Wandering shipment

TailGator · May 8, 2017, 10:13 AM

This is not a big deal, but I thought it might amuse some of you:

I bought a used pistol on GunBroker, and the seller shipped very promptly. The tracking showed the package making it to Orlando, just about 90 minutes away by car, on Friday, with an expected Monday delivery to my FFL. But on Sunday, it was logged into a mail facility in Puerto Rico! Monday probably isn't going to happen. Thank you USPS.

Technosavant · May 8, 2017, 11:04 AM

Sometimes a gun just wants to see the world.

Once I had sent a shotgun back to Remington for some warranty work. It came back (from Ithaca, NY to St. Louis, MO) via Ogden, Utah.

I could understand it more had it been a Browning.

Edit to add: It was UPS.

mete · May 8, 2017, 11:23 AM

USPS ? Small package OH to NY - up and down , back and forth very tiring, all that travelling so it took 3 days R+R in FL ! Six weeks the stage coach arrived !

Gunplummer · May 8, 2017, 06:59 PM

I recently bought an old barrel off a guy in Indiana. USPS Track had it in Philadelphia. Then it headed west. It was in Colorado and Wyoming, and headed into the Dakotas. I called the Post Office and complained. It tracked it's way back to the town it started in and headed for PA again. Took almost two weeks, but I got it. No wonder the Post Office is going broke.

TailGator · May 9, 2017, 03:37 PM

My wife and I are starting to joke about the pistol having a longer vacation that we are taking. Wish I could get credit for the frequent flyer miles it is racking up.

peggysue · May 9, 2017, 04:00 PM

I orders a guns from Buds last winter that instead of coming to the Midwest from KY took a side trip to Florida. It made it after only a few days delay. Either it wanted a warm holiday in Florida or it got sidetracked going to a town with the same name.

g.willikers · May 9, 2017, 04:28 PM

A recent UPS delivery to our house went missing.
Tracking showed it had been delivered.
I called them and they said it had indeed been delivered.
I asked where.
The said just walk the neighborhood, I'd find it.
I did, it was delivered, just not to me.

Gary L. Griffiths · May 10, 2017, 01:20 AM

I believe I can claim the undisputed title in the "Wandering Gun" category. It started when the dimwit Boston gun dealer put a wrong number in the zip code for Florence, Arizona.....

February 23, 2017, 9:46 am Available for Pickup FLORENCE, AZ 85132
February 23, 2017, 6:28 am Arrived at Post Office FLORENCE, AZ 85132
February 22, 2017, 5:41 am Processing Exception PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 22, 2017, 4:42 am In Transit to Destination
February 21, 2017, 8:48 am Available at PO Box ARIZONA CITY, AZ 85123
February 21, 2017, 8:38 am Sorting Complete ARIZONA CITY, AZ 85123
February 20, 2017, 6:13 am Arrived at USPS Facility NASHUA, NH 03063
February 20, 2017, 12:12 am Processing Exception BOSTON, MA 02205
February 19, 2017, 11:49 pm Processing Exception BOSTON, MA 02205
February 19, 2017, 11:43 pm Processing Exception BOSTON, MA 02205
February 18, 2017, 9:16 pm Processing Exception PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 18, 2017, 8:49 pm Processing Exception PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 18, 2017, 8:39 pm Arrived at USPS Destination Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 18, 2017, 10:12 am Arrived at USPS Facility ARIZONA CITY, AZ 85123
February 18, 2017, 5:37 am Arrived at USPS Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85026
February 18, 2017, 5:08 am Departed USPS Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 18, 2017, 2:27 am Arrived at USPS Destination Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 17, 2017, 12:17 am Departed USPS Origin Facility NASHUA, NH 03063
February 17, 2017, 12:11 am Arrived at USPS Origin Facility NASHUA, NH 03063
February 16, 2017, 1:52 am Departed USPS Origin Facility BOSTON, MA 02205
February 11, 2017, 5:28 am Arrived at USPS Origin Facility BOSTON, MA 02205
February 10, 2017, 7:53 pm In Transit to Destination
February 9, 2017, 7:53 pm Arrived at USPS Destination Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 9, 2017, 7:44 am Arrived at USPS Facility CASA GRANDE, AZ 85122
February 9, 2017, 2:51 am Arrived at USPS Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85026
February 9, 2017, 2:24 am Departed USPS Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 8, 2017, 10:20 pm Arrived at USPS Destination Facility PHOENIX, AZ 85043
February 8, 2017, 12:21 pm Departed USPS Facility CASA GRANDE, AZ 85122
February 8, 2017, 12:20 pm Arrived at USPS Facility CASA GRANDE, AZ 85122
February 8, 2017, 4:28 am In Transit to Destination
February 6, 2017, 9:28 pm Departed USPS Origin Facility NASHUA, NH 03063
February 6, 2017, 9:26 pm Arrived at USPS Origin Facility NASHUA, NH 03063
February 6, 2017, 10:46 am Acceptance WINTHROP, MA 02152

