Penn State Shipping

[cschimmel]

So I'm not trying to start anything here but I placed an order from Penn State last Monday and as of 6pm west coast time today it has still NOT even shipped. Is this normal it seems with shipping if I'm lucky I'll get my order in 2 weeks or more. Has anyone else had this happen.

 

[bkersten]

Well, they can't blame the snow, since you ordered 4 days before it even started here on the east coast. Won't even try to think of what they may come up with.

 

[glwalker]

Well it was Super Bowl Week!! What can you expect. They better hurry as Valentine's Week is approaching.

Seriously, though I've heard others also mention this kind of thing with Penn State. I order pretty frequently from them and really haven't had any problems.

 

[Nate Davey]

My last order from Penn State I didn't get a shipping notice. About 7 days later it showed up on my front porch.

 

[Mr Vic]

Their Shipping Info say they'll ship in 1 to 4 days...It's been my experience that the 4 day is the norm. I know it and plan ahead.....

 

[RollTide]

When I ordered the vs motor a ship date or updates never showed up. It just appeared on my doorstep about a week later. You will probably get it tomorrow.

 

[Smitty37]

My last order from PSI shipped in about 5 days...I emailed to ask about it and was told "that's about normal". However I think that's a new thing because my earlier orders often shipped the same day, especially if I called them in and told the order taker I needed the item ASAP.

 

[Dave_M]

PSI usually means about a 7 to 10 day wait for me. Same with CSUSA. That's one reason why I order from Arizona Silhouette when they have what I need.

 

[pensmyth]

PSI seems to be taking much longer to process and ship items now a days.
I ordered supplies from Ernie at Bear Tooth on Jan 28th. and he shipped on the 29th and the order reached my door step on the 1st of Feb. and that's shipping from Colorado Springs to Ohio! PSI is right "next door" and it has been taking 4 to 6 days just to process my order then another 3 or 4 days to get it! Colorado Springs to Ohio 5 days from order to receipt. Pennsylvania to Ohio 9 to 10 days........

 

[ldb2000]

I think we need to remember that PSI and CSUSA are not the same size as AS and BTW . Since they advertise they get more orders then the smaller vendors and this means that shipping is a little less personal and will by nature take longer to ship . They have always gotten my orders to me in about a week . I order from Wood pen pro , in Hawaii , and get my stuff in 3 days , which is typical of a smaller operation where the owners are directly involved with the orders and shipping . If you are in a rush , order from the smaller vendors . If you need what the big guys have then expect a little more shipping time .

 

[Len Shreck]

I have placed several orders to CSUSA and they have always shipped within a business day or 2. I placed a smaller order, less then 50.00, Sunday night at about Midnight and received an email today that it has shipped already. I have placed orders with PSI and have had to wait 2 weeks or better to received it. This is why I order mainly from CSUSA and some stuff from Wood-N-Whimsies they have or can get most of the PSI pen kits and are cheaper and faster at shipping. Just IMHO

 

[larryc]

I placed an order with Wood N Whimsies late Saturday (2/6/10) and received it yesterday (Monday 2/8/10). Must have been the post office that took so long! LOL

 

[dankc908]

Just a thought -- I wonder if PSI is subtly trying to move into the "wholesale only" business and let the smaller and more personal operations have the retail business. I do know that when I had some questions about my lathe (purchased at Amazon.com) and contacted PSI they were MOST helpful. It seems that they are very supportive of their resellers and their reseller's customers!

Dan

 

[witz1976]

If that is the case, then why is my mailbox littered with their catalogs? Hmmm maybe they are telling me something

 

[fitzman163]

We have been down this road not long ago. Some things never change. Christmas time, snow storm, M.L. King Day, you name it they could use it as an excuse . You will also find a lot of our members will go along with them on this one.

 

[randyrls]

I believe that PSI only ships on Mondays (and maybe Thursdays). I place my orders on the weekend and it gets shipped promptly.

