tracking number now shows as not available. I now insist on using USPS for shipping, at least I know the package will eventually arrive.
Yeah, just to second what racer72 said, I’ve used the USPS for shipping quite a bit – not as much as racer72 has, but still, hundreds of items – and never had a lost or significantly delayed shipment. They’re really quite good, especially considering the low cost relative to other countries’ postal services. It’s just that when you do have a bad experience, you remember it.
Biggest delay I had was when I got a package on E-bay, a full two months after the sender had sent it. It looked like it had been under an elephant, but everything was still intact.
Look on the bright side: your gifts won’t get overshadowed in the deluge of Christmas gifts, but they will be a sort of unexpected bonus. If I were the parent of the kids, I’d tell them the story and make them brimming with anticipation at your special box, fantasizing where it is now. My guess would be in that infinite warehouse, next to that Ark Indiana Jones found in the first movie.
The most inconvenient late shipment I ever had was when I mailed my rent check across town and it took ten days to arrive. The first month I’d lived in the house. My landlady arrived on my doorstep wanting her rent, so I wrote her another check; I know she didn’t believe me that I’d mailed it on time. Until several days later when it finally arrived on her doorstep and she saw the postmark. I could have walked it to her house in a couple of hours. 
Okay, my USPS package from the 18th showed up today, as did a USPS package from one of the friends who always sends a gift, and did so, on 12/17. But where are my new shoes via UPS? This alone convinced me to send my passport off FedEx Overnight to a visa expediting service rather than hope my packet to the consulate managed to get there and back on time.
I live in Chicago which is notorious for losing packages. I tell everyone don’t send anything to me 'cause it gets lost. I’m pretty sure it’s stolen.
I even had this happen TWICE to me. The post office will leave a slip in my mailbox saying I wasn’t home and to come to the PO to get the package. I get there and they can’t find the package. I am like you had the package, the mail carrier wrote out the slip, and now it’s gone.
There answer is well call whoever sent it to you. And they say “That’s what insurance is for.”
The problem in Chicago is the carriers push around a mail cart. Like in my building with around 50 apartments, the mail carrier pushed the cart to the enterance, takes out the mail WALKS up to the building, goes in, and spend at least 20 minutes putting the mail in.
The cart full of packages sits unattended for 20 minutes. That is where I bet all the packages go.
I’ve complained and written letter, I’ve never even gotten a response to my complaint.
My advice USE FED EX
Yay! UPS delivered my shoes!
I had a client in remote Queensland that I was working with on a big project. Every few days I’d Express Post a copy of the document to her care of her nearest Post Office. Two days later she’d drive down early in the morning, pick it up, review and mark up changes over a coffee and Express Post it back to me. At first we were a bit worried as Express Post didn’t guarantee 2 day turnaround between the locations, but after it worked so well the first umpty times, we got pretty confident.
Except the final draft. It was so important that it get there on time I decided to use the next level up, which is Express Post Platinum. For some insane reason, instead of shipping the package to the Post Office where it was addressed, it was sent to a sub-contractor in the area who then hand delivered it to the Post Office. In the early afternoon. After my client had been sitting around for 4 hours waiting for it to turn up.