USPS rates increased equals better service?

[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!?!?"