Post office rant

I'm not normally a complainer, at least not on the boards that I subscribe to.
I ran my Holt engine at the National Threshers show in Wauseon, Ohio last week and as I normally do I clean up every one of my engines the following week. I had the Holt on the bench wiping it down, it's an oily son-of-a-gun) and while I was checking the spark plugs I notice the insulator on one of them was broken. They are long reach Rimfire plugs. I didn't have any extras so I ordered 2 from Morrison and Marvin, about $45.00 with shipping.
I got a tracking number from the U.S. postal service which said they should arrive by Thursday. Well today is Saturday and the plugs were a no-show so I made a copy of the tracking letter and headed to the post office.
I showed the fellow the letter and he said he would check. After a short while he came back and said yes in fact the package had been delivered and did I check in the door or on the front step. I told him I checked everywhere. His response was this happens more than they care to mention and it's possible that the carrier put it in someone else's mailbox, it just said that it was delivered. So this leaves me where?
Well maybe you can contact the seller and see if he can help you out. I then said if I was the seller and and the tracking letter showed that the package was delivered that my responsibility would have ended at that point.
Well great! I have no plugs, I'm out $45.00 and if I order 2 more I have $90 spent on 2 spark plugs.
I know, I know, I can make my own plugs and have done so for years but the plugs are not really the issue but rather the cavalier attitude of the U.S. Postal Service.
I contacted Morrison and Marvin to see if they had some kind of insurance on the package. If not I guess I'll be down on the lathe tomorrow making a replacement plug.
"RATS"
gbritnell

Sorry to hear that George.....feel free to post the build if you go that way.....
Dave

George,
Some of our carriers, note carriers not the PO have these hand held things you sign on. some of them have cameras in them and they photograph your front door.
We don't have mailboxes here, everything comes thru the letterbox.

If you query a delivery they can show you a signature overlaid on a photo of your door. seems to work Ok coming in but still have problems going out.

Sent 3 sets of plans and 5 CD to the US last week, everything has got there except one set of plans.

John S.

One of my pet rants at the moment is the inefficiency of the US postal services. One would expect better service in most 3rd world countries.

For example, two sets of John S 123 blocks ordered from Arc Euro Trade in the UK arrived on my doorstep here in Canada 5 days after ordering. Similarly some replacement Sievert burners from Chronos in the UK arrived here 4 days after ordering.
In contrast, a few miniature rubber belts mailed "Priority Mail International" from the US in a padded envelope took almost three weeks to get here and to rub salt into the wound the USPS fleeced me $14 for that appalling service.

The supplier, seeing their name posted here where there are a good number of potential customers, may see this as a good (and inexpensive) opportunity to capitalize on positive word-of-mouth for their business. Hope it works out for you, I feel your pain.

I have mailed over 100 sets of Ray Hasbroucks plans for steam engines without castings since I took over 2 years ago. All have arrived in good shape in just days, with one exception. A set to Canada took about 3 weeks, but it did get there, just after I mailed a replacement set.

I think the PO does a pretty good job. We never see a post here like " I ordered something and it arrived quickly", we only see the complaints when something goes wrong. How often do the tings we order, or letters, or bills ;D arrive quickly?

I'm not sure we can blame cross border shipping problems on any specific postal system.
I have always used USPS for orders, ebay ,etc and have no complaints. Canada Post sometimes
slows things up a bit but the biggest holdup seems to be customs clearance in both Can. and US.

Peter

Dad had a similar thing happen a few years ago, he ordered $400 worth of ASME soft plugs for our 1/2 scale and 1/4 scale engines and they never came he went in multiple times to see if they got there and no luck. he also had an order to a plumbing supply warehouse and he puchased a few valves totaling $800 when the truck came the guy put them at the back door... right next to the trash can the day before the trash truck comes. needless to say they got thrown, it wasnt the post office on that but it was a guy from the plumbing supply that delivered it.
then about 3 weeks ago I ordered some prints from allen models of michigan for the mogul I'm building totaling only $21 but the package came a week late and the end was broken off of the tube and taped back and the other end cap was missing and there were no prints. that really set my dad off again reminding him of the soft plugs, he went in and did a little more than complain. we try to use UPS whenever possible

Ryker Carruthers

Funny, I am in Canada and find the USPS a godsend. So far (touch wood) everything I have ordered comes directly through to my doorstep. If I am not home, it is held a few blocks away and I can pick it up anytime before 10 pm. All of the other carriers (UPS, FedEx etc.) charge absurd customs duties and fees to process even a small order. I am to the point where I will not order any other way from the US.

Brian

You guys are lucky - you should try the South African Post Office - anything made of metal gets kicked out by the metal detectors - which makes life ultra convenient for the theives there to sell it as scrap.

I sell welding consumables - and the chances of copper tips making it to their destination is virtually nil - even when sent as an insured parcel.

Courier is the only way.

Most US suppliers will not supply via the SA Post Office and insist on FedEx or UPS.

Last I heard Amazon has completely given up on the SA market and no longer supply.

Ken

Seeing that this thread popped back up I thought I would give everyone an update. First off to echo Ron's comment, yes I believe the post office does a good job but when you believe you have lost $50.00 it's somewhat annoying.
After contacting M&M they got back with me and stated that they don't normally offer insurance on their shipments as some people don't want to pay the extra money but would consider it in the future. They did also say that in contacting their Postmaster he stated that my Postmaster should know exactly when and where it was delivered to. With that I contacted the fellow that I originally spoke to at the PO. He said "did I check today's mail." I said "It hadn't come yet."
When it did arrive lo and behold there was the package from M&M. The package didn't have any strange stamps like 'resend or return to sender' so I have to ask the question, "If the PO said that the package had already been delivered then why did is show up in my mailbox 7 days later?"
I called and told the PO that yes indeed the package had arrived and did they know what might have happened to it. They said that possibly someone else received it and turned it back in.
I let it go at that. I had my plugs and I wasn't out $50.00
gbritnell

I purchased some items on ebay, QC tol holders, package never arrived, after many emails the seller refunded my money. Three months later a beat up box shows up, no extra markings on it, where was it for all that time??

Knowing that Karma follows karma, I quickly PP funds to the seller, and purchased a lottery ticket. But in this case only the seller won.

we've lost money orders in the mail 3 times now in the last 3 years or so, we send them first class mail and they never arrive where they were addressed to. Fortunately if they're just lost the PO refunds, for a small fee of course, The latest one happened just a few weeks ago, I ended up redoing the order by card. I am waiting the 6 weeks on it to get refunded. Beginning to make me wonder if somebody's loosing them on purpose just to get the tracking fee.
One time we had a serious delay on some shipment, and soon after it finally arrived we heard on the news a comment about a loaded mail car that had gotten pushed off on a siding and forgotton about for awhile. Ahh! that's where it was.