What is your experience with smartpost?
0Just wanted to see what everyone has to say about it. I've never had a good experience with it personally. The FedEx leg is always nice and quick, and then I'm left waiting over a week for stuff to arrive at my door while it sits at the local USPS sort facility. I'm curious if it is just my area or if everyone else has the same experience.
note: this isn't about changing meh policy to use a different shipment method. Just making conversation about why my smartpost experience is so....meh
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Usually sits for a day when it changes hands. Sometimes, it seems the usps gets it at the major hub city (this takes longer) and other times FedEx gives it direct to my local post office. When the latter happens, it's pretty quick. It still adds a day if usps doesn't get it early in the morning.
more like DUMBpost!
@Mac454 I had to stifle laughter so hard at that animated two-legged dog that my eyes watered. If I laugh out loud, people around me will know I'm reading the meh.com forum instead of actually working.
@SSteve I apologize for that. It's easily my favorite internet gif of all time. ALL TIME. The jazz hands just slay me.
@Mac454 no apologies necessary. I just showed it to my wife and I have tears in my eyes. Yep. Jazz hands.
My stuff has consistently arrived a day earlier than the estimated arrival date from FedEx. Except for the Kindles. They arrived two days early. For instance, the Kindles arrived at my post office at 7:57 this morning. They were out for delivery at 8:33am and at my house by 9:30am.
I live in a small town, which is probably a big factor.
Honestly, it's been great. There have been times I ordered a couple of things from Woot that were shipped on the same day, one regular FedEx and one SmartPost, and SP got to me faster, by a couple of days. FedEx left wine.woot cheese in its truck for an entire weekend and salume for more than a week. SmartPost deliveries regularly arrive a day or two before the tracking page predicts. I know this is atypical, but don't be a hater. You want to live my life.
I have had very good experiences with SmartPost. I typically get things a day earlier than expected. I would actually prefer SmartPost over services like OnTrac as they have been nothing but a headache.
Oh man, OnTrac. Been a while since Amazon has sent me a package through them, I assumed they ended the contract.
Where I went to college you bike everywhere and OnTrac tried to run me over several times a day.
Ordered from HauteLook.com & they used OnTrac. They lost my business for the crappy OnTrac service & boy did they hear about it!!!
@Hollboll did you go to... Davis?
@Collin1000 Santa Barbara! Haha
@hollboll drat. gotta admit I was close. I almost went with Portland or Eugene.
@collin1000 close! Same system/state
I feel like my experience isn't typical because I live so close to the office, but I've always received my stuff pretty quickly and in good shape.
Can't you just, like, take your own stuff home straight from the warehouse?
How would that test the process? @snapster orders online as well. Easier and cheaper than trying to figure out a way to shoehorn something manual into a hugely automated process.
Varies. In California, it was pretty prompt. In PA, it used to be much slower--1-2 days longer than expected. Recently, it's been better, same or next day delivery after it gets to USPS. Seems like sometimes the mail person doesn't feel like stopping so they update with something like 'no secure place to leave item' and whoever drives the route the next day delivers it instead.
Is this your mailman?
Might be the Saturday guy. True story--we recently had a package delivered on Sunday. USPS. White truck and everything.
@Mavyn Amazon contracted USPS for Sunday delivery: http://usat.ly/1kDOs37
Crazy. I guess I'm close enough to NYC to count? It's closer than Philly...
SmartPost has been fine for me. I also typically get things a day earlier than the FedEx system estimates. My local post office is typically the long pole. Sometimes the package will arrive there early in the morning and miss the delivery window for that day. That's frustrating :)
I've had only good smartpost experiences.
Knock on wood... I've had pretty decent luck with Smartpost, especially the USPS end of it. The biggest delays I see are usually weekend related. If a package hits a FedEx site on a Friday evening, it will sit for 2 days. Once it leaves the last FedEx site, I usually have it the same day. I can only think of 1 time where it took an extra day. My local Post Office is less than 10 miles from the last FedEx site and gets a direct delivery from FedEx, so it doesn't have to go through multiple USPS hops.
I also have good experiences, though I also live nearby. The box for my mule mugs was a little beat up when I found it, but the mugs inside (and their individual boxes) were fine.
I have a silly reason I like SmartPost over Ground: USPS can put the package in my mailbox. If it's a smallish item, like many of the things Meh sells (or Amazon, like books and DVDs) then it gets put in my mailbox and isn't a pretty package sitting on my porch for someone to drive by and steal. If I had the choice between UPS Ground and USPS, I'd pick USPS for the mailbox factor.
As for shipping speed, I have found that SurePost (UPS's SmartPost) is slightly faster than SmartPost, but neither is bad. I'm the type of person who pays for Amazon Prime and then uses "no rush delivery" on almost everything. SurePost is maybe a day faster for me than SmartPost though. The difference is that the SmartPost truck tends to hit my local PO for handoff after my carrier has left on her route, whereas SurePost gets the dropoff before the carrier leaves, meaning she'll take it out the same day usually. I have never had a handoff take longer than the next day, however. I must have a good PO.
