The USPS is on a vidictive binge ... at least it looks like it.
 

I just received a Singer machine motor from another forum member. Or I should perhaps say, I received what was left of a Singer machine motor.
It arrived in a small cardboard box that was wadded up, mutilated, holed and taped up, and crushed.
The cast iron motor mount attached to the motor was broken, sheared off where it transitions from the motor to the pilar. The brush caps, both of them, are shattered. The rest of the motor looks to have survived but without the brush caps is dead on arrival.

The sender packed it in bubble wrap and that should have been sufficient. But with the USPS closing down many of the sorting stations it's my theory those that are still open are so overworked that they no longer care about what they are doing and simply throw the things around as fast as they can to get them moved along.

I don't know what to do about this, we didn't put insurance on it, and you know the management at the USPS will claim it wasn't packaged good enough. Pass the buck, blame anybody, never accept the responsibility.

Basically I posted this to let everyone know that when you ship something you need to over pack it.
When you think you have it packaged good enough, put two more layers on it.
Maybe even three.

I think this is going to be a really crappy week.

Joe

I think that the morale at the Post Office is very low right now and a lot of the people who work there don't give a flying fig. Its too bad because I think the Post Office will become a thing of the past.

For at least a few years much of the long distance transport is NOT done by USPS- They subcontract out to UPS. I doubt UPS has any incentive to treat their main competitor's package gently! There used to be a small basic amount of insurance on all shipped packages included in the price. Definitely report the damage- take all packaging with you!

cmrenno,

I do believe you are correct. What I have seen is the post office higher ups are playing politics with the sorting stations.
They are closing the ones that are running fairly efficiently and moving that mail to other stations that are already running very slow. They are deliberately sabotaging the system.
I suspect it will be like the phoney gas shortage of 1973. When they get a big enough rate increase suddenly all the stations will be open again and things will run well for a while. Then they'll do it all over again.


JMHO

Joe

I have long tried to support the USPS whenever I could. But I totally agree with you that they seem to be treating packages extremely carelessly lately. I even had a 1st class large envelope damaged recently. I am very nervous about a parcel post item I am currently waiting on. And I think my loyalty is about gone
Janyce

My DBF works for the USPS. True, morale is low, and some of the other issues mentioned are also true, but there are other things that come into play. Bubble wrap does help cushion things, but if the bubbles pop, theres NOTHING BUT AIR to cushion the item. If the tape on the outside of the box was left even a little bit loose it can catch in the machinery and then the entire box and contents can be damaged. This is true for the other carriers too. The USPS is really working hard to improve customer service - it may be worth a visit to your local PO to talk with the postmaster there. If you go at a less busy time of day they may have more time to help you. These can things happen with all the carriers - my BF's brother works for UPS and says they are having similar issues.

Sadly I purchased a cute li'l child's singer from an ebay seller who packed it by nestling it in a box filled with packing peanuts. Well... they shifted, the machine slid and the thread pin poked through the box and was badly bent. This is from a seller who had a great rating. In this case it's clear the packaging was the problem.

It's hard to know for sure how the damage happened to your motor, but the postal workers I know (and I know lots of them!) DO really care. They truly don't want to deliver anything that's been damaged.

please do NOT believe everything you see on the computer...IF the guy could really "pitch" a tv that big, don't you think he would have a better job than delivering the mail/packages?

I did not see this on the computer. I saw this on TV and the owner of FED EX addressed this incident. Needless, to say...the dude doesn't work there anymore. I think it was a 60 mins or something like that.
It wasn't a TV, it was a computer monitor.

I can't remember ever having any trouble with anything they have shipped either to me of by me. I don't see a picture of an un-opened box.

I did not send a pkg. but on Jan. 27th I mailed my daughter a birthday card. Her birthday is Feb 1st. She lives an hour from me. She did not receive the card until Feb. 17th. It had no post mark on it only a bar code. It was not damaged in any way either. Wonder what happened there?

I sent each of my DGKs a valentine. The eight year old went for the mail. Brought it in and there wasn't one for her. She called in tears. "Grandma did you forget something???" "WHA???" "Grandma, everybody but me got a Valentine." I assured her I sent one. She went out and retraced her steps - she had dropped it on her way in the house. She called back and was very happy she found it.

Postal employees are human, and as such, you're going to get the occasional bad apple, and even more often, human type mistakes.

