Thanks Craig for making this thread. This post allows me to have in one place a response to a problem that all small businesses that rely on mail services are having right now due to the global pandemic.
I hope my friends here on Mavic Pilots can understand this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic dilemma has caused delays in shipping beyond my control.
People here on Mavic Pilots were there Dec 14th 2017 when this company started.. just a pro drone pilot who wanted to make his Inspire setup work with the new mavic pro. And you have seen me working hard to supply the best high end adapter I can make, and now ND filters. You can see threads here going back years, and I have always responded as best i can. I am thankful they are almost all good, very happy customers giving great reviews.
With thousands and thousand and thousands or orders going out, and shipping beyond my control once it leaves, I do occasionally have some people upset about the mail system performance. But for every one here and there, there are thousands that got it quickly.
Many people are upset that during this COVID-19 pandemic shipping as it is making shipping slower than normal. You Mark are a special case too your shipping is also
international, and if you're watching the news about the pandemic you see that there are many shipping and customs delays going on.
I did email you back, here's the email send last Wednesday. I am assuming you didn't get it, as I didn't hear back. You can see the email arrives close to midnight, and I replied the very next morning at 8:39am. I get a lot of emails but try to respond as best i can with good information.
I have also seen some delays in US domestic shipping as well. For those that don't know, I am in California, USA. these are mostly because of missed scans. I think they are skipping these to expedite things, but that is only a guess.
This pandemic delay puts me in a weird position.. I act quickly on my end, make the item, pack and ship the item, drop it off at the post office large drop off area, and they are supposed to scan it. Usually they do.
Here's a picture from last week of the orders going out one day. on any given day, I have 300-500 packages in the mail system on their way to customers. Especially busy now that i have had a few influencers made videos about how well the mount works with the
Mavic AIR 2 so sales have futher jumped. Good for orders, but it compounds the issue with the global pandemic right now slowing shipping.
I have noticed during the pandemic, because they have limited capacity, a rise in packages arriving later than usual, and it is worse for foreign countries with customs departments that have a bottle neck. I have seen this across the planet now. Some smaller countries have suspended service all together!!
You can search "USPS service delays" to see this is not on Mavmounts end, but something USPS is working through. I will copy some of the below, but here's the gist of it. I have learned that some USPS international packages, normally moved via aircraft, are going by sea. This effects first class and priority the same.
Please follow the link for more information. It is an excellent resource.
This is USPS latest update on delays and restrictions for international shipments to common export countries for online merchants.
esellercafe.com
U.S. Postal Service Status on International Mail Shipments (5/21/2020)
With the coronavirus COVID-19 emergency continuing to spread around the globe, mail and small parcel operations are impacted worldwide.
Between a shortage of commercial passenger airlines to carry the mail and local authorities and transit/destination postal services shutting down or restricting services, sending international packages with the U.S. Postal Service will almost certainly result in longer transit times than normal.
These service disruptions affect Priority Mail Express International® (PMEI), Priority Mail International® (PMI), First-Class Mail International® (FCMI), First-Class Package International Service® (FCPIS®), International Priority Airmail® (IPA®), International Surface Air Lift® (ISAL®), and M-Bag® items.
For any returned item bearing a customs form, the Postal Service will, upon request, refund postage and fees on mail returned due to the suspension of service.
Unless otherwise noted, service suspensions to a particular country do not affect the delivery of military and diplomatic mail.
USPS Shifting Mail From Air Cargo to Sea Transport (5/16/2020)
On May 15, USPS send 22 containers to Europe, the largest shipment to date.
Please read more about this shipment here.
Due to limited air cargo capacity, the U.S. Postal Service is shifting select mail from air transport to sea transport in an effort to move mail from the U.S. to international destinations.
Typical Priority Mail shipments that usually take about 7 to 10 days will now take about 4 to 6 weeks if the service is available to the destination country.
Tracking Note
If a mail item shows on USPS tracking as having left the United States, under normal circumstances, the U.S. Postal Service has no further visibility on that item until a transit country or the destination country provides updated tracking information to its system.
In some cases, it is possible to get more updated tracking by using the destination country’s postal service online tracking tools if the item has entered the country. (
List from Wikipedia of National Postal Services)