"We Care" - USPS - My surprise yesterday...

[bnorth]

That sucks. My last We Care package looked like it had been run over by a truck several times and was soaked in hydraulic fluid but because the seller always super packages his stuff the card was ok.

[Leon]

I guess we see how well our stamping of USPS items as "Fragile" and "Do Not Bend" work?

[iowadoc77]

Words like fragile and do not bend are interpreted as throw around and stomp on. Very unfortunate, but fairly common. Sorry Leon

[GaryPassamonte]

Not to diminish the horrible condition the piece of mail was in when received, but the responsibility for secure packaging lies with the mailer. All mail delivery services use more and more automation processes and fewer and fewer humans in the sorting of packages. Unfortunately, machines can not read "fragile" endorsements on packages or smaller mailing envelopes. To be safe, it is always best to prepare packages with the thinking that they may be dropped, bent, crushed, etc. It's just the reality of automation vs manual sorting methods.
Sorry this happened to your package, Leon.

[Jay Wolt]

Man, that stinks!
Looks like a steamroller hit it

[nolemmings]

Sorry Leon. Of course, you can always hope that the fragile and do not bend warnings were observed until the contents was removed and stolen, and then the envelope was stomped and pummeled for effect. I'd rather think that my nice old card might surface someday, even if for somebody else, than to picture it in my head as destroyed.

[wolf441]

Sorry Leon. The "we care" almost adds insult to injury. They might as well put a plastic bag with a picture of a middle finger on it to show how they really feel.

[Cozumeleno]

Agree with what others have said about the packaging. I've shipped hundreds of cards over the years and nothing more than like a $5.00 or $10.00 sale would go in a manila envelope.

I'm surprised you can even put tracking on that. I tried it once and my post office said they would only add tracking to a 'package' (i.e. bubble mailer as a minimum). Didn't know if the person I got just didn't know what they were talking about but that's what I was told.

[Leon]

In my opinion it is 100% USPS's fault. Period, end of story.

[ZachS]

Originally Posted by Leon

In my opinion it is 100% USPS's fault. Period, end of story.

I completely agree. You're paying them for a service and they failed to provide that service. If this was a slabbed card and the slab was broken I could see blaming the packaging (obviously a bubble mailer would be the preferred method).

In this case the envelope is bent and completely ripped apart. The object of the USPS is to receive mail IN AN ENVELOPE and deliver it to it's destination. I don't see how you can blame the packaging when it looks like it went through a shredder.

[Rrrlyons]

Not to defend the post office but if you package cards in something that is thin enough to get sorted it goes thru the sorting machine. History has shown you don't what to risk it. Simple solution put things in bubble mailers or Boxes with card board around them then they are hand sorted. The price to mail that envelope was probably $1.50, standard price for a puffy is 2.32 I think. People need to quit trying to save 80 cents and take it out of the machines hands. This is the senders fault not the post office. Still not a usps fan but we do have to take responsibility for our own actions once in awhile. Rick

[Rrrlyons]

I see now they did charge him the standard price for a bubble mailer

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Rrrlyons

Not to defend the post office but if you package cards in something that is thin enough to get sorted it goes thru the sorting machine. History has shown you don't what to risk it. Simple solution put things in bubble mailers or Boxes with card board around them then they are hand sorted. The price to mail that envelope was probably $1.50, standard price for a puffy is 2.32 I think. People need to quit trying to save 80 cents and take it out of the machines hands. This is the senders fault not the post office. Still not a usps fan but we do have to take responsibility for our own actions once in awhile. Rick

The packages go through machines too.

Tracking isn't supposed to be available on anything that's under 3/4 of an inch thick, unless it's priority. Even stuff ridgid enough to be classed as a package can't have tracking under 3/4 inch.

There's the letter sorter, flats sorter, package sorter.......Not much human work aside from loading the machines.
I'm not sure about the flats and package machines, but the machines that do letters handle as many as 30,000/ hour.

Private carriers aren't really any better.

Steve B

[glchen]

Originally Posted by ZachS

I completely agree. You're paying them for a service and they failed to provide that service. If this was a slabbed card and the slab was broken I could see blaming the packaging (obviously a bubble mailer would be the preferred method).

In this case the envelope is bent and completely ripped apart. The object of the USPS is to receive mail IN AN ENVELOPE and deliver it to it's destination. I don't see how you can blame the packaging when it looks like it went through a shredder.

The sender spent $2.32 to send the item from Washington to Texas. That cost won't even buy you a gallon of gas these days. Any time you don't insure a package, this is the risk that you take on. If the contents are valuable, then insure it. That's what insurance is for. As an ebay seller, I ship in a bubble mailer and don't insure anything under $200 since I figure that the cost that I save by not insuring will allow me to compensate the buyer for those rare instances that the item doesn't arrive safely. Stuff happens, and you have to plan for it.

[4815162342]

Leon, I contacted my source at the post office about your card. He was able to locate footage from the mail delivery truck that might explain what happened.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by glchen

The sender spent $2.32 to send the item from Washington to Texas. That cost won't even buy you a gallon of gas these days. Any time you don't insure a package, this is the risk that you take on. If the contents are valuable, then insure it. That's what insurance is for. As an ebay seller, I ship in a bubble mailer and don't insure anything under $200 since I figure that the cost that I save by not insuring will allow me to compensate the buyer for those rare instances that the item doesn't arrive safely. Stuff happens, and you have to plan for it.

Insurance has nothing to do with their piss poor job of getting it to me. Insurance is completely beside the point. The USPS screwed up. No defense... Not the end of the world.

ps...gas is about $2.20 in Dallas so it will buy a gallon.....and I will be going back to the seller on this one to see if we can come to a mutually good situation...I paid $5 in shipping...

[lharri3600]

Originally Posted by Leon

In my opinion it is 100% USPS's fault. Period, end of story.

agreed!

[lharri3600]

It must be "WE CARE"WEEK AT THE POST OFFICE!
I received the same surprise yesterday!
Although my item was not scarce. Sorry too hear that Leon!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by lharri3600

It must be "WE CARE"WEEK AT THE POST OFFICE!
I received the same surprise yesterday!

Nice Larry. You are now officially in the club.

I got a CleanSweep invoice in the mail yesterday, mailed 2 months ago. It looked like it had been through each storm since then. We have had about 1-2 feet of rain in the last 2 months....

I was about to send another t shirt to a member who didn't get one for quite sometime, yesterday, when he told me he finally received it. The USPS is having a few more issues than normal, I think.