Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

Has anyone else noticed interesting package routes from the USPS? I have Informed Delivery and like to see what packages I'm expecting so I can fetch them before the porch pirates do. Ex. A package shipped from NYC goes to Puerto Rico before going to Nashville. Needless to say it isn't going to get to SLC by 9pm tonight. Last month I had one go from Kansas City to Nashville and then head west. This NY-PR-TN-??? is by far the strangest one.....

I also have Informed Delivery.   Fortunately I have honest neighbors that don't steal packages.  I live in California. Once I place with a dealer in Texas.   The package first went to New York, before heading my way.  I always thought that California was to the west of Texas.  

I can't really speak to the example with Puerto Rico, but the second example makes sense to me. Nashville is very close to the geographical centre of the US. It wouldn't surprise me if USPS has a major hub there, much like UPS and FedEx do.

I ordered a part from RockAuto last month which went NY-TN-Canada (yes, I know in my example it's international, instead of domestic, but my main point still stands)

Yeah...the hub concept makes sense. This Puerto Rico one makes no sense at all....but it is the USPS so whatever dimension they reside in it must. Gave me a good laugh though.

Based on past experience it makes perfect sense! Lol...had one from Maryland, got sent to San Francisco for 5 days, then to Missouri, to Kansas then back to missouri. (Granted I'm very close to mo/ks border and not everyone realizes kansas city MO is in mo, but San francisco???)

Sometimes packages "go for a ride". When I was a mail carrier in Oklahoma I had a poly bag package that wasnt taped well and there was a small package tucked away that was supposed to be for Florida. I have even found parcels inside the bottom of the large parcel bags. Sometimes things happen.

I asked a friend of mine who works for the Post Office about this scenario last year as I had a package go from Seattle to New York before being routed back to the mid-west. What he informed me of is that some facilities are sending mail to other regions for sorting. At that time it was likely  related to Covid issues whre the PO facility was impacted, therefore it was sent elsewhere for processing and sorting. I'm not sure if that is the same impact now, but anything that is not making a more direct route is probably caught up in bulk mail being shipped to other facilities for sorting. This will likely get worse getting closer to the Holidays.