So I had purchased a couple coins a couple days ago The seller lives in MA and so do I but the coin is currently in RI. Does this happen to you guys as well? I am not worried I am sure it will come to me but I just find it strange.
The USPS, like all other major shippers, have distribution hubs where things get shipped to for sorting and rerouting. It is more efficient than taking each package directly from its source to its destination. Even it means that sometimes the package actually spend time going further away from its destination.
Yup, that's what happens. Sometimes I'm jealous of my package because of all the places it's gone to.......
Usps I usually ship my coins either Priority or Express. I have sent a number of packages to NGC recently and was told by a postmaster that Florida usually adds a day or two on to shipments for New England origin shipments. If you have something stolen just once, it can sour your perception of a service where 99% of the employees are good. Another full timer told me that when they hire part-time help, they have to deal with a lot of potential theft, and that one major city hired seasonal help they had to fire most of them for theft! Kind of shocking since tampering with the mail is a federal offense--check out your US attorney postings sometime to see how many people are facing sentences for related crimes. I once asked a postal clerk in a rural area about mail cover operations, I was just kind of curious. You don't want to do that--you could find yourself on that type of list.
I once bought a ten dollar gold cert from MA and it sat in Rhode Island for 3 1/2 weeks before it came down here to MD where I live. I was so angry with the USPS .. I must have called over a dozen times asking, "why is my package STILL sitting in RI? It better not be tampered with!" They gave me no reason, no answer, other than I don't know sir. It's amazing our packages make it to us collectors at all!! When my note finally came, the package seemed fine and nothing wrong with it. So who knows why it sat in RI for that long.
I live two minutes from Chicago in NW Indiana. I bought a camera from Chicago. USPS shipped it to Indianapolis before it came to me.
It could have fallen behind a conveyer system and remained undiscovered for that period of time. Then some fellow cleaning up discovers the package and throws it back on the belt.
