Our beloved USPS

[drinks]

A member sent me a package priority mail, came today, now I shall have to ask him for an inventory to find out what is missing.
Could be worse, a package I sent to Canada, only the side with the address made it to Ontario.
A friend sent irreplaceable documents to Britain, only the corner of the padded envelope with his return address came back.
A magazine sent to me from SA in Jan. 06, got here in Nov. 06, must admit, it was intact.
Oh well! ;<

[Springfield]

I send packages all the time by USPS Flat Rate box, and they haven't lost any bullets yet. They have damaged a couple, though. IMHO your friend should have put some more packing tape on the package, just in case of the worst. I don't see any on that box.

[wiljen]

IMHO your friend should have put some more packing tape on the package, just in case of the worst. I don't see any on that box.

Don't do that on the flat-rate boxes either - I got warned that it was against the rules to "reinforce" the box in any way. So using strapping tape to reinforce the box could get it rejected.

Reinforce an inner box and place it inside the flat rate box - that way they cant see the reinforcements and cant refuse to send it.

[mike in co]

Don't do that on the flat-rate boxes either - I got warned that it was against the rules to "reinforce" the box in any way. So using strapping tape to reinforce the box could get it rejected.

Reinforce an inner box and place it inside the flat rate box - that way they cant see the reinforcements and cant refuse to send it.


next time your in, ask to see a copy of the "rule"

lots of "rules" are "written" by the guy at the counter or maybe by his boss.


for the record i put two layers of tape on all my priority mail packages. simple double from top to bottom, and a second side to side.

but i still have some "priority "tape from when it was available.

and so far i have been lucky all packages incomming and out going have survived.


mike

[Scrounger]

I always put yeinforcing tape around the package and no one has complained yet, nor have I had a package damaged or lost. Another thing I always do is use the plastic grocery bags and such to pad the contents so nothing moves. A heavy, even 2 pound object sliding around in the box is more likely to damage it than the outside handling. And Flat Rate packages weren't designed to hold 25 to 75 pounds of lead. That's just expecting too much. One last suggestion: Sign up for Click-N-Ship, weigh, wrap, print your own labels and postage, and give them to your carrier. He or she is more likely to be nice and co=operative than someone who works a window and listens to complaints all day. I know.

[Uncle Grinch]

I have lost 2 Mauser barrels and a money order in the last year alone shipping priority mail.

On Feb 14, I mailed a money order to Arkansas via 1st class mail and it arrived yesterday. I just don't know what to expect when I ship vis our USPS.

[Kraschenbirn]

Last fall, I sold the last of my factory 7TCU brass to a guy in Pennsylvania. Mailed the package...Priority Mail-Flat Rate Box...at the same time as I mailed a box of 7BR brass...also Priority Mail...to a fellow in Arizona. Two days later received an e-mail confirmation that the 7BR stuff had arrived; four days after that, I received an e-mail from the other buyer inquiring about his purchase. Took another three days before the package arrived in Pennsylvania and, when it finally got there, one end of the box had been completely crushed and patched with "Priority Mail" sealing tape. Oh yeah, when the buyer counted the brass, he came up 30-some rounds short. Would've replaced it if I could but those particular cases were IHMSA headstamp factory 7TCU (made by Federal as I recall) and there just ain't any more to be had...anywhere. When I inquired at my local PO, was told that he buyer would have to file any claims and that they (the USPS) didn't pay "partial damages"...the buyer would have to surrender the "damaged goods" to obtain reimbursement for the insured amount. Finally, scrounged up 50 rounds of once-fired 7TCU formed from Federal .223s and sent them to the guy to make up the shortage.

Bill

[shooter575]

I shiped a pair of moulds 600 miles by USPS.I shiped it cheep rate and it took 4 months to get there.I thought the pony express was slow!
But I have had problens with UPS also.I had a barrel relined and when it returned it looked like someone had use the heavy mailing tube to smash somthing.The barrel was bent about 1/2" when rolled on the bench.The insurance payed for it but the hassel!
If you do this very much you got to learn good packing skills and use lots of shipping tape.

