Rather than have a camera guard my packages, l have used post office boxes for years, more than one and, for years, one out of state to take care of an elderly relative's business. With the PO street address, UPS will deliver to your P.O. box. I avoid the third shipping service as not at my convenience. Sometimes have trouble getting this into sellers' heads. Ain't gonna sit around to sign for anything. My PO has provided outstanding service since 1971. Privatizing it, like other "utilities", is a scheme to enrich the few at the expense of the many (us).
JohnActon posted:...…. It was not so many years ago that they would insist on 4" of padding on all sides of anything that could break. ...…. he corporate graphics ban on shipping boxes never made sense but the padding requirement has a great deal of merit, though I am sure that 4" of padding is overkill in most cases. j
4" of padding? Holy cow!
When I ship those Atlas O rolling stock type items, I use two of the free USPS "shoe box" cartons, slipping the end of one, into the other, adjusting for length. I am then able to slip in just a small amount of bubble wrap on all sides. Never had a problem.
I do have problems with USPS tracking, but they have been a reliable shipper for me, and always use them for smaller, lighter packages.
As a side note, ALL of my Amazon packages now arrive via their own courier …. rental vans/trucks, from a NJ urban area, driven by folks that look like ex-cons. I hope they're not "casing" my neighborhood. 
Anyway, it sure put a big dent in our local USPS work load.
I’m going with ashes. Even bought extra insurance but they wouldn’t honor the claim.
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Attaboy USPS!
I'm in a rural area so everybody knows everybody else. And everybody knows the local postal workers by name. A good community.
As to the shipper who was the catalyst of this post, I can't help but feel sorry for them
Maybe a young kid trying out his first steps selling to buy something newer. But probably....
IF they are elderly, or an elderly family member liquidating a personal collection, they have no concept of the value of the original box, they may be new to E!@#, they may not have shipped packages in a very long time (years go by fast), and don't know how to.
High shipping costs are now a reality...to those of us with "experiences".
I ve met a few "older" folks who post using individual stamps.
I once got a package from an elderly gentleman that had one entire side of the box covered in individual postage stamps. He turned out to be a very frugal but nice guy.
"Back in the day" packages were brown paper wrapped (with a ship to: card on the inside as well as outside), and yes!...they were tied with shipping twine.
Sometimes you just have to smile quietly at those who may not have a clue.
Sometimes you have to be patient and get the contact info of the seller, call them on the phone, and make an effort to better understand them and politely educate.
Yes you have money/value at stake. You have recourse thru e!@$ and PayPal, if necessary.
But maybe...just maybe you'll help somebody out, and if you are lucky make a friend in the process.
Ya just never know.
CoastsideKevin posted:I’m going with ashes. Even bought extra insurance but they wouldn’t honor the claim.
Geez ! I would like to see how it was packaged. Years ago pot metal was usually rather thick but manufacturers have learned to cast it very thin and it just cannot tolerate much of an impact. I think it might be easier to break than most plastic now days. If I were shipping that I would have at least 2" of bubble wrap around it and float that in another inch of peanuts. Very sorry Kevin. j
I never use eBay anymore and don't do PayPal. Items I sell, which is admittedly on an infrequent basis, are listed on our OGR forum and I have had very good results with that FREE way to sell items to fellow hobbyists.
All of my shipping to buyers is via UPS or USPS. Lately, I have found USPS Priority Mail/Insured to be generally the least expensive way to ship items such as O gauge locomotives unless you have a very heavy or large/bulky item to send, in which case UPS may be more cost effective. Fortunately, I have both a Post Office and a UPS Store located conveniently to my home.
I pack items in shipping boxes that are significantly larger than the items they contain, and I pack the contents tightly--very tightly--with bubble wrap and the newsprint-type packing paper that you can buy at any shipping site or at your local home improvement store, such as Lowe's and Home Depot. I make sure that there is a good layer of packing material at the bottom, top, ends, and sides of the outer box.
The "rule" I follow is to pack anything I ship like I would want anything sent to me to be packed.
justakid posted:Attaboy USPS!
I'm in a rural area so everybody knows everybody else. And everybody knows the local postal workers by name. A good community.
As to the shipper who was the catalyst of this post, I can't help but feel sorry for them
Maybe a young kid trying out his first steps selling to buy something newer. But probably....
IF they are elderly, or an elderly family member liquidating a personal collection, they have no concept of the value of the original box, they may be new to E!@#, they may not have shipped packages in a very long time (years go by fast), and don't know how to.
