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I’ve scanned all 7 packages again and there’s still no tracking updates on any of them. That is really worrisome, so I put in a request for the packages to be traced by the USPS. I’ve had problems with this post office before, so it might not even necessarily be the carrier – items will sometimes go missing in that post office even after I’ve had the initial acceptance scan.
I’m still waiting for the carrier to come for the batch going out today. It’ll probably happen from 5-7 pm. Way past when the post office I like to going to closes, and I’d rather not leave my house again for at least a few weeks if possible.
Some parts of the postal service have completely shut down in NYC, so it could be worse:
I wouldn’t be worried if the carrier just didn’t scan them. It’s that he marked the pickup attempt as unsuccessful AND didn’t scan them that worries me. From what I have read online, I have no proof to stand on of the carrier picking up these items if these 7 items all eventually end up “lost.”
I do plan on speaking with the carrier today about using the scan form and leaving a pickup slip from now on, just so I have actual proof from now on that the items were picked up. Tomorrow, I will call my main local post office to ask for them to look for the other 7 packages if they are still not scanned in transit. I just attempted tracking all 7 packages again and none of them have been scanned into the system. My mail out for delivery was scanned 15 minutes ago, so I thought that by this time this morning I would have a better idea of what’s going on with them. I don’t.
Alright, my mailman did not scan in my packages, and they have not been scanned in as of this morning. When I normally drop them off at my local post office, they are scanned in with the scan form and are processed through the post office by 11 at night. 2 scans before they are shipped out to distribution centers.
Now, I have 7 potentially lost or stolen packages. I guess there’s a chance he could have left them on his truck and maybe they will be scanned in this morning? I don’t know. I notice that a lot of my packages are usually marked for “out for delivery” by 10 in the morning by my carrier or someone in the post office. I’m so glad I started this experiment with 7 very cheap packages and had the bulk of the ship out brought in on foot the previous day.
I can’t have my packages stolen or tossed by my mail carrier, period. This is my f/t income. I knew it was bad when I got that “couldn’t find your packages” email last night.
I found the phone number of my local postmaster, but that seems very last resort and I don’t want to have animosity with my mail carrier, even if it does look like he might have really stolen my packages?
I just got this email:
Thank you for using USPS.com. This email confirms USPS attempted a Package Pickup.
Important!
This email confirms a Package Pickup was attempted, but was unsuccessful, because the package(s) were not found.What the heck? He picked up all of the packages.
I have a regular mailman Monday-Friday, different one on Saturday. However, I will sometimes have up to 3 mailmen a day from USPS come to deliver packages. Maybe an earlier mailmen was supposed to pick them up and didn’t? I’m sort of nervous about the large pickup scheduled for tomorrow now.
I just had my first ever porch pickup. Yay! It happened at 6:30 pm, which is pretty late and I was somewhat anxious the whole day whether it was going to happen or not. I started off with less than 10 packages, and I have another one scheduled for tomorrow for 25 packages.
I had the 25 packages done by 4:30, but my mailman comes anywhere from 11 am to 7 pm and the pickup was only for 7 pieces total. How strict is the post office when it comes to the package numbers/weight in the request vs. what you have on the porch for them to pickup? I also dated the new pickup request packages for tomorrow just in case I didn’t have them ready in time.
Tbh, I don’t even know if the package request even got to my mailman. He left the packages I had specified would be in the mailbox in the mailbox without picking them up and only took the stragglers I left on the porch and made a note of in the pickup request before a neighbor got his attention for me (I was inside and working out of earshot) that he had left some packages. I also read that you’re supposed to receive some note saying they picked up the items, but I didn’t. I think he scanned the scan form at least.
Yep, Cuomo said today that he expects a high rate of deaths through July. That might give people a false sense of hope that this will be over by July. Does that mean he is expecting it to be over by, maybe start easing in July or August? If it peaks in July, does that mean it will extend through September or October and that’s when the restrictions could be eased? If the restrictions are eased in the fall, will it lead directly into a second round?
Parts of China are starting to go back into lockdown again. It is impossible to look at them and see what the way out for this is.
I’ve at this point come to terms with the fact that my business will do terribly in 2020, possibly 2021+ and there’s nothing I can do about it. I was powerless to source for stock the month before the shutdown due to fears of it circulating in my community, which actually did end up being the case. I went for health over wealth, and if it makes me poorer in income for the short-term, I’d rather have that than be sick or put others close to me at great risk of becoming sick due to my short-term motivation for a potential increase in profit for my business. Also, what would have one extra month of sourcing have done if I lost out on the rest of the season anyway?
I feel there’s nothing that could’ve been done to make this economic blow any softer. It’s not like preparing for a bad recession. This is something so unexpected, with additional unexpected outcomes to come from it, that it’s still completely a guessing game as to how it will resolve, and when. How will this change the retail landscape? Offices? A physical workplace? Libraries? How will it change everything we are used to in our lives? From going out to movies, to going out to a restaurant, to just going out for a simple walk in which we must be around others. If this lasts for several months, a year, how will everything change? This is just way beyond simple economic loss at this point, this is an event that will change for most likely at least a few years the fundamental way we carry ourselves about in our daily lives, and all of the financial, emotional, health, physical, mental aspects that go along with it. So, I see how all of society might be forced to permanently change due to this virus’s possible duration, and I realize that there’s nothing I can do to fight it, if it comes down to it. Maybe unemployment will stick around for up to a year if necessary? UBI? I don’t know. State intervention for workers in addition to federal for the duration of the virus and the record levels of unemployment? Who knows?
