Packages stuck in Richmond California Postal facility?

[Elroy]

I shipped another member here a small flate rate box of bullets on the 5th of this month from West Virginia to California. They moved fast until they got to SanFrancisco,and the tracking stopped on the 10th.I called,and talked with a nice lady from the PO in the town that they are being shipped to,and she found out that they are at Richmond Ca..I googled it,and this is very common for packages to be stuck in Richmond Ca for long periods of time..Have any of you dealt with this issue?..Thanks

[rancher1913]

anytime a package gets "stuck" somewhere, chances are good a postal employee took the package home and sent the tracking to a dead end.

[Elroy]

I don't think it's necessary a case of theft by a mail handler ,because of the way the woman I spoke to acted like .My tracking shows it last in SanFrancisco ,but she had more detail,and as soon as she found out it was at Richmond it explained the delay..She asked me what it was, and I told her,and then she said they may inspect it..I know that some online retailers quit shipping to California, and maybe this is one reason why..After Googling it I found out that it happens a lot .I have always found the USPS,as well as UPS to be quick to deliver packages once they take possession of them,but this is rediculous.

[georgerkahn]

With no disrespect to Poster #2 -- as the best lawn on the planet does indeed have a weed or two ;) -- my guess would be a zip code mess-up. Very recently I was in a similar "WHERE IS IT?" paradigm, and for some unknown reason the package was sent to Hawaii! Hawaii? Yup; instead of the seven hundred mile destination, it apparently got tossed into the container for our 50th state. After quite a bit of tracing, we learned this...and, it did add 2 1/2 weeks to suggested transit time... eventually getting there.
My best wishes the package ends up where intended; mine, on tracking initially, showed a mid- location for about a week, followed by a simple, "in transit to destination".
Vis the more-than-severe, and then some penalties a postal worker faces if "taken home" -- unless it was a flat rate box weighing 45 pounds said employee knew for a fact contained pure gold or platinum... again, with no disrespect -- I doubt it.
geo

[Idz]

I never liked the USPS 'tracking' system. It usually says "picked up" and then "In transit" for a week or so and then maybe days after I receive it will show delivered. In contrast FedEx and UPS will show it going through each city and when its on the delivery truck.

[Rick Hodges]

I have had packages get "stuck" in a USPS facility outside of Chicago for up to 3 weeks. Each time I got a tracking message saying the package was on the way but delayed. I was told this is a status used when a truck in in an accident and they have to collect the scattered mail/packages and start them on the way again. Both times I got the packaged in good shape, just 3 weeks late. The first time I ever saw such a listing was about 6 months ago. Both times the package was delayed outside of Chicago.

[Elroy]

Thanks everyone !

[Leslie Sapp]

I had a box of bullets disappear after being delivered to our local post office. A call revealed that they had been turned over to the postal inspector as a prohibited item, without notifying me of the problem.
A call to the inspectors office resulted in my receiving them in the mail a few days later.

Considering it's California, you may have a similar problem.

[Walks]

Have had similar problems, Sometimes the Mail Carrier is "too weak" to deliver a Med. Rate Priority box full of Lead. They are supposed to be able to lift 70lbs to do the job. Just too lazy.

Three years ago I had a small rate Priority box go missing. It was marked as Delivered. But it was not in My Mailbox, and I have a BIG Mailbox.
Found it 2+yrs later in the bushes next to the garage ????????????

[RED BEAR]

My biggest gripe with post office is they list delivered on tracking never to be seen. I have access to security footage if i give my neighbor a disc he will burn the whole day. I have went to post office to show no mail was delivered at all to anyone on my street ( they miss at least one day a week ). They could care less have been told several times that his gps shows he was on my block when it was delivered. I explain that they couldn't possibly know that since they had been standing in front of me since i gave them my name and address and they hadn't used a computer. Plus i have footage of the front of my house for the whole day all they ever say is we will look into it. And i am out the money for what ever i bought. Even had items that required a signature that never made it . When confronted as to the validity of the signature was told i couldn't have access to it only the sender. Sometimes i could get my money back others not. This happens to often to be just incompetence i think they are stealing things or throwing them away. I have filed complaint after complaint and you may as well stay home and talk to the wall.

[Big Tom]

Had a $500 "insured" Priority Mail package being picked up by the mailman, then it never got scanned and never showed up as picked up. After two weeks of calling the local post office with getting nowhere besides lies ("he never picked it up", "it is on its way in my system, but cannot say where it is" and so on...), I had enough and called the police and told them I wanted to press charges against the mailman for theft. Police showed up, I showed them the video of the mailman picking up the package and then, the next day, I get a call from the post office that they found the package and it would be delivered to the destination within two days - which it fortunately did.