High shipping costs are now a reality...to those of us with "experiences".
I ve met a few "older" folks who post using individual stamps.
I once got a package from an elderly gentleman that had one entire side of the box covered in individual postage stamps. He turned out to be a very frugal but nice guy.
"Back in the day" packages were brown paper wrapped (with a ship to: card on the inside as well as outside), and yes!...they were tied with shipping twine.
Sometimes you just have to smile quietly at those who may not have a clue.
Sometimes you have to be patient and get the contact info of the seller, call them on the phone, and make an effort to better understand them and politely educate.
Yes you have money/value at stake. You have recourse thru e!@$ and PayPal, if necessary.
But maybe...just maybe you'll help somebody out, and if you are lucky make a friend in the process.
Ya just never know.
Kid, you pulled the words right out of my head. I was thinking right along your lines. Very old or a teen selling grandpa's trains. The second car arrived packaged just as the first also in perfect condition so I plan on giving the guy a Positive feedback however I plan to bend his ear (eyes) with a stern rebuff and some useful info on shipping. I'm not a big time seller on eBay but have sold over a thousand items and shipped them with zero damaged items and no negative feedback. My friends have been saving me boxes peanuts and bubble wrap for years and I have quite a stash. The only packaging materials I ever have to purchase is tape and glue sticks. I try to pack so the package can withstand a four foot drop to concrete without harming the contents inside. j
Dan986 posted:About 10 wrong deliveries to my address from USPS in 2018,one was my neighbor's W-2 forms. The dopey mail person and his bosses couldn't care less. They have jobs for life no matter how poor the service is.
It’s highly likely you now have a contract-term worker delivering mail in your neighborhood, not the same carrier who has worked for years at the USPS. Lifetime job security in USPS? Hasn’t been the case for a very long time, due to financial realities and changes in business (email) and shipping.
If you do have an issue, make sure to address it with the USPS. Term workers are not guaranteed renewed terms if their performance is poor.
After years of dependable service and one of the friendliest carriers I ever met, we had a new term mail carrier a few months ago. It was bad. And he was quickly replaced.
Freight Train Jim posted:How cheap and irresponsible can the seller be after you paid him to ship it ??
Good luck trying to ship it like that via the other two big time shippers. Hats off to the USPS !!
Agreed. I would NOT give him a positive feedback whatsoever! I would at best give a neutral and state no packing by seller in comments! eBay buyers need to let others know of sellers that don't give a **** about packing their merchandise and the buyer receiving the item in tact.
JohnActon posted:CoastsideKevin posted:I’m going with ashes. Even bought extra insurance but they wouldn’t honor the claim.
Geez ! I would like to see how it was packaged. Years ago pot metal was usually rather thick but manufacturers have learned to cast it very thin and it just cannot tolerate much of an impact. I think it might be easier to break than most plastic now days. If I were shipping that I would have at least 2" of bubble wrap around it and float that in another inch of peanuts. Very sorry Kevin. j
For what it’s worth, it was a Bakelite body. Still, I had lots of bubble wrap around it on all sides. Disappointing.
Is that an original 1957 746 ? I can see exposed edges where it broke they look lighter than the outside of the loco but can't quite tell what color they are. Usually bakelite was cast in the color of the finished product, not painted. Is it white, light gray inside ? If you hold the edge of the smallest piece in a flame what happens ? The 746 is about the only postwar Lionel steamer which I have never owned. I assumed it was diecast. Was it being mailed to you or were you mailing it to someone else ? If the USPS has officially abandoned the 4" of padding all around the object being mailed or make no attempt to enforce, it they should have to pay up on anything they collect insurance fees on. I would find out how to appeal their decision. You need to save the box and any padding that it was shipped in. If they accept your money for insurance since they are the expert on how things should be packaged they are under some obligation to reject packages which don't meet their standards or not sell insurance. Do you know who your Congressman is ? UPS did a similar thing to me ten years ago and I had my attorney send them a letter and they paid. My brother has been driving for UPS since the 70s and he said they always reject damage claims. You have to get in their face and be a pest and a letter from your attorney helps. It would drive up the cost of shipping if all package carriers had to pay up or start rejecting packages that don't meet their standards. So that is a double edge sword. If enough people took them to court on this point I'm sure the suit would have merit and stand a good chance of winning however we would all be paying from now on. As it stands now about the only thing insurance is good for is to insure they don't loose your package. j
I'm curious as to why they rejected the claim.
