USPS package tracking through Pitney Bowes

[TallTayl]

I just learned this through the Mercari discussion board on Reddit. You can get a more detailed usps tracking history right on the Pitney Bowes site without being a PB customer, or having to buy the label through them.  
 

I mailed a priority package Feb 14 to an address 3 zones away.  At worst, even if there had been a weather event (there was not) it should have arrived in 4 business days tops. After 3 WEEKS it had not moved in the Chattanooga satellite office. The normal tracking doesn’t show much detail, but the PB system helped keep tabs a little more clearly than the typical usps system after it was finally delivered yesterday, more than a month later.  

some good news is I filed a claim and was actually paid for the temporary loss. The customer eventually received the package and life goes on. 
 

sharing in case anyone else needs a wee bit more info when packages take their sweet time to arrive.

 

as an aside, my postal people mentioned that usps is consolidating nationwide operations in preparation for closing thousands of local PO offices.  These new centers are having loads of trouble getting into the swing of the volume, so anticipate extra headaches to come.  I have been using UPS for anything that HAS to be somewhere on time, and/or is a relatively high value.  It’s an extra stop on the package drop off runs, but gives peace of mind.