This is not exactly Star Wars related, but it is shipping related. I went to mail a package today, had to reopen it at the post office, and they wouldn't give me a couple of pieces of tape to reseal it! They said I would have to buy their tape or go back home. Well a tiny roll of "their" tape is like $3.00. I have five rolls at home, so I went back home. Are they on the verge of bankrupcy or something, every time I try to ship something there's some new fee or surcharge. Ridiculous I tell you! Where is my hard earned tax money going? ;)
I had the same thing happen, i needed some tape and the lady acted like it was a big deal, like i asked her to lend me money.Wierd. The price of shipping is crazy expensive too. If your not useing a flat rate box its almost not worth it. I feel bad when i list some items for like $1 but shipping is $15-20 because the item weighs 5 pounds and it wont fit in a flat rate box. Another beef i have is parcel post. Recently shippied a box parcel post, and it took 2 weeks. I know it says 2-9 days but geez 14 days (not including the weekends and holiday). I felt bad so i refunded the guys money. Now i only ship priority but its just so expensive.
Someone else recomended that I open an account with FedEx, anyone had any experience with them? As for taking too long to ship, My husbands w2 last year took 3 weeks to get to us, and his work is only about 2 miles from our house.
The only problem i have with 3rd party delivery systems like Fedex and UPS is every single time i have shipped with them my package gets destroyed or stolen. The good part about the USPS is its a federal crime to tamper with mail, also they are all federal employees with a secure job and good pay and benefits. They have no reason to tamper with the mail. With UPS and Fedex its not a crime. They may or may not fire you depending on what their union says. I tried to get a job at UPS when i was younger, Its pretty bad. For the first 6 years just about, its a temp job. Your either on call or you work about 10 hours a week. You get paid next to nothing and for the first few months there your union dues take up 50% of your pay. They offer you 2 jobs at first, drivers helper or truck loader. Drivers helper is a joke, the driver calls you when he needs you and you have to meet him wherever he is. He may or may not drop you back off there. Truck unloader they describe to you that you will have your hands on 1 box every second. So with low pay, crappy jobs, and no job security noone gives a crap about your package. FedEx is just about the same. I ordered a $300 mp3 player, it was sent through UPS. When i got it the box was destroyed and there was no mp3 player in it. I ordered some vitamins also sent through UPS. The driver through the box up the stairs and banked it off my wall into the front of my door. it was actually a great shot, i assume it wasn't the first time shes done that. I was waiting for her at the top of the stairs assuming i would have to sign for it, i guess she didn't see me haha. I ordered an action figure from starwarsshop.com it was sent by fedex. When i got it the box was crushed, and so was the figure. So though the post office is a bit pricey, and slow it still seems to be the safest and easiest way to ship an item. I have purchased and shipped hundreds of things oon ebay all through the USPS. i have only lost 1 item, and nothing has ever been crushed. These are only my personal experiences and views though. Maybe you will have better luck haha. Sorry about the life story here.
!!!!!, learn grammer im not an eDork! anyway im writing so much because biz is slow and i fractured my ankle jogging, so im laid up. and being laid up gets me cranky!
Well, I guess I will stick with usps, but I'm glad to know that somone else has had the same problems with UPS. Twice I've found my packages thrown over my front wall, and of course it was during rainy weather, so they sat in a mud puddle until I found them, ( I'm in South New Mexico, so how lucky was I to get UPS packages on the two days a year it rains here)HaHa
Hi, I read your story and thought it was rather funny because I had the same thing happen a while back to me. I was told the only way I could get any tape was to ship my item Priority Mail and then they would be happy to tape it for me. So, this morning when I was at the Post Office I asked the Clerk about it. I actually used your posting statement in my question to the Clerk and she told me that the resaon the Clerks won't let you have any tape is because they have to pay for it. The Post Office does not supply tape and it is up to the Clerks to use it as a form of Customer Service. And, based on that I think we who use the Post Office should ask for better Customer Service and maybe we might get some tape when we need it. It's worth a try?
Well as I said originally, every time I go in there's something new. I tried to ship parcel mail in a reused priority box. I carefully wrapped paper around the top of the box to cover anything that said "priority" on it. They still wouldn't accept it because "they could tell that it was originally a priority box". I went home, cut the box, turned it inside out, and WOW they had no problem accepting it. Geez, stupid!
haha i had that same thing happen to me. I covered up all the priority symbols on it and they still wouldn't take it. Also i tried to send just a normal brown box that had a priority stickers on the sides. I tore the stickers off and crossed them out with black marker but they said they would only send the box priority. Random stuff with random people i guess.
Ok, I was trying UPS on a few listings...I hope they go well. But now after reading I think that I'll go back to the post office. Well, kind of the post office. I'll goto the postal shop. I was trying to decide on going to the post office or there and decided to goto the postal shop. I figured that it would be less crowed and would get more personal help. I was right. So, if you can I would find a shop and the actual office. Not sure about tape there yet. Hope this helps.
I wish we had something like a postal shop here, the closest thing we have here in BFE New Mexico is the UPS Store, just as bad a USPS. Oh well, it gives me something to grind my teeth about.
USPS is not that bad they sell tape and shipping supplies why would they give it away you should have your package ready to go when you come to the counter they do not get tax money, any money they make is from stamps and service sales and if you compare the cost of fedex and ups you'll see they are cheaper in most areas go to a ups drop off and see how hard it is to ship something and the flat rate boxes are the best deal if your shipping things across country (small heavy things)as long as they fit into the box just sayin
I know, they do sell supplies and if I was a millionaire I would buy from them. No they are not always that bad, but they can be pretty darn annoying with all of their little picky rules and surcharges. The point about the tape is, I had to open the box at the post office to varify the zip code for them, and they wouldn't let me have 1/16 of a cents worth of tape to reclose the thing. I waisted ten times the money in gas going home then it would have cost them to let me have some tape. OK rant done. What everyone is saying is that all of the shipping services are bad in one way or another so just live with itand move on. Thanks
If the USPS goes away everyone will be crying. 750,000 jobs plus all the contracted jobs, airlines, contracted jobs, gas prices will really go up again even farther then before. No more mail in prescription medicine, Someone said it would save the enviroment, If there are no jobs what good is the enviroment. People need to order every free catalog to help save the USPS. Every year the USPS union has a food drive in every zip code area in the US to help. With people losing there jobs daily we need them. Free priority boxes, free pickup at your house if you use Click and Ship. No free tape big deal, They are not a packing company, No gas surcharge, No tax dollars are used for the USPS. If the USPS goes under wait till you see the price UPS and FedEx charges. People keep losing there jobs there won't be any internet or cable tv, It will all be toooo expensive.
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
)
)
)
