WARNING: Its that time of year again.

[Primus123]

Remember to tip your mailman at Xmas. Especially if you're getting PMs in the mail. Even a $5 is enough that he/she will remember you all year

[JJM]

I'm really jealous of you folks with nice post offices. I remember what that is like. My current reality is much different though.

Today I had two packages to ship. I printed the postage at home, as I usually do, to save some time, money and (hopefully) hassle.

They were big, I had to make two trips to the truck to get them both in. Gave the first one to the lady working, I was pleasant, thanked her using "m'am", etc. Came back in with the second item, it was a vehicle dash going to PA. I handed it to the guy who usually isn't too bad to deal with, he promptly told me it was too big to ship. I told him it wasn't, so he started measuring immediately. At which point I got pretty irritated, as I was in a hurry and didn't feel the need to educate him on the rules of HIS OWN employer. After delaying me, and the rest of the customers, he stated it was indeed too large to ship - showing me his cheat sheet which said (IIRC) 108 inches (length + circumference). I told him to call the postmaster up front, hoping the postmaster would educate him and I could leave without getting too hot under the collar. He asked me to step aside, which I did, telling me the postmaster would be right with me.

So I'm standing in front of this closed door, and can hear him and the postmaster talking behind it. They don't open the door to acknowledge my presence, and I'm getting pretty hot by now, as several minutes have ticked by since he was supposed to come out and see me. I drug a weapon around for 20 years for Uncle Sam, and have worked at the V.A. as well, so I know all about federal BS-acracy in action. I get back in front of the window, addressing the postmaster who is out of sight around the corner. He comes into sight, telling me that I'm wrong, that the package is indeed too big. He wanted to know what measurements I plugged into the website to get the postage printed. I tell him that was an hour before & I don't recall the exact numbers, but I'm sure that my measurements are correct, reminding him that the system won't print the postage if the size is too large. I tell them I triple checked the measurements, as I have no interest in wrapping up something that large (took about 2 hours and a couple of rolls of tape), only to not have it get to where it's going. (duh!)

At this point the other person at the counter pipes up and tells them that they are wrong, that the limit for oversized packages is (IIRC) 128 inches. Neither would admit they were wrong, chaulking it up to "well, we'll see if it comes back or not...."

To all the postal apologists, why didn't she speak up earlier? Why does the guy in charge not even know the freaking rules? Why doesn't the cheat sheet at the front desk cover "oversize" packages? The guy at the counter isn't new, and should know better. The postmaster is new, evidently they replaced the last one after she confiscated my money orders (stating they were fake when they weren't), after the real center who sent them called the police on her.

Same she-yite, different year. The USPS is a bloated pig of an operation that deserves to have a Lehman Brothers style demise... I will dance with joy when that day comes. Until then, I'll continue to ship and receive as many 69.5 pound medium flat rate boxes as I can and get a perverted thrill out of it.

[NHsorter]

Nice rant. I enjoyed that. It was well written because I know exactly how you felt the whole time. I can relate!
p.s. there are still some good PO workers scattered here and there, so I just want to point out that I personally don't think they are all bad. But man, are there some bad ones sometimes.

[avidbrandy]

Sorry. This thread made me think of this clip.

Wow thank you for that I hadn't seen that.


I've had one of my CTUs come with the box broken but the bag was still intact at least.

[DirtyFingers]

Check out this delivery from a USPS competitor...might be a commercial first.

http://tv.yahoo.com/daytime/delivery-dr ... 51996.html

[HoardCopperByTheTon]

OK.. I am one of those lucky guys with a nice post office. But not every post office is quite as nice. Maybe our resident postal experts can answer this. Today I was informed by another member that the package I sent him all the way to the other coast was refused and sent back to me because of postage. It had the correct postage when it left here.. they even put the little stamp with $0 on it showing it was paid in full.. including the delivery confirmation. Somewhere between here and the opposite coast they managed to knock some of the stamps off. Rather than look at the sticker showing postage was full paid.. or even asking the receiver to pay postage due for whatever stamps they managed to knock off.. they decided to ship it all the way back to me on the west coast. How does this make any sense? No wonder they are losing money.

[Ryedale]

Had my first damaged package the other day with UPS. The metal base was bent and the metal was mushroomed where it hit so hard that it came through the cardboard etc. hitting on concrete or something.
I replaced the unit for my customer, and UPS picked up the other one and it's back in my possession now. It's frustrating but it happens, having shipped hundreds of these, it seems that no matter how hard you work to package, there are things that happen (like all the recent videos on Yahoo) that are unavoidable and it's a numbers game that sooner or later your stuff will get damaged.
The USPS Flat Rate shipping box is the best value available and I'm still surprised they even allow up to 70lbs to go in those tiny boxes, it's almost really a gimmick that it's available. I shipped $50 of copper (face) recently so about 35 lbs in two boxes and they arrived fine. Even those at 35lbs seem ridiculous size to weight ratio. I always double box too, jam one FRS into the other FRS (flat rate shipper) and double tape etc. It takes quite a bit of time to prepare a shipment to go out.
I hope they keep it but would completely understand if they were to eliminate the high weight on the box.