Shipping via US Postal Service

[carbking]

In the FWIW category:

 

There are a huge number of "porch pirates" following carrier vehicles (UPS, USPS, FedEx,etc.).

 

For this reason, EVERY package of value we ship WE REQUIRE a hand signature. We will not accept the digital signature. This is true regardless of which carrier we use (USPS for 3 pounds and under, UPS for other). This forces the carrier to place the package in the hands of the consignee!

 

Jon.

[JACK M]

On 9/22/2021 at 5:36 PM, ia-k said:

Ordered a battery for my cordless drill on eBay shipped by USPS.

I had a rechargeable battery all packed in a priority pkg and the two ladies at my local PO refused it, said it was to hazardous to go on an airplane.

One of them looked thru a handbook to prove it but never found the page.

Next PO two miles away took it no problem.

It went to New York, got rebuilt and back to Oregon in less than a week. 

Must be my good Karma.

[Peter Gariepy]

In the last 4 years I've mailed 350,000 pieces via USPS bulk mail.  (7000 a month) with maybe 10 non-deliveries per month. (approx 1 per 1,000)

 

I generally mail about 25-50 packages a month (additional magazines, name tags, window decals, books, etc.) with no delivery issues to speak us.

 

Sure... the delivery companies make mistakes, but lost or damaged packaged are a rarity, at least in my experience.

 

If the package is of value, then get insurance and use priority mail and get the tracking number. 

 

Oh, and use the priority mail boxes when you can (free), and be liberal with the tape.

[TAKerry]

3 hours ago, carbking said:

In the FWIW category:

 

There are a huge number of "porch pirates" following carrier vehicles (UPS, USPS, FedEx,etc.).

 

For this reason, EVERY package of value we ship WE REQUIRE a hand signature. We will not accept the digital signature. This is true regardless of which carrier we use (USPS for 3 pounds and under, UPS for other). This forces the carrier to place the package in the hands of the consignee!

 

Jon.

My son buys quite a few guitars. One he got a few months ago required signature. So he took the day off to wait for delivery. It didnt come until late in the day and I was in my office when fed ex showed up. The driver walked up to the porch, and gave it a gentle toss onto the porch turned around and left. So much for the Fender label and 'handle with care', not to mention the lack of signature.  I have to add we live in a pretty quiet area and fortunately havent noticed any 'pirates' yet.

 

Jack, thats a shame you had to ship a battery across the country for a rebuild. Theres an Amish guy half hr. away from me that does that service.

[playswithbrass]

I am waiting for a package. I sent a unit to be repaired and received copies of the shipping details, tracking no’s etc. So it went from Wichita, Kansas to Chicago in record time and I got excited. This morning it is recorded as having gone through Wisconsin to Sioux Falls SD. I am in Ontario, 100 miles east of Detroit. I am scared to check tomorrow.

[ejboyd5]

Over the past month I have had occasion to receive a number of small packages from locations all over the US.  All have been delivered on the estimated date except for two that each arrived one day early. I have had zero problems with USPS and would not hesitate to use it in the future. The tracking system seems to be amazingly accurate and reminds one of the joys of being a child eagerly awaiting Santa's arrival and watching his progress via NORAD updates.

 

 

 

t

[greenie]

Here are my favorites:

 

1. we have a long driveway and a 2-car attached garage. They leave the package just outside the garage door-where it lines up perfectly with my wife’s rear tire.

 

2. Pouring down rain, ignore the covered front and rear doors and leave the package outside without a plastic bag.

 

3. My brother next door has a very big, and very friendly Chocolate Lab. Driver throws package out the window into the front yard and splits.

 

Of course, these are the exceptions. The regular UPS driver stops and lets the Lab climb up into the passenger seat, makes his deliveries, and gives the dog his regular treat before he leaves.

[TAKerry]

Greenie, first 2, not so sure about the service. No 3. I dont blame the guy a bit. I am a dog person but there is no way I would approach a strange dog whether Chihuahua or Mastiff.

[bryankazmer]

15 hours ago, JACK M said:

I had a rechargeable battery all packed in a priority pkg and the two ladies at my local PO refused it, said it was to hazardous to go on an airplane.

One of them looked thru a handbook to prove it but never found the page.

Next PO two miles away took it no problem.

It went to New York, got rebuilt and back to Oregon in less than a week. 

Must be my good Karma.

They were right to refuse it if you did not have the correct hazard label on it.  My ships analyzer batteries all the time and it's not a problem if correctly labelled.

[32tatra]

I had UPS deliver a package to my in-laws house in CT.  The driver that day, a new guy could not figure out the address, (it was at the end of a block).  So he just keep on driving, went down the next block and give up.  MY father in-law saw him driving by, that day but did not know what was going on.  I called UPS and asked, "if they had GPS in the trucks?"  and was told no.  I then asked do you have them in the planes?  Or do you just land at any airport that looks empty?  The woman did not know what to say.  The regular guy, came by a few days later to say he was sorry about what had happened.

