Very Important Information About Possible USPS Delivery Delays - PLEASE READ
Please do not submit your order until you have read and agree with the risk of delivery delays detailed below. If you are not willing to accept a 12% chance of USPS delays of 1-3 weeks with free or $4.99 shipping, then please select a UPS shipping option upon checkout.
1) Who this message applies to
USPS shipments for:
- All customers whose order total is under $25 and you are paying $4.99 for shipping
- Most, but not all, customers who select "Free Shipping" (your shipment notification email will confirm this or ask us before submitting your order)
- All customers who select the USPS priority mail paid shipping option
2) What is the issue?
- USPS in general occasionally experiences significant and random processing delays. At this time, about 10% of shipments are taking 1-2 weeks to arrive, and about 2% of shipments are taking 2-3 weeks to arrive.
- However, many packages are not being scanned by USPS on their way out from our local post office, the city distribution center, or at subsequent waypoints. As a result, your tracking status might state “Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item” or “Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending” even several days after your order ships. This does not mean that we have not handed over your package to USPS yet. This simply means that your package is en route without an outbound scan and tracking will not be updated until the package reaches a distribution center in the LA area or even at your end many days later. For packages that are delayed, the USPS message might not update for several days or simply state "In Transit to the Next Facility" or "In Transit, Arriving Late." Do not be alarmed. Your package is not lost and it will arrive, even if delayed.
3) What can I do about this?
- Be patient. We process and hand off all in-stock orders on the same or by the next business day at the latest. If you get a shipment notification email from us (Please check your spam/junk folder for this before writing to us), that means we have handed off your package to the USPS, no matter what the online tracking states or a USPS rep might tell you if you call them. We do not sit on processed packages or generate shipping labels just to lie to customers. We'll repeat this again - USPS input scans are very often inaccurate and we do not sit on packages for days on end even if the acceptance scan at our local Cerritos post office states that they got the package 2-3 days, or not at all, after you receive our shipment email. People who've shopped with us for a while know that we have arguably the fastest average order processing and shipping time in the industry.
- Be understanding. Delivery and scanning issues are outside our control once we ship your package. It does not matter if you are not far from us. Your package can still be delayed. It does not matter if you got our other shipments earlier or on time, including orders that may ship after this. This order can still be delayed. It does not matter if you got your order from another dealer from the other side of the country quickly. This order can still be delayed. It does not matter that you have not experienced any delivery delays with the packages you may have shipped. This order can still be delayed. Again, realize that 10% means that about 9 out of 10 packages are still being delivered on time in about a week or less.
- Don't panic. We ship thousands of packages a month and see issues like these with hundreds of them. But almost all packages arrive eventually and actual loss rates are under 0.1% (that's about 1 in a thousand - and that would be our problem, not yours). Your package will get there in all likelihood, even if significantly delayed.
- Sign up for text or email notifications from the USPS website via the tracking link we send you when your order ships.
- If you are not willing to take a 10% chance of a delay of up to 2 weeks or a 2% chance of a delay for up to 3 weeks, then please DO NOT select free shipping or $4.99 shipping or USPS. Select one of the paid UPS options we provide upon checkout.
4) But how long will I have to wait for a replacement or refund if my shipment is delayed?
- USPS and insurance companies do not consider a package lost until 30 days have elapsed since it was shipped.
- However, if your package has not arrived in 2 weeks after we shipped it and you still want the item(s) but don't want to wait, we will be happy to send you a replacement shipment (subject to stock availability) and you can refuse the shipment that arrives second. Again, there is no guarantee that the replacement too will not be delayed. That's highly unlikely but it does happen.
- If you no longer want the order that hasn't arrived in 2 weeks, you can refuse it when it arrives and we will issue a full refund.
- If your order has not arrived in 3 weeks, let us know and we will issue a full refund and you can refuse it if/when it does show up.
Again, your understanding and patience is greatly appreciated. It is often frustrating when some customers opt for free or economy shipping and then refuse to wait or argue that we're lying with these explanations if their order is delayed. We understand that it is frustrating for you too when one or two of your orders happen to get delayed, but in the grand scheme of things, the USPS is still doing a very admirable job. We give you several shipping options but the choice to go with economical/free/priority USPS shipping and risk a delay or pay to have it shipped securely and possibly faster with UPS is yours to make.
Thank you,
The Agena Astro team
