the good old post office

[jballs918]

well guys i did a deall with 44woody for some boolits, a rather large deal alot 2020 to be correct. well today i went ot the mail box and look my box it here. so i grab my truck to toss them in there, was supposed to be a almost 50 pound box. mail boxs are at the end of the street. well i get there and open up the container to see a box that looked like it had gone thru complete hell. well hhmm, i go to grab the box and give it a tug, i got ripped my arm off becuase it was so lite, bad sign number 2. i know i have been working out but good lord lol. well i hear everything rattling around in the box. bad sign number 3. hhhmmm. so i open up the box, no way this could be 2020 bullets. well i start counting and low and behold 614 made it. bad odds for anyone lol. well now i have to figure out what happended to them and see if they can be recovered. any hints or tips on this matter would be great thanks jason

[454PB]

Bad news.....homeland security will probably be watching you now, and the EPA will press charges for the environmental clean up!

[jballs918]

well the feds and homeland im sure have my name, different story different time

[45nut]

this is the note i found in my letter box,,a friend shipped me a small flate rate box. you wouldn't believe the whining when i went to pick it up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/45nut/100_0260.jpg

[jballs918]

i would have picked it up myself, i dont care but they screwed it up, im sure long before i got it, i wonder if they split it lol

[Frank46]

You're not alone. Our local post office has had two people busted for stealing stuff and the one in town had a husband and wife team also busted for stealing stuff. Only after a number of complaints were lodged did anything be done and they all were caught. Frank

[imashooter2]

So how was it packed? Double boxed? Extra tape?

[44woody]

iamashooter asked how was it packed the projectiles were in 4 different zip lock bags inside one of those flatraet boxes with duct tape on yhe top and botton of the box this is how the post office said I had to mail them next time they will be inside of a wooden box inside of the flat rate box lets see them break this one they also said that I can not insure my mail becouse I do not have a recipe for the product inside of the box and the post office and I will have a major talk today :castmine: 44Woody

[fecmech]

I have received some cast bullets from Kead bullets in flat rate boxes. He packs his bullets in individual boxes in the FL box then tapes and plastic bands the Flat Rate box. Last shipment was around 60 lbs. (3000 147gr. 9MM) and arrived safe and sound. Those boxes get handled pretty rough, you need to pack things like bullets so they can't shift or move in the box. Think in terms of " Could I throw this box to the ground a couple times and it still be in good shape". If the answer is yes it will probably arrive ok. Nick

[montana_charlie]

Most parcels moving through the Postal system are handled (at least once during the journey) by machines only. Dropping from one conveyor belt to another, on the way to the correct area, provides opportunities for things to get damaged.

If a heavy parcel falls on top of a delicate one, Aunt Judy's ceramic music box probably will be 'out of tune' or 'reduced to dust'. Rolling off of that 'soft' parcel, the heavy one might be tipped off of the conveyor belt and fall...who knows how far...to a concrete floor.

If that fall caused the box split open, bullets would shoot (pardon the pun) everywhere on that workroom floor or loading dock. You might have Postal clerks, maintenance people, and janitors cussing you and your whole family, but I guarantee none of them would 'steal' two thirds of a box of bullets.

If you could see all of the cameras...and listening devices...scattered through a postal facility, you would know what I mean. If an uncancelled stamp falls from a first class letter, it will lay on the floor...untouched...until it gets sucked up by a janitor's vacuum cleaner. Being seen picking it up is worth your job.

Even scrounging something from the dumpster out in the parking lot can get you fired.

CM

[wills]

How many postal employees would recognize a boolit if they saw one?

[redneckdan]

One meber recently shipped me 65lbs of type in picks. He had the postal counter worker help him engineer a "packageing system" that consisted of a flat rate box and a bazzillion feet of priority mail tape. It arrived here safely though I got cussed by the mail carrier and the handles of the lee mold inside the package were beat to piss. On the other hand, I've had about 600 slugs get lost in the mail in the last month and a half. One shipment to canada came back as an empty box, so somewhere between here and regina there are 300 20 gauge slugs rolling around on the floor of a post office.