All I do know is that this virus is nowhere near its peak yet and I’m like okay virus, you win!
I’m happy to say that I’m officially joining the quarantine club. Today was the last day of my March challenge of bringing in the mail daily by foot. I’m done. I’ve seen an increasing number of sick people out on the streets where I live and now I just want to stay in my house for the next month or so. I’ve just scheduled my first porch pick-up of a few items for tomorrow to see how it goes.
Also, I went into Manhattan yesterday and it was scary how much it has changed from even a few couple of weeks ago. Even at that time, there were still a couple of food carts, a guy selling t-shirts, some touts out. A lot of food take-out places were open. Now, nothing. Nearly empty sidewalks. Quiet streets other than people who have to commute in and residents of the neighborhood walking their dogs. Hardly any car or bus traffic. Cabs driving slowly next to the few people walking on the streets, looking for any fares. ALL of the food take-out places, delis, business casual type eateries I passed by were closed. It was weird. I thought at least a few of those places would be open for take-out or delivery, but nope. The only place I saw open was a Duane Reade. I think there was also 1 Starbucks open, but a few others I passed by were closed.
Back to reselling – I think I might actually be stuck with working on mainly my backlog for the next month or so. Online sourcing has been poor over the past week. I do have a lot left to list from one of the last auctions I picked up from, as well as an estate sale I went to a few months ago. I’ve also stocked up a bit from online sourcing over the past month, so I’m not worried if I have to skip out completely on buying new stock for awhile. Still, it will be interesting when it gets to the point that I’m mainly working just from the backlog.
I opened up 2 “new” boxes of backlog that were both acquired in 2011. Just got out a few stacks of items to add into the mix of the more current items I am still working through. At this point, I’m just confused as to why I didn’t list the items at the time. If I bought them now, I would have gotten them listed within the week. Easy items to research, list, dupe. I don’t know what I was thinking back in 2011. I also found some interesting ephemera that I am looking forward to listing and have no idea where I bought it from and why I didn’t just list it at the time? Good stuff! I think the next few months of working through the backlog will consist of a lot of “what were you thinking?!” admonishments at my younger self.
What??? I’ve been able to bring mail into the post office daily in NYC with no problems. Why would the post office remain open there with no customers? This makes no sense.
Free healthcare should be a given for a country as rich as the US. It’s just the decent thing to do.
A 2-5% mortality rate is terrifying. I also feel they’re not doing enough to keep people at home – we need more significant lockdowns in order to get the numbers down, especially in the larger cities.
If there’s potentially 30% unemployment as they are now projecting, what work will they be leaving their homes to go back to? A lot of companies are not going to make it. With the mandated stay at home policies, even if people in non-essential businesses wanted to go back to work, they would legally not be able to, whether they wanted to brave the virus or not.
I’m in the same boat as you guys. March-June is when I normally source heavily for my Amazon store, but that’s not happening this year. Sales are down currently 70-80% from this time last year because I haven’t added new stock since February. During the winter, I tend to add only a few hundred books to my store. From March-June, I usually add at least 3,000 books. I am currently down at least 600 expected books for the month.
Sales are currently only down 20% on my main Ebay store. I have enough stock to list consistently through the fall and most likely winter, so I’m not worried about that.
Amazon has always accounted for a substantial amount of my income. Since I’m down 20% on Ebay, I am incapable of making up for lost income on just that venue alone. However, sales are up on both my 2nd Ebay store, as well as my Etsy store from last year. That might add another 5% or 10% in income overall. Still, not enough to cover what Amazon used to make.
To be honest, I don’t know what even physical, in-person sourcing will look like a few months from now. With all of the expected retail closures, how sure are we that even thrift stores will survive? Are they expected to continue to pay rent while being forced to close due to their non-essential status? What about normal retail shops a lot of us used to source at? A lot of these places may permanently close if forced to stay shuttered for months on end. There is really a lot to consider in regards to what the future of sourcing may look like for us resellers, no matter what we may sell.
I wasn’t looking forward to Ozark season 3, but it’s been more fun to watch than I was expecting so far. At the best of times, it’s sort of a show to watch only when you’ve run out of tv.
Ugh, The Outsider. I have Stephen King fatigue. Both The Outsider and Castle Rock season 2 started off well, but they just fell apart at the end. Especially Castle Rock. It was cool seeing the brother from Bloodline playing the lead in The Outsider! Still, even with the fatigue, I am thinking of watching Mr. Mercedes. Has anyone here seen it? The reviews are mixed, and it will be weird seeing Holly Gibney portrayed by a different actress (the playwright girlfriend from Succession), so that’s why I haven’t yet. Is it worth watching?
This is an older show, but I would also recommend Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace since all tv now seems to be Stephen King tv. Matthew Holness playing a parody of a Stephen King type character with Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry, so good. I can’t believe it aired in 2004 and it’s 2020 now, but that show is timeless and I seriously need to rewatch it because I can’t believe it has been 16 years now.
