1st World Problem: Amazon vs. USPS

[Shanna-like-Banana]

This is totally a 1st world problem, I know.

But, does anyone have any tips or tricks as to how to stop your Amazon packages from being turned over to USPS?

Before you say, have patience....I am, I have been, but I am also paying for a service. Part of paying for Amazon prime is the one or two day delivery options. We live in a smaller town and rely on sourcing things from outside of town to get them. Our 1&2 day delivery are turning out to be more like 4-5 if the package stays with Amazon
Some weeks I'll need multiple things, some will stay with Amazon, which comes to our neighborhood several times a day, some will be stay with Amazon up until they get to our city, then they get turned over to USPS. Amazon will come and drop off to neighbors on both sides and skip us, when it says it should be the delivery day and it's been turned over to USPS

Once they get sent to USPS, for the track record, it will usually take an additional 5+ days to get here, *IF they even deliver it. Twice last month we had to go to the post office and pick it up. Our mail service has dwindled and I understand they are doing their best.

Like I said 1st world problems and patience, I know

 

[neverlandsky]

Our experience has been rural areas not close to Amazon warehouse = turned over to USPS and metro areas with Amazon warehouse = Amazon front door fast delivery. We ditched Amazon Prime after 1 year. Wasn't worth it.

 

[JimMIA]

Our experience has been rural areas not close to Amazon warehouse = turned over to USPS and metro areas with Amazon warehouse = Amazon front door fast delivery. We ditched Amazon Prime after 1 year. Wasn't worth it.

We're in a large metro area (Miami) with an Amazon distribution center, and we still get some packages via USPS, some by UPS, and most directly by Amazon.

We've been very happy with Prime, but I'm sure it varies from market to market.

For us, the vast majority of Prime deliveries are next day, the rest in 2 days. However, even if you have Prime that doesn't mean the merchant you are purchasing from uses Prime. Whatever the case, I find their delivery estimates to be spot on.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I think the problem sits in the way USPS operates, it doesn't seem flexible, it COULD be but isn't. In the spring, Amazon handed off delivery of my son's mattress to USPS who refused to deliver it because his name wasn't on the door (sublet with permission) and I had to call Amazon and have them intervene to direct the delivery person to leave things on the porch with me accepting full responsibility in case of theft. I had a similar situation with Macys which used USPS who wouldn't deliver to me at an alternate address and I needed to get them to cancel and reissue the item because there is no way to intervene as a recipient. USPS wants non-residents to send things "Care of ___resident___" but most businesses don't have a spot for that so there is an incongruence. It would probably go a million times better if there was a way to communicate with delivery if you have tracking info, not a book or anything but a spot for some minor specifics like "leave it on the porch, I accept responsibility," or "Please note this is a temporary address." Christmas last year had me ordering months early to sidestep the mess.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

We get this, in NE FL. It's so frustrating because I have to go to the post office to get the packages (USPS won't deliver to individual apartments, and the complex office isn't accepting packages because, well, you know...). And it's not even the closest p.o., which is about 10 minutes from my house if I do the speed limit and stop at all the stop signs; it's the one by our old house, which is a half an hour away!

USPS has plans to slow the mail down. (< link there) It's so frustrating.

Also, in a first world rant....Amazon doesn't mean that Prime is simply two days from order to arrival.... Nope, Amazon says "oh, Prime means two day FROM the day of shipping, not the day of ordering." It doesn't matter that when you ordered it, the page said it would arrive by Tuesday; if doesn't ship until Tuesday, then you are getting it by Thursday...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's fairly complicated TBH.

In a nutshell no you cannot control who is delivering it some of it is coming from the backend of what the seller is paying for/doing, some of it is due to the item itself. They aren't skipping you intentionally it's just various shipping methods on what you're buying and the ways each of those methods operate in your area.

We have multiple warehouses in my metro with the vast majority of the items being purchased coming from one of the warehouses here and majority are delivered by Amazon usually Amazon Logistics which is contracted out not Amazon employees directly (your tracking number will show TBA if it's being delivered by this method) however USPS also delivers some and UPS delivers some.

