Anyone with issues shipping to the US reliably right now???

[darak10]

I'm getting ready to re-open my store and I am leaning towards requiring tracking for shipments to the US.  I have done some ordering from the US since lockdown and my receipt of item success rate is sitting at 50%.  Two items got here - took a month though, and the other two items, god knows where they are or what happened to them.  

From my limited perspective, it doesn't look like Canada Post & USPS are getting the parcel job between our countries done right now, whatever the reason.  

What is the experience of other Canadian sellers shipping to the US right now?  Are you having problems getting stuff to the US, or not? Are you even shipping there? From your sales, how long is stuff taking to get there? Are you getting lots of "where's my item?" messages from US customers?  Please advise, I'd really like to hear what other sellers are experiencing so I can make a firm decision either way.  Thanks!

[darak10]

@reveur* "tracked packets, well i've stopped using this service because according to usps now they no longer scan them. one has been inbound out of customs since april 30. customer says not delivered yet."

interesting....where did you hear this about USPS? I ask as I just experienced the exact opposite...a tracked item from the US last scanned as it cleared customs at which point it went poof off the tracking map....until my local guy scanned it upon delivery. It was a GPS item from Kentucky and Im in Edmonton. No scan between the border and here. Thats an awful long ways if it crossed into southern Ontario.

I wonder why CP and USPS have been mutually abandoning the scanning of (lower end) tracked items. Too busy doesn't work as a reason for me. Sounds like regular untracked small packet parcel mail may be faster and more reliable than tracked items between US and Canada right now.

If they have stopped scanning, why are they even offering the service for sale? I understand COVID is causing disruptions all over the place, but if a company can't provide a service they should be scratching it off the sandwich board.

[reveur*]

I heard it from two different USPS representatives when I call their customer support. Canada Post on the other-hand says it IS a trackable item (tracked packet) and SHOULD be scanned but I guess USPS is so overwhelmed, they are skipping scans between transit. It also makes sense due to covid-19 distancing and safety measures. It sucks but it's our new reality.  I am assuming there will be a FINAL delivery scan once item is actually delivered. But the moment it clears customs and goes between facilities, well... it becomes a waiting game. I guess just like when CP had the postal strike, no prices or services will change except for the delivery guarantee that is now void. I'm highly considering switching all my shipping to netparcel for UPS and DHL. The prices are pretty much the same or even lower in some cases and service is reliable.  

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

USA parcels via CCE has been speedy and arrived within a week.
Vancouver to Quebec expedited parcels took about 1.5 weeks.
Vancouver to Ontario letter took about 2 weeks.
Vancouver to USA letter... no idea, buyer didn't leave feedback and it has been 3 weeks. I did tell them ETA 2-4 weeks but expect potential delays with the pandemic.

Still going to keep trying my luck with USA letters / small packet air because I can't really justify using expedited parcel unless the order is over $70 =\

(irrelevant) I renewed my phone contract and got a new phone, and that was shipped and arrived the next day, much faster than I expected. Shipped from Vancouver. It arrived together with my surface mail parcel from Japan lol (7 weeks, which is still within the norm of my Japan parcels). 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Can anybody share their experience with Small Packet Air over the last 3 or so weeks? Are your items being scanned by USPS and delivered?

For those who know that the packages usually have USPS tracking if you manually copy the code starting with UR into the eBay purchase page, has USPS stopped scanning your items sent after May 8th?

Since May 8th, I've sent around 30 orders to the US via Small Packet Air. I've only had 1 scanned and confirmed delivered. All others are stuck on "Tracking Number Provided", even after 15-20 days for some. No feedback from buyers either, so I have to assume none have been delivered yet. I know only a small segment of buyers provide feedback, but I haven't had a single positive from roughly 30 buyers.

I recently had one that was never scanned, and via buyer communication I know was delivered after 30 days. So, I'm guessing, this will be the norm for Small Packet Air.

