I have somebody in the states that I do business with regularly (I am in Ireland btw) who sends the goods to me via USPS. Usually Global Priority Mail or Global Express Mail. When he ships he sends me the tracking number for the parcel. Shipping usually takes around a week. Occasionally, and more often than not recently, a parcel will take considerably more, around 2-3 weeks. What I have noticed about these parcels is that the date on the postage label can be a week or more after he tells me that the stuff has shipped. SO my question is basically :-
Is the date on date on the postage label (by this I mean the white label with the pink band on top which has the senders zip code, the date and the amount paid for postage) the date it was handed in to the post office or the date that the post office started processing the parcel?
I ship quite a bit of stuff via USPS, and the clerk puts that postage label on right then and there. Perhaps your buddy is using a 3rd party mailing service “Mailbox Etc.” or such and they take the mail to the P.O. in batches.
For example, so I understand…
He sends you a tracking number on say the 3rd, and when you get the package the label says the 10th?? Now that I’m not sure of.
Thats basically what happens Duke of rat The tracking number bit is easy though. YOu can pick up a bunch of the tracking number labels at the post office.
I am pretty sure the date is the date he shipped it and he is fibbing.
OTOH, the USPS (as a cost saving scheme I suppose) is sometimes using private companies to deliver packages in Europe so that your package may go to Germany and then be sent from there by some private company to whatever corner of Europe you’re in. This means longer delivery time and nightmare if they demand customs duties. The rule in the EU is that customs duties are due where evr the stuff first touches down. So the USPS sending all the stuff to Germany means a windfall for German coffers (I guess they bribed the USPS or something). So, if your package landed in Germany and they exacted duties, then you will have it delivered with a notice that either you pay up the duties or you don’t get the package. And good luck trying to explain that they got it wrong and no duties are due. You have to deal with the German customs and they just ignore you. So basically it’s either you pay or you don’t get your stuff. I think it is outrageous. Not to mention that it delays the delivery quite a bit (2 -3 weeks from the USA is normal). All this applies to packages, not to letters.
First off: There is a big difference between Priority Mail and Express Mail. Global Express Mail is a fast-delivery service contracted to the Royal Mail Service – packages are air-shipped to Neuenstein, Germany for delivery by GLS.
Global Priority Mail is a lower-cost expedited mail service, roughly equivalent to first-class letter service. It’s handled, I think, by national mail services.
Neither of these services offers guaranteed date delivery – that’s Glocal Express Guaranteed, and it’s handled by DHL.
All of these services have to deal with customs.
Now, as for the little pink-topped label: the Global Express services allow a shipper to pay postage online, and print a mailing label (waybill/shipping invoice). The tracking number is assigned at this time. However, the official postage label is pasted on by a postal worker, but not until it arrives at the post office. If he’s doing online shipping, that may be the reason.
So basically Nametag he’s just not bringing it to the post office until a couple of days after he tells me he has done so. For instance he told me he said he shipped something to me last wednesday. It still doesnt show up in the USPS tracking website. We shall wait and see what date is actually on the shipping label.
I have seen “regular customers” drop off parcels with postage already attached - in that case the cancellation stamp will be applied some time (max a couple of hours) after the item was delivered to the P.O.
If, however, your package has the little shite sticker with the stamp image and postage amount on it - THAT was applied by the clerk WHEN THE PACKAGE WAS PRESENTED and postage paid.
The only way around this I can think of:
If the guy is using his own meter - then he can print the little strip, attach it and the confirmation sticker.
BUT - if he were doing that, the postage date should be what he says it is (after all he is the one printing the postage!).
Either way - he is not delivering the item to the post office (with or without postage) when he says he is.
The USPS tracking status can lag a day - I mailed a parcel Wed. afternoon, and the first mention was Fri. morning - it should have been tracked beginning Wed. night, with it showing up on Thu. It wasn’t.
But a week+? Don’t use him if you want something as quickly as possible.