I think it got dropped somewhere, lost for a couple of weeks. Someone could have taken it to her faster on foot. :(

I saw it on the news as well, and here is the video of the fed ex guy tossing the package over the fence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKUDTPbDhnA

You can't believe a lot of the liberal news media.

its not just the sorting stations with poor work ethics -there are a lot of the older postmen retiring and the young ones taking over don't do the job they are paid to do.It took 22 days for a letter to arrive from in town and it was ripped up and it looked like they used it to wipe their muddy boots on.And the mail jeep is parked in front of my house to do the door to door delivery and the 20ish mailman never leaves the jeep-sits there on his cell phone smoking and drinking coffee.They have replaced the remarks about the city workers leaning on their shovels

A few bad apples will spoil the whole barrel.. ~shrug~

If you think about how many times you get mail and everything is ok - it is a very small amount that is NOT ok. FOCUS.

I feel better today.

Yesterday I started this thread because a small box containing a metal bodied motor with a cast iron bracket was delivered broken. It was a good little motor before some one(s) played basket ball with the box.

Fast forward to today.
I just got another box from another forum member with a Bakelite motor and lamp, a foot controller and some attaching parts. All parts wrapped in bubble wrap and packed in a larger flat rate box.
It arrived in good condition, all parts in good shape. No damage of any kind.

The box yesterday came from California.
The box today came from Illinois.

Not trying to make anything out of this other than to report two different boxes from two different places in the country and they arrived in different conditions.

There is still no excuse for this kind of damage. I will not forgive them that.

Now, I just had a thought about another shipment I received last month.

I'd ordered some treadle parts from a company in Australia. Paid for it and somehow I managed to give them the wrong street number.
That package left the AU postal system, came to the US, went through customs then made it here to IL before being sent back to Australia because of "NO SUCH ADDRESS". The seller sent it out again with the correct address on it and it repeated it's journey. Double custom stickers, double everything, and finally arrived to me in perfect condition.

Those who try to be sympathetic to or make excuses for a damaged package will find it falls on deaf ears with me.
There are too many cases of packages arriving under extreme conditions without damage for me to believe that all of them couldn't be delivered the same way.

Joe

One thing to remember always take a picture of what you are mailing.Always add extra Insur.Only cost 2$ for an extra hundred.Take to a mail box place to mail,let the package it.Sorry about all this.Have a great week.

I think that was United Parcel.... Not USPS.
Sandy

As a USPS retiree I know some of the bad things that happen to parcels and letter mail. Most USPS employees take pride in their jobs and are overworked because of hiring freezes and threats of closures and no Saturday delivery. However, in the video of the the computer monitor being thrown over the fence, please do not confuse USPS with Fed EX. They are 2 different delivery services. You have people who don't care in the USPS, UPS and FedEx.

I agree also.I have had fabric delivered with the end of the packet torn off, another envelope twisted and covered in grease, and to top it all of, my DD bought me a Singer 99K that had a perfect case before it was shipped to me. When I got it the case was in pieces. Luckily the machine is fine and the top of the case is OK !!!! My DH and I put the case back together (glued it and put new material on the outside) as best we could but it made me so disgusted with the postal service..... I have no faith in them any more!!!!

Morag, your machine should have never been shipped IN the case. Old wood is brittle...I would never ship a machine in the case because of that. I won't even bring a cabinet style machine home from 15 miles away in the cabinet...I always separate them. Just hitting a bump in the road can make the machine "bounce" within the case or cabinet, and that can cause damage. The machinery that the Post Office uses to process packages is like really bumpy roads...but it's more efficient than having a person hand carry each package to each destination... I don't think you can blame the USPS for the damage to the case of your machine...that's the shipper's fault.

Personally I think it's asking for trouble to ship anything heavy, especially a sewing machine, without double-boxing it and having lots of padding in both boxes.

I've had a similar experience, the item was packed in 2 padded envelopes and taped and then in a third envelope and taped, it arrived empty all torn and they said there was nothing they could do!

Tartan, has a point. I saw the same video on the news before I ever watched it online. It seems all the delivery services were getting caught around the busy time of years pitching the package rather than gently placing the package. I even had a Fedex guy throw a package on my front porch from mid yard, I watched from my kitchen window. Luckily it was only an envelope with fabric in it, but just the same. I feel for these workers because i'm sure they have a production goal that they have to meet but when the cost of sending a package is more than what's in the package sometimes it is easier to send a gift card. If I need to send a big item gift and can send it site to store anymore that is what I do.

J Miller, I hope you're able to get you damage issue worked out. I'm sure those parts don't come easily.

