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I've always been apprehensive about buying or shipping 68# flat rate boxes so the biggest I will deal with is 34#. But I took a chance and won a 68# cu penny auction on ebay. I knew it was to arrive today so I met my female mail carrier at my mail box so she wouldn't have to pick it up. I knew something was amiss when she wasn't her usually friendly self. She quietly walks to the back of the truck and opens the lid and proceeds to tell me that this morning when workers were off loading the box the side of the box blew out and a few thousand pennies went rolling all over the floor causing a 15 minute mess and right at the busiest time of the day when all the trucks are being loaded for delivery. She said her supervisor was very pissed off and remarked how "ridiculous" it was that anyone would put that many pennies in a single box!

I could tell my mail carrier was upset with this whole situation but I was more concerned with how many pennies were lost so I asked her to give me one minute to grab my camera so I could shoot a picture of the box in the truck.

Just my luck the very first time I get the courage to buy a 68 pounder and look what happens. Anyways they gathered up all the loose pennies and threw them and the box into a large carrier box. The seller wasn't at fault because the box was (completely) encased in two layers of tape and the pennies were housed in a strong nylon bag. Obviously some worker must have accidently dropped the box from a high position which caused the nylon bag to split open followed by the bottom of the box. As I was walking back to my house I heard the tires peel out and spray dirt as it sped off--I wonder if she did that by accident?



Once inside my house I cooled off a bit and took a couple more pictures so I could send them to the seller in case I was short a lot of pennies. But to my surprise all 68#'s were there! So I grabbed a cold drink and sat down with my two guard dogs whose job it is to protect my copper. Some of you have already been introduced to 3.2 pound "Killer" who I pictured in a recent topic on this board and selected as my avatar as well:



But if any copper thief makes it past "Killer" then God have mercy because he WILL meet "Killer's" 4.8 pound older brother "Shredder":

You should have been telling her how "ridiculously" the package must have been handled for the box to break through two layers of tape and a nylon bag! I hate USPS! They think everything is the fault of the shipper, but when you conform to their regulations, it seems that all of your packages arrive smashed, damaged, beat up, holed, wet, to the wrong house, EMPTY!!!, broken....

I'm glad that you received all of the pennies. That just shows that no matter how dysfunctional the organization is, there are still some good apples in the bunch.

Screw these crybaby mail handlers. I'm sick of hearing their bitching. They're lucky to have a job.

I've have had so many, very well f-ed up, and dealt with so much crap from the post office. I want to mail poorly wrapped dirt and insure it.

pennypicker wrote: The seller wasn't at fault because the box was (completely) encased in two layers of tape and the pennies were housed in a strong nylon bag.

I have to disagree. Was the nylon bag sealed? If the bag was properly sealed it should not have lost any pennies. And the tape looks like it was clear tape not reinforced strapping tape. I always ship my pennies in sealed canvas bags and use reinforced strapping tape because by the time that 70 lb. box gets to where it is going it does get beat up and once in a while a corner of the box does open up but if you have the pennies sealed in a bag that will not open up you don't loose any. People that have purchased pennies from me have always received every penny they purchased. When shipping one bag I double box those but when shipping two bags you can't double box those because of the 70 lb. weight limit so you have to use extra reinforced tape.

Thogey wrote:I want to mail poorly wrapped dirt and insure it.

there was a very entertaining article in the Journal of Irreproducable Results where they affixed postage stamps to bizarre items like a cocounut, watermelon, toilet seat, etc. without a package to see whether the post office would attempt to mail them and also whether the item arrived. this might have been pre-uanabomber - i doubt many of these things would be accepted today.

agree that the damage was caused by the postal service, probably your carrier - really, who else could it have been - but your carrier is more conscientious than most since you literally got every penny.

Lemon Thrower wrote:agree that the damage was caused by the postal service, probably your carrier - really, who else could it have been - but your carrier is more conscientious than most since you literally got every penny.

I have had many boxes that were broken open and leaking by the time they got to me. Most of them were wheat pennies too. My mailman would leave a trail of pennies from his car to my house. I wonder how many are still in his car. I have had people ship in Wal-Mart bags with one piece of tape around the box where the seam is. But when you contact the seller and tell them they were not properly packaged they just say sorry the box was fine when I dropped it off at the post office and I have no control over how they handled the box. It has gotten to the point where I ask the seller if they ship in a sealed canvas bag or plastic bank bag before I bid on their item.

Boxes break. Just count the contents and work out a 50/50 deal with the seller or 100% if the seller didn't wrap well.

Not a big deal. I've had 10 of these type delivered to me and lost a couple handfuls of cents TOTAL. I just ate the cost, not a big deal.

Cute dogs. I thought the 1st one was a stuffed toy dog when originally saw it.

It's the sellers fault that the package did not survive the beating the post office delivered. You actually have a wonderful mail carrier to make sure you lost none of your contents.

NDfarmer, yes the nylon bag was securely sealed with one of those heavy duty plastic pull ties. It was the bottom seam of the canvas bag that completely opened. It looks to me that someone dropped the box from several feet above ground level in order for it to completely bust open. Someone probably slid it off the top of load not knowing how heavy it was and then this person couldn't catch it in time from falling it to the ground.

Actually I consider myself lucky in that since all the pennies were accounted for the package obviously didn't break apart until it arrived at my local post office. What would of happened if the break occurred at another sorting facility in some other state? Would they have gathered up all the pennies and reboxed them? In any event I'll think positive and consider myself fortunate in this instance.

