Is Penn States using Pony Express?

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randywa

randywa

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
893
Location
Republic, Mo.
My Penn States order made it to town yesterday, so I should get it tomorrow. Only 7 days, unless you figure the order was placed 2 weeks ago tomorrow. But it got me thinking. The Pony Express ran from St. Joseph, Mo to Sacramento, Ca. in 10 days. Yahoo says it 1670 miles, for an average of 167 miles per day. Elizabeth NJ. to Republic, Mo is 1174 mile in 7 days, for 167.7 miles per day. Coincidence?
 
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How many of those days was it before the order was actually shipped? For example, if you place the order on a Friday evening, then the order would not be packed and shipped until Monday. So the travel time would be reduced by those three days. You also cannot count non-delivery days (Sunday).

I am not trying to make excusses for PSI or USPS, just asking to look at the whole picture. You mentioned two weeks and you said seven days, so you may very well be looking at it correctly.
 
Of all the vendors I buy from PSI is the slowest on shipping. They charged me twice on an order I placed last week. When I called to get this corrected I was told that they had hired several new people lately. Perhaps a little training would help!
 
This was the first order I had made for several months. Previous orders got here in about 5 days. This one was shipped by Newgistics.
 
I don't buy form PSI any more because of their slow shipping. I use Woodturniz they send it USPS Priority Mail. Other wise it takes 10 from the East Coast to West Coast. Even if Woodtrunigz doesn't have it I still get it faster.
 
PSI

I placed my last order with PSI one morning and got it the next afternoon. The secret....placed the order by phone (not internet) and ASKED for expidited shipping. It shipped the same evening.
 
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I had no problems with psi untill a couple weeks ago they messed up on a order I have called twice and still have not recieved what was wrong with the order. On another order I got a turncrafted commander had been waiting on it for a few months. plugged it in smoked and would not work. called psi spoke to tech support sent me another motor and speed control put them on and still did not work. ups it back to them haven't got the money back into my discover yet. I will not ever buy a lathe from them just too far away from me if something is not right. will be picking up a jet 1220 VS tomorrow got on sale for $499. and 53.00 tax not much more than the commander was with shipping. I know things happen and PSI has always been good to me and will still do buisness with them. just any major purchase will be done local if any warrany issues it will be local and not long distance......
 
I'm back and forth on PSI. Sometimes they have great service...sometimes you get absolutly no response. I had a piece of one of my kits break, and tried multiple times to talk to them about it with no response. but finally when they did respond they had the new part to me in 2 days free of charge. i'll keep doing business with them, I just wish they were more consistant.
 
PSI is less than a 30 minute drive from my house so I don't mail order from them. The next time I go there, I'll mention that I'm hearing a lot of complants about their slow shipping times, and that it could be affecting their sales. Who knows...maybe they'll listen.
 
psi shipping

Here is the skinny on psi shipping. Ups has offered a service a few months back to mostly business customers i believe. What this entails is the package is shipped via ups who in turn delivers it to the USPS who in turn ships it to your house. How all of the real in's and out's work i do no know for sure. I know UPS offered this service to our business a few months back and we turned it down due to this problem. It is just a money saving gimmick for the vendor. I placed an order with psi on a Monday by phone, one item was back ordered. I have the bulk of the order by Friday via usps priority. The back order piece was shipped out on the the 1st of Nov. and finally showed up at my door on the 8th of November due to the other shipping method. Orders from Psi to Albany new york should only be a 3 day turn around as i myself am in the shipping business and ship all over the us using both the UPS and the USPS so i know how long both of these services take from my point to the end point under normal circumstances.
So in short if you don't need your items quickly psi is a good source to purchase you turning supplies. I will admit they are very slow replying to e-mail as i have sent them a correspondence last Tuesday concerning the shipping option and still have not heard back yet.
 
Sometimes PSI is fast as anyone, but other times it seems to take forever. Yes, their e-mail response is not the best. I had a problem with a product purchased there and requested info via e-mail 4 weeks back. Have yet to hear from them about that. When I do get through on phone, I get quick response and good service. E-mail, not so good.
Charles
 
I have had good and bad luck. My last order took 4 days to process. Then a week to ship. I prefer CSUSA but they don't have the kits I like.
 