 

[stolicky]

It does seem that lack of attention (compared to smaller vendors) and slow/spotty shipping and customer service seems to be a reoccurring theme with PSI. It would probably turn up in a search here. I have written about my disappointing experiences with them in the past so I won't rehash it here. I am still waiting (tongue in cheek) for a response to my inquiry to them over a year ago....

 

[cajun skeeter]

last month I placed orders with PSI, Woodcraft and Craftsupply USA, on a Sunday, Wed I had my Woodturner order, on Thurs I recived my Craftsupply order a week later I recived my PSI order.

Larry Pickering
Proud member of the WHO DAT nation

 

[kennspens]

Only ordered online once from psi, but had it in less than a week. I usually go to the store, used to live 20 mins from it.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I'm gong to get burned to the ground over this, but I really don't understand the fuss about order times. If you order off the internet or from a catalog, you need to allow time for processing, packaging, shipping and transportation. If something is needed so direly that you can't wait 4 or 5 days, then go to the local store that handles your items and pick it up. There are a lot of catalogs that tell you that it can take up to 6 weeks to get your order... not many in the pen turning field, but others do have those stipulation.

I understand that Bill at Az Sil, Jimmy at Woodpen pro, and the other resellers are really quick... they are trying to build a business.... let them reach a size where they have 10 or 15 or more employees and the owners are not directly involved with the sales, I'm sure that delivery time will get longer as the companies get larger and the orders have to go through more and more hands. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that at PSI, you have someone who takes the order, enters it into their order process, it passes to billing who must make arrangements for payment, the it passes to the warehouse for pulling and packaging, then passes to a shipping clerk who makes arrangement for the postage/UPS/truck or whatever shipping method, then it's picked up by the carrier - again UPS, USPS, truck etc... who probably only calls on the company once per day, then it goes back to the carriers sort house to be routed, then shipped to a multiple sort stations along the way, depending on where the final address is... this is opposed to some like a small reseller who receives the order, confirms the payment, pulls the shipment, packs it and takes it to the post office/ups office, etc... probably all from the same desk... He does 5-10 orders per day where as the larger companies can do 100 or more...

There's a good percentage of us who are retired... we probably have more time than money... why are we so hung up on ordering something on Saturday night and it's not in your mailbox on Monday morning?

Okay.. you can start the fires now...:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[rjwolfe3]

Chuck,
I think the problem is not with the actually shipping time (which is up to the shipping company) but rather the time it takes to ship the order after you pay for it. If PSI or any company says that they will ship on the next business day but take nearly a week to actually get it out the door then there is a problem.

 

[wolftat]

Just for laughs I placed 3 orders, one from a company in PA, one from a company in Utah, and one from a company in AZ. I did this at 8pm on a Friday night. I received my order from the AZ company on the following Tuesday, my order from the Utah company on Wednesday and my order from the PA company on Friday. The 2 farthest companies from me came the quickest, but the delivery time was acceptable for all involved as far as I am concerned. Nothing happens fast in this world but I will note that one package arrived before another was even shipped, that isn't the best way to do things in my book and they need to work on that part.

 

[RussFairfield]

My problem with PSI has never been the shipping time. I must be in Zone-8 for them because their S & H cost has always been too high for me. Adding in the postage, I can usually buy what I need at Woodcraft for the same price or less.

 

[Glenn McCullough]

I just placed an order Thursday and got it yesterday, so maybe somethings back ordered. I have had slow delivery in the past, but not as of late.
My grudge is paying for them shipping a catalog with each order when I get one in the mail. They should ship thru USPS and save us money. They have good pricing overall, but not much difference after paying way too much to have it sent.

 

[wolftat]

I have never gotten a catalog with an order from them.

 

[socdad]

Free market at its best … if you do not approve of companies practices, shipping or whatever, do not use there service. Most effective if you inform the business in question why there service is no longer used. Just my 2 cents worth …

 

[bobleibo]

I think the folks at PSI would be wise to invest in a consultant with a transportation logistics, labor management and an industrial engineering background (HINT!) because everything I read about their concerns deals with the timeframe between when the order is placed and when it is shipped. Pricing and quality have always been fine.
I am happy with the items I have purchased from PSI and simply compensate for the "grey area" in timing. If I am in a real big hurry for something, I call them direct and ask if they can get it out ASAP and they have usually been very accomodating.
Cheers
Bob

 

[SDB777]

My last order from them took a little over 9 days to get, after my card was relieved of some funds. Got me for $15.90 in shipping too(supposed to have two boxes according to their webpage.
Order arrived in one box! Figure for $15.90, I could have got PriortyMail or a Flat Rate box....and it would have been at my door in two days!

