Why do packages take long to arrive

You see it; you like it; you order it; where is it? Typically, a package is delivered in one to nine days. You can check our articles on specific couriers to learn more:. Unless a courier service officially states that a shipping schedule is guaranteed, you should know it is only an estimate. You may need to have an account and a tracking number to perform the search. Once you get down to the bottom of your package issue, we can help you take steps to resolve it.

Whether your package is delayed, missing, or damaged, DoNotPay has got it covered. Our Late Delivery Refund product is designed to save you both time and money. We can file a complaint and send a refund request to the shipping company. If you have any more questions—general or service-specific—our learning center is the place to be. Whether the products you ordered are late, missing, or faulty, you can ask for your money back through the DoNotPay app. There was a price increase in August and the Postal Service just temporarily increased the cost to ship a parcel during the holiday season.

The current changes are part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's year Delivering for America plan to overhaul the agency and try to tackle its massive debt.

Besides lengthening mail timetables and raising rates, DeJoy's plan, which has generated controversy , also reduces post office hours. And every hour, an average of On top of that, there's been a massive decline in the volume of first-class mail like letters, cards and bills as Americans rely more and more on electronic payments and communication.

The rising demand of e-commerce also means that the agency is struggling to match the quick delivery of packages from competitors like UPS, FedEx and even Amazon itself, which has its own delivery network. We'll explain how the Postal Service's changes affect you. Costlier or erratic mail delivery could lead to delays in wedding invitations, birthday cards, unemployment checks, mail-in ballots or child tax credit payments.

Below, we'll explain what these price hikes and delays mean, what to do if you're facing a holdup with a package, and what options you have to send mail. This story was recently updated. The Postal Service has said it's struggling to meet high performance standards, and it's been financially underwater for a while now.

The COVID pandemic exacerbated its sluggish service and cash crisis, as staffing shortages collided with both the surge of online buying for essentials and the influx of election ballots, which pushed DeJoy into the national spotlight. More on that below.

One way the USPS plans to reduce costs is by using fewer airplanes to ship mail and instead use more trucks, which can move a higher volume of mail for less money. Ground transportation is also more reliable than air in all seasons, according to the Postal Service.

When asked for comment, a Postal Service spokesperson said the new service standards will increase delivery reliability, consistency and efficiency for customers.

The year plan also includes a multibillion-dollar contract to modernize the ancient delivery vehicle fleet , with the new trucks appearing on carrier routes in There are also proposed investments in equipment and infrastructure to help transport the growing volume of packages more efficiently, as well as upgrades to postal facilities.

Not all first-class mail will be affected by the new service standards. Here's how it breaks down. On Aug. That means Forever stamps now cost 3 cents more. You can get a cool, personalized design from the post office or from usps. But because Forever stamps never expire, the ones you bought in -- or any prior year -- remain valid even though the postage rate has gone up.

Other first-class standard-size mail and large envelopes, including presorted letters like bills and statements, and newspapers and magazines had a price increase , as did media mail such as books. The prices for special services like certified mail and money orders went up as well during the summer.

While adding a couple of cents to send a birthday card might not burn a hole in your pocket, even a small increase could be ruinous for businesses that send a ton of mail or companies that depend on mass mailings. The US Postal Service also announced a temporary price increase on commercial and retail domestic package shipments for the peak fall and holiday season, in effect Oct. Most likely your parcel is undergoing customs clearance procedures and will soon be released from customs.

In unlikely cases your parcel can get stuck because sender didn't put correct address on the parcel and it's being returned to the sender.

Also due to pandemic, there's a lot less international flights at the moment due to less people travelling around the world. This is definitely causing some international mail to take longer than usual. Parcels that aren't able to be delivered or returned back to their sender can end up in our Returned Mail Centre RMRC or lost and found where they are opened and catalogued so Australia Post support staff can assist customers in locating their items.

RMRC staff will always try and get the parcel sent on to where it needs to go to first but if there's nowhere for Auspost to send it to, they'll upload as much information description of contents, how it was packaged, names, etc as they can into our database to make it easy for Auspost to search. The reason they can't provide the same detail of tracking as FedEx or DHL is because they are a bulk mail service, not a courier service.

They have very different networks and your parcel travels in a completely different manner when you post it as opposed to courier it. Courier companies like FedEx and DHL have their own transport and planes that they use to transport their products. International mail on the other hand travels on commercial airlines. Mail bags do not necessarily travel direct routes and are subject to timetables and changes made by airlines as they will always prioritise their passengers over mail bags.

Try to understand that when you use the post to send mail like a parcel, it will never get to its destination on a certain date. Try not to take it in a definitively way because it's an approximation, a guideline. In practical terms, the only way you will know for certain how long it takes to send something, is by you sending something and remembering how long it does take so you have a future reference.

The tracking is sufficient enough for sending the post, it's not stuck here, the system is telling you its last location. It doesn't mean it's not transiting to its next location. Only until when the package does reach its destination will the tracking be updated.

Add package title. Choose country. Choose carrier. Why is my parcel stuck in transit? Why has my package not moved in a week? Why is my shipment still in transit when it was supposed to be already delivered? Failure to provide the necessary documentation will have your shipment further stuck in transit. Solution: Contact the courier company to tell you all the details and needed documentation to finalize the customs clearance.

Wrong or incomplete address — This is the most common cause for undeliverable shipments. You should always double—check if your address has all the necessary details for it to be transported. Contact the courier company once you have realized that your order has some incomplete or wrong details written. The courier company will then make the changes. International shipping — If a package is coming from overseas other countries , it is safe to assume that delivery may take longer than usual.