[Hackleback]

I was the one that sent the box. Was in a bit of a hurry and did not pack it as well as would have liked. I will say that the PO was less than helpfull in assisting me with this box. I did pace the contents in a 1 gal zip lock bag to contain the destruction a bit.

[floodgate]

wiljen:

Our Postmaster LIKES us to tape the PriMail boxes and flat-Rate packets, especially over the address labels (with transparent tape). I got complete, boxed early Lyman press outfit from eBay, and the idiot who sent it used UPS, and just took one turn of tape around the original Lyman shipping box, with a packing slip dated "1972" in it. The cardboard had gone rotten, and the detached operating handle and loose priming accessories had hammered their way out and disappeared enroute. Naturally, the seller and UPS just pointed fingers at each other (and it was left on my porch while I was out, so I coudn't kick it back to the driver) and I was S.O.L. I did finally manage to locate replacements on eBay, but....

floodgate

[jballs918]

44woody sent me a box, 2k of bullets. i got 600 of them. nothing was ever found

[buck1]

I won a necklace for my wife on Ebone TWO YEARS AGO. I did not get the insurance and sure enugh It didnt ever show up. That is not untill 2 weeks ago!!
Everything was correct and clear on the box postage was enugh , and it was postmarked TWO YEARS AGO! Go figure!>>>>>>>>>>>Buck

[georgeld]

I just bought a mercury reducer from a guy in MT.

He boxed it RIGHT.

Little box around, wrapped in foam inside another box about 3x3"
Taped that to the bottom inside the P/ority box and air bags n peanuts packed tight.
I should have made a mess when pulling that inner box out and it wouldn't come. Dumped it on the floor. Only three peanuts fell out. Then I got a blade and cut the tape after dumping the packing out.

That's the way things should be packed. Mike Freeman, damned good job man!!

Six months ago a GI in Irag had his wife 40 miles from here box up 250 .45 Colt cases and mail them to me. Never got 'em. Month later she got notice they'd found an empty box with her return address floating around the 'facility'.

I always wrap two wraps all three ways with strapping tape. Never had anyone say anything about it yet. Won't be pleasent if/when they do.

While in the Army we figured out how to ship cookies so they were whole and not a can full of crumbs.
Bake 'em short time, stack in a can while still hot and sticky. You can layer saran wrap but, do it tight and best not to. Just stack the can full of warm, soft cookies and they should arrive in one solid hunk than can be seperated fairly easy. Worked for us.

Good luck,

[kywoodwrkr]

USPS regulations evidently seem to be made up on the spot sometimes.
I recently sent 1000 pulled 8mm bullets to a board member in CA.
He sent me similar items back.
Both packages arrived okay.
I did wrap my package in a bunch of duct tape.
Postal employee told me that only the little logo which said fixed rate had to show.
AND it was only visible in one place if I rember correctly.
I'd echo what mike in co said-'show me the rule'!
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[robertbank]

While I have to confess USPS service to Canada in my experience has been excellent and the only way to ship items of value under $100 as brokerage fees from UPS are a killer. What gets me when shipping south is if it weghs more than a kilogram it has to be in a certain size envelope or package. I have sent stuff south like boolits and had to place my well packaged box in a large bubble envelope to meet USPS size/weight requirements. Odd rule to me.


Take Care

Bob

[44woody]

Kywoodwrkr there is a simple answer to your problem just make a ply wood box and put inside a flat rate box I started to do that after Jason lost 1400 38's that I sent him I have even gone and put banding around the plywood box :castmine: 44Woody

[drinks]

There is a no extra tape rule, but only on the flat rate envelope, the $4.05 one.