Are your Small Packet Air items shipped over the last two weeks not being scanned by USPS?

[mrdutch1001]

Hubby's Tracked Pkt item mailed May 11th, (scanned into the system Regina May 11th, scanned May 12th Richmond, BC, scanned May 13th when arrived in USA, scanned May 14th San Francisco, then not scanned until May 26th, when it was scanned 4 times, including the delivery scan at its destination in West Virginia.

[darak10]

@ilikehockeyjerseys - "For those who know that the packages usually have USPS tracking if you manually copy the code starting with UR into the eBay purchase page"

Really????  I had no idea you could do this.  You mean regular good old 9.23 under 200 gram small packet items too?  

To provide some feedback for your question, it appears from what people are saying that no, scanning does not appear to be happening on what seems to be a fairly broad scale due to all the issues related to pandemic chaos, but Canadian small packet scanning by USPS guys personally I have never heard of before.  I didn't know this was even possible.  I had just concluded since they aren't sold as "with tracking" that it was not trackable.  How did you find this out?

[darak10]

mrdutch1001, yup, this may very well be what is going on - a scan upon entry and a scan upon delivery, nothing in between....in your case though you got one, in SF. I suppose if a nation of 35 million like us gets a warning from its national postal system that posties are swamped and stuff is backing up - what did the release say, a one day all time high of 2.1 million parcels delivered in Canada one day last week? - can you imagine how many are floating thru the US system with 10 x the people, notwithstanding the significant percentage more Americans who had already bought into the ecommerce model for shopping compared to Canada before COVID? 15 days for a tracked item to the US is slow compared to normal times, but all in all its not bad given some of these other numbers I'm seeing.

One take away I'm getting from this is be very wary of using tracking to the US right now. It sounds like USPS is treating them like bottom of the barrel stuff.

[mrdutch1001]

Using the small packet "No Delivery Scan" code as a "tracking # seems to work only on eBay. I have tried applying for small packet shipping on my other selling venue and it never works for that site; always remains untrackable. So I do not know how or why it works on eBay, but it does.                                                                                                                    

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

When you go to print the PDF label in Shippo, just highlight the code under the barcode that starts with UR, and manually copy it into the tracking info. How it worked in non-pandemic times was that within (usually) 3 days, the package would be handed from Canada Post to USPS, and the tracking would start.

The only hitch, is if a customer tries to view their tracking on a USPS website, it will say not trackable. It is only trackable through the eBay purchase history page (or for the seller, order history).

Prior to this, I sent Small Packet anyways and just assumed like Letter Mail, it was not tracked. From a risk management standpoint, this was fine because I would have minimal INR complaints, so it never made sense to increase my costs by 5 dollars or more through using/advertising tracked packet.

[femmefan1946]

I've been selling mail order since the 80s and I have two points to make.

In my experience, taking 20 days to get anywhere in North America is normal. And has been for years. Sometimes it's faster, but don't count on it. Tracking does not make delivery faster, although spending money for an express service like Priority Post does.

And what we call tracking usually isn't.

What we are getting is Delivery Confirmation in most cases.

Delivery Confirmed services are accepted (at the counter there may be no acceptance if you are dropping labelled shipments into a mailbox)  and only recorded after that when they are delivered.

Thus the name.

Confirmation of Delivery.

If you look at what is provided with the service, every one of them, including Priority Post, says Delivery Confirmation.

They don't say tracking.

Interestingly, Signature Confirmation,which has been a paid option, seems to now be standard on all parcel services. So that's new.

[femmefan1946]

And.

If you are getting flak from customers, particularly in the USA, the best way to prevent the problem is to change your handling time to five, seven, or even 30 days.

This will extend the delivery window.

You still ship promptly, obviously, but this means an impatient customer can't open a Dispute until the delivery window has passed.

