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Do not count on your Holiday deliveries getting to there destination in a timely manner. Carries across the board are citing Network Strain and scaling back operations. This will only get worse if a COVID-19 Vaccine becomes available and starts to ship world wide.

Plan ahead now.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ups-slaps-shipping-limits-on-gap-nike-to-manage-e-commerce-surge-11606926669

United Parcel Service Inc. imposed shipping restrictions on some large retailers such as Gap Inc. and Nike Inc. this week, an early sign that the pandemic-fueled online shopping season is stretching delivery networks to their limits.

Such actions will only increase as we get closer to the Holidays. I have heard similar stories as this for FedEx, DHL, and USPS.

Goiing to feel self-congratulatory here, saw this coming. Got my Guilt & Obligation Day gifts done already, and convinced family and friends to do likewise (and to rein things in a bit).

Actually got my crap a week before dark magic finances day, just to get one more ticking clock out of my life.

I think this was inevitable - huge increased mail service demand.
We got everything sorted for Christmas in November, just to be safe, and have already started to see deliveries slowing down.

Also, if you go to track your package and it says "Label Created" that means that the retailer packed it and put it on a truck for the delivery company to pick up. The Delivery Company then needs to pick up the truck and scan it in at their distribution center.

If your order is in Label Created, then you are essentially in package Mail Jail. The Retailer can not get it off the truck and the delivery company will not see it in their system. You are Out of Luck.

Oh man, i have some expensive statues that i preordered months ago that are supposed to ship this month.....lets hope nothing happens to them

Honestly it was probably better to sort this stuff out maybe early-mid November at the latest. Post would normally slow down from increased load around christmas anyway.

This year is going to make normal delays seem crazy.

We actually saw impacts to the packing infrastructure all year, but now it is going to be much worse than usual.

The cut-off dates for Christmas Delivery for many companies is the next 2-3 days. December 9th through the 13th depending on the retailer.

Yeah, bought some stuff on marketplace and the guy had to ship two boxes. One showed up yesterday, the other one is still stuck in texas. You can tell the poor postal folks are stretched to the limit. I'm seeing all sorts of rental trucks and temps brought on to cover demand

Yeah, my parents are trying to track some packages that they sent late, and apparently things are stuck in a hub facility, where (according to the local post office) half the staff is out sick.

Major bronchitis infection among other things. Now, me being a suspicious person, I'm not sure it isn't a variant of 'blue flu,' but that's the story they're telling in response to queries locally.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Yeah, bought some stuff on marketplace and the guy had to ship two boxes. One showed up yesterday, the other one is still stuck in texas. You can tell the poor postal folks are stretched to the limit. I'm seeing all sorts of rental trucks and temps brought on to cover demand

Rental trucks are usually what FedEx does. They sold off a big chunk of their truck fleet and instead they use rentals for some dumb reason.

If you're seeing what you think are "temps"? There's an extremely big chance that it's actually staff from your local post office branch working unpaid, unclocked time to make sure things get delivered.

https://inews.co.uk/news/brexit/thousands-kids-uk-latest-miserable-christmas-presents-delayed-pre-brexit-ports-chaos-788870

bloody wonderful

Another point to factor in: many people finished their holiday shopping early and had presents delivered directly to loved ones.

Loved ones already opened their gifts, decided they weren't satisfied, and returned them.

The global metric for online purchase returns is something like 15%. That number goes way up in January traditionally, when people are getting gifts purchased a while back.

So the load is increased by about another 10% on top of purchases.

 techsoldaten wrote:
Another point to factor in: many people finished their holiday shopping early and had presents delivered directly to loved ones.

Loved ones already opened their gifts, decided they weren't satisfied, and returned them.

The global metric for online purchase returns is something like 15%. That number goes way up in January traditionally, when people are getting gifts purchased a while back.

So the load is increased by about another 10% on top of purchases.

Interesting. This is the first time I have heard this bit of news.

I've got a couple of eBay orders that have been stuck in limbo for a while now. Not sure when or even if they'll get here. One of them is a Christmas present for my brother, so I'd really like it to get here before Christmas. That said, I'm not going to be a bastard and complain to the postal service. Those poor folks are having to work extra time and jump through extra hoops because of all this COVID crap, so they absolutely get a pass here.

Oh no, thank you for the heads up on this! Need to get a few orders for the kids in ASAP then

So, mail for my play is being messed up royally.
Aparently for the longest time, my Office has been fudging number onw how many there are, turns out there are only 20% of what there should be.
And, we have locking lockboxes, so i guess they are not locked them too and forgetting to.

yeah I saw this coming months ago.

GW announcing the delay in the death guard codex release should have been a giant sign for everyone

BrianDavion wrote:
yeah I saw this coming months ago.

GW announcing the delay in the death guard codex release should have been a giant sign for everyone

Global shipping is down, Maersk has been buying other shipping companies during the Pandemic simply to cut supply.

I imagine the issue is there's not enough shipping operators to really get things where they need to go at this point. Also, medical supplies take priority over other things, I've heard a couple stories about shipments that got waylaid for other containers.