I agree, they accepted the package, you paid for insurance, the package delivery was made, the item didn't survive.. check please.
I'd start recording the full opening of packages beginning with bringing the porch and bringing it into the house. I dub this the "age of denial" or "customer can't be acknowledge as being right".
Bad business ethic is rampant from the corner store to the largest corporations. Reminds me of the desperation of the early 70s only worse.
JohnActon posted:Is that an original 1957 746 ? I can see exposed edges where it broke they look lighter than the outside of the loco but can't quite tell what color they are. Usually bakelite was cast in the color of the finished product, not painted. Is it white, light gray inside ? If you hold the edge of the smallest piece in a flame what happens ? The 746 is about the only postwar Lionel steamer which I have never owned. I assumed it was diecast. Was it being mailed to you or were you mailing it to someone else ? If the USPS has officially abandoned the 4" of padding all around the object being mailed or make no attempt to enforce, it they should have to pay up on anything they collect insurance fees on. I would find out how to appeal their decision. You need to save the box and any padding that it was shipped in. If they accept your money for insurance since they are the expert on how things should be packaged they are under some obligation to reject packages which don't meet their standards or not sell insurance. Do you know who your Congressman is ? UPS did a similar thing to me ten years ago and I had my attorney send them a letter and they paid. My brother has been driving for UPS since the 70s and he said they always reject damage claims. You have to get in their face and be a pest and a letter from your attorney helps. It would drive up the cost of shipping if all package carriers had to pay up or start rejecting packages that don't meet their standards. So that is a double edge sword. If enough people took them to court on this point I'm sure the suit would have merit and stand a good chance of winning however we would all be paying from now on. As it stands now about the only thing insurance is good for is to insure they don't loose your package. j
I’m not sure if it was original, I don’t think so. Were the original ones made from Bakelite?
I was mailing it cross country and that is how it arrived. I submitted a claim and a week later received a letter from USPS requesting I take item and all packing materials to a post office for inspection. By that time, the receiver had thrown all of it away, so it wasn’t possible.
This was a first for me so didn’t realize I needed to tell receiver to always save everything if damaged. Seems like it shouldn’t be so difficult, but I also sort of understand. Live and learn.
Adriatic posted:I'm curious as to why they rejected the claim.
I agree, they accepted the package, you paid for insurance, the package delivery was made, the item didn't survive.. check please.
I'd start recording the full opening of packages beginning with bringing the porch and bringing it into the house. I dub this the "age of denial" or "customer can't be acknowledge as being right".
Bad business ethic is rampant from the corner store to the largest corporations. Reminds me of the desperation of the early 70s only worse.
They wanted to see everything, which I can kind of understand, and I didn’t have it anymore. Still, the photo is pretty good evidence.
USPS served me well the last 6 months. In a new location with different USPS branch. Seemed that the previous branch crushed the shipping boxes of half of my deliveries. Contents sometimes crunched. New branch much more gentle.
Garrett76 posted:USPS served me well the last 6 months. In a new location with different USPS branch. Seemed that the previous branch crushed the shipping boxes of half of my deliveries. Contents sometimes crunched. New branch much more gentle.
One person with a poor attitude can poison the whole group. That is my problem. My current maillady has a very poor attitude. If I am unable to meet her on the days I expect a package she with often toss it from her vehicle on the fly. She will slow to between 5 and 10mph and out the door it goes. She will stop for large packages which are in the rear of her truck. I have lived in this house for thirty years and for the majority of this time my delivery has been better than great but the last two years has been horrendous. Neighbors down the street filed an official complaint and the next package they received was crushed with clear footprint marks on it. Without opening it they took it to the local Postmaster and filed a second complaint. They haven't received a crushed package since then so hopefully it worked. I haven't received any crushed packages but have some with crushed potmetal frames inside from her toss on the fly. j
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I'd try to catch that on camera so I could be on the news and reel in my 15min of fame on her dime 
CoastsideKevin posted:I’m going with ashes. Even bought extra insurance but they wouldn’t honor the claim.
I sell stuff on ebay and use usps and fedex. A while back usps lost a package I sent via priority mail. Priority is insured up to $100 free. The package contained a bunch of American Flyer projects, an engine, some cars, etc. It sold for $80, shipping was $25. I filed a claim after 3 weeks, it was approved 24 hours later and they sent the check a week after that.