[pjcdn2005]

My small packets USA have been scanned.  There was one that was scanned all along and then scanned out for delivery but was never scanned as 'delivered' but other than that, things have been good.

There have been lots of posts on the US boards about the lack of scans so I don't think it is a CP/USPS thing...I think they are just overloaded and missing some of the steps

[hlmacdon]

There are quite a few anecdotal reports of long delays for customs release at various US intake points. These are likely to be the biggest source of delay given the international exchanges are going to be backed up both with incoming and outgoing that hasn't been scheduled for departure. I have my shipments forwarded within the US via USPS, and out of the few hundred I've sent in April/May, 1 had a delay that was more than a few days and 1 had a missed delivery scan after it went out for delivery. Everything has had scan updates as normal so they are still scanning as normal. I'm quite surprised they have managed to keep within normal delivery times as much as they have. Domestically, Fedex has been the only reliable option for me, everyone else has been a mess, especially UPS.

[reveur*]

this works up to a point. once usps has a confirmed "expected delivery date by", it changes on ebay too. so let's say you do your 30 day handling time, it says on ebay expected delivery in July for example, USPS receives the parcel and has their own expected delivery date by let's say June 2, it changes on ebay from July to June 2. If the parcel doesn't arrive by June 2, it still remains as so on Ebay. so yes this can work if there are no scans and you're just waiting, but as soon as usps updates its tracking with a delivery date, it voids it.

on another note, how is this for comparison:

NY and CALI packages sent expedited on same day. Both were processed through Toronto on May 20 2020. NY package is out for delivery today. Cali package still hasn't been scanned as arrived into USA. Still says "processed through Toronto". So yes, if you're in Ontario, east coast seems to be moving faster. My California packages are super slow mo to get anywhere. 

[darak10]

@femmefan1946 - thanks for this recommendation - do you know how to universally change handling time for active items, instead of doing it one by one?

[mrdutch1001]

If you are using Seller Hub you can bulk edit and change the handling time

and just as an update to my earlier in this thread post about the "pkg (oversize lettermail) to Michigan" - it has now arrived = 20 days

[darak10]

thats still a bulky process for mass edits - can it be changed thru account settings right at the front end like for shipping destinations to apply to all? for ex., back in March I was looking for an easier way to cut off international shipping at the beginning of this mess as bulk editing was too time consuming and Ebay showed me a way to apply shipping bans to essentially whatever country(ies) I wanted for all items in an account / store settings page somewhere.

[mrdutch1001]

I am not aware of there being an easier way...perhaps someone else will come along and provide you with a better solution ...

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Another update in the unfolding tale of shipping Small Packet Air during the pandemic....

I just received a positive feedback for an item with zero tracking history. 15 days Ontario, Canada to California (which is fine right now all things considered).

So, I can say for sure, tracking (or whatever the correct term is, as posted out by a more knowledgeable poster) right now is not guaranteed with Small Packet Air. Only 2 out of 30+ orders I've sent in the last 2-3 weeks have been scanned when handed off from Canada Post to USPS. I have no way of knowing if the almost 30 unscanned orders have been delivered yet, because there has been no feedback. Not every buyer leaves feedback (or does it right away). But I think it's safe to assume, whether it takes 15 days, or 30 days, those items will not get scanned by USPS, and the tracking will continue to show the "Shipment Info Received".

I'm not at all worried about items being lost. I'm just giving a heads up to other sellers who don't like the stress of untracked shipments, ship in a high fraud category, or simply don't want to have to deal with added customer service demands with late packages and no tracking - Small Packet Air might not be for you right now. Me, I'm fine with it as long as it gets the buyers their items in a reasonable (by pandemic standards) time frame.

[reveur*]

i'd like to post a quick update of a tracked packet sent to California. it has been delivered today, 1 MONTH later. and there were no scans between out of customs to when the item was out for delivery. so looks it either was in transit the whole time (aka sitting in a bin somewhere) or not being scanned along the way (more accurate imo)