I am gonna go snarl at USPS

[RogerDat]

Let me start by saying I have generally been pleased with the USPS service. The people that are at the office I usually use to ship have all been great until TODAY.

Lady behind the counter refused to accept a SFRB because it "had tape all over it". Stated you were only allowed to use "one strip of tape on the flap". I told her I would be back when I had more time. Since then I have printed the USPS directions for Preparing Packages. Highlighting the part that says to "tape the opening of your box and all seams with 2 inch wide tape". And the one specifically for Priority Mail that that "Tape may be applied to the flaps and seams" Provided the container still folds at the same place and has not been enlarged.

I told her she was incorrect but that I would have to come back as I was on a tight schedule. She sought confirmation from one of the other counter people who has handled many of my packages, he simply said he would have to look it up to confirm that one strip on the flap was a rule.

I always use fibered strapping tape on all edges, and clear tape over the address label. Clear tape across the bottom too come to think of it. I think this particular lady is still annoyed over the 55# MFRB I slid across to her last week. Even though the male employee who has done lots of my boxes came and took the box for her.

I think she just is annoyed at the high weights allowed and trying to discourage continued use. Good luck with that, my wife tells me all the time not to be so stubborn and ornery, but she will also admit I am pretty darn good at just that when I get going. Might be from practice, might be by nature but....

I have bad news for the mail lady. I have been swapping with another member, he built a wood box that just slips inside a MFRB to hold what he sent me, I'm sending the material I owe him back in that same wood crate inside a MFRB. I owe him 50# I already used a few extra ingots as "packing material" guess I'll go home and add a couple more bars and make sure I get the same lady at the counter tomorrow. Pretty sure with crate liner I'm already in the 60 lb. range. That and a copy of the USPS directions on package preparation should settle this once and for all.

Don't like being fed BS and told it's greens and cornbread like I'm too stupid to figure out the difference. I love Google it allows me to print the difference for the people trying to do the feeding.

[starmac]

What have you got against greens and cornbread????

[w5pv]

The blood thinners I am on don't let me eat as much as iI would like to.Too much vitiam k

[runfiverun]

I thought if it fit's it ships was the mantra there.

I doubt the tape rule is valid, I for sure use more money in tape than the box is worth.
and it's not just a single wrap,,,,, its WRAPPED.
this way and that way and around and around.

[RogerDat]

What have you got against greens and cornbread????
Nothing! Just don't like some official trying to pass their BS off as if it was something good like greens and cornbread. Have pitched manure, have had greens and cornbread, darn sure I can tell the difference.

Bummer w5pv - I hope there is still room for a bit of greens from time to time. Ability to appreciate some simple pleasures is best realized by those that have to do without or ration them. I guess the rest of us would do well to take that as a reminder to count our blessings.

[shooterg]

I have actually used the online comment/complaint deal. Got some dirty looks after that but no more problems.
On the flip, I sed the online deal to compliment one of 'em that done me good once.

[RogerDat]

The official USPS web site has this information.

See Sealing in this page.
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/preparing-packages.htm

See Notes at the bottom of this page.
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/flat-rate-reference.htm

The only thing one can't do is "stretch" the box by using only half the sealing flap so that the top or the sides are bowed out. Box MUST be folded at the original fold lines.
If a square box of lead is going to be smashed into a round or distorted shape they want to be the ones to do it. You can't bring it in that way.

I'm of the same mind as runfiverrun. I tape it all, then it does not matter so much if they drop the box, if the tape holds the contents stay inside. There is also the theory that if the cardboard is 100% covered with tape then they never really get to touch it, if they don't ever touch it they can't mess it up. Can't break what you don't touch right? ;-)

I'm taking copies of those pages I posted links to with me when I take in my shipment tomorrow. Hopefully same woman will be at the counter. If not her manager can enlighten her on the issue.

[bhn22]

To paraphrase Lily Tomlin, "We don't care, we don't have to. We're the Post Office".

[duckey]

Just can't imagine what kinda person would give a flip about extra tape!?

