Bartertown.com

Not related to a BT trade, but i figure someone here will know this.

So i've got a USPS DC number for a package i'm expecting and it's currently showing a pretty uninformative message (see bottom of post). According to the USPS FAQ, this will only be updated when final delivery is attempted.
Now, normally when i have DC numbers i get messages along the route like: "arrived here", "departed there", etc... Am i not going to get those messages because the shipping was done using the electronic option?


the message i get is:

Status: Electronic Shipping Info Received

The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on June 13, 2007 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Delivery status information will be provided if / when available. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

They used the USPS self-printout system (probably associated with Paypal). Basically, you print the postage and addresses and the PO picks it up.

They're supposed to scan it when it arrives at the first PO, then again @ your local PO, and again if it's delivered. I've found they never do and it has ever only uploaded with "Delivered" well after I've rec'd it.

I'd say if you don't have it within the estimated amount of time (depending on the USPS service used), take the DC# in with you to your local PO and ask if they can look for it.

Yes, I have found that when that form of shipping is used, just the nice notion of something being paid for is all you get.

It has never told me when it has hit a post office, and it doesn't say delivered until several days after.

It's why I still foot it to the PO.

Even using the good old standard green tags and delivering by hand at the PO to go out, it still rarely updates, and only shows delivered sometime well after it actually was delivered.

Warmonger wrote:Even using the good old standard green tags and delivering by hand at the PO to go out, it still rarely updates, and only shows delivered sometime well after it actually was delivered.

According to the website, even the green tags are only supposed to update after a delivery. But it's been my experience that 90-95% of the time they are updated several times along the way and register as delivered within a day of the delivery.
I was a bit surprised that the electronic shipping didn't work the same way.

And of course my package showed up within an hour of my original post. : )

vesrian wrote:

Warmonger wrote:Even using the good old standard green tags and delivering by hand at the PO to go out, it still rarely updates, and only shows delivered sometime well after it actually was delivered.

According to the website, even the green tags are only supposed to update after a delivery. But it's been my experience that 90-95% of the time they are updated several times along the way and register as delivered within a day of the delivery.
I was a bit surprised that the electronic shipping didn't work the same way.

And of course my package showed up within an hour of my original post. : )

Ha, it figures. It's even worse when it comes from overseas. It seems I send an email and the next day it's in the mailbox. It's happened twice with stuff from Hasslefree.

Anyway, I've found that the green tags update better most of the time as well

green tags?
do you mean customs forms?

No. Green and white barcode Delivery Confirmation tags.

they are supposed to be scanned only at delivery, if it gets anything else, besides when you buy postage, is lucky.
all of the scanners get updated at nite, like 2am local time; as long as there isn't a power or phone outage.

they get placed in a dock, downloaded to a central server and recharge. the server gets a call, and sends the info.
some lines are still on dial-up speeds.