A Tale of Two Packages.

[panerai153]

Much is said here about shipping times from various locations, Noobs worry if things aren't delivered the next day from the other side of the planet. So here is the tale of two packages both shipped EMS, which is the equivalent of Express Mail International here in the USA.

Package 1 was shipped from the EU on May 5th, cleared the ISC in NY on May 7th, then silence. Tracked it every few days, nothing. Talked to the supervisor at our local PO, he got all the info, and said he would initiate a trace, but the PO usually wouldn't do anything until the package was "lost" for over 30 days. Which was a couple of days away. Well, I decided to track it again yesterday, and lo and behold, it was moving again, on the way and due to be at my local PO today. It got there and I picked it up, a month and a day from "acceptance"!!

Package 2 was shipped from Hong Kong on June 3rd. It tracked like a bullet, ISC NJ on the 4th, and at my local PO for pickup this morning!! I live halfway across the country from NY and NJ, so that's was really, really fast.

The supervisor at the PO and I were discussing the two packages, and he said that the USPS had regulations about Priority and Express mail, but US Customs has no regulations governing how long they can hold a package. He said that they don't care if it's Express, Priority, Registered or First Class, they can take their sweet time clearing the package. So, the moral of this story is the USPS hands a package over to customs, it's out of their control. I think that quite often we, me included, blame the USPS when stuff doesn't arrive on time, when in fact the culprit is US Customs, not the PO. So when your tracking shows "cleared ISC" it's now in the hands of Customs, for as long as they want!!

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[Mike on a bike]

Well glad you got late arrival !   Had a Gen C Ward stuck for 3 weeks from C Ward UK. My post guy as yours could do nothing now I was not worried Gen brand new from manufacturer no VAT here what they gonna do but still three weeks.......... :bangin: