USPS rates increased equals better service?

[kmac32]

Here we go again,

Just got a T205 in the mail and thankfully the seller knew how to package properly. Card came and envelope was damaged with what appears to be tire marks on th package. Guess to postal workers thought the card must need pressing to remove surface wrinkles from the card. Got lucky that they didn't try to also soak the card as we have had a few soaking threads recently. With the rate increase USPS recently took, you would hope that they would be a little more careful handling parcels marked fragile?

The good news is the card was undamaged. Maybe we could asked for discounted pricing if they are going to handle mail this way? Rant over.

[kmac32]

They even gave themselves a grade for their service

[Sean1125]

.......................................

[dscards]

A New Jersey post office has had a package I mailed to a customer since November. They hang up every time I call now.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by dscards

A New Jersey post office has had a package I mailed to a customer since November. They hang up every time I call now.

Think I would be having a direct face to face conversation with that postmaster if I were in the area and escalate it from there.

[dscards]

Originally Posted by kmac32

Think I would be having a direct face to face conversation with that postmaster if I were in the area and escalate it from there.

I mailed it from Minnesota where I'm located. My local postmaster has tried to be helpful. Unfortunately, the post office in NJ opened a missing package case and then closed it a few minutes later. My postmaster says he can't do anything since the case is closed and that they won't respond to him either.

[bat_master]

Originally Posted by kmac32

Here we go again,

Just got a T205 in the mail and thankfully the seller knew how to package properly. Card came and envelope was damaged with what appears to be tire marks on th package. Guess to postal workers thought the card must need pressing to remove surface wrinkles from the card. Got lucky that they didn't try to also soak the card as we have had a few soaking threads recently. With the rate increase USPS recently took, you would hope that they would be a little more careful handling parcels marked fragile?

The good news is the card was undamaged. Maybe we could asked for discounted pricing if they are going to handle mail this way? Rant over.

Hi Ken,

As a postal employee and collector myself I hate seeing threads like this. Believe me, I'm not rep for the USPS. I enjoy my job and do take it seriously. As a collector, I'm still prone to poor service just like anyone else. I recently had a bat mailed to me from northern Illinois by Priority Mail 3-Day.

It was sent out January 9th and received 2 scans that day (acceptance, and departed post office). The next scans it received were on January 18th when it arrived at the destination facility 45 minutes from my hometown. It departed that facility on the 18th and arrived at the post office on January 19th....which was day #10. I was glad it arrived safely, but I was frustrated with the lack of movement or scanning for 8 of those 10 days. To me, there's just not explanation or excuse for it. Someone dropped the ball. 10 days travel from Illinois to Wisconsin (with a stop in Minnesota) is embarrassing.

In the case of your package I'm not sure that it had gotten run over. Looks like a padded mailer with bubble wrap on the inside? I think the pattern you are seeing could be sort of a "pencil rubbing" effect from the package being pressed in place in transit next to dirty packages or the sides of equipment and it picked up the pattern of the bubble wrap inside.

[Edited to add:] Many times when the packages travel from the sort facility to the local post office if they aren't in a sack they are just loose in the APCs. They can be mixed in with bundles of newspapers and the newspaper print gets dirty pretty quickly. [End Edit]

Having worked with mail equipment I feel pretty strongly that if that package had been run over by a wheel the case inside would have been cracked or shattered.

I am glad it arrived safely and in once piece. If I can ever be of any assistance with a package in transit feel free to email me or send me a private message and I'll offer what advice or help I can.

[bxb]

When I think about any large government agency, I imagine a brontosaurus. Large, powerful, but slow to pivot and adapt, and ultimately doomed to extinction.

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by bxb

When I think about any large government beaurocracy, I imagine a brontosaurus. Large, powerful, but slow to pivot and adapt, and ultimately doomed to extinction.

Apparently, the large education "bureaucracy" isn't working very well.

[Buythatcard]

Just my opinion but it's probably best to cover the return address when posting on the forum.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by bat_master

Hi Ken,

As a postal employee and collector myself I hate seeing threads like this. Believe me, I'm not rep for the USPS. I enjoy my job and do take it seriously. As a collector, I'm still prone to poor service just like anyone else. I recently had a bat mailed to me from northern Illinois by Priority Mail 3-Day.

It was sent out January 9th and received 2 scans that day (acceptance, and departed post office). The next scans it received were on January 18th when it arrived at the destination facility 45 minutes from my hometown. It departed that facility on the 18th and arrived at the post office on January 19th....which was day #10. I was glad it arrived safely, but I was frustrated with the lack of movement or scanning for 8 of those 10 days. To me, there's just not explanation or excuse for it. Someone dropped the ball. 10 days travel from Illinois to Wisconsin (with a stop in Minnesota) is embarrassing.

In the case of your package I'm not sure that it had gotten run over. Looks like a padded mailer with bubble wrap on the inside? I think the pattern you are seeing could be sort of a "pencil rubbing" effect from the package being pressed in place in transit next to dirty packages or the sides of equipment and it picked up the pattern of the bubble wrap inside.

[Edited to add:] Many times when the packages travel from the sort facility to the local post office if they aren't in a sack they are just loose in the APCs. They can be mixed in with bundles of newspapers and the newspaper print gets dirty pretty quickly. [End Edit]

Having worked with mail equipment I feel pretty strongly that if that package had been run over by a wheel the case inside would have been cracked or shattered.

I am glad it arrived safely and in once piece. If I can ever be of any assistance with a package in transit feel free to email me or send me a private message and I'll offer what advice or help I can.

Bat,

Not your fault and the sender packaged it well and no foul no harm. The point is that a package marked fragile should be treated that way. This is not the first time I have received mail this way and in general the postal people do a good job. It is pretty clear in this case that a package marked as fragile was mishandled. I do not think this was intentional but a service is paid for by the sender and it was clearly not delivered. I am sure you and most postal workers take your job seriously as I do mine, but not all do which leads to things like this.

Kmac

[slidekellyslide]

I've always felt that a package with "Fragile" on it is just asking to get drop kicked by a postal worker having a bad day. I stopped writing fragile or using Fragile stickers a long time ago. It seems that whenever I receive a package with that magic word on it it's in pretty poor shape.

Boxes, packing peanuts and bubble wrap are the way to go.

I will never understand the thought process behind sending a baseball card in a plastic holder inside a bubble envelope.

[Jewish-collector]

If you send important stuff USPS registered mail, you'll never, ever have a problem. It may cost a few dollars more, but sometimes you gotta say WTF.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I've always felt that a package with "Fragile" on it is just asking to get drop kicked by a postal worker having a bad day. I stopped writing fragile or using Fragile stickers a long time ago. It seems that whenever I receive a package with that magic word on it it's in pretty poor shape.

Boxes, packing peanuts and bubble wrap are the way to go.

I will never understand the thought process behind sending a baseball card in a plastic holder inside a bubble envelope.

This was a raw card and the sender sandwiched it between 2 pieces of stiff cardboard inside a padded bubble envelope. Cards did well but the envelope looked like it had been run over and was gashed on the opposite side. Package was clearly mishandled but the cardboard saved the card. Postal delivery person made no notation of the damage and just delivered it.

[Beatles Guy]

Somehow a package sent to me two weeks ago from Cincinnati (I live near St. Louis) was re-routed to Florida after it had reached our local hub. Guess they thought it needed a sun tan before getting sent to me.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by kmac32

This was a raw card and the sender sandwiched it between 2 pieces of stiff cardboard inside a padded bubble envelope. Cards did well but the envelope looked like it had been run over and was gashed on the opposite side. Package was clearly mishandled but the cardboard saved the card. Postal delivery person made no notation of the damage and just delivered it.

Good to see a post like this. You can shoot a fly with an elephant gun if you want. I'll even admit that you'll have a better percentage success rate than me and my fly swatter. I just don't understand why people have to be so adamant about how their way is the only way.

[buymycards]

Hey guys, remember that 90% of the parcel handling is performed by machines. Your clerk accepts the package and your carrier delivers the package, but every other step is performed by high speed sorting machines. The machines read the bar codes, but the machines do not read the word "fragile". You can write fragile on the package as much as you like, but the machines will still only read the bar code.

Rick

[autograf]

As a UPS person, was going to say something similar to Rick above......we don't deal with as many 'smalls' like that envelope, but at times packages can be on a moving belt that if things get backed up, the belt may still move and rub against the package or there's a myriad of ways that a package can get dirty like that one. And we don't have the newsprint that the USPS does. Fragile doesn't have the intended effect on package handling that you would think it would. Most people treat all packages the same.....either good (as they should) or not so good. I'm not sure I would consider a package from Battersbox 'fragile' or how that notation was really intended.....anyway, good thing they pack well and all services (USPS, FedEx, UPS) have issues on a given day with a given employee of a given service. It's just gonna happen with the scale of number of pieces that all services handle. It's worse when it's one of ours that gets the short shrift.................

[Beatles Guy]

Originally Posted by autograf

As a UPS person, was going to say something similar to Rick above......we don't deal with as many 'smalls' like that envelope, but at times packages can be on a moving belt that if things get backed up, the belt may still move and rub against the package or there's a myriad of ways that a package can get dirty like that one. And we don't have the newsprint that the USPS does. Fragile doesn't have the intended effect on package handling that you would think it would. Most people treat all packages the same.....either good (as they should) or not so good. I'm not sure I would consider a package from Battersbox 'fragile' or how that notation was really intended.....anyway, good thing they pack well and all services (USPS, FedEx, UPS) have issues on a given day with a given employee of a given service. It's just gonna happen with the scale of number of pieces that all services handle. It's worse when it's one of ours that gets the short shrift.................

I can vouch for this. I worked for UPS for a few years loading trucks/sorting and high volumes caused jams on belts and packages would get damaged like the example above. I'm not sure how much time USPS employees have when sorting/loading packages, but at UPS I didn't have time to notice if the label said "fragile" or not

[glchen]

As others have said, I don't think that package was run over by a tire. I've seen those sort of markings on a several packages that I have received over the years. I think those are caused by the sorting machines or the package got pressed against the side of some dirty crate or something similar.

I think writing "Fragile" on the package often isn't for the Post Office as much as it is for the buyer, so we as sellers can pass off blame to the Post Office, if the package was damaged during transit. "See, I even put fragile on that package and see what happened!?!?"