What has happened to the postal service?
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daddyjt
Posts: 2,329
Allow me to preface this by saying that I mean no disrespect to the tens of thousands of hard working individuals at the USPS.
However...
This morning I decided to run down to my local post office to ship a package. I usually print my own labels and ship FedEx, but I wanted the recipient to receive this package as soon as possible, and my local post office is open for a few hours on Saturday mornings (I will have to wait until Monday to ship FedEx).
The box I’m shipping is 18”x18”x8”, and weighs about 9lbs. It’s going from UT to the east coast. While not overly fragile, I still put a couple “fragile” stickers on the box, because I don’t want it abused. I place it on the counter at the post office, the employee looks at the stickers, and says “is this well packed?” I say “of course - double boxed and bubble wrap and foam.” She says “Ok, just so you know, it needs to be able to survive a SIXTEEN FOOT drop.” I’m speechless for a full ten seconds. Then I say “Under what circumstances do you drop packages 16’??” She says “It happens more often than you’d think.” . Ok, whatever - I’m confident in my packing and assume she’s just being sensational about the 16’. That’s when she tells me my total - $69! Seriously? Needless to say, I took my box home and printed a FedEx label for $44. Sadly the box won’t go out till Monday, but good grief.
However...
This morning I decided to run down to my local post office to ship a package. I usually print my own labels and ship FedEx, but I wanted the recipient to receive this package as soon as possible, and my local post office is open for a few hours on Saturday mornings (I will have to wait until Monday to ship FedEx).
The box I’m shipping is 18”x18”x8”, and weighs about 9lbs. It’s going from UT to the east coast. While not overly fragile, I still put a couple “fragile” stickers on the box, because I don’t want it abused. I place it on the counter at the post office, the employee looks at the stickers, and says “is this well packed?” I say “of course - double boxed and bubble wrap and foam.” She says “Ok, just so you know, it needs to be able to survive a SIXTEEN FOOT drop.” I’m speechless for a full ten seconds. Then I say “Under what circumstances do you drop packages 16’??” She says “It happens more often than you’d think.” . Ok, whatever - I’m confident in my packing and assume she’s just being sensational about the 16’. That’s when she tells me my total - $69! Seriously? Needless to say, I took my box home and printed a FedEx label for $44. Sadly the box won’t go out till Monday, but good grief.
"Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Comments
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The same thing that happened to everything else.
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Where have you been lol? USPS has been overpriced on large packages for at least 10 years. If it’s an envelope or flat rate priority mail then you can’t been the post office. Anything bigger than that is MUCH cheaper using fedex ground, especially if you create an account...Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
Game Room 5.1.4: Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
Bedroom 2.1Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer -
It’s even worse. USPS, Fed-Ex, and UPS also are horrible about their drop boxes.
They take no responsibility for items that you put in that they lose. We put a iPhone we were shipping back to Verizon in one and it “somehow” never got scanned so to Verizon we never attempted to ship it. UPS told me to pound sand because if it never got scanned to them it never got put in the box.
So now I always send stuff (even returns w pre-paid labels) via a store so I get a record that I did indeed drop it off.
But when sending items it costs more at any of the places to use the store. And I’ve found if you are using your own packaging.... just assume it’s gonna be 50 bucks or more.
It’s insane!"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
@EndersShadow Measure, weigh, purchase and print your label at home. Drop it off at at any authorized point (I have a Walgreens about one mile away) and get that receipt. Easy peasy and much cheaper than purchasing at the store...Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
Game Room 5.1.4: Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
Bedroom 2.1Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer -
I have a UPS Store less than a mile from my house, but found out the hard way that because they are individually owned franchises, they can charge whatever they want to ship items if you just bring them in. But, if you know the exact dimensions/weight of whatever you're shipping, you can go online and print out your own label and they have to accept that. It cost me about $28 to learn that lesson.So, are you willing to put forth a little effort or are you happy sitting in your skeptical poo pile?
http://audiomilitia.proboards.com/ -
My local fedex print office will even print the label and tape up the box for me, and I have never purchased a thing inside that store...Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
Game Room 5.1.4: Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
Bedroom 2.1Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer -
I may be wrong, but I think USPS charges a fairly big fee to handle packages marked fragile. Best to pack things to withstand potential shipping damage, get insurance when appropriate, and send packages normally. I've never seen a fragile marked package with any of the carriers delivered to my house handled as if the contents are fragile. Not sure where the 16 foot drop thing comes from. Maybe they toss them out the back of a plane or drop kick them over a fence.
USPS priority flate rate is a good deal. -
I havent gone in the post office in years, ours had 3 counters with one person at one counter and another only asking if your picking something up the lines were terrible and the service sucked. I still mail some bills and cards but use the outside boxes to put them in. I buy a big sheet of stamps at Costco so using USPS is very minimal.
I am able to ship stuff via Fed Ex at work using the discount last time I shipped a box weighing 10lbs 12x12x15 dimensions it costed $4.80 without the discount it would of been $13 and some change which is still very reasonable. We switched from UPS because the discount went up and to many packages were being damaged.
We are all to blame of the current situation because of online purchasing is killing local small businesses, I guess we are reaping what we sow, the shipping companies service will only increase their rates and the actual service you get will only get worse. I have been avoiding any Amazon purchases and dont use them at all anymore, because of their cutting corners on packaging a lot of the stuff I buy like CDs LP's and 4k discs were showing up damaged.Home Theater
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2 Channel
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Will never forget when I went to the local UPS hub about ten years ago to pick up a package. They leave the bay doors open so when I parked, as soon as I was out of the car, a package slipped off a multi story conveyer belt and fell an easy 16 ft or more, couldn't believe it!