If you would have had pictures showing the packing materials I am pretty sure they would have paid your claim. I take a picture of every package I ship before it leaves my house, if there is a problem down the road, I have proof of the condition the item was in when I gave it to the shipping company.
I hope this doesn't jinx me but have had nothing but good service using the post office sending or receiving packages. Also, I have discovered that the UPS store (closer to us than the post office). takes drop offs for the post office with pickup late in the day which is awesome. The other thing is that they will check for me and find out which will cost me less. On a basis of what the volume for the post office is each day, they will reduce prices for some parcels just to fill the shipment vehicles. I think I got that right because the girl at UPS said that to me as she was comparing the prices for me last time I shipped. (It might even depend on the destination, now that I think of it. She checked prices for me to ship X-mas gifts to my nephew in Gilbert, Az.) UPS is great, too. No complaints with either. And just the fact that the UPS clerks are checking both ways for me to ship cant's help but impress. Nothing like having options.
I, too, get a bad feeling seeing some of the characters Amazon has dropping items all over the neighborhood. UPS, Fed Ex, and Post Office delivery folks always look professional and no-nonsense and never seem to be casing the properties.
Guitarmike posted:CoastsideKevin posted:I’m going with ashes. Even bought extra insurance but they wouldn’t honor the claim.
I sell stuff on ebay and use usps and fedex. A while back usps lost a package I sent via priority mail. Priority is insured up to $100 free. The package contained a bunch of American Flyer projects, an engine, some cars, etc. It sold for $80, shipping was $25. I filed a claim after 3 weeks, it was approved 24 hours later and they sent the check a week after that.
If you would have had pictures showing the packing materials I am pretty sure they would have paid your claim. I take a picture of every package I ship before it leaves my house, if there is a problem down the road, I have proof of the condition the item was in when I gave it to the shipping company.
You're probably right, but I never thought to do that kind of thing. Live and learn, I guess.
Guitarmike posted..... Priority is insured up to $100 free. …..
$100 free? Are you a very high volume USPS shipper? Or, am I missing something that I only get $50 of free insurance with Priority?
Jim
JohnActon posted:Garrett76 posted:USPS served me well the last 6 months. In a new location with different USPS branch. Seemed that the previous branch crushed the shipping boxes of half of my deliveries. Contents sometimes crunched. New branch much more gentle.
One person with a poor attitude can poison the whole group. That is my problem. My current maillady has a very poor attitude. If I am unable to meet her on the days I expect a package she with often toss it from her vehicle on the fly. She will slow to between 5 and 10mph and out the door it goes. She will stop for large packages which are in the rear of her truck. I have lived in this house for thirty years and for the majority of this time my delivery has been better than great but the last two years has been horrendous. Neighbors down the street filed an official complaint and the next package they received was crushed with clear footprint marks on it. Without opening it they took it to the local Postmaster and filed a second complaint. They haven't received a crushed package since then so hopefully it worked. I haven't received any crushed packages but have some with crushed potmetal frames inside from her toss on the fly. j
Our regular mailman for many years passed away a couple of years ago. Since then, we have not had a steady delivery person. Instead, the local post office uses whomever is available from other routes. So our mail gets delivered at all times of the day as opposed to the same time each day as before.
The USPS is under threat to be privatized. I'm sure the postal service are doing their best to save that from happening, hence belt tightening.
I still believe our postal service is second to none. Especially when you hear stories from other countries. Where else can yo walk into an establishment and take as many free boxes to store stuff in ? We've all done it, I'm sure. Sending a letter cross country ? Try delivering yourself for less than fifty cents, even locally.
EBT Jim posted:Guitarmike posted..... Priority is insured up to $100 free. …..$100 free? Are you a very high volume USPS shipper? Or, am I missing something that I only get $50 of free insurance with Priority?
Jim
I also believe that, today, only the first $50 of insurance is free with Priority Mail.
As to the originality of the 746. I recall seeing a reproduction 746 in my old LHS back in the 80's. I commented on the price and was told it was a repro shell made to go on a Berkshire chassis. The true 746 has the main rod attaching to the second set of drivers, not the third as in a Berkshire and as in the picture above. While I do not remember the maker or the material of the repro shell, that would explain a lot in the picture concerning the actual locomotive. The only think plastic on the 746 locomotive I believe was the nose.
I too would love to know why a damage claim was denied.
BTW it took 10 days to get a 2 day priority package from FL to NC earlier this month. I can report though that I did eventually receive everything and with no damage.
Gray Lackey