[jcren]

I once had a package not delivered by USPS and when I tracked it it said the gate was locked. I don't have a gate. On anouther note my wife makes killer poke greens and Mexican cornbread.

[Hamish]

Get 'er Roger, she works for US!

[TXGunNut]

I got that tape line from a postal clerk one time but it was a big envelope full of tax documents going to my accountant. I ship heavy stuff all over the country on UPS, FEDEX et al and trust me; a good tape job makes a huge difference.

[wv109323]

I reused a MFRB that I had received something in. The postmaster refused to accept the package because the box had "167" written on the end. The 167 was my former box number.
I had to get a new MFRB and repackage the item.

[knifemaker]

The tape was not the issue with the postal employee. She probably resented the fact the box was too heavy and did not want to handle it and used the tape issue as an excuse to not handle the box. I have been making hunting knives for about 8 years and use postal small flat rate box to ship over 150 knives. I tape all seams and edges and have never been refused by a postal employee. I have had great postal employees give me great service, and a few times I have gotten a lazy employee that acts like you just interfered with their lunch time when waiting on you. They want their paycheck, but would prefer not to have to work for it.

[Handloader109]

I can't complain about my post office, I've seen the employees tape up items for a lot of folks. They don't put much more than needed, but they do their job with a smile on.

[doc1876]

I hae 3 post offices here, two I won't go to. The third, the three people that man it are great. That being said, I sent a package from here to Montana for one of the members. It got caught in some kind of a loop, and went from des moines to Hazelwood to des moines to Hazelwood, you get the drift. I had to call the tracking people, and they returned my call from the end location, this poor woman had never seen the package, and was suposed to fix tghe problem.........stupid government organizations,

[garym1a2]

My post office is pretty good with med flat rate boxes with 60lbs of WW's. I once had a box break open due to poor taping. They taped it up, than two weeks later I got a single wheel weight in my box and a note from them saying they found it in the post office.

[ascast]

have you complimented her lately? nice hair, nice this blah blah?

equal op.......

[TreeKiller]

It it is taped per regulations plan on some extea time to spend there and ask to see the supervisor. If she is working just wait for her and let other people go ahead until she is finished with the customer.
City Carrier 34 years RETIRED now
Dan

[RogerDat]

I once pulled a truck up in front of a construction site we had to unload at. Was raining hard and the site was pretty muddy. My helper "Newman" asked are we going to go out in that rain and unload without a sidewalk? I said yep, that's the job. Helper said well the job stinks (or something along those lines) I said well you took the job now all that is left is to get out there and do it (or something along those lines).

I had to encourage him, pointed out the ride home in the truck was for people that worked for the company. I don't mind encouraging this post office person either. Especially since the other employees there have all been good to deal with. If I had to guess I would guess that if I find this person annoying in one encounter I can't imagine the folks that have to deal with her all day every day enjoy her all that much.

[Plate plinker]

Good luck with your crabby Apple.

[lead-1]

Our local post office is being taken over by a bunch of newer, younger folks that have he "complain about everything mentality". This one lady took a SFRB with some brass in it and commented "boy you're getting your money's worth with this one, think you could've got anymore in it".
Her attitude was worse one day when the guy in front of me needed four stamps and all he had was a $50.

[Beagle333]

My P.O. has a square template that the box has to fit through. When I hand a heavily taped box over the counter, they pick up the template and test it and if the SFR box will fit through the hole in the template, it ships. It doesn't even have to really resemble the original SFRB, it just can't be larger than the slot..... mine always fits, and I use a LOT of tape. 8-)

[frkelly74]

The tape "regulation" comes from way back when they were first offering flat rate shipping and had envelopes and one size box that was close to the medium size. People would really cram the envelope and tape it back together in some cases to get the cheap postage. I was guilty of this, it seemed like a logical thing to do, you know, really get your moneys worth. But before long they were looking for the tape jobs and rejecting some of my envelopes. I did not ever think it was applied to boxes, just envelopes. Some people just like to give others a hard time. Some officials just like to give people an official hard time. This was my experience, yours may vary.

