[Capt. Bob]

I knew I was going to need a drive shaft so I called UncleJohn and had him send me one priority mail last Wednesday. I was hoping it would be here on Friday. It only has to come 160 miles. The delivery date USPS gave us was Saturday so I postponed starting the work until Saturday afternoon. Long story short it did not come with the regular mail delivery even though tracking said it would delivered as scheduled. So I have a guys GL1800 with 284k on the clock on my lift. It has a bad final drive for sure and I hate to put it back together with the original driveshaft even though it is not bad right now. To make things even worse. I am leaving in the morning to go on the DV ride in and wont be back in Florida till Feb. 22nd. I gave the guy a choice. I will put it back together with the old driveshaft and he can have his bike back and when it fails I will put the new shaft in free of charge or when I get back I will put the new shaft in. Of course that is if the shaft is here by then. When I checked tracking all it says that it is still in transit but no projected delivery. I offered to ride down to Melbourne and pick up the other shaft John has on hand but the customer did not want to bear the added expense of the time that would take. You live and learn so my takeaway on this is to never rely on a service that is so unreliable as the US postal service again.

 

[Sparky57]

Sorry about the pickle you got stuck in. But I'm not quite understanding the "unreliable" label. Priority Mail does not have a guaranteed delivery date. You need to use Express Mail if the delivery date is critical. That is the service that is guaranteed.



Priority Mail is "approximately" 2-3 days, and I have found that they are really good at meeting that goal.

 

[Big_Bird]

I am frequently disappointed with the USPS tracking guesstimates. They're all over the map. Stuff estimated 4 days out that is on my doorstep, stuff "delivered" that doesn't show up for 2 days, etc. I feel some of your pain.

OTOH, +1 to @Sparky57, it's a gamble using Priority Mail for anything really time sensitive.

Sorry the gamble didn't pay off this time.

 

[GoldWingrGreg]

Have you considered stocking such parts ???

 

[WingWing]

I think I have one in storage..
.. Silver Springs..

Not exactly "close" but closer than Melbourn..

Yours if that works for you.

Den

 

[philipintexas]

I’ve probably shipped 2,000+ packages all over the world via Priority-Mail and have had maybe 3-5 that either disappeared in transit, or, were delivered and then disappeared. As a percentage they are not bad.
Now their online programs sure need a Computer Systems Analyst to go through and correct numerous errors and inefficiencies. (Guess what I used to be).

 

[Capt. Bob]

Have you considered stocking such parts ???

Most of the time I do but the only driveshaft I have on hand is the long one and this is an '02 model. The short ones are becoming harder to find. I will still have 4 final drives after I install this one so I am okay on them.

 

[Capt. Bob]

I think I have one in storage..
.. Silver Springs..

Not exactly "close" but closer than Melbourn..

Yours if that works for you.

Den

Thanks, Dennis I might take you up on that after I get back from DV if you still want to part with a short shaft. The way USPS is going I may not have this one by then. All the tracking says is my package will be late and it is in the system. No projected delivery date.

 

[dduelin]

I was in the shipping business for 30 years and offer a few observations.


1. A snow storm ten states away really does affect service ten states away. The system is balanced and when planes and trucks don't come south than planes and trucks don't go north.
2. The chance of loss, damage, or late delivery goes up in direct proportion to how critical it is.
3. Because transit times are so reliable as a percentage everyone thinks the once in a while exception becomes a federal case. The bar has been set pretty high for a service that is priced like a MacDonalds value meal.
4. If it was so important you wonder why it wasn't shipped using a guaranteed transit time service product but if you mention this the customer gets more upset about it.

 

[jfink]

The postal service has taken on contracts with at least UPS to do last mile deliveries. Essentially, UPS will deliver packages to the post office and the USPS will deliver the package the final leg to the resident. Logic says this makes sense as the USPS has to make the trek to the mailbox everyday anyway. But, I don't believe the USPS has accounted for the additional effort involved in sorting and distributing packages, in addition to their normal work load. As a consequence of taking on this additional responsibility, they are understaffed. Further, when UPS delivers to the Post Office, they consider the package delivered. If the package gets lost or delayed with the USPS, UPS has little ability to accurately track and locate the package. Probably why many of us get the blank stare through our computer screen when we ask "where is our package?"

Unless they can figure out the technology and the staffing requirements, as far as, I am concerned these arrangements are a lose/lose.