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Pushing the Envelope Blog

When Mail Takes a Wrong Turn

Date: 03/08/21 | Category: Delivery & Collection

Have you ever tracked a piece of mail and noticed it seems to be taking a not-so-direct journey? This sometimes happens when the Postal Service mistakenly sends mail to the wrong facility. But why does this happen, and how often?

We sought to answer those questions in a recent audit report. Mail can get misrouted for several reasons. For example, postal employees may forget to remove old routing labels from reusable trays and bags. Or mail bins fill up at sorting machines, and the overflow can obstruct the mail chute, pushing incoming mail pieces into bins for other destinations.

The Postal Service, it turns out, does a pretty good job of routing the mail, especially considering the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Less than 0.2 percent of First-Class Mail letters were misrouted. We did, however, identify a few best practices the Postal Service could implement nationwide. These include managers communicating with each other when mail is misrouted to the wrong facility and adding extra containers next to high-volume ZIP Code bins so employees can easily replace the full bins.

These and other measures should help keep mail on the most direct route from sender to receiver.

Leave a Comment

Your Name
Sally Bishop
Mar 7, 2022
Your Comment
I have two packages that arrived at the Baltimore Distribution Center over the weekend that I was expecting to receive today. I looked at tracking and both have been sent to post offices in Western Maryland and I live only a few miles from the Baltimore Distribution Center. One went to Oakland, MD, the other to Grantsville, MD. The status on one of them says MISSENT. :(
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Nate
Mar 4, 2022
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Currently have a package on the way from Oregon to Alabama. It left Oregon and has now been in Guam for 3 days. Tracking hasn’t updated but it says it should arrive today.
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Revae Jepsen
Mar 2, 2022
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Seems as though a pretty simple fix and hopefully implemented soon. I have constant continual problems with my mail and times where it has been resent to me by sender because not having been received and I still yet never received the mail. Countless and continual issues including the issue addressed in this original post.
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Anonymous
Feb 26, 2022
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Seems to be frequently that I have a package get to my regional facility, which is in my town, and then it gets sent elsewhere instead of being delivered, this has happened on several occasions...too many to be considered a fluke or coincidence.

I'm not sure why it happens but it has to considered sloppy or just hiring people ill-suited to do work that requires precision or specificity. It would seem to me that with all the dollars shoveled into the USPS we could manage to round up a few people who could actually do a reasonable job instead of what we have now, which is completely slipshod. I'm glad I've managed to screen capture the tracking detail so when I finally get a return call from USPS I can complain about why my package got rerouted 200 miles away from me after it finally got to my town and hence probably another 3 days until it gets back here again.

I'm not impressed with the usps...to say the least.
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Nick c
Feb 26, 2022
Your Comment
Not having any luck with usps in my area of north Carolina. Several packages this year including one that's supposed to be delivered today have been missent to out of area post offices where they sit for days and make their way to the charlotte facility where they sit for days. If I messed up this much at work I would be fired.
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Anonymous
Feb 25, 2022
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I had a package due to arrive from Texas to West Virginia. I received a tracking number with a delivery date. The package didn't even leave Texas until the day it was supposed to be delivered to me. Three days later, tracking says it's in Charleston, WV at the distribution center, roughly three hours from me. The next morning, it's in North Carolina for some reason, where it's been for the last three days. It's not even a weekend. This has been through the week. Good thing it's not medication or something of the sort. I can understand letters getting stuck together and misrouted, but with packages, that's not really a valid excuse.
  
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Anonymous
Feb 28, 2022
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I had a package going from New Jersey to Arkansas that was supposed to come in last week and made it to the state sorting and distribution center only to likewise leave and go all the way to North Carolina for whatever reason, which has never happened before.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