[poacher]

The only incident I've ever had from the USPS was when I went to buy stamps there. I tried to use a credit card since I was 2.20 short on cash. I had "check Id" on it. The lady behind the counter refused to take my CC until I signed it. So I signed it right there and she ran the card and then checked my signature on the slip of paper and my CC that she watched me sign. Sometimes ya just have smile and laugh at stupidity.

Take care Be safe Poacher.

[gray wolf]

Just can't imagine what kinda person would give a flip about extra tape!?


(((( I can )))

[MT Gianni]

Another reason for the tape reg is that the postage sticker must adhere to the box not tape, per my postmistress. You can tape the seams and reinforce all but the corner that their postage sticker goes on. Something about being to easy to reuse.

[Tackleberry41]

Yea USPS may go and review that fit it ships policy. I had sold some VW bus pistons on Ebay, an ever so slightly larger standard box, by weight, it was almost $50 in shipping. Well they did fit in a large fits it ships box, same weight, $14. And I know my mail man hates me, its shocking how much lead will go in one of those medium boxes. Last one came to the house could hardly be called a box, it had been tenderized, more of a ball.

I have learned to pay the little extra at Midway for UPS service vs the UPS to USPS. For some reason USPS gets involved it ads 2 more days, those last 30 miles are pretty rough. 2 days by UPS, 4 days UPS-USPS. And my last package I had to call them, complain. It was 2 day priority mail, tracking said delivered, not even the same city, not sure where they would have delivered it, that city doesn't even have a street with the same name. After alot of yelling at the automated service, got to talk to someone in India. 2-3 days to investigate, it showed up 2 days later.

[RogerDat]

I copied out and printed out the official information from the USPS web site, and the web site pages themselves. Today I will go with those printed and enough time to talk with manager if there is a problem. Wife said hope you don't get the same person. I said I intend to let people go ahead in order to deal with the one person that is not playing by the rules. The others are all professional about it, I'm not going to have to worry about not being able to ship whenever I get this one person.

For the record this is what the USPS says about sealing and shipping flat rate boxes in general, I added the italics, printed two copies. Looks to me the one thing that can mess one up is if the box bulges so that the box edges are no longer where the original folds were and tape is bridging the gap.

Note: Flat Rate prices are available when material is sent in a USPS-produced Flat Rate Envelope or Box.
When sealing a Flat Rate Box or Flat Rate Envelope, the container flaps must be able to close within the normal folds.
Tape may be applied to the flaps and seams to reinforce the container; provided the design of the container is not enlarged by opening the sides and the container is not reconstructed in any way.
Weight restrictions for domestic Priority Mail Express and Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes and Boxes are 70 pounds.
Copied from: http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/flat-rate-reference.htm


Sealing
Tape the opening of your box and reinforce all seams with 2-inch-wide tape. Use clear or brown packaging tape, reinforced packing tape, or paper tape. Do not use cord, string, twine, masking or cellophane tape. Place a strip of clear packaging tape over your label to prevent the address from smearing.
Copied from: http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/preparing-packages.htm

Exactly the process I use. With the only difference being I use the clear tape to cover the label and additionally the entire side.
You tell me does this look right to you? (address covered to protect the innocent or guilty as the case may be) and at 13 lbs. it is way under the weight limit.

140164

[RogerDat]

So make sure I leave some cardboard someplace to put the postage sticker on? Will have to find out how large that sticker is so I can reserve a suitable amount of space tape free.
Frankly having received boxes that were blown out at the seams or as someone suggested more of a ball than a box I figured all seams need reinforcement which the post office suggests in their directions. The clear tape on the surface reduces the possibility of random rips or burst cardboard from a dropped box. I would think they should thank me for making it less likely that there will be a problem if the box gets some rough handling.

