GPS Trackers Test Mail Delivery Time

[prwhite]

A Tampa Bay, Florida TV station placed GPS trackers into USPS Priority Mail & First-Class packages—and mailed them—to monitor how long it took to deliver, and to see if there was a time difference between Priority & First-Class.

Between Oct. 1 & Dec. 31 of 2020, the USPS processed more than 997 million First Class & Priority Mail packages. This holiday season, it expects to deliver up to 950 million packages. It'll process & deliver more than 12 billion pieces of mail, with letters & cards in the mix. The postal service projects regular First-Class packages should be delivered within 5-days & Priority Mail packages should arrive within 1 to 3-days.

The Test
Two medium Priority Mail boxes & two regular brown boxes—via less pricey, First-Class mail—were loaded with GPS trackers & dropped, at the same time, at Tampa’s main post office. The pricier Priority Mail & the less expensive First-Class boxes were sent to 4 different individuals in different geographical regions across the United States, to determine how long it would take & where the packages would go. The tracking devices tracked the packages as they moved from the main post office to other USPS facilities.

The result
All packages—regardless of class—were delivered at the same time & in less than 2-days.

 

[gordo]

Well, no one is perfect.

 

[gregbatch]

... and I'm still receiving political mail for a November 2nd election, including our own seeds. At least they have their priorities straight.

 

[noelward]

Has it occurred to anyone that the trackers informed a computer system that these packages were being tracked and needed "special handling?"

On a related note, I am still yet to receive 2 pieces of First-Class mail that Informed Delivery told me about in February. They have never arrived. One was a check from a client, who kindly replaced it within days. The other has gone walkabout. The local post office had nothing useful to say. The USPS Informed Delivery website let me check a box to tell them I had not received the mail. And nothing happened. Ever.

 

[Lorenzo lab guy]

USPS is doing much better this Holiday Season here in Northern Ohio. At this time last year we had nearly a thousand packages in limbo stored in trailers at the Cleveland facility. Unscaned and many were delivered after more than 4 weeks.