Right now I am waiting for a package that was mailed from upstate New York to me, in down  state New York by way of Tennessee.  It is upsetting sometimes, to get a package, gets to go on more of a  roundtrip, then I do. 

When I bring a box to the post office they ask if I have  anything hazardous in the box.  So one day I asked the Kathy the nice postal lady if anyone every said yes and what it was?   She told me some woman was mailing a bottle of bleach to her niece, because she had moved into a new apartment.    So I told Kathy, that was a great idea, and next time one of my relatives moved to a new place I was going to send a bottle of bleach and tell them I go the idea  from Kathy, the nice post office woman!!  She then had a horrified look on her face and said  "no ,no don't do that".

[nickelroadster]

I have had very bad luck with UPS.  I have a theory that the more a package weighs, the harder they throw it.  I have had pretty good luck with the usps.  A local shipper who uses all of the shippers says Fed Ex actually cares about smaller shippers, whereas UPS only cares if you ship large numbers of packages.

[playswithbrass]

Had to be fair. My package did a big flight last night from Sioux Falls SD to Toronto Ont. 

[60FlatTop]

[John348]

I sent my buddy his Hershey pass to Lakeland Florida via Priority Mail last Thursday from NY and the tracking said "your mail is arriving later then expected but it will arrive" he is leaving for Hershey on Saturday. I do have an extra so I guess it could have been worse. I did jinx myself by saying I have been pretty lucky with the USPS.

Edited October 1, 2021 by John348 (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

I live half way between Bmore and Philly. Just a few miles off of I 95. We always get a kick out package tracking when it shows something like Richmond or Frederick to the south, then travels to the Philly area north before it gets to us. I say I could meet the truck at the local off ramp and get my packages there.

[Willy]

I have shipped many items valued over $500, and insure them and get a tracking number. 28 years, and nothing lost or damaged. I ship quite a few musical instruments - they're usually still in tune at their destination. FedEx and UPS won't deliver to my house in the winter -they can't get up our access road.

[hidden_hunter]

Looks like USPS have decided Australia is similar to Afghanistan and suspended most services 

[greenie]

2021 coming to a close and USPS is back to “normal” after last Christmas’s disaster. I use them for just about everything and by and large they perform well.

 

NTL, earlier this week I drove an hour to the main Hershey post office so the nice lady there could hand cancel my envelop and deposit it directly into the Hershey Region’s post office box. 

Then lunch at Jersey Mike’s next door and a quick stop at the museum. Nice exhibit of survivors. 

 

I wish the Region had a mail slot. Some things just cannot be left to chance.

[hidden_hunter]

My v63 parts book was posted early September and arrived mid December… majority of the time was it sitting in Chicago, once it hit Australia it flew through (even though that was supposedly the reason why it hadn’t shipped - nothing to do with the lack of commercial flights)

 

I don’t think I’ve ever had anything go missing per se, just take ages to get delivered 

[Bimus]

My friend bought a disc shape finished jade about 3 inches across from Inda  he watched it as it made it's

 

way to where he lived just knowing some thing was going to happen he tracked it right to the post office in his town and then it fell off the face of the earth  it was the same post office where he worked .

[JFranklin]

I used to pick up packages at work too.

[MarkV]

Thank you usps! Shipped December 3rd didn’t arrive until Dec. 30th clearly destroyed and cracked open. These were 81-83 imperial efi parts 

[hidden_hunter]

To be somewhat fair to usps was that packed properly?

[Max4Me]

Seems every delivery service has issues. 

USPS: A few years back my sister in Las Vegas knitted throws for my sister in Maine and me in SoCal, but mistakenly sent mine to Maine and vice versa. My sister in Maine got mine, realized the mistake and mailed it to me in SoCal. It arrived before the wrong one sent from Vegas got to me.

UPS: We are the training route for new drivers and get a new one about every two weeks. The house numbers on our street were assigned by a moron at the county throwing the numbers 0-9 in the air and randomly assigning that number to some house while blindfolded and playing pin-the-address on a map of the neighborhood.  Every delivery company can find us but UPS. They deliver to whatever house gets the driver's attention that day. They even delivered it to the same street name in  the next town whose street numbers aren't even close to ours. We even have "signature required" on our account. UPS says that's at the driver's discretion!

Amazon: There appears to be no rhyme or reason for their delivery routes. Packages routinely start from a local warehouse in a town 10 miles away. They then go to Los Angeles (about 70 miles away) and then get delivered to us. Unless, that is, they get sent from LA to Hanford (central Calif) back to LA and then to us. 

FedEX: No complaint, they always seem able to get it to us without hassle or delay.

[kgreen]

Standing at my workbench in my garage, I momentarily turned to see a FedEx truck pull into the drive.  Sometimes I go out and meet them and retrieve my package, today my hands were full.  I heard a thump, the driver tossed the package out the window of his truck, he then tossed two more packages out of his truck onto my lawn and near the street while I watched him!  I wish I had a video of that.  I could have sent it to my kids to post on tic tok where it would have had a million views.