Anything UPS is better here (near large hub) but SmartPost is still greater than fedex to the door. I always pick up UPS as I work a block from their delivery warehouse and have a good Postal Carrier for USPS. Anything fedex always is screwed up and comes a day after it's supposed to. I even had a SmartPost package go to the west coast and I live near the east coast. It was a fedex issue not USPS.
So it's just my facility then. At least now I know.
The efficiency of SmartPost depends wholly on who is working at my local USPS office. They once used a BOC for a door stop for a week before I went in there and made them go look for my box. Yesterday, I had a pickup just not happen, but got an email saying it had. Then other times? They will get it at 8am and put it out for an afternoon delivery. All depends on which person is working.
Being in upstate NY, Fedex takes its sweet time getting it to the USPS to start with, though. I end up just forgetting about orders for a while and get surprises. :)
I've found it to be noticably slower, but not extremely so. It seems to add about 1-3 days on average, but I assume it's cheaper somehow and thus indirectly lowers prices, so it's no big deal. Wouldn't use it for anything time-sensitive or mission-critical, but for Woot & Meh items it's done me no harm so far.
You get the speed, efficiency, and logistics of FedEx and the "we have to go to every house anyway" savings of the USPS for last mile.
I've generally had okay experiences with Smartpost. Sometimes things come a day earlier than the estimated delivery date, sometimes they come a day or two later, but they always come sooner or later, and in good condition.
Now, I did have an odd experience with my Fukubuku package. Got a delivery exception on the fedex website, but never got a notice on my door, and 4-5 days went by without them attempting a second delivery. Had to call the USPS customer service, and boy, was that fun. Finally got them to redeliver it two days later, a full week after it should have come. No idea why they didn't just deliver it in the first place, or why they didn't come back the second day to try again. But it worked out eventually. Just was a good thing that I was able to get the tracking number by registering for the delivery manager service at Fedex.com, otherwise, I never would have even known the package had shipped and had the issue.
Sorry about Smartpost.
This is basically my experience with Smartpost
IMHO, the worst thing about SmartPost is that they frequently just leave parcels at the door without knocking or ringing. Regardless of weather (so several packages have been soggy). So far nothing has been stolen, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
Here as well. 15 steps, and they can put things at the covered front door. Nope, lean it against the garage. Behind the trashcan. In the rain.
Talk to your carrier about it. Tell them you've had a theft issue and you'd like them to ring the bell / put it by the door so you can get it faster and it's hidden.
When I moved in to this house, the mail box was a bit askew. Functional, just tipped up. For 3 weeks, I didn't get any mail. When I went to the office to ask why, they gave me a huge box with all my missing mail. Including a notice that I needed to fix the mail box in order for them to deliver to it. Ditto when the snow of last winter was plowed in and blocked the mail box. The manager didn't understand why I felt this was less than helpful.
@mavyn - Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night will prevent delivery of the mail, but a crooked mailbox, whew, that's a different story! Sounds like you've got someone who is obsessed with the rules and won't bend them.
I used to never have a problem with SmartPost; it was slow but it got to me. Nowadays, I do.
I've had similar issues as to what others above have noted--no deliveries, no delivery attempt notices, with delivery exceptions noted on the fedex site being the only way I knew a package was/had been in my area. I was even home and near the front door for some of those supposed delivery attempts. And my mailbox is more than big enough for all those packages but one, yet the exceptions noted "no secure location" as reason for non-delivery. Which, how is the location any less secure than it has been for the last thirty-plus years?!
So I put up a really passive aggressive sign on my mailbox inviting the USPS to feel free to deliver my packages to me. Because I'm an adult like that. Finally got my packages delivered, though.
You should offer them cookies.
About two months ago, I was working from home on a day when smartpost delivered a woot package. Even though I was home, they never even attempted to deliver it to me directly, just put a note on the door and left it at my complex's office. At least TRY to deliver, ya know?!?
I actually do give cookies to our wonderful superhero of a UPS driver. And before our long-time postman retired, I used to give him cookies, too! But now our neighbourhood seems to be a whoever's-on-call route, so we don't have a steady mailperson. And I won't give out my cookies if we ain't goin' steady.
@goldenthorn, maybe you haven't had a steady mailman because your cookies bring all the boys to the yard.
Smartpost is horrible for me, my metro area bounces the packages around and since my little town has three post offices (seriously wtf) it will get bounced to the wrong one, then bounced to the other, then bounced to the one 1/4 of a mile away and it will go out for delivery three days later. If I order something from Woot, Meh, or Amazon decides to use it I know everyone else will get theirs first before mine arrives. I don't know how many two day 'Zon credits I've gotten because they shipped it Smartpost from the nearest warehouse and it took five business days to get to me. /endrant