Well some expensive thing i ordered have shipped from fedex.
I dont care when they come, but i hope the dont get lost.
I would say they should have prepared for this but........
there was no way they could have

Slovenian Post ran out of warehouse and then they ran out of tents and now they have packages sitting out in the rain for days waiting to be processed.

 techsoldaten wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
yeah I saw this coming months ago.

GW announcing the delay in the death guard codex release should have been a giant sign for everyone

Global shipping is down, Maersk has been buying other shipping companies during the Pandemic simply to cut supply.

I imagine the issue is there's not enough shipping operators to really get things where they need to go at this point. Also, medical supplies take priority over other things, I've heard a couple stories about shipments that got waylaid for other containers.

Seems there’s also issues with empty container storage. Generally, the world’s finite number of containers are in a sort of loop. Packed up, picked up, shipped, unloaded, emptied, rinse and repeat. But with general troubles with international shipping etc, there are a high number empty as a result, and you gotta store them somewhere. Without dedicated storage areas, they’re cluttering up ports.

The Carriers say that they do not have enough drivers to move all the trailers.

Ok, so, i hope this isnt a political question but,
I have heard Brexit is causing major shipping problems too. I ordered 1 or 2 things from there and i heard things are cought up in port.

the uk ports are clogged up with empty containers, and have too many ships trying to get in as everybody is trying to stockpile goods and raw materials assuming Brexit isn't going to end in a deal (edit: plus normal Christmas overcrowding & covid related staff shortages, and working restrictions)

so stuff is moving a lot more slowly than normal but that's really only going to hit postage to the EU which is certainly running more slowly than normal

postage to the USA is mainly going to be going by air, so while there aren't nearly as many flights going out for tourist/business travel there will be a decent number of cargo flights. I think any holdups for you are most likely to be down to US customs (covid working conditions, more online orders coming in, workers off sick etc)

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Ok, so, i hope this isnt a political question but,
I have heard Brexit is causing major shipping problems too. I ordered 1 or 2 things from there and i heard things are cought up in port.

Well yeah that's true and it will go worse. Especially once transfer period ends and all the checks and paperwork kicks in. This will cause delays a LOT. And for added fun: Drivers are paid by kilometers they drive. Not by hour spend. If they have to wait days for line to clear(quite plausible) that's 2 days unpaid...So many drivers are already warning they might not come to UK. Less drivers carrying stuff=more left to carry for those who still do but that will obviously result in further slow downs.

(and lorry park goverment was trying to build wont' be completed in time).

Better to not have anything coming either way if you need speed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
the uk ports are clogged up with empty containers, and have too many ships trying to get in as everybody is trying to stockpile goods and raw materials assuming Brexit isn't going to end in a deal (edit: plus normal Christmas overcrowding & covid related staff shortages, and working restrictions)

so stuff is moving a lot more slowly than normal but that's really only going to hit postage to the EU which is certainly running more slowly than normal

postage to the USA is mainly going to be going by air, so while there aren't nearly as many flights going out for tourist/business travel there will be a decent number of cargo flights. I think any holdups for you are most likely to be down to US customs (covid working conditions, more online orders coming in, workers off sick etc)

And postage from EU.

Also even with deal there will be delays due to checks etc. Deal would remove just tariffs(aka tax to be paid for goods) and quotas. Checks and paperwork would still be there regardless of do they make a deal or not. UK isn't even trying to get deal which would negate checks and paperwork. Just the tariff's and quotas. Everything's going to take longer than before in future even after initial shock is worn over. There's no way you can add checks and paperworks and do it as fast as before without those. Sheer impossibility.

Put a small package in the mail last week. Was given a 3 day delivery estimate. Currently on day 9. Tracking hasn’t even changed in the last 4 days.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Ok, so, i hope this isnt a political question but,
I have heard Brexit is causing major shipping problems too. I ordered 1 or 2 things from there and i heard things are cought up in port.

Yup I wouldn't order anything either from or to the UK at the moment.

They are talking about having to use military flights to bring in the vaccine early next year so that will tell you..

 techsoldaten wrote:
Another point to factor in: many people finished their holiday shopping early and had presents delivered directly to loved ones.

Loved ones already opened their gifts, decided they weren't satisfied, and returned them.

The global metric for online purchase returns is something like 15%. That number goes way up in January traditionally, when people are getting gifts purchased a while back.

So the load is increased by about another 10% on top of purchases.

Wow, nothing like that old fashioned holiday spirit eh...

 AduroT wrote:
Put a small package in the mail last week. Was given a 3 day delivery estimate. Currently on day 9. Tracking hasn’t even changed in the last 4 days.

That's nothing, I've got one that was supposed to be here on December 7th, so it's 10 days late and the tracking hasn't been updated for like 8 days. I think this is probably what everybody is going through however; I saw a picture that was from the back room of a post office somewhere and it was literally hip deep in packages of all shapes and sizes. Made me really feel bad for all the workers who have to somehow sort through all that.