Packages being stuck somewhere for a few days or a week happens at least once a month, but not in any specific area, it happens all over the U.S....

Maybe not all of them are crooked, but there definitely are a bunch of them inside that organization and very little is being done (from my perspective) to fix the problem.

[Kenstone]

My biggest gripe with post office is they list delivered on tracking never to be seen. I have access to security footage if i give my neighbor a disc he will burn the whole day. I have went to post office to show no mail was delivered at all to anyone on my street ( they miss at least one day a week ). They could care less have been told several times that his gps shows he was on my block when it was delivered. I explain that they couldn't possibly know that since they had been standing in front of me since i gave them my name and address and they hadn't used a computer. Plus i have footage of the front of my house for the whole day all they ever say is we will look into it. And i am out the money for what ever i bought. Even had items that required a signature that never made it . When confronted as to the validity of the signature was told i couldn't have access to it only the sender. Sometimes i could get my money back others not. This happens to often to be just incompetence i think they are stealing things or throwing them away. I have filed complaint after complaint and you may as well stay home and talk to the wall.

I'm guessing your name/address is on THE list at your local PO :Bright idea:
Get a security camera and show footage to the police as mentioned, or a sign that says you have one.
:|

[rancher1913]

my response was pretty much verbatim from the local postmaster when I was trying to track a package that had just stopped at a facility. she said even though they have camera's on the lines stuff still goes missing in the bigger post offices.

[nvbirdman]

It's not just the Post Office that has less than perfect employees. Remember why UPS requires handguns to be sent "next day delivery"?

[NyFirefighter357]

I service several post offices and sometimes go to them several days in a row. I've seen bulky or heavy packages sitting on the loading dock for several days. The Richmond, California post office is a automated sorting facility where they have cut bake on manpower and work hrs. This leads to heavy or bulky packages that need manual sorting to be put to the side. Once it's out of the loop of automation it becomes delayed do to the unwillingness of employees to have to deal with a heavy or bulky item.
I've both mailed or received heavy MFR boxes without issue here but it all depends on where it goes through. I have some tips for mailing these bulky or heavy packages. Double box them or at least reinforce the inside seams & corners of your box. First thing I do is tape the seams from the inside, then cut another box the size of the bottom and walls and fit it withing; I also tape those seams. I also cut a piece that fully covers the top before I close it up. Use their tyvek bag or your own zip lock bags inside your box being shipped. Put the destination address inside the box on or in the bags as well. Tape all the seams & corners on the outside with clear tape then at least once around the short side & twice around the long side. These things especially boxes of lead get dropped to the floor or fall off the machinery either way heavy items or sharp edged items can break through a non reinforced box causing loss of product &/or delay. Stuff the box with filler if the contents don't fill the box heavy items sliding around inside a box can break through or be harder to carry so also spread the weight even. Keep the weight down in the box. I like to put 68lb of lead in a MFR box with the max of 70lb shipping weight. Doing so isn't a good idea, no one wants to pick it up & depending on what facility it goes through it may sit on the floor or loading dock for a while. Also when asked I always say I'm shipping tools. If you tell them, lead, cast bullets or gun parts ect. it's always going to get a little more attention you don't want. I had an entire MFR box shipped to me by a member full of cast bullets. He bagged them, each bag went into a SFR box then they were placed inside the MFR box with space taken up so it all fit tight. One member sent me a MEC press not packed well by the time it got here the handle broke out the side, I was lucky I didn't loose anything that I know of. Jay

USPS Office of Inspector General: Efficiency of the San Francisco, CA Processing and Distribution Center

https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/efficiency-san-francisco-ca-processing-and-distribution-center

[owejia]

Just had one sit at the regional center at Memphis sit there from last Wed until Sunday, should have been delivered to local post office and delivered to me on Thursday, tracking said on way to next destination, was at the local Post office Monday morning to mail a package when the mail delivery truck rolled in, told the Postmaster about my package and said it would be about 15 minutes before truck got unloaded, told them to call me. No call, was standing in the road talking to a neighbor when the mail man drove up and said no package today. Sent a email to shipper and told them to cancel order and refund money. They tracked the package and told me it would be delivered yesterday, no package, low and behold it was in my mailbox today. My package was from an E Bay shipper, told them needed a better shipper than USPS. Is a new carburetor for my chain saw was the reason needed it so soon. My mail man said the whole lot at the Memphis regional center needed to be fired and replaced. Now that is a bold statement when you say that about your fellow employees. Rant over.