I ordered something online about a week and a half ago. It was shipped via FedEx Express Saver. As of yesterday it had not arrived so I checked the retailer’s web site and the FedEx tracking web site. FedEx tracking said it was delivered a week ago and “left at front door.” (This is on a city street so I assumed someone stole it.) I phoned the retailer yesterday and explained that my order never arrived and they said they would ship a new one via FedEx with signature required.
This afternoon I went to my mailbox (which locks, only the U.S.P.S. carrier can open it), and there was a parcel inside – the same one I called about! It did not have any postage on it and it said FedEx Express Saver, shipped Aug 22, deliver by Aug 25.
This is strange. 1) FedEx tracking said it was left at front door on Aug 24, 2) Parcel appears in LOCKED mailbox without any U.S.P.S. postage on Aug 31.
Either the delivery dates are a bit squiff, and your post carrier decided to do you a favour by locking the parcel away, having found it unsecured on your doorstep.
Or the delivery dates are correct, and your post carrier took it away, then had a change of mind/conscience, brought it back and put it in the locked box.
Or (I suppose) the post carrier locked it away there as a favour, and it’s been there ever since, and somehow you managed not to see it.
An Express Saver package wouldn’t be delivered by USPS, except in some remote hard-to-reach delivery areas. If a package were dropped off to be delivered by USPS (such as a SmartPost package), the FedEx tracking would say “Tendered to USPS for final delivery” (something like that, not the exact words) and the package would have USPS Delivery Confirmation and they would update the status with the Delivery Confirmation results.
My best guess: The package was delivered to the wrong address or someone found it in the street and didn’t know what to do with it. So they took the package and dropped it in a USPS collection box (the blue boxes you see in front of Post Offices or on street corners in larger cities). The USPS delivered it to the address on the box.
Now, the USPS should have marked it Postage Due and tried to collect postage. But we all know that doesn’t always happen (unless you mail a super-urgent letter with one ounce postage that weighs 1.0001 ounces). A lot of the process is automated and everyone involved is just oriented towards throwing the package wherever it needs to go next, not carefully examining all the myriad bar codes and markings to see if there is a permit imprint. It just slipped through the system. Unlike FedEx and UPS, the USPS does not weigh every letter and package and calculate the correct postage for each item.
The package doesn’t say anything about USPS anywhere, and I live in an easy-to-reach city, so I guess that must be the explanation (?) Although they thought it was delivered a week ago…
Hi, possible scenario. Fedex delivers package and leaves at front door. Mailman comes along after fedex delivery and sees package. Puts it in your mail box so it wont be taken.
When the new package arrives, just take it to the PO counter and tell the clerk that you are refusing delivery. It will be sent back to the sender, and everybody will be happy.
~VOW
USPS has reciprocal agreements with FedEx and UPS in many areas, not just hard-to-reach backwaters. I live in San Francisco, and many of my packages that started out on UPS arrived via the post. This is particular common with residential deliveries, and I like it because the postman has access to apartment buildings that commercial carriers don’t, so my packages are delivered to my secure lobby or mailbox instead of the doorstep, or are held at the local post office instead of a depot miles away.
As for the delivery note, it may be that the package was “left at the door” of a postal receiving facility, or that the delivery driver just screwed up. That happens.
UPS has two services that a shipper can choose that may result in a package being delivered by USPS:
UPS Mail Innovations. This is their direct competition to FedEx SmartPost. The package is delivered via the UPS network to a local post office. Depending on volume and location, it could be to the Destination Delivery Unit (the buiding where your mail carrier picks up their mail) or to a Bulk Mail Center serving your DDU. You can easily tell these packages apart because their tracking number is not in the traditional UPS format, but is a USPS Delivery Confirmation number.
BASIC Service: When you track a package from a large shipper, you may see the service type as “Ground BASIC” or “Second Day Air BASIC.” This is a discounted service available by invitation only to certain large volume contract shippers. This type of package is routed by UPS to their local distribution center where a decision is made whether to deliver by UPS or forward to the local Post Office. BASIC delivery commitment is one day later than the corresponding non-BASIC service to which it has been appended. But your tracking will not say the package has been “delivered” when it is sent to the Post Office. The tracking will clearly say that it has been tendered to the USPS for delivery.
I have never heard of any such reciprocal agreement. The USPS has a paid service called Parcel Select that anybody who ships mass volumes of parcels and properly prepares their shipments can use. This is what UPS and FedEx use when they hand off their parcels to the USPS. The USPS has no choice but to accept them if all the requirements are met.
I don’t know what you mean by reciprocal. I know of no case where USPS hands off its mail to FedEx or UPS for final delivery. They do contract with both of them for air transportation services. A small bit of trivia: When the airports were shut down following 9/11, FedEx Ground set up an inter-city transportation system for the USPS, but the USPS still delivered to the final address.
I tried to find some links for you. But most of the articles that come up at the top of the search confuse Mail Innovations with BASIC service.