I don't ship much lead, did offer up a few boxes of Linotype, and did a swap of lead for solder, and lead for dies & brass. Not planning to do this all that often. Maybe I should just keep the paper copies in the car just in case and hope I don't get the problem person. Long time ago I learned it is not always practical to smack everyone upside the head that I run across in desperate need of such a smack. Avoiding unpleasant people tends to be easier than "fixing" them. Just don't know now that I've cooled off a bit.

[jsizemore]

I fill the box so it's snug, affix the address label, and has a double layer of clear packing tape over every outer surface with overlapping seams. It can withstand being "accidently" dropped in a puddle or dunked in a fish tank. Also withstands the 6 foot drop test. Cheap insurance.

[baogongmeo]

I also feel that some of the employees are unhappy about the heavier MFRBs and make it a point to give those packages extra attention and handling as I rarely have a heavy one show-up unscathed...the times that I've complained about the damage,the pat answer has been"Oh, it must have gotten damaged in one of the machines". Odd that the light ones always arrive in good shape.

[daniel lawecki]

This is the era where common sense is no long in play. We have become a nation of idiots and we are thought that now in our early years in school.

[RogerDat]

Maybe I should just keep the paper copies of rules in the car just in case and hope I don't get the problem person. Long time ago I learned it is not always practical to smack everyone upside the head that I run across in desperate need of such a smack. Avoiding unpleasant people tends to be easier than "fixing" them. Just don't know now that I've cooled off a bit.

I got to help train a new post office counter person! My problem person was not in when I started but....
Went in with just the SFRB and the guy that was at the counter was being trained by the guy Ms. Crabby Apple tried to get to confirm her "one piece of tape on the flap only" rule which he declined to do at the time. I told him I went and looked it up and this was taped as recommended, he said he was reading the rules too right now. Box was accepted, Ms. Crabby showed up as we finished up the transaction. I thanked the nice fellow behind the counter and said.... "Now I'll go get the heavy one. Did not want to carry them both in at once, Too heavy!"

Came back in and as luck would have it am again at the clerk in training right next to Ms. Crabby I asked for a red marker that was there to write "Heavy" on the box in a few places. The clerk said he normally works in the back and marking it was good because "they can surprise you sometimes". I asked how much it weighed he told me, and nice and loud I said "59 lbs. 13 Oz. Wow! Glad I taped all the edges good!" He allowed how it was smart to tape like that with the heavy weight. Somehow Ms. Crabby did not seem to notice myself, the box that went on the counter with a loud "Thunk" or any of our conversation, was too busy arranging pens and stamps at her station I guess.

I have the printed copy of the rules and instructions which I will keep in the car, I am assuming since the one guy did read the rules and did not tell the clerk in training to not accept the package there was nothing in the rules about "too much tape" or "only one piece of tape on the flap". If I get Ms. Crabby Apple again I will have documents in the car to deal with her. Not willing to go looking for trouble.

I figure helping the new guy get used to the idea that heavy boxes covered in tape are OK and achieving my main goal of getting these packages sent is enough. I did not go to the post office to provide remedial training to their worst employee, I went to send a couple of boxes. Mission accomplished.

I am going to make it a point to use the online form to make favorable comments about the good people, I think I should do that more, I try to be appreciative in person but I think the online stuff has more impact since the boss gets to see it.

[bear67]

The tale of two small city post offices: My mail comes from Whitehouse and I live 7 miles from said office. But I always mail my packages at Troup which is 9 miles because of the difference in the staff involved. At Whitehouse, they are poster children for unhappy, lazy employees. Intentionally slow and even if the line is out the door, they will not call another clerk from the back. Never mind the gritching when a MFRB weighs 60+ pounds. But at Troop they greet me usually by name and smile and take care of customers. If there is 3 folks in line they call Sam or Butch or Sissy from the back and they smile also. As the song says, never a discouraging word.

I always knew you were supposed to leave a cardboard spot to put the mailing thingie on, but usually they just put it on the good strapping tape. Wish they could deliver my mail too.