I ordered an item at the end of July and it was 3rd party but and it was delivered by UPS. I ordered an item last week and it was 3rd party, delivered by USPS in my locked mailbox. I ordered an item first week of July and it was 3rd party and it was delivered by Amazon Logistics. All 3 orders were ones listed from the seller as "This item is Fulfilled by Amazon.com"

Take a peek at this https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ref_=v_sp_shipping_help&nodeId=468520 and see if it gives you any insight for your area.

Amazon Prime is designed for Same-Day, 1-day or 2-day delivery but that is once it has shipped. And if you live near an Amazon warehouse it "ships" but doesn't go anywhere other than being transferred to whomever is doing the delivery. A lot of times for us it "ships" the day of delivery because it's coming from like 15 mins away lol.

 

[kdonnel]

The short answer is you have no way to control what shipper is used, I called years ago to try and get them to stop using Amazon Logistics.

My problem is the opposite of yours. Back when my Amazon packages were delivered by USPS, FedEx, or UPS, they arrived on time and undamaged.

A couple years ago when Amazon created the Amazon Logistics company and got people to staff the franchises, my deliveries started going missing, being misdelivered, arriving damaged, or being days late.

A day does not go by that someone in the neighborhood is looking for a package Amazon says was delivered but was not at their property. Most times it has been delivered to someone else's house in the neighborhood and eventually gets united with the proper person.

My packages have about a 50/50 chance of being delivered on time when coming out of the Buford, GA Amazon warehouse. I dread when I see packages out for delivery from that warehouse. If they do arrive they have often times been damaged.

The Amazon Logistics drivers drive down the wrong side of the road at well above the posted speed limit in my neighborhood. Why? Because Amazon Logistics standard delivery van does not let the driver exit and return to the passenger side of the vehicle for safety sake like USPS, FedEx or UPS. To compensate for that fact the drivers lower the safety of everyone else in my neighborhood by driving and parking on the wrong side of the road.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Also, in a first world rant....Amazon doesn't mean that Prime is simply two days from order to arrival.... Nope, Amazon says "oh, Prime means two day FROM the day of shipping, not the day of ordering." It doesn't matter that when you ordered it, the page said it would arrive by Tuesday; if doesn't ship until Tuesday, then you are getting it by Thursday...

I've been noticing this too, zero adherence to times posted and they declare it's due to the current crisis but I call baloney.

Anyone remember the dodginess of the Blockbuster calendar before they got spanked by the feds where they lost their shirts in those monumental fines? It was 2 days, then 3 days, then the 3 days includes the day you got it, then it was 3 days includes they day you get it and the day you drop it off, then the 3 days but it must be picked up after the sun goes down eastern time zone and dropped off by 6pm or when the streetlights go on in Albuquerque. I do believe I smell the faint scent of a whoopin on it's way.

 

[dez1978]

We live in a rural area. Like no door dash, no instacart, heck not even curbside pick up. Lots of our Amazon stuff gets turned over to USPS. We will get notifications from Amazon that "your item could not be delivered. The mailbox/door was not accessible" Which is absolute crap. Since the whole street's mail boxes (all 4 of them lol) are on the corner in our yard, there is no way everyone got mail, but our mailbox was inaccessible. We have 100 ft wide concrete in our driveway and 3 garage doors and 3 "people" doors. There is no way all of those doors or really even any of them have not been accessible. USPS just tells Amazon that so they don't get gigged for not delivering it. UPS on the other hand never has problems getting our stuff to us on time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

A day does not go by that someone in the neighborhood is looking for a package Amazon says was delivered but was not at their property. Most times it has been delivered to someone else's house in the neighborhood and eventually gets united with the proper person.

We used to have that problem with Logistics but it seems to have vastly improved in the last couple of years. Usually our issue remains that they leave the package in plain sight vs behind our stone pillar but my last purchase delivered by logistics was at least a little better (this is their picture they took):



Most often they put it by the front door (which is nice to be able to reach out but is still highly visible) or they put it right at the steps which is very visible. This one while it didn't make it behind the stone pillar was at least closer and not as visible. We also are very hit or miss on logistics if they take a picture or not. But that's actually been our experience with Door Dash whom we've purchased a lot of same-day delivery with Petsmart on. Sometimes they take a picture sometimes they don't.

