A nice way to (at least partially) ruin your day
 

I just received this in the mail. The ebayer put Do Not Bend on a flimsy package. Needless to say our fine USPS bent it anyway.....just kind of makes ya' sick. A freaking 130+ yrs without a crease and our USPS does the trick. They share the responsibility with the poor packing but it did say Not to Bend. Thanks USPS...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1870-80s-mou...vip=true&rt=nc

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Damn!
Seller should have used cardboard.
Stating "Do Not Bend" is not enough as machines do most of the work

He did use a piece of cardboard but it wasn't good enough. I really fault USPS more on this one. Also, I was seeing red and didn't even notice but on the package it says in red, Received in Damaged Condition. I believe it got to N.Texas in this condition and it was done originally by the USPS in FL, where it originated. Either way it just sucks.....I am almost over it. Venting is good....the picture will never be the same and it's not so valuable it's worth getting professionally repaired. So it just sucks... :)

+1 I would be much more upset with the seller's weak packaging than with the post office.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

It was weak but USPS did the damage...he put it inside a Priority box cut up and then in the mailer but it was still flimsy when I received it. He also put Do Not Bend on it 3x and the package did have HANDLE WITH CARE stamped on it...but it wasn't enough. Probably partial fault on both sides.

Leon, in my opinion this is totally on the sender. I've sent hundreds of packages through the years using all carriers and have never once had the recipient receive a damaged package. I yet to see anyone who packages stouter than I. :)

Going in, if a seller is sending something as fragile as this and doesn't take the precaution to package it up with more than a piece of cardboard knowing darn well these things get tossed around by not only people, but machines as well puts the blame solely on them.

Now if this item were to have been packaged like a Sherman tank yet still arrived damaged it would be a different story. Not the case here though.

My two cents.....

I hear ya' Tony. The seller offered a refund, and seems like a nice guy, but I told him I thought it was more on the USPS so I would just keep it..... ...He said he sends photos out like this all of the time and this is the first time it's happened? Still quite flimsy when I got it and my heart kind of went into my stomach when I saw the package with the USPS person explaining it's damage. And I knew it was like crying over spilled milk. It's akin to when you do something really stupid and you can't undo it...and it's going to cost you. It's that sinking feeling ...except I didn't do anything to get this feeling. So I am over it....another day.

**edited to add, the seller said he is sending 25 bucks back since I am keeping it....it's all good I just wish it didn't happen. And this won't be in the top "1 millionth worst" thing to ever happen to me so it's not that bad. :cool:

I would recommend that the seller finds new means to ship his packages. If it happens once, it'll happen again. Do right, spend a little extra money, and package it to where it cannot get bent.

That's a bummer ! I'm sorry to see that happen .
I hope you have some way to get back some of the value . Not
That it makes it any better.

That really stinks. Seems like anything I receive with the do not bend on it automatically gets bent. I feel your pain and that was a pretty nice photo.

One holiday season, I worked for UPS. Let me tell you, no one looks at the words or warning. Everything moves fast, there is no time to read each parcel.

Had it been in a box that wasn't cut up this wouldn't have happened. I don't know the value of the picture but it doesn't seem like it would be that much more expensive to pack and ship a 130 year old picture the right way. Even if I have to pay an extra buck or two for shipping I'd rather have my purchase arrive in the same condition as when I bought it.

This one, that graded card that was cracked, and NJ's t206 that was taped to an envelope all have the same thing in common. Preventable damage due to poor packaging. I do not blame the USPS at all. People know, or should know this can happen when shipping in an envelope without proper protection.

usps
 

Package sorting machines read bar codes but they don't read anything else on the package. Don't blame post office when the seller is too cheap to buy a photo mailer.

my idiot postal carrier folded my wife's Master's degree in half to jam it in the mailbox...

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I'm in the "blame the shipper" camp on this one.

If you don't want something folded or bent, the easy fix is to ship it in a format that can't be folded or bent.

Sorry about that damage Leon.