Associate there just picked it up and threw* it on the lower conveyer belt like nothing happened!- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
@EndersShadow Measure, weigh, purchase and print your label at home. Drop it off at at any authorized point (I have a Walgreens about one mile away) and get that receipt. Easy peasy and much cheaper than purchasing at the store...
Until last week we had been without a printer in our house, so that wasn’t so much an option.
Wife bought one for printing instructions for her yarn patterns, so I will likely do that in the future.
Regardless the cost of shipping is still stupid expensive IMHO."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Where have you been lol? USPS has been overpriced on large packages for at least 10 years...
Yea, I almost always use FedEx for large packages. I use usps for the smaller flat-rate boxes, but this is the first time (and last) I’ve went in with a large box in years.
On another note, I ordered a CD/DVD set for my son’s early January birthday back in December. Tracking has it in USPS possession on December 22, and it spent 30 days moving from IL to MO... Unbelievable.
"Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
At least it only hung out in Des Moines 3 days at that rate you might get it mid February.Home Theater
Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable
2 Channel
Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+
Stuff for the Head
JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365
Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin -
Lol.... could be worse.
I sent a package to Ivan in IL (from Indiana), it went from Indy to Des Moines over the course of a week, then back to IL....."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
USPS recently raised their prices. Same shock occurred to me recently, couldn’t believe the charge for a smallish package not that far. But I think they’ve all recently raised prices.
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I had a set of tubes that went to almost all of the post offices in Maryland before they left Maryland. It then took another 6 days to get to me.
It was a 3 week trip and they arrived safe.
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Clearly she doesn't know how to properly handle a large package.
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I had a set of tubes that went to almost all of the post offices in Maryland before they left Maryland. It then took another 6 days to get to me.
It was a 3 week trip and they arrived safe.
At least in the past month or so -- at least some of the crazy logistics have been driven by the pandemic. Many of the big carriers (not just the USPS) have been dealing with large populations of workers afflicted with COVID-19. One of the responses has been routing packages to less-overloaded facilities from overstressed ones.
It was pretty much a perfect storm for all of the carriers around/across the holidays.
We had some very delayed shipments, but everything ultimately made it. Conversely, the Topping USB DAC Karma that @Clipdat shipped coast to coast last month arrived here on schedule.
In terms of the costs of shipping. A large Rainforest-based internet commerce site
has negotiated very favorable shipping rates with various carriers -- someone has to make up the lost revenue for those carriers, and that's us little guys 
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It's the only business I know of that you have to pay extra (insurance) because they can't do their job properly.
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It's the only business I know of that you have to pay extra (insurance) because they can't do their job properly.
Maybe airlines too ? ✈
Sal Palooza -
Another thing I find annoying are the fuel surcharges. I remember last time fuel prices (diesel mainly) got into the high $3 range we had an almost universal price increase in shipping for the “fuel surcharge”. However, when fuel dropped to just over $2, did they roll-back the surcharge? Of course not. And now, with the current energy policy unfolding, it seems clear we’re going to see $3-$4 fuel prices in the near future, which will bring another round of surcharges... yay!"Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
Well it's not just that one. Our company also has very very favorable UPS contract shipping rates. We can ship up to a 15lb package next day air for 30.00. You and I that cost would be hundreds.In terms of the costs of shipping. A large Rainforest-based internet commerce site has negotiated very favorable shipping rates with various carriers -- someone has to make up the lost revenue for those carriers, and that's us little guys -
Ivan, how much would it cost for you to ship me to Florida for a week ?
Overnight please.Sal Palooza -
mrbigbluelight wrote: »Ivan, how much would it cost for you to ship me to Florida for a week ?
Overnight please.
I'd need a grinder....
Hey I think someone on here has a tree chipper. I'm sure i could get you down to 15lbs.....some dehydration required.... -
mhardy6647 wrote: »In terms of the costs of shipping. A large Rainforest-based internet commerce site has negotiated very favorable shipping rates with various carriers -- someone has to make up the lost revenue for those carriers, and that's us little guys
I used to own a small mail center and this is fact. As they always say, nothing in life is free...that includes the “free” shipping you get from Amazon.Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.-John Wooden -
I had a set of tubes that went to almost all of the post offices in Maryland before they left Maryland. It then took another 6 days to get to me.
It was a 3 week trip and they arrived safe.
USPS straight up lost a rare 6SN7 tube I ordered from eBay. It just literally never showed up. -
I had a set of tubes that went to almost all of the post offices in Maryland before they left Maryland. It then took another 6 days to get to me.
It was a 3 week trip and they arrived safe.
USPS straight up lost a rare 6SN7 tube I ordered from eBay. It just literally never showed up.
Rare? What was it? -
Hopefully not a 33s30
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Yeah, and if there's only one, one of us can probably send you another one to see if they can lose it again!
In all seriousness, @Clipdat what are you looking for exactly. I'll guarantee I won't have NOS, but I might have a good used one unless it is something really,
really esoteric (like... Area-51-level esoteric).
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It was a "6SN7 GTB BARBER COLMAN 6SN7GTB"
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mhardy6647 wrote: »Yeah, and if there's only one, one of us can probably send you another one to see if they can lose it again!
In all seriousness, @Clipdat what are you looking for exactly. I'll guarantee I won't have NOS, but I might have a good used one unless it is something really,
really esoteric (like... Area-51-level esoteric).
Don't need it now, it was back when I had the Schiit Saga.