tangolima · May 10, 2017, 02:43 AM

My story.

Bought an antique rifle from a guy in Texas. He shipped promptly and sent me the USPS tracking number. I expected it would take a week, so I didn't check till 3 days later.

I was alarmed to see the tracking status. It said it had been delivered the day before, in a mail box in Pennsylvania! I'm in Southern California, and the rifle can't possibly fit in any mail box!

Contacted the seller. He confirmed the tracking number. And he was alarmed too. He went down to the post office to check. He was told the tracking number was wrong. Basically they loss track the rifle!

Nothing could be done but wait. About 10 days later a large box appeared on our front porch. It was the rifle, in good shape. Both the seller and I sighed a collective relief.

Every time I go to the post office there is a line. The clerks are always working hard. They should have enough customers. Why are they still losing money? I probably know why.

-TL

TailGator · May 11, 2017, 10:34 AM

It arrived in good shape yesterday, just two days late.

The whole thing reminded me of a family story about my dad ordering a lawn mower from Sears back in the 1960s. It was supposed to be shipped for him to pick it up from their store in Melbourne, Florida, at the time the nearest Sears store. When it didn't arrive on time, Sears people looked for it for quite some time, several weeks with the means available at the time, before calling my dad to say it had been located in Melbourne, Australia.

So maybe a side trip to Puerto Rico and a two day delay isn't so bad.

FrankenMauser · May 11, 2017, 03:34 PM

I've had some issues with firearm shipments, but they were primarily shipper error.
...Such as erroneously shipping to an FFL that was out of business, but USPS still, somehow, managed to get a signature and slide the gun through the mail slot in the door...

. I said, "Big D's Gun and Pawn." They heard, "Doc's Gun Barn."
The shipper ended up being very gracious, sending a replacement to the correct FFL, and then waiting almost 9 months to get the first item returned.

The worst 'wandering package' that I've had was a shipment from Skinner Sights in June 2014.
Shipped from Misoula, MT. Due to USPS shutting down all of the rural post offices and the only sorting center around here, that meant going through my city to Salt Lake, then back. Should have been two, maybe three days in transit.
Two weeks later, still no package. I asked Skinner for the tracking number, and was a bit amazed.
The travels of that package were ridiculous, and I watched for 53 days before it was returned to Skinner and then re-shipped. (3 more days for delivery.)

It took 56 days for a USPS small flat rate box to get to a destination 450 miles away. Luckily for Skinner and myself, I didn't need the parts immediately; so we had some time to watch the show.

-Missoula MT
-Salt Lake City, UT
-Draper, UT
-Declared "Undeliverable" (Good, because I lived in Idaho, and the label had an Idaho address!)
-Salt Lake City, UT
-Aurora, CO
-Missoula, MT
-Grand Junction, CO
-Billings, MT
-Kansas City, KS
-Aurora, CO
-Billings, MT
(Disappeared for nine days.)
-Billings, MT (Out one side, and back in the other...)
-Billings, MT
-Billings, MT
-Billings, MT
-Billings, MT
-Boise, ID
-Billings, MT
(No movement for 7 days.)
-Draper, UT
-Declared "undeliverable" again.

