posted on December 14, 2005 11:51:10 AM new
I just found out that the post office recycles delivery confirmation numbers. They reuse the type given to you when purchasing DC off the kiosks and online.
I found this out after a guy wrote asking where his package was. I checked my info. I sent on 12/02/05 to texas but his DC# said it was delivered on 10/27/05 to a Maryland.
I called the post help line and it said the same thing.....10/27/05 to a different zip code...delivered more than a month prior to when i shipped it.
After talking to several people I was finally told that they recycle DC##s !!!! I contacted the post office from where I shipped and he was able to show BOTH histories for this package while the web only shows the older history.
His package was delivered but I have NO WAY of showing him this. If I give him the DC# he is going to think I gave him an old ## when he checks on the web.
posted on December 14, 2005 12:24:07 PM new
I'd get the Post Office to send you or the buyer a e-mail showing it was delivered. I had a problem with someone not scanning the DC before handing the package to the buyer.It kept saying we attempted to deliver package on blah blah date and left a notice.I e-mailed the buyer to make sure she had been left a notice and she said hmmm I picked it up yesterday. I still show it hasn't been picked up a month later. The post office says it's been shipped back to me instead of oops they must have forgot to scan it. lol nobody wants to take the blame and I still haven't got a package back ,cause I can't the buyer has it. Thank goodness she is honest cause she could have did a charge back through Paypal.If the Post Office won't straighten it out for you I'd contact someone high up on the postal chain.Its their fault, make them fix it.
Heres the help link at the Post Office
http://hdusps.esecurecare.net/cgi-bin/hdusps.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=kJnNTLUh&p_lva=&p_li=&p_faqid=6437
posted on December 14, 2005 01:02:52 PM new
I just checked the other DC#s from that day. 4 out of the 6 give bad information. All of them say item was delivered back in October to other places!!
posted on December 14, 2005 01:37:53 PM new
Well, I wouldn't disbelieve such stupidity (recycled dc numbers) but how stupid do you have to be to do that, they aren't exactly going to run out of numbers! They recently increased the number of digits. The current packages I am shipping have 22 digits. That is
9,999,999,999,999,999,999,999
different combinations, or about 10 septillion numbers, or in easier terms to digest, if they deliver a billion packages, they could deliver a billion packages ten trillion times without running out of numbers! Increase one digit, and they can do it another 90 septillion times...Just Crazy, way to go USPS!
posted on December 14, 2005 03:05:27 PM new
ebayvet,
There are certain digits that are not simply monotonically increasing numbers. The first n digits are used to describe the origination (for example, I have 2 or 3 combinations of the same n digits that I'm always assigned by eBay, PayPal, etc.). The possible DC's are assigned in blocks, just like phone numbers are assigned in blocks, not sequentially.
Having said that, it is still stupid for them to have this happen so quickly. I'm sure that someone made a mistake in assigning blocks, and there are a boatload of dupes as a result.
posted on December 14, 2005 03:17:58 PM new
Sure, you're probably right, but even a quadrillion combinations (taking away half of the numbers) should have lasted them a few decades!
posted on December 14, 2005 05:34:25 PM new
That's true ebayvet, or probably a few million years.
But, if you get a block assigned to you, you typically start at 1.
So, if someone got block "1234567890" assigned to them in October and started using the numbers "1234567890000001", incrementing sequentially, and that same block got assigned incorrectly to another assigning entity in December, you'd start having duplicates (or what some call "collisions" immediately. Since it happened so shortly after the block was used, the first set of numbers hasn't been aged off the database (which it probably would have done if it was a matter of years rather than months).
posted on December 14, 2005 05:50:19 PM new
If they gave the green light to recycling DC numbers, I wonder what they'd say if we began recycling postage stamps?
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on December 14, 2005 08:47:30 PM new
What would make it even stranger is the fact that the USPS keeps the DC info available on the site for 6 months. How can they do that if they are recycling numbers within 3 months???
From the USPS website:
Question
When will delivery status information be available?
Answer
The evening of the date of delivery or attempted delivery. Delivery status information will remain available for 180 days.
immediately. Since it happened so shortly after the block was used, the first set of numbers hasn't been aged off the database (which it probably would have done if it was a matter of years rather than months).