Realcent.org

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:49 pm**

Hi everyone,

Its that time of the year again....yes its the holidays.....but with the holidays brings even worse service from the post office. The usps hires temp workers (since they need so many more people standing around) to help with the holiday rush.

I was hoping to get through this year without a big incident with them, but it came yesterday! :evil:

I ship these 68lb copper penny boxes out in medium flat rate boxes. The coins go inside a special bag that gets ziptied shut. I than put about 1/4-1/3 of a roll of tape onto the box, taping it every which way. As you can see from the pictures above the special bag is not there, the medium box turned into a large box, and there is little to no tape on it. :shock:

They couldnt even get it from their facility back to mine without holes in it!

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:53 pm**

Did you get back close to 68 lbs?

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:59 pm**

tractorman wrote:Did you get back close to 68 lbs?

Yes, the pennies were all there...which i was very surprised about.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:08 pm**

highroller4321 wrote:
tractorman wrote:Did you get back close to 68 lbs?

Yes, the pennies were all there...which i was very surprised about.

Wow, that is a shocker!!

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:39 pm**

That is why I only ship in sealed canvas bags that way if a corner of the box does open up the person I am shipping to still gets all their coins.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:41 pm**

I received one like that about a year ago, the box had a big hole and the plastic coin bags had opened up. Lots of loose coins in the tub. It was only missing about a half pound though.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:11 pm**

i hate shipping those big boxes

i also tape both addresses to the bag of cents - hopefully if the box was destroyed they would still get somewhere

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:13 pm**

NDFarmer wrote:That is why I only ship in sealed canvas bags that way if a corner of the box does open up the person I am shipping to still gets all their coins.

I don't think canvas bags would have done any good on this one....

What I don't understand is why did they send it back to me? It was already halfway to where it was going! The label was still fully intact!

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:26 pm**

It's good that they put WE CARE in huge letters on the communications to you. Because from the look of this packaging, THEY DON'T CARE.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:31 pm**

Did they drag it behind the truck? The postal driver thought it was too heavy and said "screw it!, I'll just tie a rope to it and drag it"

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:47 pm**

slickeast wrote:Did they drag it behind the truck? The postal driver thought it was too heavy and said "screw it!, I'll just tie a rope to it and drag it"

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:20 pm**

The canvas bags do make a difference (in my case), I had an identical box arrive torn to hell but canvas saved the pennies. The box was torn open and I'm sure the pennies would have been scattered across the country if not for the strong canvas.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:28 pm**

Detroit, that explains a lot right there. Why no tape on the inside Adam?

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:43 pm**

Normally I wouldn't bother respondnig to this but this post really stuck in my craw. I'll preface this by telling you I work for the PO and just got back from my route where I delivered twice the normal volume of mail and 10X the normal volume of packages!

I think it's so audacious and shows such a lack of understanding when people bitch about the post office. I'll try to be brief;

1. The PO doesn't hire seasonal help. UPS does at $9.50/hr.

2. If you're not happy with paying $11 to ship 68 lbs of f***ing pennies and have it likely arrive in 2-3 days, then go to UPS or Fedex next time and see how much they'll charge you. ;-)

3. USPS has the cheapest postage in the world! And its unfathomable to me how people whine about "oh postage went up 1 cent." Boo f***ing hoo! Look how much everything else on the planet increases.

4. USPS gets no money from the government and operates solely on revenue generated through sales and services, contrary to popular belief.

5. Every single one of your f***ing pennies were in the box with an explanation and apology, and I bet they'd even refund your money.

The status quo hoi polloi just love to bad mouth and debase and bitch about the postal service, but I'd encourage you people to think about what exactly they're bitching about. There is so much misinformation about the PO it's rather irritating to me.

I'm still at the office looking at a stack of parcels already here for tomorrow that are ten feet high, and there will be twice that coming in tomorrow. Every one of them will get delivered tomorrow. I'm amazed that MORE don't get damaged. There are very few thieves here. Nobody will risk a $50,000/yr job for a fistful of copper pennies.

Merry Xmas

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:13 pm**

Primus123 wrote:Normally I wouldn't bother respondnig to this but this post really stuck in my craw. I'll preface this by telling you I work for the PO and just got back from my route where I delivered twice the normal volume of mail and 10X the normal volume of packages!

I think it's so audacious and shows such a lack of understanding when people bitch about the post office. I'll try to be brief;

1. The PO doesn't hire seasonal help. UPS does at $9.50/hr. According to the post office they do. They did in Iowa and they do here in Oregon.....maybe where you are its different. Maybe a small little post office they won't, but for bigger post offices, processing centers, and truck driver they do.

2. If you're not happy with paying $11 to ship 68 lbs of f***ing pennies and have it likely arrive in 2-3 days, then go to UPS or Fedex next time and see how much they'll charge you. I am more than happy that they only charge that amount. I just expect if they offer a service they follow through with it.

3. USPS has the cheapest postage in the world! And its unfathomable to me how people whine about "oh postage went up 1 cent." Boo f***ing hoo! Look how much everything else on the planet increases. I don't see anyone here complaining about that. I am surprised it doesn't go up more.

4. USPS gets no money from the government and operates solely on revenue generated through sales and services, contrary to popular belief. I'm not going to take the time to look up if this is true or not

5. Every single one of your f***ing pennies were in the box with an explanation and apology, and I bet they'd even refund your money. I don't think every single one was in there and no they wouldn't fefund my postage...I already talked to them and they said reuse the label....not that that is even possible

The status quo hoi polloi just love to bad mouth and debase and bitch about the postal service, but I'd encourage you people to think about what exactly they're bitching about. There is so much misinformation about the PO it's rather irritating to me.