-Salt Lake City, UT
-Grand Junction, CO
-Billings, MT (The game grew old. Package intercept initiated at a cost of $35.

)
-Missoula, MT
--- Repackaged and reshipped with exactly the same information.
-Missoula, MT
-Salt Lake City, UT
-Pocatello, ID

BearBrimstone · May 12, 2017, 09:41 AM

Its not quite as amazing as everyone else's stories, but I once had a package go missing for 3 months. I shipped a holster shell back to Alien Gear to get an exchange for a different one and never heard anything from them. About a month in I emailed them and they said they did not receive it, but being the awesome company that they are they sent me the new shell free of charge without the missing trade-in. A couple months after that I received a second shell from them in the mail. I do not know where it was lost at since I had not purchased a tracking number, but the original shell had finally made it to Alien Gear and they had sent the replacement shell out for it. I called them and the guy I talked to told me to keep the extra shell and so that is why I have two Smith & Wesson Shield Alien Gear shells.

FrankenMauser · May 31, 2017, 04:57 AM

Two recent shipments (not yet delivered, actually) that went astray...

I ordered a pistol from Bud's.
Shipped quickly.
Went to my LGS to pick up a shotgun and an AR receiver (that I ordered six weeks ago).
AR receiver wasn't there, even though it showed that it was on the truck in the morning and all deliveries to my LGS happen by 11 am.
...Whatever, they had my shotgun.
Told the LGS that I'd be back "tomorrow" for the pistol and maybe the AR lower.

I get home, check the tracking numbers again, and they both show that they're 180 miles away in the sorting center. Whatever... it'll work out.

I check the tracking numbers the next day, and the AR receiver hasn't moved, but the pistol shows a delivery 'exception' for a closed business.
I hit the interwebs, check my order with Bud's, and see that they changed the FFL from my selected FFL to one of their "preferred dealers" -- I'm guessing because the 'preferred dealer' was right around the corner. The chosen recipient of the pistol, however, has been out of business since last October!

I call Bud's and get things straightened out and clarified (great customer service, even if they screwed the pooch to begin with!). They have to recall the shipment, inspect it, repackage it, and ship it back out to the FFL that I selected in the first place. (That'll take a week.)

I keep checking the AR receiver, over the course of five days, and it isn't moving. It's just sitting in the sorting center 180 miles away. Very, very strange ... for almost any package.

I get another shipping notice from Bud's with a new tracking number.

So, I keep tabs on both shipments.
Everything seems fine until the pistol stops in Denver for four days, and the AR receiver pops up in San Francisco. (I'm in Idaho, and the AR receiver shipped from Washington!)

But that, apparently, isn't stupid enough.

The pistol, after another four days, is in Topeka, Kansas, and the AR receiver has bounced across the country to Newark, Jew Jersey!

...And people wonder why everyone hates UPS, FedEx, and USPS so much...

May 8, 2017, 10:13 AM	#1
TailGator Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 3,787	Wandering shipment This is not a big deal, but I thought it might amuse some of you: I bought a used pistol on GunBroker, and the seller shipped very promptly. The tracking showed the package making it to Orlando, just about 90 minutes away by car, on Friday, with an expected Monday delivery to my FFL. But on Sunday, it was logged into a mail facility in Puerto Rico! Monday probably isn't going to happen. Thank you USPS.

May 8, 2017, 11:04 AM	#2
Technosavant Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2007 Location: St. Louis, MO area Posts: 4,040	Sometimes a gun just wants to see the world. Once I had sent a shotgun back to Remington for some warranty work. It came back (from Ithaca, NY to St. Louis, MO) via Ogden, Utah. I could understand it more had it been a Browning. Edit to add: It was UPS. Last edited by Technosavant; May 8, 2017 at 07:22 PM.

