Shippers Beware

[braillediver]

When shipping something consider this guy on SigForum…..He’s complaining about the bad work ethic of Postal Workers.


“The post office love me:

Those guys delivered the first box three days earlier, Perfect, now this, lucky its only bullets otherwise it would be junk

Hell it was just sixty pounds”


So remember when you ship something it has to be able to survive being sorted automatically and dropping 3 feet onto a concrete floor and other packages dropping on top of yours. Remember there are people who ship boxes with 60 pounds of lead in them, in boxes not made for that purpose. There are denser things he could have shipped- Like depleted uranium.

It’s scary- I just shipped 2 early 1930’s vacuum tubes to Hawaii. They were well packed but how can you prepare for nuts like this? Then he has the balls to complain about the Post Office.


Mitch

 

[Postal_Blue]

I would suggest requesting manual handling. Sometimes they will charge you a surcharge, but it is insubstantial. Like Mitch said if your package is processed by machine (SPBS / APPS) it will drop up to 4 feet onto a hard surface most typically a wire cage or hard plastic hamper. Then other packages will fall that same distance and land on your package. This process will most likely occur twice once at the local processing hub then again at the hub nearest its destination. When I ship tubes I take them in myself to manual processing. A padded envelope is small enough to be worked with letters further lessening damage possibilities. As Mitch points out the greatest danger to your package is other packages. Like any business there is the occasional bad egg but I am amazed by how sincerely my fellow postal workers care about the mail. Painstaking care is taken to see that all packages and letters arrive on time and undamaged. I have seen Technicians practically take a machine apart to save one envelope. That's one out of the 4-500k that will be process on that machine that day. One out of the 7-8 million that will be process that day and that is in a smallish plant.

Down from my soap box I come. Ask about special handling options.

 

[braillediver]

My Postal People are cool and do good work. It's this jerk complaining about an improperly packed item getting its box damaged.

The seller is being cheap and using the free box for a purpose it was not designed or intended for.

My post is a warning to others that no matter how well you pack and no matter how well the Postal Workers do their job there are jerks like this out to ruin your day. And then have the balls to complain about “lazy postal workers”.


Mitch

 

[Postal_Blue]

Just to clarify, I understood the purpose of your post. I often feel the need to defend my company but I typically refrain from doing so. For whatever reason today seemed like the day to break out the ol' soap box.

 

[krmathis]

Hard to protect the item from such treatment.
I have had a couple of bashed up parcels arriving my place, but luckily the content have not been broken.

 

[nsx_23]

I hope my grados don't arrive like that.....

 

[braillediver]

I hope your Grados don't end up Under something like that.

If that box full of 60 pounds of Lead lands on your Grados- it''s not the Post Offices Fault- It's the idiot who shipped the 60 pounds of Leads Fault.


Mitch

 

[flashnolan]

I have never had any trouble with the USPS. I have shipped eBay auctions worldwide and they so far have arrived just fine.

 

[DemonicLemming]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braillediver /img/forum/go_quote.gif My Postal People are cool and do good work. It's this jerk complaining about an improperly packed item getting its box damaged. The seller is being cheap and using the free box for a purpose it was not designed or intended for. My post is a warning to others that no matter how well you pack and no matter how well the Postal Workers do their job there are jerks like this out to ruin your day. And then have the balls to complain about “lazy postal workers”. Mitch

Just curious, but how is that "improperly packaged"? And how is the guy a "jerk" because he ordered ammunition?

 

[braillediver]

"Just curious, but how is that "improperly packaged"?"

The box is labeled 35 pounds edge crush or some such thing so putting 60 pounds of lead in the box is improperly packing it.

“And how is the guy a "jerk" because he ordered ammunition?”

He’s a jerk because he’s complaining about the Post Office when the condition of the box is a direct result of the cheap seller improperly packing the 60 pounds of lead.


Mitch

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braillediver /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Just curious, but how is that "improperly packaged"?" The box is labeled 35 pounds edge crush or some such thing so putting 60 pounds of lead in the box is improperly packing it. “And how is the guy a "jerk" because he ordered ammunition?” He’s a jerk because he’s complaining about the Post Office when the condition of the box is a direct result of the cheap seller improperly packing the 60 pounds of lead. Mitch

pretty much, make sure your box can actually handle what you're sticking in it! If you have 60 pounds in a 35 box they're gonna laugh their asses off when you want to file a claim

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braillediver /img/forum/go_quote.gif The box is labeled 35 pounds edge crush or some such thing so putting 60 pounds of lead in the box is improperly packing it.

Wouldn't the edge crush rating be per square inch? It's for how much pressure it takes to cause the sides (edges) to crumple (determining how strong it is when other boxes are stacked on top of it), not a rating of how much weight you can pack in the box.

 

[braillediver]

"Wouldn't the edge crush rating be per square inch?"

And if a box stuffed with 60 pounds of lead lands on its edge- how many square inches was the edge originally before it was crushed?


“determining how strong it is when other boxes are stacked on top of it”

So are you saying the box was damaged because some other box landed or was stacked on it and damaged it?


Look at the box in question and I think any “Reasonable” person will accept that it is crushed and was obviously not adequate for the job.

That is the free Priority mail box the Post Office gives away. If anyone thinks it’s adequate to ship 60 pounds of lead in a box like that Please speak up now and I will make sure to never buy anything from you.


Mitch

 

[Fitz]

I'm not saying or even suggesting it's properly packed, please don't put words in my mouth. I'm saying you're inappropriately using a measurement that specifically applies to the stacking strength of a box, not how strong it is when dropped (unless it falls flat on the ground, with the force parallel to the sides). It cheapens the argument against this idiot when you make a point out of numbers that don't really have anything to do with the real issue.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Just wanted to say that I've dealt with the USPS for hundreds of packages now. Haven't had any problems and they've been good to me. Good packing and putting at least minimal insurance on the package gets it there just fine. The clerks at the stations I go to are nice, too.