I've done the feedback thing with them, and made sure to mention how unsatisfied I was with their shipping procedure.


I've since started ordering from woodturnz(same stuff), they ship faster and the same products are normally cheap too!



Scott (hate some slow shipping) B

 

[Dave_M]

Sorry Chuck, no flame'n today. I'm in agreement with you. To me the shipping times are neither good or bad. They just are and I plan accordingly. I prefer ordering from AS because Bill is quick and very consistent, but I order from several other vendors including PSI & CSUSA.

PSI is my least preferred vendor when it comes to order processing, but I gotta say one thing about PSI... I love getting their catalogs. They always have something new and interesting.

I'm gong to get burned to the ground over this, but I really don't understand the fuss about order times. If you order off the internet or from a catalog, you need to allow time for processing, packaging, shipping and transportation. If something is needed so direly that you can't wait 4 or 5 days, then go to the local store that handles your items and pick it up. There are a lot of catalogs that tell you that it can take up to 6 weeks to get your order... not many in the pen turning field, but others do have those stipulation.

I understand that Bill at Az Sil, Jimmy at Woodpen pro, and the other resellers are really quick... they are trying to build a business.... let them reach a size where they have 10 or 15 or more employees and the owners are not directly involved with the sales, I'm sure that delivery time will get longer as the companies get larger and the orders have to go through more and more hands. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that at PSI, you have someone who takes the order, enters it into their order process, it passes to billing who must make arrangements for payment, the it passes to the warehouse for pulling and packaging, then passes to a shipping clerk who makes arrangement for the postage/UPS/truck or whatever shipping method, then it's picked up by the carrier - again UPS, USPS, truck etc... who probably only calls on the company once per day, then it goes back to the carriers sort house to be routed, then shipped to a multiple sort stations along the way, depending on where the final address is... this is opposed to some like a small reseller who receives the order, confirms the payment, pulls the shipment, packs it and takes it to the post office/ups office, etc... probably all from the same desk... He does 5-10 orders per day where as the larger companies can do 100 or more...

There's a good percentage of us who are retired... we probably have more time than money... why are we so hung up on ordering something on Saturday night and it's not in your mailbox on Monday morning?

Okay.. you can start the fires now...:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[PenMan1]

I agree that it is "all in the planning". So, I always try to order from A.S. first, CUSA second and then just buy the stuff that I can't get from the others from PSI.

IS IT JUST ME OR DO THE DAYCOM BALLPOINT REFILLS FROM THE OTHER VENDORS SEEM TO BE BETTER THAN THE CHINESE PSI REFILLS?

 

[Lawrence Witter]

Penn State Industries shipping

So I'm not trying to start anything here but I placed an order from Penn State last Monday and as of 6pm west coast time today it has still NOT even shipped. Is this normal it seems with shipping if I'm lucky I'll get my order in 2 weeks or more. Has anyone else had this happen.

I placed an order yesterday and called today to add to it. They were packing the order as we spoke. Of course, that doesn't mean it will be shipped in a timely manner but one can hope.

Regards,

Larry

Well, you guessed it, in spite of "we're packing your order now" it was several days before I got a "order shipped" email. Go figure!

 

[capcrnch]

This is my biggest gripe with PSI.
I ordered 2 weeks ago on a Monday and it didn't ship till that Friday.
When I called, they said typically orders don't ship for 2-3 days.

To make matters worse, the recent snowstorm delayed one of my packages a week and a half. Not that it's PSI's fault, just adds to the frustration.

 

[bubbatww]

Placed my order with PSI yesterday. Received email today "advanced shippment notification" with the UPS Tracking #...We will see how quick I get it now.