posted on October 5, 2000 10:08:04 AM
Well, I have had some problems with the postal service - at one point last fall I had 65 packages that were late being delivered or had not arrived. Most of those packages were mailed on Saturdays, and most of them did eventually show up - after on average a 4 week delay. Three packages were never located, and one package the post office claimed was delivered but the customer said they never received. Although I complained to both the local post office and the regional post office I never received any explanation as to what had happened to my packages ... it was quite a stressful six weeks until most of the packages were accounted for - just imagine trying to refund money to 65 people! ... I have also had about a dozen payments I sent never arrive - including two to England, one to Canada, and one to Chicago (my American Express payment!) Even had a Christmas card I sent last year never arrive - and it was being delivered in the same small town! So you never know - I recommend Delivery Confirmation and/or Insurance. If you use Delivery Confirmation at least you can tell the post office the last place the package was!
As for USPS auctions on eBay, they are selling books, music, movies, collectibles and everything else! Their user ids and AboutMe Pages are:
posted on October 6, 2000 12:44:36 AM
Went to the po today regarding my lost MO's, packages and mail.
BIRDWATCHER: You are right they want $2.65 to try to trace the money orders, (EACH!!) and it takes about 6 weeks. I asked the dorky mail guy, "Why should I pay you money when YOU are the ones who lost it in the first place???"
The origional money orders were for 8.00 and 10.00 so not really worth it and I still have to pay 2 sellers for their items. I just don't think they will understand having to wait 6 weeks for payment! So I had to buy two more MO orders to pay sellers, ask me how PISSED I am!! Go ahead ask!!
Then I told them there were VERY important and time sensitive child support papers that never arrived that needed to be filed over a month ago and because of their incompetence I nearly had my child support case closed. I could see in his face that he could have cared less and it wasn't his problem. He asked me what I wanted him to do about it.
Okay, in my mind I grabbed him by the collar, dragged his insignifigent ass over the mail counter and pulled his lungs out and stomped on them with my combat boots as an example to the other PO employees of what will happen to them if they don't pull their heads out.
In real life I just looked at the dolt and told him that it is not too much to expect that mail addressed to me should arrive at my home. So he said he would leave a note for my mail carrier. When I got home I realized he did not even get my name or address. AAARRRGGGG
I NEED A DRINK!!!
I don't remember if it was here that someone said that postage is going up.
posted on October 9, 2000 08:58:17 AM
Waaaaay back somebody asked how expensive Registered Mail was. From the "Extra Services" brochure that USPS puts out, here are the prices (in addition to postage and other fees) for various levels of insurance:
posted on October 9, 2000 10:17:26 AM
I love the USPS, even tho there have been a couple of problems.
I double envelope all my magazines, and once a customer won the auction on 12 basball digests ( about the size of a TV guide ).
well I put four in each envelope and then put the three envelopes in a larger envelope, with cardboard. about a week later i got an email from my customer saying that he recieved 4 digests !!!! - yep, it seems someone opened the package and took out two of the envelopes and then resealed it. ever since then I have Taped my envelopes. But all in all i think the USPS is great and PRIORITY mail cannot be beat.
posted on October 9, 2000 10:34:43 AM
Considering the billions of pieces of mail that gets moved by USPS, I believe they do a very good job. I've seen some outright stupidity, but I've only had them lose one item out of hundreds--the seller could have avoided the problem with a penny's worth of tape--don't trust those self-stick prority boxes to stay closed without help!
posted on October 9, 2000 10:57:27 AM
I am more than a little upset with USPS myself. I shipped a 4 1/2 pound beanpot, double boxed, smothered with bubble wrap in both boxes. It arrived with one handle broken off. I send the picture of the auction in the boxes so the buyer could see it was not broken when she bought it. The slivers were in the box. When she complained to the post office she was told to stay away from ebay! When I told the clerk at my post office that the package would have to have been dropped or kicked, she said they have to be packaged well enough to be dropped. She told me they have to travel down a long conveyer to the truck and lots of packages drop off on the way down! Pony express could handle it gentler than that!
posted on October 9, 2000 11:47:17 AM
DONJOFF: I really doubt that buyers would go for an added 6.00 charge for items under 10 to 20 dollars. I wish there was another viable option.
When I first started on eBay, a girl came to my house and asked what my name was. I told her and she said she was getting my mail on a regular basis. (She lives several blocks away and our addresses are the same except for one number) She came over because the night before she set out my mail to be picked back up and we had a bad windstorm and the next morning it was gone.
I called the post office to complain about the lack of reading skills my carrier had and the next day my mailperson (I will not call her a maillady because she is not a lady in any sense of the word!!) came over and demanded to know if I filed a complaint against her (it?) I told her I just want to get my mail that has my name on it from going to someone elses house. Anyway long story short, she was pretty nasty about the whole thing. I also ask those that I buy things from to put a note on the packages to please leave by the downstairs door (7 steps from my mailbox) While all the sellers have added a note, not a single package has been left where I requested. I am almost beginning to wonder if this whole disappearing mail thing has anything to do with this mailbitch incident.