[QUOTE=LauraRG;5013814]My DBF works for the USPS............. visit to your local PO to talk with the postmaster there. If you go at a less busy time of day they may have more time to help you. These can things happen with all the carriers - my BF's brother works for UPS and says they are having similar issues.
I
Sadly I do not think the PO is very customer friendly or care about customer service. Our Local PO was recently not closed but sorting moved across the river to ND. We were told service at our PO would not change. Guess what 2 different times I visited the PO or tried to once at 11:35 and once at 12:45 and it was closed for lunch.
So I drove across the bridge to the "big PO" and it was also closed. I sent my package UPS!! There is NO customer service any more. Even when I go to the doc and they only work on appointments if I want something over the noon hour there is someone there to help me!!! They need to quit advertising how good they are and actually be good and provide customer service

Packing a package sufficiently is important. However one would normally expect bubble wrap to be sufficient for something like a motor. The only additional packing I would have even thought about might have been adding packing peanuts around it, but that would have been if shipping something usually considered fragile. I doubt I would have done it on a motor.

In over 50 years of shipping and mailing I have had only 1 time with US Post Office that was a bad expereince (this past year) the package took over 4 weeks to get there and it was crushed and dirty. I called the PO several times to find out what happened to it, so now I do get a tracking number and do consider insurance. I don't have to much trust anymore because of how employees get treated etc. I am surprised more doesn't happen, so now you just have to take extra steps. By the way when I get a soft package from UPS it has foot prints and it is so dirty, they must walk on stuff and throw it or whatever, this happens almost everytime I get something delivered from them in an envelope. The stuff inside is OK, but the outside looks awful.

january mortgage check was returned to me minus envelope. check looked like it had been kicked around the floor a bit. a info note was included stating it was either loose in he mail or damaged during their processing. it had been mailed in the mortgage company's envelope along with payment coupon. Where did payment coupon go? it was not returned. I have watched my bank statement so i know that there has been no payments made on my bank account that I had not authorized or made myself. i do not want to go through the hassle of switching bank accounts etc like I did a couple years ago when someone stole my checking account number and someone else's identification and had checks made out in that name. Luckily the person got greedy and i received a overdraft notice in the mail and was able to close down account and get all money returned. Testified at her court trial--she got 14 months with possibility of parole after serving 7 months---she could be out of prison already and this was her 6th offense.

some people NEVER learn do they?

I am so sorry about the little machine being damaged. To report on the USPS, most of the time things are good on shipping and being timely. Recently at my office I received from them an envelope which contained a check I had used to pay a bill for work with the envelope I mailed it in which I did not put postage on. I understand, no postage return it, but it was from last July and I just now got it!!!! There is a problem there.

The main problem with USPS is that it is NOT a government run or government supported agency, but it cannot raise rates or make changes without congressional approval. It's an agency in limbo and at the mercy of Congress. Granted, there are problems long standing in the USPS (salaries too high, too many perks, too many employees, etc.). When I was teaching (retired now), I did a comparison of my salary, hours worked (teachers get paid for only 9 months, even if they do spend many of the 3 months off taking required classes and attending workshops, etc. at their own expense) based on my degree. Postal workers get paid for 12 months, but with vacation time, federal holidays, they work fewer days than teachers do--and still get paid for 12 months--and they don't have to have college degrees, masters degrees, doctorates to get paid that much.. The postal employees union has hurt the service severely.

anytime anything with any value (and especially if an item is being sold/purchased) there really is no excuse to not add insurance. it is not expensive to add insurance- i do alot of (long-distance) transactions---and i don't care if it's only $25 i will not send anything to any one without adding insurance to the package- if the recipient purchased an item from me they deserve to recieve it in the condition i *guarantee* it to be in- the best way to make sure that is the case is to protect myself and them-and add insurance to the package. personally ---i would hold the seller responsible- sorry-

I have to disagree with Millie H. Postal workers are now putting in 10 and 12 hour days 6 days a week in many offices. 5 weeks vacation and 10 or so paid holidays don't add up to 3 months by my calculations. Of course, you always have people who abuse the system in any company but in the 26 1/2 years i worked in the postal service, I found most postal workers to be very dedicated to their customers. Most letter carriers go above and beyond what is required and work in the worst weather conditions,(heat, cold, snow ice and now are often required to carry in the dark.) Never had many customers want to trade jobs with me unless it was a beautiful day and those are few and far between

Or the other station either. If you go back to the source.

I know some one that worked at Christmas time for UPS he told me to never mark a package fragile because there were some that worked there that felt it was there job to actually throw hard anything marked fragile. they calaimed they didnt have time to be careful