Wondering where your stuff from overseas is? Shipaggedon!

[Mod63]

DHL is currently a mess when it comes to online tracking. As it is a subsidiary to the German Postal Service, it is the main carrier here and I have had a number of parcels that showed "to be delivered" that I already had received.

 

[Bigbella]

DHL is currently a mess when it comes to online tracking. As it is a subsidiary to the German Postal Service, it is the main carrier here and I have had a number of parcels that showed "to be delivered" that I already had received.

I recall when DHL, which originally began in San Francisco, by a few CAL Berkeley students, with a beater station wagon, was cheap and efficient, and had far more of a presence in the US, than they do now.

When they absorbed our long-time shippers, Airborne Express, the decline was fairly steep -- then that buyout by Deutsche Post sealed their fate . . .

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

I just had a DHL package sit for 18 days in a depot in Germany before they got off their butts and handed it over to USPS in Frankfurt (< 20 km away). USPS got it to me in less than a week, over New Years.

Must be one of the signs of the apocalypse when German "efficiency" falls behind the USPS ...

I am confused. USPS has outlets in Germany? Or do you mean UPS?

DHL IS the mail service in Germany. As well as a large international courier.

And you can never totally rely on tracking info. Regardless of the delivery service. Sometimes packages "appear" to be stuck in some distant place only to turn up on your door the next day.

 

[-JD-]

I am confused. USPS has outlets in Germany? Or do you mean UPS?

DHL IS the mail service in Germany. As well as a large international courier.

And you can never totally rely on tracking info. Regardless of the delivery service. Sometimes packages "appear" to be stuck in some distant place only to turn up on your door the next day.

DHL handed the package over to USPS (United States Postal Service - folks in blue uniforms with little white trucks, not brown in big brown) in Frankfurt Germany according to both. International mail gets handed off somewhere to the destination postal service. You wouldn't expect a Deutche-Post driver to be delivering stuff in the US.

Got notice of the handover from DHL and acknowledgement in USPS tracking of the same almost simultaneously. I guess it is possible that DHL actually handed it off some days earlier and USPS only processed it eventually, put it into the USPS tracking system, and acknowledged it back to DHL who updated their tracking. Seems odd and overly complicated though.

 

[Johnoly]

Over the holidays one of the biggest problem is a 'readable' USPS 65 bar - 21 Track - 11 route code on a label stock with enough bounce reflectics to be hit a high speed scan. Oversea's shippers use the absolute cheapest and dimmest paper label stock. Your address will be clearly and correctly printed and your naked eye can easily read it. But if that 65 bar can't be read the very 1st time by the high speed scanner it will just sit at the local/regional post facility until they have enough workers to hand scan it. OR WORSE, the 14 day hold time limit expires and the package reverses. You can see DHL/orange connect/etc tracking online, but that means nothing if the 65 code isn't read by USPS at the local stop. If the overseas shipper has not filed prior promise of payment of return shipping charges, then it's toast, file a claim with the sender.

 

[Bigbella]

The latest of the f.u.b.a.r. shipping antics of 2022-23, this, after the 27891 kilometer + roundtrip . . .

 

[SMRGRL]

Every time I take the boat to/from Long Beach/Catalina I see many vessels waiting outside the breakwater waiting to be off-loaded

Hi Dr Bill: Are you available to discuss Lindblad with me?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi Dr Bill: Are you available to discuss Lindblad with me?

In case you haven’t heard, Dr. Bill passed away some time ago. We all miss him very much

 

[Marie13]

Aaaand here we go again!

West Coast ports shut down as union workers 'no show' after breakdown in wage negotiations

West Coast ports are shutting down after union workers walked off the job after a failure in negotiations with port management.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Marie13]

Port shutdowns continue today. TTI at LA/LGB is closed. That was announced yesterday. Waiting to see what happens with the rest of the west coast.

Largest terminal at Long Beach, California port won't open Monday after getting hit by labor turmoil

Ports and workers are locked in an unofficial dispute over wages, as well as safety, automation and pension benefits.

www.cnbc.com