Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

No package in today's mail.

According to the USPS FAQ

Lost or Delayed Mailpieces

If You Have the Label ID number from the Mailing Label or Receipt (Sender or Recipient): If you suspect that your mailpiece has been lost or delayed and you have a tracking number for your item, please contact our Track & Confirm customer service at 1-800-222-1811.

So I called the number. I navigated the voice mail prompts. (No, it's not an international package; no it didn't come from abroad.) I input my looong tracking number. The USPS robot says “no tracking information is available”. And there are no other options that sound relevant. And no, it won't put me through to a human.

Clicking on the Track & Confirm – Customer Assistance FAQ found at the USPS FAQ for Track and Confirm produces

com.silknet.ebiz.util.SilkException: Invalid Reference Name

Which kind of sums it up.

So this morning (and afternoon) I checked the USPS tracking site to see if there was any news of my wayward package. (See Where's My Package?)

All there was beyond what I had learned yesterday was this uninformative news:

Delivery status not updated as of September 22, 2010, 10:27 pm

So I called the USPS Customer Service Line, waded through multiple levels of robo-prompts and voice recognizers, and finally got a human being. A human being on a bad connection reading from scripts in a very strong Chinese accent, but a human being.

“I understand and am very glad to help you,” said the script person, “but unfortunately our computers are down at the moment.” Apparently all they could suggest is that I keep calling back until the systems are up again.

Computer failure may be why the online info isn't being updated. Or someone may have my package.

Am I better off checking the USPS “Track & Confirm” web site? Not obviously. But try and stop me.

I bought something, and on Monday the seller sent me an email (“Subject: Your package is on its way”) confirming it had shipped by Priority Mail. They included a tracking number.

The USPS has a web page that lets you track the progress of your package.

So, where's my package?

Label/Receipt Number: xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xx
Scheduled for Delivery: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Class: Priority Mail®
Service(s): Delivery Confirmation™
Status: Out for Delivery or Available at PO Box

Your item is out for delivery or available at a PO Box at 8:27 am on September 22, 2010 in KEY BISCAYNE, FL 33149.

But I live in Coral Gables. And the mail came this afternoon. Without my package.

Most likely, some postal worker figures out that it belongs over here and tomorrow I learn its been re-sorted into my zip code. But what if it was delivered to a PO Box? What if someone has it?

And, more fundamentally, am I better off knowing it's in Key Biscayne rather than having some generalized concern that it sure seems to be taking its own sweet time getting here? Not obviously.