Express mail Tyvek envelopes, availible at the post office. Free, tough, and light.

The USPS were probably the cause of it. I collect stamps and I will get a sheet of stamps mailed to me in a large envelope with cardboard in it to help protect the stamps and clearly marked do not bend. Now my mailbox is large enough for the envelope to fit in but they will fold it in half anyway. When it rains my mail is so wet I can read my mail through the envelope. I complained to the post office and they said it's up to the mailman if he wants to carry a umbrella or not also I'm always getting someone elses mail. If I get a large package they can't even leave it on my porch they will put it on the steps and if it rains that get's soaked too.

I know everyone enjoys being able to ship 100 FV in medium flat rate box, but it crazy that The USPS lets you put 70lbs in the medium rate box. I hope they don't but I think they should lower it to 30 or 40 lbs. Putting 70 lbs in the medium box is crazy, but it's their rules so I take advantage of it also.

Tourney64 wrote:Cute dogs. I thought the 1st one was a stuffed toy dog when originally saw it.

It's the sellers fault that the package did not survive the beating the post office delivered. You actually have a wonderful mail carrier to make sure you lost none of your contents.

Tourney, I gotta call you out on this one. This is in no way the seller's fault. The seller put the coins in a canvas bag, sealed in, and put two layers of tape around the box. Any reasonable person would deem that fit to ship.

Just because USPS is horrible at shipping packages doesn't automatically shove the blame to the shipper if the package breaks. Don't pass the buck. If the USPS started throwing boxes off the Empire State Building to transport them faster, would you blame the shipper if the box wasn't reinforced with steel? Of course not. The USPS is solely to blame with their apparent mishandling of the package. Pennypicker, consider yourself lucky that you have a helpful staff at your local PO. But that does not shift the blame away from the entire organization.

Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. Probably a reason FedEx and UPS charge much more for a 70# box/.

I always put neon colored stickers that say "HEAVY" all over my copper cent shipments. I know from working in a warehouse that when you go to pick up a box and expect it to weigh a certain amount but it is actually much heavier/lighter it can cause you to mis-handle and drop it.

bman wrote:I always put neon colored stickers that say "HEAVY" all over my copper cent shipments. I know from working in a warehouse that when you go to pick up a box and expect it to weigh a certain amount but it is actually much heavier/lighter it can cause you to mis-handle and drop it.

Excellent point bman. I think this is exactly what happened in this instance. I also put "heavy" stickers on my packages as well. You can't order them on line but the people at my PO gave me a free roll of them.

bman wrote:I always put neon colored stickers that say "HEAVY" all over my copper cent shipments. I know from working in a warehouse that when you go to pick up a box and expect it to weigh a certain amount but it is actually much heavier/lighter it can cause you to mis-handle and drop it.

Good idea bman. Can you get those at an office supply store?

Found some on eBay. Between $13-$23 for a roll of 500.

I could tell my mail carrier was upset with this whole situation but I was more concerned with how many pennies were lost...

It's always good when a someone posts something that makes you laugh your ass off AND you learn some valuable lessons too. Great dog pictures too. If I was a copper thief I'd rather go after an easier target and just risk electrocution

I was surprised when it was raining thursday the mail man knocked on the door becouse there was a large envelope marked pictures so they didnt get wet.I thought wow he didnt leave them in the rain.

and Killer had me laughing for 10 min

pennypicker wrote:She said her supervisor was very pissed off and remarked how "ridiculous" it was that anyone would put that many pennies in a single box!

Maybe you ought to write a letter to the supervisor explaining the USPS 70# limit and how ridiculous it is that he thinks he can decide what and how people ship. It's part of the application when you become a mail person, "can you lift up to 70lbs?". That's just part of the job. I ship a lot of lead in flat rate boxes and I certainly don't feel sorry for the mail man.

The way USPS makes money on the flat rates is by loosing some on the heavy packages and making extra on the light packages. For every 70# box there's another one that only weighs 1#. They knew that would happen when they started the program. They also provide the boxes, so if the box isn't sturdy enough to hold 70#, who's fault is that really?

Several months ago I dropped off a small package at the post office, and I had written the address with a red pen. The idiot behind the counter chewed me out because "the machines can't read that very well, we have to hand sort it. Don't ever do that again!". My response was, "that's what I'm paying you for". I now do almost all my labels in red - because I know this means the PO has to pause and take extra time with my package. There is no regulation against it, and you don't chew out a customer like that...

Thogey wrote:Screw these crybaby mail handlers. I'm sick of hearing their bitching. They're lucky to have a job.

I've have had so many, very well f-ed up, and dealt with so much crap from the post office. I want to mail poorly wrapped dirt and insure it.

You have mailed dirt! and THANK YOU for mailing it to me! It was very well packaged!

The letter carriers are always bitching at my workers for parking too close to the mail boxes. In some housing additions, the streets are so crammed with driveways and mail boxes, you can't park on the streets without blocking one of them! They used to write nasty little notes and stick them to our windshields. HA! I tell them I have the Constitutional right to be on the PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY, and they can't stop me. "Don't deliver the damn mail, I don't care!"

I am glad you got all you coins, Pennypicker. If she ever does it again, write a complaint about her.

I say thanks for all the people who help us along in the process of mailing or taking delivery on heavy flat rate boxes. Sure there are the ones who complain and are mean. Id say 90% of the USPS employees I deal with , I really am thankful for all their help and what they do. Before you guys start writing letters, just realize that to ship your 68 pounders is going to cost a little more than 11.00 if they do away with it