I would also carry the regs and raise sand about the clerk that the OP described. The squeeky wheel is the one that gets lubed. My wife says I need lubed with Goose Grease, because I complain about service when it is withheld. I also thank folks for good service and tip a good waitress,

[MaryB]

My label is the postage....

You get a decent discount printing your postage online! Then I do a pickup request and they pick the boxes up at my door!


Another reason for the tape reg is that the postage sticker must adhere to the box not tape, per my postmistress. You can tape the seams and reinforce all but the corner that their postage sticker goes on. Something about being to easy to reuse.

[xbeeman412]

I don't have much (none) problems with My local USPS folks since I keep them sweetened up with My honey. They know Me by first name when I walk in, just call Me honey..even when the wife is with Me..LOL

[William Yanda]

Sorry for the cranks at your PO. No one has mentioned using one of the Tyvek envelopes inside a frb to insure that the contents don't escape. That technique has worked for me. Didn't know the PO recommends clear tape over the address-I learned that from someone here and every time I do it, I think; "There, see if you can smear that!"
Regards
Bill

[TreeKiller]

If you have a small FRB end by putting too much in to that it bulges, tape it up good and then put it in a padded flat rate envelope it will ship no problum bulged at the top and the folds not closing.

[BrassMagnet]

Don't forget to address the tyvex bag inside the box, too, because if the mailing address label or box get destroyed it will go to the dead mail place. With the inner package addressed, it gets another chance to be delivered. A printed out piece of paper inside with the address is also a good idea as it adds another chance to identify where it is supposed to go.
You may end up arguing about postage due, but that is better than just losing your items.

[mold maker]

I also feel that some of the employees are unhappy about the heavier MFRBs and make it a point to give those packages extra attention and handling as I rarely have a heavy one show-up unscathed...the times that I've complained about the damage,the pat answer has been"Oh, it must have gotten damaged in one of the machines". Odd that the light ones always arrive in good shape.

The light weight packages are handled by the machines. The heavy ones have to be hand carried to avoid damage to the machines.
That's why the heavy ones get mangled.

[MaryB]

I have never had USPS reject a SFRB because it bulged a bit. Long as the box is not modified it ships!

[Teddy (punchie)]

They told me before that if it fits it's good. They let me do what was needed to use a box. Have not shipped much in over a year. Maybe they have new rules.


Maybe print labels and just drop them off. We set them on end of counter, they take them when they get time.

[clintsfolly]

I take my Click-it ships to the back door of the PO and put them on a roller cart for the girls. It may help that I am there 4day a week for work. Grand ledge mi has the best peaple. We had one bad but the others got her in line fast. Clint

[mjwcaster]

Just make sure when you tape over the label that the tape lays flat and clear.
I try to make sure that the tape doesn't even overlap on the label.
I tape up the box completely, 100% coverage, and then affix the label to the taped up box.
I have been warned before about this by my PO, and I can understand.
If it is not clear and flat, it makes it hard for the scanners to read the label.

[osteodoc08]

If it makes you feel any better, I was tracking a FedEx box that contained my wifes birthday present. On the day of delivery, I received an update saying it was undeliverable because no one was home. Hmmmm, wife was home all day. Following day I was home and purposefully sat in the living room doing laundry and chores. I checked the updated tracking and it said that 20 minutes prior, it was undeliverable because no one was home. Ummmm, I was sitting on my couch doing laundry, my dogs would have barked their little heads off and I'd of heard the truck. Oh yeah, I could see the front door from where I was sitting. I called Fed-ex and asked the driver to re deliver it that day. They asked if a delivery attempt slip was at the door. Never had one either day. They called the driver and he said he knew the area and he rang door bell and no one answered. He was conveniently out of attempted delivery slips as well........ I was pretty irritated, but since it was my wifes Bday present, I drove to the local FedEx facility and picked it up at 530pm. I've had much better luck with USPS and UPS than I have ever had with FedEx over the years.

[MaryB]

Both UPS and Fedex are horrible here, thankfully everyone takes packages that are not theirs to the city office to be picked up.