Reroute USPS

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OKLAHOMAN

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Anybody ever had to reroute a package sent by the USPS? I had a customer who placed an order and his pay pal address was an old address he no longer lives at. He placed the order late Sat. and it went out early this morning. About an hour ago I got notified that the address on pay pal was wrong. Any way to have the Postal service stop shipment and send back to me? I called Pay pal and they were of no help, Just want to get the customer his merchandise.
 
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If the package is undeliverable, it will be returned to you. If he has a current forward order on file with the P O, then the package will be forwarded.
 
Your customer should file a change of address with USPS. Maybe he can beat the delivery and fill out the form. He should also have changed his PayPal info. Poor planning on his part is not an emergency on your part. But, your commitment to customer service is quite admirable. We are lucky to have IAP vendors who go above and beyond....all of them that I have dealt with.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
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Years ago I had a package stuck at the recipient's local post office (don't recall why), and was able to call them and have it sent back. If USPS customer service is no help, call the local post office for the address you shipped to. The postmaster there may be able to stop it and send it back.
 
The address is an 8 year old address so it will not be forwarded. Just hope the people that live there now will return it sot comes back to me.
 
The address is an 8 year old address so it will not be forwarded. Just hope the people that live there now will return it sot comes back to me.

Unless you've dealt with this person before, I'm not sure I'd ship to another address until they update their Paypal account. Too easy for them to say they never got it, and leave you SOL for shipping to an address other than what's on file.
 
The carrier "shouldn't" deliver to the people who live there now. I think your chances of getting it returned to you are pretty good, but then I am retired from the USPS and a bit biased. : )
 
Talk about a weird week of postal problems, first this one where the customer has his 8 year old address and now I have a customer who's order was DELIVERED to the WRONG CITY. After and hour and a half (36 minutes on hold and hung up) then 52 Minuets on hold and finally spoke to a person. ) The tracking shows that the order was Delivered yesterday but to the wrong city, when she pulled up the tracking # it shows that it should have gone to XYZ city but instead was delivered to ABC city. She could not explain how this happen but put in a complaint and said the postmaster of the city it was delivered to will call me with-in 24 hours. I just can't see how two cities have the same street address's to make the delivery. I can only think the postman in the wrong city scanned it as delivered but never delivered it.
This is a very rare happening as I ship 99% of my orders through the USPS and have had very little problems. This one just stumps me as to how it happen.
 
A couple of houses ago I lived at ### Park Place in City A. Two adjacent cities also had Park Places with the same house number. You never knew whose mail you were going to get. But at least you knew your mail was at one of two other places when it didn't show up.

Now that I live in a house with a unique address things are different. Now I have no idea where my mail gets delivered when they send it to the wrong place and all the wrong mail I get is from a much much larger group of people.

Based on my experience (in large urban areas), I suggest you don't hold your breathe waiting for the postmaster to call you.

Ed
 
usps

The carrier "shouldn't" deliver to the people who live there now. I think your chances of getting it returned to you are pretty good, but then I am retired from the USPS and a bit biased. : )

I still work for them as a city carrier and I'm guessing even with all the part time new employees we have, a 8 year old address change with a scanable parcel will be returned...but as rrfd4 can attest I'm sure, the quality of our employees has NOT improved over the years:mad:. Best of luck Roy and truly hope this mess works out for you. You've been a good word for usps for the years I've been an IAP member.:smile:
 
One option that the end user has is to have them hold at the post office and not attempt delivery. I do that from time to time depending on several things.

The shipper can also recall the package before it is delivered. As for re-routing I think the options are more hold at station or recall it.

As to a package going to the wrong city that is likely some fubar with the zip code, esp with hand written addresses. I do know that packages can and do get stuck to pallets going to other cities so likely if the two cities shared the same routing hub that could easily be possible.

As for the 8 year old address many/most places when you change drivers license they automatically do a change of address everywhere. This, when it works right anyways, is one of the safeguards to prevent double+ voting.

For the past 3 years I have had on and off problems with my local post office. My address of 3409 streetA was being delivered to 3409 StreetB, which is about 1/2 mile away. We were getting each others mail. After numerous lost packages, complaints and escalating up 5 levels the problem may have been fixed. This is not quite the same problem but very close. The real problem lies in how the scanning system finds the destination address and making educated guesses.
 
Since you have the old address, why don't you send a letter to the address and ask them to return the package when it arrives.
 
usps

Roy, the other thing you might try is contact the PO you sent the parcel to and either notify them of the correct address, or ask them if they can return the article to you as the address is incorrect. They should work with you, at last I hope they do...Have the tracking number and whatever other documentation you may have handy and hopefully they can re-address the parcel and save the return time..Good Luck!! George
 
Talk about a weird week of postal problems, first this one where the customer has his 8 year old address and now I have a customer who's order was DELIVERED to the WRONG CITY. After and hour and a half (36 minutes on hold and hung up) then 52 Minuets on hold and finally spoke to a person. ) The tracking shows that the order was Delivered yesterday but to the wrong city, when she pulled up the tracking # it shows that it should have gone to XYZ city but instead was delivered to ABC city. She could not explain how this happen but put in a complaint and said the postmaster of the city it was delivered to will call me with-in 24 hours. I just can't see how two cities have the same street address's to make the delivery. I can only think the postman in the wrong city scanned it as delivered but never delivered it.
This is a very rare happening as I ship 99% of my orders through the USPS and have had very little problems. This one just stumps me as to how it happen.
Roy, how many cities in the USA do you think have a "Maple" or "Oak" or "Main" street? and many of them will have a 100 block a 200 block a 300 block etc. I know that my daughter had the same street address in Hagerstown MD that my nephew had in Moorestown, NJ. 13 E. Wilson Ave. I don't think that would be at all uncommon. But, the post office also should have on file who's mail can be delivered to that address. They do on mine.
 
Talk about a weird week of postal problems, first this one where the customer has his 8 year old address and now I have a customer who's order was DELIVERED to the WRONG CITY. After and hour and a half (36 minutes on hold and hung up) then 52 Minuets on hold and finally spoke to a person. ) The tracking shows that the order was Delivered yesterday but to the wrong city, when she pulled up the tracking # it shows that it should have gone to XYZ city but instead was delivered to ABC city. She could not explain how this happen but put in a complaint and said the postmaster of the city it was delivered to will call me with-in 24 hours. I just can't see how two cities have the same street address's to make the delivery. I can only think the postman in the wrong city scanned it as delivered but never delivered it.
This is a very rare happening as I ship 99% of my orders through the USPS and have had very little problems. This one just stumps me as to how it happen.
Roy, how many cities in the USA do you think have a "Maple" or "Oak" or "Main" street? and many of them will have a 100 block a 200 block a 300 block etc. I know that my daughter had the same street address in Hagerstown MD that my nephew had in Moorestown, NJ. 13 E. Wilson Ave. I don't think that would be at all uncommon. But, the post office also should have on file who's mail can be delivered to that address. They do on mine.


Smitty, I agree but the address was on this is WildCat creek road, no kidding, but I'm happy to say I did get a call from my postmaster that it was delivered today to the proper address at the proper city
 
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