[Springfield]

I ship at least a few dozen boxes of bullet a month using Flat Rate boxes. I self limit the weight to 35 pounds, the boxes just aren't that strong. I use clear wrapping tape and reinforce the crap out of the boxes. And I have shipped things that were damaged before, they didn't ask me to surender anything. They don't want our damaged goods, whoever told you that was a moron. It did take a while to get the money though. And usually the shipper has to claim, not the receiver. My bullets are all in styrofoam trays that are then sealed in vacuum sealed bags. Hard for the whole batch to get out a hole in the box, never ship anything loose.

[Beau Cassidy]

Double boxing is the way to go. If Felix hadn't of done that for my GC during the MOAGC buy a year or so ago there would have been GC trailed from Arkansas to Northeast, TN! It's not too hard to tear a box open but you gotta be malicious to get into the second one.

Beau

[montana_charlie]

I won a necklace for my wife on Ebone TWO YEARS AGO.
I know (from personal experience) how that happens...if anyone cares.

Small items are thrown into mail sacks which have labels for the next Post Office down the line. At the next stop, the sack gets dumped, and the contents are routed again on their way to the destination.
Sometimes, a piece of mail doesn't fall out of the sack when it's dumped...and the 'empty sack' gets stored for future use.
It might be stored for two hours...or two years...depending on the sack supply at a given Post Office.

Yeah, the rule tells clerks to check a sack by turning it inside out...then turn it back so it's ready for the next user.
It sounds quick and simple when the manager says it, but you have to stand in a 4-hour pile of work, while looking at a 1-hour deadline, (and two people called in sick) to understand that 'sometimes it doesn't happen'.
CM

[manleyjt]

I recently had a mishandled flat rate envelope form a forum member and tried to chase down what to do at the USPS. I had to go all the way up the chain to the Postmaster in the main post office in the Capital City of Wyoming. Nothing resolved other thanpostmaster said "well I don't know but that package didn't fair so well".

I was told that all loose items are shipped to a central facility in Mississippi. I had to rpvide descritions and pictures of what shoudl have been in the box and fill out a special form. I also had to give representative pricing for the "antique" items. Thank goodness for ebay. I would sure like to see the inside of the unclaimed property facility!

Here is the bad news, there was no insurance on the package. I have taken to the thought that is something is old and maybe hard to replace, it better be insured and should be shipped UPS, DHL, or FedEx. USPS will just create havoc in your life if something happens and it is easier to just pay the extra shipping upfront.

[45nut]

USPS provides free heavy duty shipping boxes for Priority Mail shippers, they are much heavier than Priority Flat Rate boxes, you can't get them at the post office, you must order from the USPS wbsite catalog.

[Dale53]

I have had good results with the USPS. However, I insure all packages of value and if it is seriously valuable or necessary, I find that "Certifying" is well worth the modest cost. When you ship by certified mail, EVERYONE that touches it has to sign for it along the way. That is very helpful in the long run (kind of makes handlers more careful).

I have lost items or had damaged items from all the various mailing services. I just really do not like UPS for various reasons, but right now my preference is Fed Ex or the USPS.

Dale53

[Buckshot]

................All my machine work goes out via USPS. I use "Click & Ship" which automaticly adds a delivery confirmation for free. Our local post office DOES have all the free USPS packaging available. Everything from the various Global Priority small and large flat rate envelopes to the Global 'Vyteck' envelopes to the boxes. Ditto the 3 sizes of the Flat rate cardboard boxes. Just walk in and start grabbing :-)

The flat rate envelopes are not very substantial. In fact the material they're made out of is lighter by half, then tablet backing cardstock. Shipping ANYTHING in them requires reinforcement unless it's sheets of paper. I get tablet backing stock from work and will make up an inner container the item goes into. This is then placed inside the USPS flat rate envelope.

Realize that the package is handled several times between your postal pickup being, and the delivering postal entity. There are occasional problems regardless WHO you ship with or who it comes form. I'd ordered a 12"x18"x3" granite surface plate from ENCO. I know they have shipped a bunch of them. However probably like the rest, mine was in a cardboard box maybe 4" larger in all dimensions then the piece of rock, and all it'd had in the box besides the rock was some packing peanuts!

