They’re as useless as usps is as a whole. They’ll tell you after the 6 months passes that basically it’s your fault something was lost. Zero accountability. They never look into anything it’s just an automated system. More on reddit.com

The search request usually seems to be sent to the local post office in the destination zip code. It's a bit silly in my opinion since if your package was lost in, say, New York, but the destination is California, then it's the post office in California 2500 miles away that receives your search request. But it's definitely better than nothing. Sometimes you'll get a response from a real person who works at the destination post office. Other times it's just a form letter. Either way it generally says something along the lines of, "According to the USPS tracking your item has not yet arrived at our post office. Please accept our apology for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you." A month or two later you'll receive another email that says, "The US Postal Service® received the search request you submitted and it's being processed. Your package has not yet been recovered, but every effort is being made to locate your item(s)." After that, you most likely won't be contacted about it again. But if the package was something you purchased then those generic emails from the USPS can be extremely useful when trying to get a refund. They can help legitimize your claim that you haven't received the package when arguing with a seller reluctant to refund or reship. More on reddit.com

I usually wait 3 weeks until I get a refund if it's domestic. Nothing domestic should take longer than that, but I'll occasionally give it a month if I'm feeling hopeful, but that is rare. If it's international, it depends on where it's coming from, but I'll usually give it 6-8 weeks. For example, if it's coming from the UK, I'll give it 6 weeks max, but if it's coming from a place like Russia, I'll give it 8 weeks. As for missing mail search requests, I barely even bother with them. I've opened many of them, and my lost packages are rarely found. I still open them as a last-ditch effort, but I don't actually believe my packages will be found (and usually they aren't), so it's better to just get a refund before any time limits cut off your opportunity. More on reddit.com

Just had an identical experience. Sat in one place for 8 days. I submit my missing mail search and all of a sudden it starts updating again More on reddit.com