Model Train Journal

healey36 wrote:Must be everyone blowing their economic-stabilization money on-line.

Or, maybe they are now just doing all of their normal shopping online. All that stuff that everyone used to run out to the store is getting ordered online. If we can get it ordering through the internet, that's one less trip anywhere.

My wife will receive several pair of shoes every week by mail, tries them on and returns 75%.
The postage costs to me are far nicer than the trips to town would be just to find the shoes.

rogruth wrote:My wife will receive several pair of shoes every week by mail, tries them on and returns 75%.
The postage costs to me are far nicer than the trips to town would be just to find the shoes.

Yes, but the costs of the 25% she keeps is......................are part of the price of marital harmony?

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

rogruth wrote:My wife will receive several pair of shoes every week by mail, tries them on and returns 75%.
The postage costs to me are far nicer than the trips to town would be just to find the shoes.

Yes, but the costs of the 25% she keeps is......................are part of the price of marital harmony?

Of course. I don't complain about shoes and she doesn't complain about trains.

Interesting routing from New Castle, DE, note that this was a first Class package not Priority:

May 25, 2020, 1:33 pm
Delivered, In/At Mailbox
CHESTER, SC 29706
Your item was delivered in or at the mailbox at 1:33 pm on May 25, 2020 in CHESTER, SC 29706.

May 25, 2020, 9:18 am
Out for Delivery
CHESTER, SC 29706

May 25, 2020, 9:07 am
Arrived at Hub
CHESTER, SC 29706

May 24, 2020, 12:29 pm
Departed USPS Regional Destination Facility
MID CAROLINA-CHARLOTTE NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 23, 2020
In Transit to Next Facility

May 22, 2020, 12:34 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
MID CAROLINA-CHARLOTTE NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 21, 2020, 9:51 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
GREENSBORO NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 21, 2020, 10:05 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 18, 2020, 4:18 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 18, 2020, 3:00 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
TRENTON NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 16, 2020, 11:07 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
TRENTON NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER

May 16, 2020, 9:52 pm
Accepted at USPS Origin Facility
NEW CASTLE, DE 19720

May 15, 2020, 11:59 pm
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
NEW CASTLE, DE 19720

healey36 wrote:My mailman, who tells me he has been working double shifts for the past week, says package volume at the local post office is running at the same rate as the week before Christmas. Must be everyone blowing their economic-stabilization money on-line.

I'm sure there has been a bunch more mail order, what with stores being closed.

If you want great mail service, give your carrier a few bucks at Christmas time!

Unfortunately he can’t help me when my stuff is hung up in Chicago.

Our litle town in Georgia is @ 130 miles north and west from Jacksonville, FL. ALL mail posted here even if it is to a PO box is sent to Jacksonville and then returned to here. I understand this is true for all POs in this area/region/whatever it is called.

healey36 wrote:Unfortunately he can’t help me when my stuff is hung up in Chicago.

Maybe not, but you will see a huge difference in the area he has control of.

rogruth wrote:Our litle town in Georgia is @ 130 miles north and west from Jacksonville, FL. ALL mail posted here even if it is to a PO box is sent to Jacksonville and then returned to here. I understand this is true for all POs in this area/region/whatever it is called.

Sent there for sorting. Defies common sense if you ask me, but I'm sure someone there can give you beaucoup reasons it is the best way to do it.

Most of my stuff, my main concern is that it gets here in one piece. Marty can tell you some interesting tales about shipping!

Our local postmaster told me that they were told all mail, in our area, went to Jacksonville to be counted so the number of employees at each post office could be justified. This was for every post office in the area. Sounds more like a way to justify the large PO employee count.

My daughter sent my step-mother a Christmas card. Even though she lives just a couple miles from our house, she had to mail it because her grandmother lives in an elder-care facility (no visitors allowed due to pandemic situation). It was a Hallmark that folded out into a train, played music, the whole shebang. I took it to the post office figuring it needed more than $.55 in postage. Turns out, because of the size/weight, it had to be mailed as a small packet...cost a little less than three bucks, first-class. Remember, a bit less than two miles from the post office to her place (Westminster, Maryland).

Last we checked, ten days after mailing, it's in Spokane, Washington.

I've had more stuff mis-sent by air and bus lines than by the USPS.

healey36 wrote:My daughter sent my step-mother a Christmas card. Even though she lives just a couple miles from our house, she had to mail it because her grandmother lives in an elder-care facility (no visitors allowed due to pandemic situation). It was a Hallmark that folded out into a train, played music, the whole shebang. I took it to the post office figuring it needed more than $.55 in postage. Turns out, because of the size/weight, it had to be mailed as a small packet...cost a little less than three bucks, first-class. Remember, a bit less than two miles from the post office to her place (Westminster, Maryland).

Last we checked, ten days after mailing, it's in Spokane, Washington.

I've got something that I ordered come through Ohio to Hyattsville, stay there a week and then depart to.........Baltimore..........and who know where it will go next!

Something I ordered last month departed a sorting station in NC and then after 10 days past the delivery date arrived. No idea where it was for those 10 days. Priority mail with tracking.......

I mailed a book to a guy in Visalia, California, on Dec. 2. Tracking says it was delivered/left at mail-box on Dec. 14. Today tracking says its being returned to sender...no such house number.

This would almost be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

I see they have a disclaimer up on the USPS website pleading for patience...long delays due to "unprecedented volume increases" and "limited employee availability due to Covid-19". Bollocks, I tell you. I sent a small package via UPS to my son who lives in Albany, NY, and it got there in two days.