May 8, 2017, 11:23 AM	#3
mete Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2004 Location: NY State Posts: 6,575	USPS ? Small package OH to NY - up and down , back and forth very tiring, all that travelling so it took 3 days R+R in FL ! Six weeks the stage coach arrived ! __________________ And Watson , bring your revolver !

May 9, 2017, 04:28 PM	#7
g.willikers Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2008 Posts: 10,442	A recent UPS delivery to our house went missing. Tracking showed it had been delivered. I called them and they said it had indeed been delivered. I asked where. The said just walk the neighborhood, I'd find it. I did, it was delivered, just not to me. __________________ Walt Kelly, alias Pogo, sez: “Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.”

May 8, 2017, 06:59 PM	#4
Gunplummer Senior Member Join Date: March 11, 2010 Location: South East Pa. Posts: 3,364	I recently bought an old barrel off a guy in Indiana. USPS Track had it in Philadelphia. Then it headed west. It was in Colorado and Wyoming, and headed into the Dakotas. I called the Post Office and complained. It tracked it's way back to the town it started in and headed for PA again. Took almost two weeks, but I got it. No wonder the Post Office is going broke.

May 9, 2017, 03:37 PM	#5
TailGator Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 3,787	My wife and I are starting to joke about the pistol having a longer vacation that we are taking. Wish I could get credit for the frequent flyer miles it is racking up.

May 9, 2017, 04:00 PM	#6
peggysue Junior member Join Date: May 20, 2014 Posts: 1,835	I orders a guns from Buds last winter that instead of coming to the Midwest from KY took a side trip to Florida. It made it after only a few days delay. Either it wanted a warm holiday in Florida or it got sidetracked going to a town with the same name.

May 10, 2017, 02:43 AM	#9
tangolima Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2013 Posts: 3,826	My story. Bought an antique rifle from a guy in Texas. He shipped promptly and sent me the USPS tracking number. I expected it would take a week, so I didn't check till 3 days later. I was alarmed to see the tracking status. It said it had been delivered the day before, in a mail box in Pennsylvania! I'm in Southern California, and the rifle can't possibly fit in any mail box! Contacted the seller. He confirmed the tracking number. And he was alarmed too. He went down to the post office to check. He was told the tracking number was wrong. Basically they loss track the rifle! Nothing could be done but wait. About 10 days later a large box appeared on our front porch. It was the rifle, in good shape. Both the seller and I sighed a collective relief. Every time I go to the post office there is a line. The clerks are always working hard. They should have enough customers. Why are they still losing money? I probably know why. -TL

May 11, 2017, 10:34 AM	#10
TailGator Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 3,787	It arrived in good shape yesterday, just two days late. The whole thing reminded me of a family story about my dad ordering a lawn mower from Sears back in the 1960s. It was supposed to be shipped for him to pick it up from their store in Melbourne, Florida, at the time the nearest Sears store. When it didn't arrive on time, Sears people looked for it for quite some time, several weeks with the means available at the time, before calling my dad to say it had been located in Melbourne, Australia. So maybe a side trip to Puerto Rico and a two day delay isn't so bad.

