posted on November 2, 2004 01:39:34 PM
When I stamp DO NOT BEND on an envelope the first thing the postal clerk does is BEND the envelope! If this had just happened once or twice I could understand but it seems that this must be standard P.O. Policy! This then entails them repeating almost verbatim a very long speech about automated postal handling equipment, surcharges for non machinable mail, blah blah blah blah blah blah, followed by me not being happy at all that they have bent my DO NOT BEND envelope explaining I know all of that, I've heard the speech many, many times before , that I have shipped literally thousands of postcards and the ONLY time they get damaged is when the postal clerks BEND them when I hand them to them! Don't get me wrong, the postal clerks at my local post office are nice guys, polite, efficient, they do a very good job and are good people but they seem to have this zombie-like reflex that they MUST bend (or flex) my envelopes marked DO NOT BEND! Perhaps it is just me, but it seems that if a person stamps an envelope DO NOT BEND, the first thing to do is ask them why they marked it in that way, or explain the issue or just about anything OTHER than bending the friggin envelope! Does this happen to anyone else or have I been specially selected for this treatment?
posted on November 2, 2004 01:50:23 PM
We ship a lot of items marked DO NOT BEND but they mostly seem to arrive intact. Mind you they have internal crossbraced cardboard stiffeners to prevent them being bent by wayward USPS employees, then again we mostly ship to other markets so maybe the postal staff aren't as bad.
posted on November 2, 2004 01:53:40 PM
Just don't mark a carton " Fragile China ". That's the one they'll pick to block the tires when they park on a hill.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on November 2, 2004 02:32:48 PM
Is it the same clerk or clerks, or just all of them? Complaining to the clerk will get you nowhere, you need to talk to the postmaster - If that gets you nowhere, I would take it up higher and put the complaint in writing.
posted on November 2, 2004 05:15:37 PM
completing the sentence,,,,,,Bend it! Mark it PLEASE bend! That'll scare the hell out of them....They NEVER read that one before,,,and then stop saying that. And then mark it Don't bend,,,,Do ya feel LUCKY? Punk! Was it 4,,or five rounds? I forgot,,
UPS, EVERYTHING I MARKED Fragile,,,smashed! stopped doing that and walla,no more smashed deliveries,,,FaCt.
posted on November 2, 2004 05:32:53 PM
I hope this doesn’t sound too sappy but my good o'le Mom taught me to use the magic words. I have mailed hundreds of postcards and to my knowledge no problems.
posted on November 2, 2004 08:15:48 PM
i never mark my envelopes "Do not Bend", I just put heavy cardboard inside to protect the soft cover catalogs, and it has worked very well, they can NOT bend it, I cross brace the cardboard to give it extra strength.
posted on November 3, 2004 05:39:14 AM
LOL Sparkz...
Maybe the Postal clerk wants to see if it bends just out of curiousity, like a little kid will do something that you tell 'em not to just to "see". I try to pack like the package is going into a war zone.
posted on November 3, 2004 07:41:18 AM
I have mailed thousands of postcards too and have never had one bent - whether marked "do not bend" or not. If you are having lots of cards damaged, perhaps you need to explore different packaging methods?My cards are shipped inside the rigid postcard sleeves and they simply WONT bend. The postal clerk told me once, when I was still stamping "don't bend" that they SHOULD charge an extra hand cancel fee for that kind of handling - that's when I stopped stamping the envelopes!
**********************************
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
posted on November 3, 2004 10:00:28 AM
When I stamp DO NOT BEND on an envelope the first thing the postal clerk does is BEND the envelope! If this had just happened once or twice I could understand but it seems that this must be standard P.O. Policy! This then entails them repeating almost verbatim a very long speech about automated postal handling equipment, surcharges for non machinable mail, blah blah blah blah blah blah, followed by me not being happy at all that they have bent my DO NOT BEND envelope explaining I know all of that, I've heard the speech many, many times before , that I have shipped literally thousands of postcards and the ONLY time they get damaged is when the postal clerks BEND them when I hand them to them! Don't get me wrong, the postal clerks at my local post office are nice guys, polite, efficient, they do a very good job and are good people but they seem to have this zombie-like reflex that they MUST bend (or flex) my envelopes marked DO NOT BEND! Perhaps it is just me, but it seems that if a person stamps an envelope DO NOT BEND, the first thing to do is ask them why they marked it in that way, or explain the issue or just about anything OTHER than bending the friggin envelope! Does this happen to anyone else or have I been specially selected for this treatment
I can relate to this...back when they had smoking on airplanes I remember when the light wold come on and say "no smoking" when we were about to land..the first thing I did was light up...some people are just like that what can I tell ya?