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Casandra
Feb 24, 2022
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I live in a suburb of Salt Lake City, UT. My package arrived to the SLC facility on February 19th but instead of being delivered to me it went on to Sacramento and now San Francisco, CA!
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Maggie May
Feb 23, 2022
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I dropped off a small package yesterday at my local PO with a destination of 20 miles west of me in Columbus OH. I got a notification that it arrived at the Pittsburgh dist. center this morning. That's 190 miles in the wrong direction. Expected delivery is tomorrow. I DON'T THINK SO!!
Why do they keep sending stuff off in the wrong direction? This happened last year when a NJ co. sent me something. It went to Columbus dist. center then got sent to Key West FL for 3 days!!! That was 2 day overnight shipment as well.
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Kevin D
Feb 22, 2022
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I currently have a package cycling between Jacksonville and Jersey City. It was mailed in the 3rd week of January from Ohio and has spent a month in this strange limbo. Today, according to tracking, it arrived at Jersey City, left it, then arrived at it again, all within the space of a couple of hours.
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Charles H. Coale
Feb 22, 2022
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I sent a package on Feb 11 from Dover, Delaware to the United Kingdom. As of Feb 21st the package is in New Orleans, LA
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Aristide Stephane
Feb 22, 2022
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My package was shipped on Friday 18th. Since that day I keep receiving notifications that the package is moving between the same locations. It departed the Washington DC network distribution center on the 19th but on the 21st I get another notification that it just arrived there AGAIN. I have an upcoming trip in 2days and that mail contains my passport!!!
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Carah Stoudemire
Feb 21, 2022
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I have a subscription to Ipsy. So 1 box was shipped from Greenwood, IN on 2/9, arrived in Atlanta on 2/10, left Atlanta 2/17, so SEVEN DAYS LATER, and arrived back in Greenwood, IN on 2/22! Tracking says I will have it March 3rd. Mind you I purchase these subscriptions on the 1st of every month. The 2nd one ORIGINATES FROM NORTH CAROLINA WHERE I LIVE. So it was sent from Harrisburg, NC to the local facility there, sat there for over a week, and then was shipped to Marbleton, GA!!! I live in Cary, NC but my mail, and this has never happened before with this subscription, originating 2 hours down the road is being sent to me thru GA now? Normally it comes straight to Raleigh and then to my post office. All other packages I have in transit from other companies appear to be on a normal journey except these 2. I do not get it.
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Michael Mance
Feb 21, 2022
Your Comment
They literally had my package at my post office and the next day it was tracked in Seattle. I am outside of Pittsburgh PA. This has happened on several packages, but this is the biggest screw up so far.
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Chris Brown
Feb 20, 2022
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I had a package mailed to me in NJ from NV. It was supose to be here Sat., the 19th. Instead, it showed it was in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Now who knows if I’ll ever get it. The people in the USPS, like all gov employees, are incompetant.
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MICHAEL O'BLAKE
Feb 19, 2022
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I ordered an Item from Amazon sold by a seller in SC - it never arrived and the USPS inquiry I submitted revealed it was lost. I then found the same item from Walmart sold by the same Amazon seller in SC. it was moving along arriving in Columbia SC on it's way to me in NJ. Next movement was to Miami Florida????? WTF!!! How could this happen - this is insane and someone is incompetent. USPS usually does a very good job but this is the 2nd time on the same item from the same seller at the same SC address!!!!!!
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Chris H
Feb 19, 2022
Your Comment
I watched a package go from NJ, its origin, down to Hapeville, Atlanta, which is ten minutes from my home in about two days. It then stopped showing updates on movement where it presumably sat for 36 hours?? This morning I see its history has been updated to show the package has travelled back to NJ. All the while saying it’s arriving “today”. Should have sprung for the Amazon prime shipping
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Scott
Feb 18, 2022
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Ive been waiting since 2/2/22 for my package. It started in OK, then went to TX and sat forever then started to move and arrived in MN, then went to IA, and now to IL. I'm in Wisconsin and just seems like its fraud or what in the world type of route is this????
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Cecile Camarata
Feb 17, 2022
Your Comment
My vendor sent Priority Mail - 2 day from Tampa, Fl to Drummonds, TN. Instead USPS routed the box to Chicago, IL which is 8 hours from Memphis, TN. I needed this package to be delivered by the 18th as promised. Now my product won't get here in time. Thanks USPS for nothing.
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Bettina Maria Knoll
Feb 17, 2022
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I sent a package from NYC zip code 10025 to NYC zip code 11231 and tracking shows it to be in Carolina, Puerto Rico!!!
  
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Marie Sosnowski
Feb 18, 2022
Your Comment
Did you get a reason why your package is in P.R. Mine is there too and I’m in Queens NYC - it was due today February 18 but that’s impossible now.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

     
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Peter
Feb 23, 2022
Your Comment
Don't feel bad about these non-acceptable delivery situations. I live in Puerto Rico and ordered merchandise from Florida. The delivery route for the package was to New York and then back to Florida, then to the distribution center in Memphis and finally to Puerto Rico. No wonder postal rates keep going up, including their box services. I think the government should contract private companies like Fedex and others to do the delivery service and get rid of the non-functional Postal Service, since it's not providing the quality service it used to in the past.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

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Michaela
Feb 17, 2022
Your Comment
I had a package valued at $269 plus the $26 for express shipping moving through the system perfectly, until it reached Jamaica, NY International Distribution Center on February 14th at 9:03PM . The package was coming from Brooklyn, NY to Tennessee. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday, February 16th by 6:00 PM. I have had no tracking updates since the 14th, and there is no way to get ahold of this distribution center to locate it. There is no reason my package should have to go through customs considering it is not leaving the U.S.
  
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Shane Weaver
Feb 18, 2022
Your Comment
Good luck! I've had a few packages get "lost", "sent 1,000 miles further away from where it's supposed to go ", or just takes DAY, IF NOT WEEKS TO MOVE. That's also the facility who decided to charge me $35 on a package that was marked 14lbs and weighed 14lbs and .5oz. Customer also contacted me and told me the box arrived wet on the outside... I got a refund for USPS's stupidity on that. Hopefully it's not going to the Memphis regional facility..

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

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Katie J Hemann
Feb 16, 2022
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I sent a package from iowa to Arizona it was supposed to be delivered yesterday I check the tracking and it says it was in Arizona on the 13th but now on the 16th it says it's back in iowa what the heck is going on with our mail system