May 11, 2017, 03:34 PM	#11
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,424	I've had some issues with firearm shipments, but they were primarily shipper error. ...Such as erroneously shipping to an FFL that was out of business, but USPS still, somehow, managed to get a signature and slide the gun through the mail slot in the door... . I said, "Big D's Gun and Pawn." They heard, "Doc's Gun Barn." The shipper ended up being very gracious, sending a replacement to the correct FFL, and then waiting almost 9 months to get the first item returned. The worst 'wandering package' that I've had was a shipment from Skinner Sights in June 2014. Shipped from Misoula, MT. Due to USPS shutting down all of the rural post offices and the only sorting center around here, that meant going through my city to Salt Lake, then back. Should have been two, maybe three days in transit. Two weeks later, still no package. I asked Skinner for the tracking number, and was a bit amazed. The travels of that package were ridiculous, and I watched for 53 days before it was returned to Skinner and then re-shipped. (3 more days for delivery.) It took 56 days for a USPS small flat rate box to get to a destination 450 miles away. Luckily for Skinner and myself, I didn't need the parts immediately; so we had some time to watch the show. -Missoula MT -Salt Lake City, UT -Draper, UT -Declared "Undeliverable" (Good, because I lived in Idaho, and the label had an Idaho address!) -Salt Lake City, UT -Aurora, CO -Missoula, MT -Grand Junction, CO -Billings, MT -Kansas City, KS -Aurora, CO -Billings, MT (Disappeared for nine days.) -Billings, MT (Out one side, and back in the other...) -Billings, MT -Billings, MT -Billings, MT -Billings, MT -Boise, ID -Billings, MT (No movement for 7 days.) -Draper, UT -Declared "undeliverable" again. -Salt Lake City, UT -Grand Junction, CO -Billings, MT (The game grew old. Package intercept initiated at a cost of $35. ) -Missoula, MT --- Repackaged and reshipped with exactly the same information. -Missoula, MT -Salt Lake City, UT -Pocatello, ID __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

May 12, 2017, 09:41 AM	#12
BearBrimstone Member Join Date: January 5, 2017 Posts: 67	Its not quite as amazing as everyone else's stories, but I once had a package go missing for 3 months. I shipped a holster shell back to Alien Gear to get an exchange for a different one and never heard anything from them. About a month in I emailed them and they said they did not receive it, but being the awesome company that they are they sent me the new shell free of charge without the missing trade-in. A couple months after that I received a second shell from them in the mail. I do not know where it was lost at since I had not purchased a tracking number, but the original shell had finally made it to Alien Gear and they had sent the replacement shell out for it. I called them and the guy I talked to told me to keep the extra shell and so that is why I have two Smith & Wesson Shield Alien Gear shells.

May 31, 2017, 04:57 AM	#13
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,424	Two recent shipments (not yet delivered, actually) that went astray... I ordered a pistol from Bud's. Shipped quickly. Went to my LGS to pick up a shotgun and an AR receiver (that I ordered six weeks ago). AR receiver wasn't there, even though it showed that it was on the truck in the morning and all deliveries to my LGS happen by 11 am. ...Whatever, they had my shotgun. Told the LGS that I'd be back "tomorrow" for the pistol and maybe the AR lower. I get home, check the tracking numbers again, and they both show that they're 180 miles away in the sorting center. Whatever... it'll work out. I check the tracking numbers the next day, and the AR receiver hasn't moved, but the pistol shows a delivery 'exception' for a closed business. I hit the interwebs, check my order with Bud's, and see that they changed the FFL from my selected FFL to one of their "preferred dealers" -- I'm guessing because the 'preferred dealer' was right around the corner. The chosen recipient of the pistol, however, has been out of business since last October! I call Bud's and get things straightened out and clarified (great customer service, even if they screwed the pooch to begin with!). They have to recall the shipment, inspect it, repackage it, and ship it back out to the FFL that I selected in the first place. (That'll take a week.) I keep checking the AR receiver, over the course of five days, and it isn't moving. It's just sitting in the sorting center 180 miles away. Very, very strange ... for almost any package. I get another shipping notice from Bud's with a new tracking number. So, I keep tabs on both shipments. Everything seems fine until the pistol stops in Denver for four days, and the AR receiver pops up in San Francisco. (I'm in Idaho, and the AR receiver shipped from Washington!) But that, apparently, isn't stupid enough. The pistol, after another four days, is in Topeka, Kansas, and the AR receiver has bounced across the country to Newark, Jew Jersey! ...And people wonder why everyone hates UPS, FedEx, and USPS so much... __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.