The styrofoam packing had been pretty well ground into sand sized pieces, and the majority had escaped through a couple blown out corners of the box. Doesn't seem really smart to ship a 85 lb hunk of granite in a simple cardboard box full of styrofoam peanuts. It was shipped via and delivered by UPS.

Re: Insurance via USPS. I believe if you make a claim for never having gotten the carton, you have to somehow prove that it'd never been delivered. Unless you have a delivery confirmation, or some other form for recipt, that could prove difficult.

................Buckshot

[Whaump 'em]

A member sent me a package priority mail, came today, now I shall have to ask him for an inventory to find out what is missing.
Could be worse, a package I sent to Canada, only the side with the address made it to Ontario.
A friend sent irreplaceable documents to Britain, only the corner of the padded envelope with his return address came back.
A magazine sent to me from SA in Jan. 06, got here in Nov. 06, must admit, it was intact.
Oh well! ;<
I want to know if it looked like the magazine had been read?

[buck1]

That explaines it, It was a small box. Thanks............Buck

[georgeld]

Buck:

You just said above: "Three sizes of boxes----"

I've got FOUR size's beside me right now.

One I wasn't aware of paperback book size, two we all have used and
that 3' triangle job.

I just rented from another poster a $225 chamber reamer for a special case. With the understanding I bought it for $165 IF something happens to it.

Guess how it came?? 3x3x6" box NO insurance, $1.59 media rate.

Guess how I shipped it out now!!!

Some people seem to want to bait you into funding their operations at time's.
I'll be damned!!!

I stock 1" strapping tape and it goes on "EVERYTHING" twice on each of three side's. Anything that's heavy, usually gets a liner of some kind.

You two guys that got 9mm brass from me a couple months ago, How'd that come? Was there any lost?

[dale clawson]

Last year I shipped a deer mount to my son in Florida by placing it in a heavy duty garbage bag then fastening it in a box with expanding foam, it arrived in good shape. This year I shipped another to him, and one to my daughter in law the same way at the same time . His arrived one day, hers the next. His was fine , hers had the box crushed and the antlers were loose. I had insured the package, but was told that she would have to take package and contents to PO and that if they paid her, she would lose the mount. I protested that I had insured it for $450 figuring that amount would repair damages, but the mount itself was irreplacable as it is one of a kind. After much hassel, they agreed to pay for repairs, but the estimate would have to be approved before the work was done. She finally decided to just pay for the $100 repair rather than have to take off work multiple times to deal with the hassel. That still makes the $ 260 taxidermy fee , $90 shipping, and $100 repair cheaper than the lowest Florida taxidermist rate by $150. Dale

[John Taylor]

I always put yeinforcing tape around the package and no one has complained yet, nor have I had a package damaged or lost. Another thing I always do is use the plastic grocery bags and such to pad the contents so nothing moves. A heavy, even 2 pound object sliding around in the box is more likely to damage it than the outside handling. And Flat Rate packages weren't designed to hold 25 to 75 pounds of lead. That's just expecting too much. One last suggestion: Sign up for Click-N-Ship, weigh, wrap, print your own labels and postage, and give them to your carrier. He or she is more likely to be nice and co=operative than someone who works a window and listens to complaints all day. I know.

Click-n-ship is no good, you can get the same service from USPS and cut out the middle man that wants to hit your bank account each month weather you send anything or not. They have a monthly fee, USPS does not.

[John Taylor]

I ship guns several times a week and use USPS. I have had problems with Fed Ex , UPS and USPS but with USPS I don't have to pay a monthly fee to use them or a fee for pickup. Twice I have received empty boxes and lots of times damaged boxes from all three. Fed Ex lost an 1886 rifle, I think the driver got it. USPS crushed an 1894 barrel, I don't think driving the truck over it could do that. I sent three boxes to Alaska to the same address and the one that did not have insurance was lost. When filing a claim you would think the clerk has to pay you out of their own pocket. Sometimes sending a note to the Post Master General will help.