 

[mgarbowski]

Same issue, though not as bad. Home deliveries that are handed off to USPS can take any number of days from on tme to who knows,and Amazon marks it delivered when it is handed off. Deliveries to my work office almost uniformly take one extra day from whatever is promised. I have never found a way to remedy this, except on some of the worst cases I opened tickets and Amazon extended my Prime subscription for a few days for free. Not much, I know.

 

[kdonnel]

Most often they put it by the front door (which is nice to be able to reach out but is still highly visible) or they put it right at the steps which is very visible.

The drivers from the Buford Amazon Logistics like to put packages in the mailbox like they are the mailman.

The mailman then takes the packages and returns them to Amazon.

I have had this happen multiple times as have many in the neighborhood.

Multiple complaints to Amazon have not stopped the behaviour.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I know everyone is struggling right now.
Funny thing is, there is an Amazon distribution center the next town over, about 30 mins from our house

We do use Prime for other things too, we watch their shows, I use it for audio books and our school text books also.

Like I said, 1st world problem...uuuggghh

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The drivers from the Buford Amazon Logistics like to put packages in the mailbox like they are the mailman.

The mailman then takes the packages and returns them to Amazon.

I have had this happen multiple times as have many in the neighborhood.

Multiple complaints to Amazon have not stopped the behaviour.

Ah yeah that's bad. Most of the newer neighborhoods here have locked cluster mailboxes. For that reason only USPS can deliver to the actual mailbox as they have the key. I wonder if the USPS is seeing it as an outgoing mail item (so returns to Amazon/the sender) or they just won't approve packages in the mailboxes that which they didn't deliver.

 

[kdonnel]

they just won't approve packages in the mailboxes that which they didn't deliver.

This

 

[spiders]

You cannot control it.

In reality I think UPS and USPS should do what FedEx did last year and tell them to shove it. There is no reason to provide them lucrative rates anymore. They have taken over delivery in every town that they can make money in and left the scraps for UPS and USPS. We’ll take these 100 packages that are all neighbors. But you can have these packages that require a 10 minute drive in between each delivery to the middle of nowhere.

 

[White Cat]

This is totally a 1st world problem, I know.

But, does anyone have any tips or tricks as to how to stop your Amazon packages from being turned over to USPS?

Before you say, have patience....I am, I have been, but I am also paying for a service. Part of paying for Amazon prime is the one or two day delivery options. We live in a smaller town and rely on sourcing things from outside of town to get them. Our 1&2 day delivery are turning out to be more like 4-5 if the package stays with Amazon
Some weeks I'll need multiple things, some will stay with Amazon, which comes to our neighborhood several times a day, some will be stay with Amazon up until they get to our city, then they get turned over to USPS. Amazon will come and drop off to neighbors on both sides and skip us, when it says it should be the delivery day and it's been turned over to USPS

Once they get sent to USPS, for the track record, it will usually take an additional 5+ days to get here, *IF they even deliver it. Twice last month we had to go to the post office and pick it up. Our mail service has dwindled and I understand they are doing their best.

Like I said 1st world problems and patience, I know

If someone in say Bolivia had the same issue with Amazon or a similar service and the Bolivian postal service would that be a third world problem?

 

[TippyThomas]

When I first moved into my house last year it seemed everything I ordered from Amazon came through USPS and I had mixed results with speed. Over the last 6 months or so it seems that I am now on the UPS route and am having excellent results. I don't think USPS is designed to handle Amazon volume at high speed.

 

[kdonnel]

If someone in say Bolivia had the same issue with Amazon or a similar service and the Bolivian postal service would that be a third world problem?

It would be a first world problem in a third world country.

 

[fla4fun]

Ah yeah that's bad. Most of the newer neighborhoods here have locked cluster mailboxes. For that reason only USPS can deliver to the actual mailbox as they have the key. I wonder if the USPS is seeing it as an outgoing mail item (so returns to Amazon/the sender) or they just won't approve packages in the mailboxes that which they didn't deliver.

Yeah, my last Amazon order USPS swore they delivered it, and they did. They just didn’t leave the key for the package delivery box so I could retrieve it. It took a couple days to straighten it out, and I was worried someone else would take my package and run. But it worked out in the end. I hate our local USPS and would love to be able to bypass them as much as possible.