There are so many good PSI reseller, i wonder why people still order direct. Most of the revendor will sell cheaper than PSI anyway, at least for kits.

Woodturningz and Wood 'n Wimshies are two that i have done business with and top notch service, at a cheaper price.
 
Via USPS, I've gotten items from PSI in 3 days. I had one order go Newgistics. It went from PA to NJ, back to PA, up to my P.O. then out to me. 11 days to make the trip. I've since called them and said USPS only. They have noted it in my account and to date, I've not had that kind of delay. Normally I see 3 - 5 business days. In short I'm very happy with PSI's shipping (for now)..
 
I've placed a number of orders with PSI, and I've always had excellent service. My experience is that they pack and ship the order the day after I place it, and it generally arrives in about three days.

If you are experiencing something different, perhaps you pissed off the packing shipping gods.
 
I don't think the mail (or UPS for that matter) has a route from Philadelphia to Atlanta. I have finally just completely given up! Most other vendors have product here in two days from order date.
 
I have never placed an order from PSI but do order their products from other vendors, liveing in PA. I just don't see how or why we have to pay the 7%-8% sales tax when its only 6% here in PA., not that I have any problems with sales tax just don't understand the 7% one month then 8% another, then the shipping was a little high, well if I remember corectly,, so I do all my perchising from Woodturningz they carry PSI and their own, shipping is very reasonable & in most cases I have the order next day, very good comunacation on phone,,

just my 2c,
 
I didn't mean to throw rocks at PSI (not big ones anyway). It was just frustrating to figure out the mail still moves at the speed it do 160 years ago. Oh well, I have something to look forward to for tomorrow.
 
Yeah, I like PSI, but they are by far the lowest to ship. I put in the comments to ship ASAP and they used to get it out pretty quick. Now they just ignore it lol. If I don't need something quick I will buy from them. I really like their starter kit sets that come with bits & bushings.
 
Maybe it has to due with how busy they are and such. I placed an order Wed. evening. It shipped this morning and is passing through Phila, as I write this. Should be delivered Monday via USPS (not Newgistics).
 
Mark said:
Maybe it has to due with how busy they are and such. I placed an order Wed. evening. It shipped this morning and is passing through Phila, as I write this. Should be delivered Monday via USPS (not Newgistics).
Click to expand...

Update. Got it today. WOW. Maybe they turned over a new leaf.
 
I found that the problem is not the shipper, but the shipping department at PSI. When I order, and it takes longer for PSI to actually ship the item than it does to come halfway across the country. It doesn't matter how they ship the item, it cannot get here if they do not give it to the shipper.
 
I'll probably jinx myself, but I've been ordering from PSI for over 8 years and have always gotten good service... usually takes 3-6 days to get my orders.... I ordered some new face plates on a Friday a couple weeks ago... they were on my doorstep on Tuesday.
 
MLKWoodWorking said:
How many of those days was it before the order was actually shipped? For example, if you place the order on a Friday evening, then the order would not be packed and shipped until Monday. So the travel time would be reduced by those three days. You also cannot count non-delivery days (Sunday).

I am not trying to make excusses for PSI or USPS, just asking to look at the whole picture. You mentioned two weeks and you said seven days, so you may very well be looking at it correctly.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is exactly what happened to me I ordered on a Friday after 5pm eastern time. and it was processed on the following Monday. Which was actually a good thing because I miscalculated and over ran the debit card over... Called them up on same Friday telling them to delete a couple of items. They called back within say 10 minutes all was handled. Order processed on Monday, received on Thursday.
Now as far a "Pony Express Speed" that would be the US Postal Service for ya.
 
I don't order a lot from PSI because of the long delivery time. I just plan on any thing from them taking more than a week for delivery. If I need something quicker I'll order from someone else. As far as the USPS, never had a problem with them, yet.

Carl
 
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