I'm still at the office looking at a stack of parcels already here for tomorrow that are ten feet high, and there will be twice that coming in tomorrow. Every one of them will get delivered tomorrow. I'm amazed that MORE don't get damaged. There are very few thieves here. Nobody will risk a $50,000/yr job for a fistful of copper pennies.

Merry Xmas

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:04 pm**

highroller4321 wrote:
Primus123 wrote:4. USPS gets no money from the government and operates solely on revenue generated through sales and services, contrary to popular belief. I'm not going to take the time to look up if this is true or not

That is true. They are regulated by the government, but do not receive any government funding.

No doubt in my mind that properly-closed quality canvas bags hold up better in this situation, but quality is the key here. Cheap thin canvas bags would be worse than plastic.

Quality canvas is thicker and more puncture-resistant than plastic coin bags. I haven't done any experiments (yet) to prove it, but I suspect the burst strength is equal to or greater than that of plastic bags as well. Plastic bags are basically one size and allow for a lot of coin movement inside the bag. Canvas bags can be sealed down to the level of the coins to make a nice tight package.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:27 pm**

I've learned my lesson the hard way, 2-4 dollars for the insurance is worth every penny.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:29 pm**

highroller4321 wrote:According to the post office they do. They did in Iowa and they do here in Oregon.....maybe where you are its different. Maybe a small little post office they won't, but for bigger post offices, processing centers, and truck driver they do.

I'm in the Northeast and they definately do not hire seasonal help here. They hire TEs ( temporary employees) that get signed on for 1 year with the possibility of being reupped the next year. They make a big deal out of allowing people to handle the mail, that's why I couldn't see the PO in any part of the country going through the hiring process, and swearing in process to just work the holiday season. They have a 3-5 day training seminar, at the end of which the new hire takes some oath about protecting the sanctity of the mail. I just couldn't see them doing that for seasonal workers.

Anyways, I'm glad you got your pack back. You could try mailing it on Dec 26th! Should be safe then.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:29 pm**

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! Hold up one minute!

Primus123 wrote:Normally I wouldn't bother respondnig to this but this post really stuck in my craw. I'll preface this by telling you I work for the PO and just got back from my route where I delivered twice the normal volume of mail and 10X the normal volume of packages! ... I'm still at the office looking at a stack of parcels already here for tomorrow that are ten feet high, and there will be twice that coming in tomorrow. Every one of them will get delivered tomorrow.

Really sticks in MY craw that PO workers complain all year about how there isn't enough business, and then in December, complain about all the extra work! All us hoi polloi, the millions of stupid people, sending their Christmas packages as Christmas nears! What were we thinking?

68 lbs of f***ing pennies... ...Every single one of your f***ing pennies...

Do you know where you are? Had you considered that you will get NO sympathy posting obscenities and griping like this AT A PENNY SITE?

USPS has the cheapest postage in the world! And its unfathomable to me how people whine about "oh postage went up 1 cent." Boo f***ing hoo! Look how much everything else on the planet increases.

Don't think anyone said anything about postage costs. Why even bring it up?

There are very few thieves here. Nobody will risk a $50,000/yr job for a fistful of copper pennies.

Don't think anyone said anything about thieves either!!!

Having said all that, I'm sorry your job is tough. Really.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:35 pm**

I was dropping off all of my packages around back the other day and I witnessed the employee throwing, from 10 feet away, flat rate boxes into a big metal bin.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:47 pm**

maybe the tape was defective?

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:00 pm**

Wow, someone had a bad day! My local PO is full of great people, know them all by name. They even called me to let me know about the damaged box and I went in and picked it up. The issue is not about temporary help, cost of postage, source of funding...but using extra precautions when sending large quantities of pennies. Those flat rate boxes are not designed for 68 pounds, period. Here's my solution. I vacuum seal 10 lbs in pennies in small flat rate boxes in which you can conveniently ship six in a larger flat rate box. Yeah, it's only 60 lbs but there are no loose pennies and the customer gets vacuum sealed bricks for long term storage.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:17 pm**

uthminsta wrote:Really sticks in MY craw that PO workers complain all year about how there isn't enough business, and then in December, complain about all the extra work! All us hoi polloi, the millions of stupid people, sending their Christmas packages as Christmas nears! What were we thinking?

I wasn't complaining; I was explaining that we are handling 10X the normal volume of packages and it's very easy to see how some get crushed. The PO is a cash cow... just mismanaged. Oh and there's that whole prefunding of our retirement that equals $75 billion that we have to pay in just 10 years. But I digress.

Do you know where you are? Had you considered that you will get NO sympathy posting obscenities and griping like this AT A PENNY SITE?

If it wasn't so frustrating it would have been comical to see someone take the time to take and post pictures of a ripped box to strongly criticize the POs failures. And yes, I should know better to use profanities. Next time I will just use exclaimation points.

Don't think anyone said anything about thieves either!!!

Having said all that, I'm sorry your job is tough. Really.

It was implicit in the line about shock that all the pennies were there. That's how I took it. And my jobs not really that bad, thank you though.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:53 pm**

Sorry. This thread made me think of this clip.

Posted: **Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:10 pm**

ed_vantage17 wrote:

Sorry. This thread made me think of this clip.

Hahaha

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