OK, USPS. Consider buying a map? Compass? Divining rod?

The BBQ Pit
1

The item in question is an elderly laptop computer. The destination is Long Island, New York. It was shipped USPS with tracking. They should have issued this package a tourist visa and then it could at least be collecting colorful stamps or something. Check this shit out! ——

(in reverse chronological order, which is the only semblance of order to be found here)

Moving Through Network

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 27, 2026, 8:04 am

Arrived at Post Office

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 27, 2026, 7:58 am

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 27, 2026, 6:38 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

CAROL STREAM IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 25, 2026, 8:35 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 25, 2026, 7:58 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 25, 2026, 5:29 pm

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 24, 2026, 11:47 am

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 23, 2026, 6:50 am

In Transit to Next Facility

February 22, 2026

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 20, 2026, 9:32 am

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 20, 2026, 5:28 am

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 19, 2026, 8:21 am

Processing at USPS Facility

CAROL STREAM, IL 60188

February 17, 2026, 8:20 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

CAROL STREAM IL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 14, 2026, 1:28 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

METRO NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 12, 2026, 1:54 am

In Transit to Next Facility

February 12, 2026, 1:42 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility

MID NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 12, 2026, 1:25 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

MID NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 11, 2026, 6:20 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

February 11, 2026, 4:28 pm

Departed USPS Facility

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ 08865

February 11, 2026, 3:14 pm

Arrived at USPS Facility

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ 08865

February 11, 2026, 1:40 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

February 11, 2026, 1:30 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

February 11, 2026, 8:37 am

In Transit to Next Facility

February 11, 2026, 5:07 am

Departed USPS Regional Facility

DETROIT MI DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 11, 2026, 1:19 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility

DETROIT MI DISTRIBUTION CENTER

February 10, 2026, 3:30 pm

Accepted at USPS Origin Facility

CASS CITY, MI 48726

February 10, 2026, 2:15 pm

Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending

SAGINAW, MI 48601

February 9, 2026, 6:22 pm

Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item

CASS CITY, MI 48726

February 9, 2026, 6:27 am

2

That package is having more fun than you are!

3

That’s not a package delivery.

That’s an entire series of road trip movies.

4

It doesn’t exactly bode well for mail-in ballots, does it?

5

A similar thing happened to me this month. I work for the USPS, and at the beginning of the month they flew me to Norman, OK, to train on a new-to-me machine. After my sister dropped me off at the PDX airport, I realized that I still had my apartment keys which included a key fob that is needed to access the mailbox room (I intended for my couch surfer to be able to collect her mail while I was away).

So I went to the NCED business center and got a box and a click-n-ship label to send it to my sister. I sent it on Thursday the 5th, hoping for it to arrive on Saturday the 7th, or at least Monday the 9th. And the tracking said that delivery was expected on the 9th.

Then it dropped off the radar until Friday the 13th, showing up in Honolulu. I flew home on Valentine’s Day, and the 16th was a holiday (no mail). I had to ask my sister to have an extra set of regular keys made so I could get back into my apartment (I had had a set made for my couch surfer in January, but no fob).

(And then the hardware store made them using the wrong blanks, so I had to get that corrected on Sunday.)

My parcel finally got to my sister on Tuesday, February 17.

6

OP, it’s been missing long enough for them to start looking for it. Call 1-800-275-7777 with the tracking number.

7

DON’T mail them. Take them directly to your county government or at least a drop box at a library or something.

8

@AHunter3 your laptop’s aimless meandering took me back many years to when, at one time, I was a USPS employee and a member of the APWU. I worked in Oakland CA at the massive building they (we) called ‘Oakland Main’ at 1675 7th St. I sorted letters manually on the graveyard shift.

One night I was sorting letters according to the Sort Scheme they gave us. One letter did not belong in the scheme so I put it into the Missort slot. A few hours later that exact same letter was back in my batch to sort. For some reason I remembered that letter. Weird. Why was it back with me? I put it back into Missort.

A few hours later that same letter was back with me. WTF?

So I looked for my supervisor. I still remember, his name was Terry. That was some 40 some years ago and I still remember his name and can picture him.

I couldn’t find Terry so I found out where the Missort station was and I walked over to them to inquire. I discovered that the Sort Scheme they were using was dated differently from the one I had. Their Sort Scheme said that this particular address belonged to me, and my Sort Scheme said it didn’t.

I quickly pictured that, like a river, the mail flowed through currents defined by these Schema. But if the Schema don’t match, then some mail got captured by an eddy and that unfortunate mail continued to circle and circle within the USPS system, never escaping and trapped forever until… who knows when and how it was released and eventually routed to its intended recipient?

I hunted Terry down, and showed him the letter and explained. In short he told me —
Don’t worry about it,
Just sort it according to your Scheme,
It’s not your job to be concerned about this,
Get back to work.

That’s just not right! I climbed the ladder and found his supervisor. She essentially told me the same thing.

@AHunter3 I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but to MI then to NJ then to NY then back to the Midwest to IL? Maybe that’s what’s happening to your laptop. Maybe like @kaylasdad99’s apartment keys and fob.

As for me, my time with the USPS was short. I didn’t like working the graveyard shift, and that Sort Scheme incident was the final straw after I was repeatedly told to —
Slow down,
You’re moving too fast,
You’re making the rest of us look bad.

Also after having worked at UPS loading trucks and we were Never Allowed To Throw Any Packages, at USPS we sometimes sorted packages by playing ‘basketball’ — tossing packages into sort carts. They let us throw packages at USPS!

For all of those reasons, my time with USPS at Oakland Main was very short. It was a good job with good pay and benefits, but I soon quit. Now that I’m retired I’ve listed almost every job I ever had on my LinkedIn profile, for my historical record. I looked and was with USPS for 4 months, Sep - Dec 1986. That was a full time, permanent position. For UPS, one of my most favorite jobs ever, I was there nearly 2 years, Nov 1984 - Sep 1986, part time while in college. A great job and company.

Apologies for the long post. Thanks for this trip down memory lane, and I’m sorry to hear of your laptop trapped in a USPS eddy. I hope it gets released and that you get it soon.

9

“You have reached Connecticut Communications. Our offices are closed…”

I’m not surprised about an office being closed on a Saturday but ‘Connecticut Communications’ doesn’t sound like a branch of the USPS.

10

Sorry, I fat-fingered. 275-8777.

11

Got through. The support person didn’t say what the problem was or what they are going to do about it. I was given some options for making a missing-package report. I think the sender may have more clout since they put insurance on it.

12

OTOH, a communications company should be well versed in crisis management; they may not know anything about the package but they can give you positive spin on why the eff it’s going from convoyer belt to conveyor belt in Carol Stream :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

13

I had a somewhat similar experience awhile back with a small package originating in California. It got shuffled around various post offices in that part of California for over a week before finally breaking out of the vicious circle and heading in my general direction.

My theory was that each P.O. had a set amount of time to process a package and if that time criterion wasn’t met someone would get a black mark on their record, so rather than do their job they just tossed the package into the nearest handy outgoing hamper for someone else to deal with.