[imashooter2]

iamashooter asked how was it packed the projectiles were in 4 different zip lock bags inside one of those flatraet boxes with duct tape on yhe top and botton of the box this is how the post office said I had to mail them next time they will be inside of a wooden box inside of the flat rate box lets see them break this one they also said that I can not insure my mail becouse I do not have a recipe for the product inside of the box and the post office and I will have a major talk today :castmine: 44Woody


That sounds reasonably secure. I never trust those single layer cardboard boxes with 30 or more pounds of weight in them though. I'd double box it and put enough packing inside to ensure the weight can't get moving before it hits the cardboard. I always assume the boxes are going to get rough handling.

The "can't get insurance" line they're feeding you is pure BS. You are shipping lead castings, insured value $X. You should demand to see the Postmaster.

[StarMetal]

well I have to mail jumptrap these two five inch diameter steel ball bearings. They look like canon balls. Well they will fit in a flat rate box but I thought about them bouncing around inside it, so I made a 1/2 thick plywood box that fits within the cardboard box. I built it so it anchors the two balls too, and then packed that tight with foam peanuts. They can go ahead and drop this one. We have two ball bearing plants in the town I live near and jump was needing these for something he's building for his farm use.

Joe

[Springfield]

I mail bullets every week using the Flat Rate boxes, and they haven't been busted yet by the Post Office. I do limit the weight to 35 pounds though. Those Flat Rate boxes really aren't stressed for much more than that. I also seal them up in a vacuum sealed bag, and pad thm well so nothing moves around.

[montana_charlie]

they also said that I can not insure my mail becouse I do not have a recipe for the product inside of the box
I assume you meant to say 'receipt'...not 'recipe'.

That's ridiculous! If you are sending your grandfather's favorite book to your second cousin's step-nephew, you can't be expected to have a receipt for it...but you will be asked to state a value.

You then buy the amount of insurance needed to cover it's 'value to you'.

Make them tell you the 'page, paragraph, etc' of the Postal Regulation that they are basing that conclusion on.
Since the regulations are available online, they can be proven right, or wrong, by doing some reading.

An alternative is to send your parcel via Certified or Registered Mail. It will be 'shepherded' through it's journey by clerks who deal only with that kind of mail...and it's progress recorded at each office it passes through.

I don't know how much that would increase your mailing cost, but the chance of loss or damage would be greatly reduced.
CM

[Scrounger]

An alternative is to send your parcel via Certified or Registered Mail. It will be 'shepherded' through it's journey by clerks who deal only with that kind of mail...and it's progress recorded at each office it passes through

And it will take forever to get there and cost a fortune. Just pack better.

[Shepherd2]

I received a registered package from Switzerland yesterday with some 1911 Schmidt Rubin parts in it. The package was about 75% covered in duct tape and it looked like someone postal worker (Swiss or American) had dropped a concrete block on it. Lucky for me the duct tape held it all together and the shipper had really padded the parts inside. On second thought, US Customs could have dropped the block on it too.

If registered mail is shepherded (I like that word) thru the system I'm glad it didn't come regular mail.

Anyway last night the 1911 Schmidt went "Bang" for the first time in decades.

[fiberoptik]

I did a trade for a muzzleloader from a guy down south. He put the longrifle in a box, along with shooting bag, knife, short starter, ball bag, etc. I get it, it's got the corner ripped open, and rattling like a babies toy. Of the 200 or so rb's in the bag, somehow I got maybe 20? After getting it home, the back sight falls out! Go figure. I check online for the regs. Call some dumb broad working as a supervisor. Says I can't send my muzzleloader, as it's a firearm. I give her page/paragraph/etc. She argues all the way. Finally I ask, "can I send a piece of wood with a piece of pipe??" "Sure!" "What the h#ll do you think a muzzleloader is??" I sent antique machine parts.
Also, got a friend named Skip. He sent someone at a lab 6 .45 long colt fired casings to test for the powder used. They never arrived. He sent them via post office also.

