USPS Priority Mail or Pony Express which is faster.

Sent a package July 5th with 2 tubes in it. I made the mistake of telling the postman that there were 2 well packed glass tubes in it and before I could stop him he had stamped Fragile on all sides of the package. The delivery date was set for July 7. It was finally delivered on July 21. 16 days later. I kept a copy of its travels so I can show the Post Master. As if they care. They also damaged an amp I had purchased last month in a different shipment.
Just a warning for anyone who uses the USPS. If the USPS wants us to use there service they need to start caring about how they treat our merchandise.

sailor wrote:Sent a package July 5th with 2 tubes in it. I made the mistake of telling the postman that there were 2 well packed glass tubes in it and before I could stop him he had stamped Fragile on all sides of the package. The delivery date was set for July 7. It was finally delivered on July 21. 16 days later. I kept a copy of its travels so I can show the Post Master. As if they care. They also damaged an amp I had purchased last month in a different shipment.
Just a warning for anyone who uses the USPS. If the USPS wants us to use there service they need to start caring about how they treat our merchandise.

Considering they handle millions of items a day I think they do a very good job. Over the years I have come to use them virtually exclusively. And on the rare occasions when I've had trouble I really found them to be very concerned and helpful.

I think your sweeping generalization is inappropriate, at least based on my own experience and the vast majority of what I've read. Yes, parcels can get misplaced - a guy sent one to me not long ago and it came here the LONG way for sure. But it arrived in good condition, and I could credit the gent back who sent it (with returned tubes inside) to me. I'm sure he was happy about that!!

Nobody's perfect I'm afraid, but I think they are darn good.

Hi JIM,
I,m glad you finally received my package. I had accepted about a week ago that it was lost forever. So I guess I should be happy you received it. By the way, did you notice that even the second trip across the USA took 3 days longer than it was suppose to. Which means it was sent parcel post both trips instead of Priority Mail which is what I paid for.
I probably would not be so pissed about this except the package was completely lost for 5 days in my post office [after being returned] and there tracking system couldn't tell where it was. I told my postman and I think she found it tucked away some where and resent it on its second trip across the USA.
Jim, your service is excellent, Thank You, I would recommend you to anyone. The package you sent me arrived in perfect shape however the only other package sent to me through the USPS was one last month. It arrived mangled and damaged again stamped fragile. That's 2 out of 3 damaged or missent.
I do think that if you get the business printed mailing labels from the postal service you use the service is first class. The package then can be machine read and routed I think the package is treated far better and is a great system. But for the rest of us who have to hand write them, I don't think we get the same level of service from the USPS.
I would also say never let them stamp fragile on your package as it seems to mean kick, drop, mangle, miss send and misplace.

In both professional and personal dealings, I've found all three of the typical carriers to have both advantages and disadvantages. The majority of the time my shipments arrive on time and in good condition, but... there are exceptions including a few packages that never arrived nor were they returned. That being said, I thought I would mention that you can purchase and print scannable USPS labels online. You can also do likewise with UPS or FEDEX, but they require you to set up an account first. There is no such requirement with the USPS.

Best Regards,
Charlie

Sailor, you need to stop writing USPS SUCKS on the packages you're sending. I don't think they like that!

Have sent Citation II cores to Don S. in Vancouver via USPS insured w/confirmation two separate times and have had no problems with either delivery or damage. However, I would not like to be the employee having to haul those things from the truck to the post office as they weigh about 75 lbs. each and that's the limit for mailing. Priority postage, confirmation, tracking and $1,000 of insurance for about $100 on that heavy mutha. I can't say I didn't worry about the handling etc. but it all worked out OK. Cost of UPS for same thing would have been totally out of sight. My two cents....

sailor wrote:Hi JIM,
I,m glad you finally received my package. I had accepted about a week ago that it was lost forever. So I guess I should be happy you received it. By the way, did you notice that even the second trip across the USA took 3 days longer than it was suppose to. Which means it was sent parcel post both trips instead of Priority Mail which is what I paid for.
I probably would not be so pissed about this except the package was completely lost for 5 days in my post office [after being returned] and there tracking system couldn't tell where it was. I told my postman and I think she found it tucked away some where and resent it on its second trip across the USA.
Jim, your service is excellent, Thank You, I would recommend you to anyone. The package you sent me arrived in perfect shape however the only other package sent to me through the USPS was one last month. It arrived mangled and damaged again stamped fragile. That's 2 out of 3 damaged or missent.
I do think that if you get the business printed mailing labels from the postal service you use the service is first class. The package then can be machine read and routed I think the package is treated far better and is a great system. But for the rest of us who have to hand write them, I don't think we get the same level of service from the USPS.
I would also say never let them stamp fragile on your package as it seems to mean kick, drop, mangle, miss send and misplace.

I didn't realize that it was you who posted the first entry in this thread, sorry!

I ship 5 or 6 packages everyday of the week, and also get about that many every day.
Priority Mail will cross the USA in 2-3 days 99% of the time.
First Class will cross the USA in 4-6 days 95% of the time.
Parcel Post will cross the USA in 10-20 days 90% of the time, but sometimes it can take 3-6 weeks.
I always use First Class mail if possible, and always use Priority Mail for anything over 13 ounces.
I also tell everyone that to ship anything over 6#, if it won't fit in a $13 flat rate box, then FedEx is least expensive,
followed by UPS. I've shipped several 15# preamps from Seattle to Boston or Miami for about $20 via FedEx Ground.

USPS varies all over the lot when it comes to quality and consistency of service.

Admittedly they do have the disadvantage of being mandated by Federal law to operate more like a business
while still saddled with the political-patronage-influenced policies left over from their "good
days on the Government dole."

I feel rather underserved by USPS; the local post office here became so poorly run that the USPS begged a
former postmaster to come out of retirement and straighten the place out. I still won't use that
post office if I can avoid it; I'll drive six miles to use the one in a nearby village, instead.

The local post office can claim a 100% score on fouling up my last four vacation hold requests, though. They have started them early, started them late. Once they held the mail for one day out of a one-week hold request and started delivering again on Day Two. Another time they returned all the mail to sender during the hold...and that included American Express, which called me to get my "new address" when my bill got returned to them.

Are we beating a dead horse here?