I'm hoping that someone who, perhaps, works for the USPS can explain to me how this all works.

I placed a decent sized order (about $1350 USD) with Wizmods that shipped from Portugal (April 5th) and arrived in New York (April 8th).

After processing in NY, it flew to St Louis, Missouri (arriving on April 10th).

I live in Evansville, Indiana, roughly 2.5 hours (almost directly) EAST of St Louis, MO.

The next day (April 11th), the package arrived in Centralia, IL (about 40% of the distance from St Louis to Evansville, IN). So, in 6 days the Wizard mods packaged traveled from Portugal to about 90 minutes from my home. Now, here's where it becomes a real head scratcher for me ...

Rather than continue East, the following day, the package then went NORTH (about 1 hour) to a really tiny town (population of 733) that probably doesn't even have a stoplight, where it sat for 3 days. Then it continued NORTH to Champaign, IL (another hour north), to arrive on April 15th (10 days after leaving Portugal).

The final tracking report is from April 19th that simply states "In Transit to Next Facility."

Today is May 1st (2 days shy of 4 weeks since leaving Portugal) and only God knows where that package is currently sitting. So, it took 6 days to get from Portugal to within 90 minutes of my home, and in the last 20 days it has travelled North (away from me) and is currently ... well, who knows! I have had other orders from Wizmods arrive at my home within a week, or so.

Is there someone who works for the USPS or has worked for them that can explain this to me? I get that logistics will sometimes have a package move from one larger city to another (say, St Louis to Indianapolis) before being routed on to the smaller town of the recipient; but why would it bounce around a bunch of small towns, and seemingly disappear into oblivion?

I don't have hours throughout the work day to sit on the phone with customer service, from the USPS, so I may have to do that this upcoming weekend (if it still hasn't shown up by then).

Hoping someone with some real knowledge can offer a rational explanation, as I am bewildered and still waiting for my package (with no idea where it is currently at).

I appreciate the reassurances. The tube theory is especially intriguing, though all of my previous Wizmod orders made it to me with no problems.

I'm hoping that ForceFlow is correct and that it will eventually make it back to my home address.

If the package is going to travel all over the country, I wish that it would at least send me a post card or two!

I have heard horror stories about UPS, though maybe I have just been lucky as I have generally had really good service with UPS. Had a few packages get completely destroyed through FedEx, but even they have generally been decent.

For mail service, I do believe that the USPS still offers an incredible value by being able to send a letter (up to 0.5 ounce) across the country for less than a dollar. Packages via USPS have been less reliable.

The routing on this package; however, is a real mystery to me (as it it's whereabouts)!

So then, YOUPS and MEPS apparently doesn't equal USPS. Perhaps it equals WEPS!

Thanks @MrVern, I opened an inquiry today. The customer service rep that I spoke with on the phone seemed genuinely baffled.

It is strange that it would be sent to some crazy small town and has been off of the radar now for over 2 weeks.

I imagine those poor Wizpanels sitting in a dark and lonely bin somewhere, being ignored and wondering if they are ever going to find a home. One of them is for TS4, so the story line fits anyway!

Sometimes geography can be difficult for the poor dog. Man, I hope you got your dog back safely! It's one thing to have a package of pinball parts go missing, but to lose a dog, I would be in a panic.

Man, this is exactly what I was talking about! How does this stuff even happen?

I think you nailed it. To Wizmods credit, they offered to reship the entire order (a decent sized order) but I would rather just locate and receive my original package. Wizmods should not be out any money or time because the USPS decided to send my package on an epic journey.

Honestly, your explanation above is probably as close to what actually happened (except arriving to me ... yet) as I can imagine.

Some really interesting stories on here, though. Man, I hope gandamack got his dog back (alive and healthy)!

Exactly. It blows the mind!

Damn!

My wife sent a check to our plumber (their office is 2 minutes from our house) and it took 10 days to get to them. She offered to put a stop payment on it and just drive a new check over to their office, but they don't have an office person to take walk ins during the day (hence, the reason for mailing the check).

UPDATE: Seems that the USPS isn't entirely to blame here.

Wizmods contacted me, this morning, to notify me that Paypal actually sent them my old address (I did place the order with my new address, of course) and this is why the package likely ended up in Illinois, instead of Indiana. Still can't explain why it went to some tiny town (Kinmundy) instead of my old address (Mt Vernon, IL)? That remains a mystery, as does the location of the package.

I also want to point out that one of our awesome Pinside members, who works for the USPS, voluntarily did some sleuth work for me (regarding my lost package). Another reason to love this Pinside community that we have here.