[andychen]

I recently purchased a very short cable from a fellow head-fier. The seller shipped the cable with a plain envelope. As you can see from the picture, when the envelope arrived, one corner was ripped apart and there was no cable in it. This cable is not expensive (less than $20), so not so much a loss, but I just want to share this with all of you because some small cables can be very expensive.

BTW, the seller chose to ignore my email and PM for almost two weeks now even though he clearly visited the forum two days ago.

 

[el_matt0]

can you PM me his name so i can watch out for the guy myself then???

sorry for your losses, thats always unfortunate when stuff like this happens, but thankfully like you said it wasnt too expensive of an item.

 

[Zorander]

This seller should have, at the very least, used bubble wraps to protect the fragile connectors. The increased bulk would also have prevented thieves from snuggling out cables like what happened here.

 

[krmathis]

Sorry for your loss.
Sure seems like it has been improper packed. Its not all that hard to wrap it up in some bubble plastic and use a thicker envelope or small box.

 

[andychen]

a final response from the seller

"I'm sorry you never got your ipod lod... if it is the truth... but really, I don't see how it can fall out of an envelope."

 

[Caution]

who the hell is crazy enough to send cables in a plain envelope? a bubble wrapped envelope is a whole different story though, and they only cost around a dollar each.

 

[Dominat0r]

Ipod LOD isnt really a small cable imo, it has quite a large connector on it which should ONLY be tranported in a small box. He could of went to Walmart and buy a jewelery box for like a 1$.

Its not a small mini-mini cable, i mean, come on peeps....stuff like this ruins the for sale forums.

IF YOU CANT PACK YOU ITEMS PROPERLY, DONT SELL HERE!!

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caution /img/forum/go_quote.gif who the hell is crazy enough to send cables in a plain envelope? a bubble wrapped envelope is a whole different story though, and they only cost around a dollar each.

The same thing happened to me when I ordered an Oehlbach 120-ohm adapter from Jan Meier.

He sent it from Germany in a standard, unpadded letter envelope, and it arrived to my door with the corner ripped open exactly as shown in the pics above, and no adapter inside. Thankfully, after contacting Jan about what happened, he shipped me another (in a small cardboard box this time).

Sellers, just say "No!" to plain, unpadded envelopes. I don't know if it's the mail sorting mechanisms, or unscrupulous mail employees, but it's not a good practice either way.

Buyers, ask for the kind of packaging you expect up front when negotiating the sale. Don't assume everyone packs gear likes it's fine china (like I do).

 

[McFortner]

And let's be honest, this didn't fall out. It was "liberated" by our beloved postal service employees. My parents have had similar problems with our post office before. Always make it hard for them to get anything when you ship. At least make them work for it for crying out loud!

Michael

 

[nsx_23]

Proper packaging isn't that expensive.

You don't want your gear arriving like that, so don't send stuff to other people improperly packed!

 

[Fitz]

Regular envelopes should only be used for letters / paper, and very small things of minimal value (where using a padded envelope or box would cost more than the item), like if I'm sending somebody a 5 cent part. They get sent through sorting machines that will tear them apart if anything too big (compared to paper) is in them. This is why even for mini cables I always use cardboard boxes, with enough padding to keep the cable in the middle of the box and not floating around loose. In the rare case that I'm out of the small boxes, I'll use cardboard envelopes with my own foam or bubble padding.

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by andychen /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently purchased a very short cable from a fellow head-fier. The seller shipped the cable with a plain envelope.

a regular envelope.

that is not acceptable. regardless of the final outcome, i would leave feedback about this.

 

[DemonicLemming]

What likely happened is that the cable got stuck when the envelope went through a letter-sorter machine, and was either lost in the innards of the machine or, more than likely, destroyed when they had to open the machine up to unjam it and was summarily trashed.

 

[Postal_Blue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by McFortner /img/forum/go_quote.gif And let's be honest, this didn't fall out. It was "liberated" by our beloved postal service employees. My parents have had similar problems with our post office before. Always make it hard for them to get anything when you ship. At least make them work for it for crying out loud! Michael

This is an absolutely ridiculous assumption. Do you have any idea the machinery used to process a first class envelope? It was designed to do just that, process a LETTER. There is only one machine currently in use by the USPS for letter processing; an LOD might survive. Even if there is sufficient space (which I assure you there is not) the inertia involved in a letter traveling at 8-11 feet/second making a 180 degree turn in a 12" radius is often too much for the paper. I have seen pens/pencils flying out of envelopes one after another. Most likely the LOD was destroyed, if not it was handed over to a supervisor and sent to an employee who spent hours trying to piece together letters that shared its fate, a very high percentage of which he/she will successfully reassemble and ultimately get to its intended recipient. In this instance the employee was unable to find the envelope as it went on its merry way and was delivered. So the dock is most likely sitting in a centralized "lost and found" where it will stay for a ridiculous amount of time until ultimately being destroyed.

Instances of theft by postal employees are extremely rare. We have great jobs. I certainly would not jeopardize it over a piece of wire that almost certainly looked like nothing to the person who rescued the LOD from the machines wrath. I am very sorry your parents had problems with mail delivery. I can assure the few idiots who betray the public and fail to protect the sanctity of the mail are dealt with without mercy; almost all do time in federal prison. *Steps down from soapbox*

Bottom line: this was terrible packaging, the seller should be held responsible in this case.

William

 

[G-man]

meh, i wouldn't ever trust the post office to take care of any stuff i send, mainly cos they need to mechanise many things to keep costs low, and machines are stupid. still, a proper packaging is a must for anything and everything.