+1

An easy fix to keep photos from getting bent involves a quick trip to your local hardware store. A couple paint stirring paddles used as a splint could have prevented this from happening and they are a cheap yet effective solution without adding much more weight to the shipping costs.

Scott
 

Scott, I'm not sure why you think your postal carrier is an idiot. How could your carrier know what was in the envelope? Why did the mailer send an important document in an envelope that could be folded? What if the carrier had not folded it, and set it up in the mailbox and it rained and all of your mail got wet? How big is your mailbox? Maybe you need a new one?

it was in a reinforced envelope clearly marked photo do not bend. it wasn't slightly bent into a u shape it was folded the hell in half. My mailbox is completely standard size, but they often leave oversize items inside my front door.

The good news is I live right next to Yonkers NY and would be happy to take another picture for you....:rolleyes:

Leon

Good job on not getting to upset......had a bunch of things lately got me upset and my getting angry over it, caused more trouble eventually. Trying to learn to keep my cool and handle things on a even keel......Informing shipper was the thing to do

Damaged Photo
 

Cabinet photos like that can be very fragile, especially if they are warped just a little. They should always be sent in a box to reduce the chance of damage. I found a nice cabinet team photo at an antique store a couple of years ago. As I was carrying it around, the proprietor came up to me and asked if I would like him to take the photo up front while I continued to look. I said, sure that would be great. When he got to the front of the store he sat the photo on the counter a little too hard and it just snapped into two pieces! When I saw what happened, I ask what the price of the photo was now. He said it was free and that he would reimburse the vendor. When I got home I glued the pieces together, and it really didn't look too bad.

I find putting something like "Do Not Bend" on an item is taken up as a challenge by the Post Office.

Bud: "Hey Lou, what does this mean when this is written on a package?"
Lou: "It means 'Don't Bend the Package'."
Bud: "Don't what?"
Lou: "Bend the package."
Bud: "Oh, OK."
Fold...

I'm with Tony. With shipping, assume the worst- bending, folding, creasing, etc...If you're sending something fragile, especially a photo, you gotta box it up. Everything I send out is boxed up, I never use soft packs...I also use fed-ex (it does help that I get a fed-ex discount thru work).

Leon:

Sorry to see this happen to you.

While I agree that the seller could have packaged better, let's take a look at this from the angle of keeping shipping costs down, which always seems to be a bone of contention for many on this board, especially as it pertains to auction house transactions.

While shipping costs may seem excessively high some times and occasionally are, many times this can be attributed to triple boxing the item for protection, meaning that the final package may be 3 or 4 times larger than it "needs to be", not to mention heavier. I have been the recipient of these types of packages from various auction houses many times over the years and they always arrive damage-free.

Maybe in an effort to keep his buyer's costs down due to complaints of overcharging for shipping, the seller had to be more "economical" and not go as far to ensure "damage-proof" packaging. I'm not sure if the seller offered free shipping or not for this transaction, but if they did, the less costly method of packaging probably enables them to do so and most times, everything will arrive to the buyer without damage. Buyer is happy with this up front but suffers in the end if damage occurs.

I'm not defending the seller's shipping methods, just putting a different perspective on it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1870-80s-mou...=nc&rmvSB=true

Shipping was $4.85 and yes he should have packed it better. I still think our USPS needs to be privatized and a lot those workers need to be fired. Not unlike any company that can't fire workers easily. My thinking right now is the blame is probably about 60-40 on the seller. But the USPS really should be able to read. If they don't have time.....hire more people. All in all not that big of a deal. And at least I had a good show yesterday so there is still fun in the hobby!!

Leon - You're showing Maddux-like control about this. I'd be very upset at the seller. I wouldn't hang the blame on the carrier at all as it's common knowledge things like this occur. Thusly, it should have been packed better.

Hope your next shipment arrives in good shape.

-Raymond

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Leon, I commend you for keeping a level head. You're handling this far better than I would. Such a gorgeous piece, forever ruined because one person was completely careless. How do you put something like that in anything less than a priority box? This is 100% on the seller.