So I mentioned there was supposed to be a whole lot of stuff arriving today? Lot of it grouped together today because Wednesday is Amazon Day?
I got a dozen Amazon notifications of attempted delivery. Tracking info says "either the item was too large or your mailbox was too small." Also something about looking for an attempted-delivery notice. Apparently Joy likewise got notifications regarding some things she was expecting.
Er.
At least a couple of times a week, just about every week this year, there's been at least one USPS delivery of stuff that most definitely does not fit in the mailbox. Vehicle (station wagon, Jeep, or regulation parcel truck) comes right up the driveway, and the driver deposits the parcels outside the garage door.
I did trudge down to the mailbox, and there wasn't a note in it, so this wasn't a case of not-the-usual-driver unexpectedly finding that a 40-pound case of kitty litter doesn't fit in the box. Maybe the explanation was wrong, and they couldn't fit all the Amazon Day stuff in the truck? But how is it that some other Amazon stuff shows out for delivery, while some of the things that show attempted delivery are not especially large? 'Tis confusing. Maybe the contract calls for all packages to a given address tagged as Amazon Day to be delivered together, my other orders weren't tagged as Amazon Day, and Amazon isn't too good about keeping track of USPS delivery capacity?
I hope they get it sorted out, and the stuff delivered. Usual course of action with an attempted-delivery notice involves going into the actual post office, which We Are Not Doing These Days. For now, I guess we wait to hear what's actually going on.
Update 1: Ah, the things that show as out for delivery are coming via UPS, not USPS. Most of the USPS items show will try again, though a couple of them show other status or nothing at all informative. All of 'em have that didn't-fit-in-the-mailbox thing, which makes no sense unless they were somehow put on entirely the wrong vehicle.
Update 2: A "We (RE) Deliver for you!" note, captioned "Sorry we missed you while you were out", turned up with the regular mail. Says "Will need to be picked up." Great. Excuse me, guys, but in case you hadn't noticed, we're having a bit of a Pestilence lately, and this county is a red zone last I heard (after having been pretty safe until the tourist traps reopened). Which is kinda why so many people are having stuff, y'know, delivered.
So I go to usps.com/redeliver, feed in my name and address, so far so good, then the "article number" from the note... oopsie! No information available. WTF?
Then I try scanning the QR code, and I get the mobile version of the schedule-redelivery thing, which doesn't seem to offer any options as to scheduling delivery of specific parcels within the massive shipment. Argh.
So then Joy demonstrates the epically inconvenient approach of going to the Amazon tracking page for each item, pasting the USPS tracking number for that package into the USPS tracking thingy, and requesting redelivery one by each.
So I think now everything (more or less) is scheduled for a Friday retry, except for the kitty litter, which is a problem unto itself.
Clarification to update 2: You'd think the Amazon tracking page would include a link to the USPS tracking page, but no. Gotta copy & paste the tracking number from one site to the other.
Update 3, Thursday: All of the redelivery requests (none for anything unreasonably large nor heavy) turned up in the mailbox today with a "you're gonna need to bring your truck to the post office" message. The USPS phone maze is entirely automated, doesn't work properly, and apparently has no freakin' way of contacting a live person at a specific office. Joy is attempting to get someone at Amazon on the phone to try to sort things out.
Update 3a: Getting a helpful-sounding person at Amazon on the phone didn't take long. She's going to try to make arrangements with the USPS to have the smaller stuff delivered, and the big boxes of kitty litter maybe brought one at a time over some decent interval.
Update 3b: Supposedly it's sorted out... seems Amazon has channels of communication with the USPS. Something like being their biggest customer and thus having leverage. Hey, they've had the USPS making Sunday deliveries for a few years now.
Anyway, we're supposed to be getting the kitty-litter shipments spread out over several days, and the other stuff brought in a more or less timely fashion. And, should we feel the need to accumulate more kitty litter after this all arrives, I guess I'll just do what I ought to have done in the first place, which is a "subscribe and save" for one box a week.
Update 4: As of Monday morning, none of the Amazon Day stuff (via USPS) has been delivered. A couple of later parcels have turned up, but nothing from the Wednesday non-delivery. Being as how some of the smaller stuff was food products, maybe it's been sitting around a bit long now?
I'm developing a suspicion that Amazon's direct-line contact people at the USPS don't actually communicate with local post offices, but just put in the very same redelivery/reschedule requests that customers can do for themselves online. (This would be the same as the customer-service reps at Home Depot's 800 number.)
This seems to require another call to Amazon... and maybe seeing if we can just cancel the whole thing, have the post office do a return-to-sender, and re-order what we actually need.
Meanwhile, I've ordered a package of the same kitty litter from Walmart, which I think will be coming by FedEx.
Why is Amazon sending heavy packages USPS to begin with? I suspect that, as a former government agency, the USPS is bad at business, and negotiated way-too-low special pricing for Amazon.
(In normal times, I'd have no problem with taking the truck down to the post office to pick all the stuff up. These ain't normal times. Were I thirty years younger, or were this January, I could maybe bundle up in a full HAZMAT suit to make a pickup run, but in my current condition and this weather that would invite - nay, positively summon - heatstroke.)
Update 4a: Monday afternoon's mail brought a whole stack of "Final notice, ya gotta pick this up yourself" notices, which appear to correspond to the boxes of kitty litter. No word on the other stuff that was supposed to have been delivered last Wednesday.
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