[redneckdan]

I have seriously bad luck with USPS, just ask montanacharlie. All my flat rate boxes get armored, 3-4 layers of ducted tape usually do it.[smilie=1: Sometimes I feel bad for the buyer havin to cut through all that stuff.

[Scrounger]

Click-n-ship is no good, you can get the same service from USPS and cut out the middle man that wants to hit your bank account each month weather you send anything or not. They have a monthly fee, USPS does not.

Click-N-Ship IS the USPS!

https://sss-web.usps.com/cns/landing.do

[montana_charlie]

USPS crushed an 1894 barrel, I don't think driving the truck over it could do that.
When sorting parcels for a particular destination, they are all put into a huge aluminum wheeled cage that will roll onto a semi.
In large offices these cages are filled with conveyors, not by hand.

If something long drops into a cage horizontally - and something heavy gets dropped on it - that can bend almost anything. Imagine a Flat Rate Box full of lead dropping on a rifle barrel...
The barrel bends, and the box cracks open. Sound familiar?
Postal workers might gather up scattered ingots and try to repackage them, but they will not spend time locating a shower of bullets.

If getting the item to it's destination in good condition is more important to you than being reimbursed for damage...Certified Mail and Registered Mail get much more careful treatment.

I had a metal-cutting bandsaw delivered last week by FedEx. They never called to schedule a delivery time, and it arrived while I was away from home. I found the two boxes neatly stacked by my garage.
The lighter box got carried to the shop, but I decided to open the heavy (175 lb.) one where it sat.

I found the motor mount broken...a 3/8" cast iron plate. Since all of the cast iron particles were laying in a neat little group, right under the large chunks, I'd say it broke when the driver just shoved it out of the truck onto my driveway.

Seems a shame that the machine was damaged in the last six feet of the trip from Bangladesh (or wherever)...

I have more disappointments with FedEx than both of the other two carriers, combined.
CM

[Scrounger]

Certified Mail really doesn't get you much preferable handling. It travels loose with regular mail and packages until it gets to the delivering office. Then it is separated, the delivering employee signs for receipt of it and in turn gets a signature when he delivers it. All you get is proof that it was delivered; if it wasn't, all you get is a "sorry". Insured is better than Certified because (at least in theory) you get paid if it is damaged or not delivered. Registered is like Insured in that you are compensated for its loss, and it is transported separately and signed for by everyone who touches it.

[John Taylor]

Click-N-Ship IS the USPS!

https://sss-web.usps.com/cns/landing.do

My apology's, I was thinking of Stamps.com. They are as hard to get off of as AOL

[pumpguy]

I have always said that UPS hired the old gorillas from the American Tourister luggage commercial. I used to ship 4" submersible well pumps every day. I got a box back that had the end taped up with about a whole roll of f/g packaging tape after my customer refused it. The pump had fallen out somewhere between Salina,KS and Wichita, KS. A distance of about 100 miles. I actually had to get in a battle with them because they did not think it ever had a pump in it!! My driver picked up between 5 and 10 of these packages every day. They weighed between 25 and 50# each. He would have noticed if one was empty. After that, I insured every package. Still seems silly I should have to give them money to make sure they get a package I am paying them to deliver to its location in one piece.

[leftiye]

I've had a couple of boxes of lead shipped to me lately whic h got beat up real bad by those P.O. guys. The first, the shipper only wrapped it with reinforcing tape in two directions ( "forgot" to reinforce the corners by going around the box). Lost 15 lbs of ingots out the corners.

The other was printer's large linotype ingots, and I would have lost all of it if it hadn't been in the Post office's plastic shipping carrier. The shipper only put strapping on it one way, two straps. I'm not sure why these guys don't care about reinforcing those boxes, and doing a good job. I'm also flabbergasted at the rough handling at USPS. The boxes all arrive beaten to hell and gone!