Screw 'em. Use UPS.:Fire:

[mike in co]

i have worked part time for the post office several times in the past few years. my "specialty was PRIORITY MAIL. now i'm in denver. we work priority 7 days a week. this is not a small rural operation. mail is dumped on a conveyor belt, hand seperated, then more belt travel to the LOCAL end of the line final sort. at this point the mail is for the most part THROWN to the correct container. yep i aint throwing anything over a couple pounds. the container is aprox 6 ft tall, if opened from the side, three feet. your heavy package will be "released" from one of these two heights. people do steal from the po, the po has thier own police and investigators. it does happen, but i doubt anyone is stealing our cast products, more likely trashed due to the heavy weight at the local delivery point......

[44woody]

what is a man to do when he has a box that weighs more than 2 pounds I am disabled and do not have an income so I try to make a few $$$ selling a few things Lead bullets brass lube and a few other thinge now when a package does not get to where it is supposed to it does make me look bad in this case and you can ask Jballs I paid out of my pocket the freight and replaced the product that was lost the post office told me I could not insure the package so what is a man suposed to do in trying to get by when they do what they want with my stuff this is not the first time the post office has done this to me I try my best to package it up the best I can is there any suggustion or secrets that I need to know would help thanks alot for any help you can give :castmine: 44Woody

[ET 11]

First post here guys and thanks for a great board. First off your bullets,shell casings etc. are not being stolen. As a maintenance tech at a large priority mail processing center I see bullets and shell casings strewn through the machine along with many other items. Family pictures are a daily occurance. With the ever present cameras,microphones and one way glass full of postal inspectors, a penny could fall out of your pocket and it would be left on the floor. If you are using the flat rate boxes with heavy or metal items pack them so they can be dropped and tumbled. The machines we are using to process parcels are longer and wider than a football field and use high speed conveyors. I mail quite a few items using priority mail and I care if my customers get their items so I extend that courtesy at work and make every effort to get the items where they go,but sometimes it is too late and the box with the address is gone and the contents are laying around so all we can do is collect the items and send them on to dead mail.

[Dale53]

Many, many, years ago I ran a sub post office (as a contractor). It was a family operation, and we did LOTS of work for our less fortunate neighbors at no charge ( many could not read or write and we would address envelopes, packages, etc). We often found ourselves helping the neighbors to repackage stuff. It is amazing how many people I personally know these days that just do not have any idea how to package stuff.

I recently opened a commercial package that had a new telescope sight inside. The company had placed the scope inside against the bottom of the package and filled the extra space with styrofoam peanuts. Lots of protection on top and NONE on the bottom. Just flat DUMB. Fortunately, nothing was damaged.

Since I knew and know many Post Office employees and have mailed thousands of packages over the years, I am truly surprised that there are so few problems with packages mailed thru the post office.

I send manuscripts and photo CD's, return items, letters, etc and before I retired, I sent hundreds of letters each year for thirty years. I would, maybe, have one letter go astray in two-three years.

I have family members who send me stuff that have no idea how to pack. It is a near miracle when they arrive. So, don't just blame the Post Office. Many times "The enemy is us" (not U.S.) Pogo...

Dale53

[Taylor]

I have been a rural carrier for 16 years,I have delivered everything there is to deliver.To include live animals,and they arrived alive.Yes things do get screwed up sometimes,most of the time (in my experience) it is because the sender failed to box/wrap real good.Don't be afraid to use alot of tape.The last few years my wife and I have sent to her folks in NC canned tomatoes and peppers from our garden(mason jars) each year,and they always arrived unbroken.Now don't get me wrong,I'm not defending the Post Office,because I work there.There are some oxygen theives around.But to get a PS3849 (delivery/pickup notice) because it is too heavy is a down right lazy carrier.There is no such thing as "too heavy".You are required to be able to lift 70 lbs,be you 18 or 80,sick, lame or crazy.Case in point,I live outside Ft. Campbell,all the guys who are returning for Iraq,ship their stuff back in large plastic foot lockers via the US Mail.I have never heard a carrier complain about it either.If it were me,I would have a word with my carrier,there is no reason to do bad work.OK, I feel better now.