Not how you hope they arrive - Mishandled mail pic

[lightsoutcalls]

This is a picture a customer sent today of a package I mailed to him this week.  You can tell by the looks of the box that even if the striker was wrapped in kevlar it woudln't have come out undamaged.

Fortunately the call and dymondwood striker made it o.k.  I have to admit, out of around 2,000 or so packages shipped with calls and strikers, this is probably only about the 4th that had damaged products inside when they arrived. 

I think I will start marking every package FRAGILE before walking through the sliding doors of the local post office.  Looks like I have another purpleheart striker to make this weekend... on the house.

[bird]

Stuff Happens but like you said with all the letters and packages that we handle every day we do a pretty darn good job.

[smurf]

Brother-in-law worked for the post office.  He said FRAGILE just tempted some of the guys to see how much they could damage it.   

[Eric Gregg]

Man I would hate that

[lightsoutcalls]

   I just got an email this morning from the customer.  He said after he had a chance to run the call, it seems it has a rattle inside and the sound is off.  My guess is that the soundboard was broken off in the call.  That takes quite an impact.  That being the case, looks like only the dymondwood striker made it through the trip unscathed.  Since it was no fault of the customer, that basically puts me out $60 worth of call and striker to replace it.  That REALLY stinks.  It would be nice to hold someone responsible for the damage, but I have a feeling it would be like spitting in the wind...

   I know that 4 out of 2,000+ is a pretty good percentage, but the person who didn't take reasonable care of this package doesn't have to worry one little flip about the 2 hours on the first call down the crapper, or the extra 2 hours to produce another one, not to mention the cost of materials or shipping.  I don't charge enough for my calls or shipping to insure every package I ship.  From what I understand about the time and hastle involved with trying to collect on a damaged or lost package that was insured, it would be less of an ordeal just to eat the time and money involved in just making and replacing the item. 
   Chalk it up to "stuff happens".  We've all seen the videos of the brown truck guys tossing computer monitors and tvs over the fence at Christmas.  There are other ways I would like to have used that extra 2 hours....

[shadetree callers]

Look into buying some white mailing boxes . They are built stronger than the priority mail boxes and stand up to more abuse . The best part is that they will cost you very little per box , probably around 25 cents apiece. My postal clerk always says " Marking the box fragile is ok , but that 40 lb box that drops on it ...can't read ! "  With the mailing boxes you don't pay the priority rates that go with their boxes from the P.O.  It will drop your shipping rates by half .

[lightsoutcalls]

Look into buying some white mailing boxes . They are built stronger than the priority mail boxes and stand up to more abuse . The best part is that they will cost you very little per box , probably around 25 cents apiece. My postal clerk always says " Marking the box fragile is ok , but that 40 lb box that drops on it ...can't read ! "  With the mailing boxes you don't pay the priority rates that go with their boxes from the P.O.  It will drop your shipping rates by half .

Thanks.  I may have to look into that.  I have noticed that the priority mail boxes have gotten thinner over the past couple of years. 

[stone road turkey calls]

  I just got an email this morning from the customer.  He said after he had a chance to run the call, it seems it has a rattle inside and the sound is off.  My guess is that the soundboard was broken off in the call.  That takes quite an impact.  That being the case, looks like only the dymondwood striker made it through the trip unscathed.  Since it was no fault of the customer, that basically puts me out $60 worth of call and striker to replace it.  That REALLY stinks.  It would be nice to hold someone responsible for the damage, but I have a feeling it would be like spitting in the wind...

  I know that 4 out of 2,000+ is a pretty good percentage, but the person who didn't take reasonable care of this package doesn't have to worry one little flip about the 2 hours on the first call down the crapper, or the extra 2 hours to produce another one, not to mention the cost of materials or shipping.  I don't charge enough for my calls or shipping to insure every package I ship.  From what I understand about the time and hastle involved with trying to collect on a damaged or lost package that was insured, it would be less of an ordeal just to eat the time and money involved in just making and replacing the item.  
  Chalk it up to "stuff happens".  We've all seen the videos of the brown truck guys tossing computer monitors and tvs over the fence at Christmas.  There are other ways I would like to have used that extra 2 hours....

don't waste your time on insurance, usps will spend $500.00 to keep from paying your $60.00 claim. I did not recive a coin i ordered once, had it insured for $27.00 filed a claim got a pile of paper work from both post offices my office said they put the package on the trunk of my car because no one was home and mabey the dog got it. but they did deliver it, where do they find these people. never got my money, delivery confromation is a bunch of bull it's just your word against the postmans no signature required. mabey they should send there paycheck in the mail in a self destruct package if it is damaged.

[870BkWht]

I know its different, but I ordered a pair of socks from Cabelas this spring because they were an awesome pair of socks and were on sale.  They shipped USPS and Cabelas showed record of it leaving their warehouse, but it never came to my house.  POffice said it was delivered, but couldnt prove it.  Thankfully Cabelas sent another pair via brown truck people and it made it.  Sometimes its hard to trust the postal service.

[Old Gobbler]

Its not isolated to any one carrier , its industry wide - If you could only see the items I've seen get destroyed you would cry -   

I cant really go into internal sorting procedures , but picture in your mind what a log jam looks like on a river with logs jammed up and piling up - now replace the logs with cardboard and you have a good description of what a sort isle or outbound belt looks like after a few people have called out sick , and we are stuck with a bunch of lazy kids that don't want to pick up the pace

Ive seen fellow employees just about loose it screaming at truck loaders about damaged packages , then a few hours later you have to do you best cover story for the customer to smooth things over

[Old Gobbler]

I have found marking the box saying "glass" is more effective than fragile 

[3bailey3]

OG do you work for a delivery co. you know the talk ,log jam's and your loader, i work for BROWN, send anything but a custom turkey call..........

[Old Gobbler]

OG do you work for a delivery co. you know the talk ,log jam's and your loader, i work for BROWN, send anything but a custom turkey call..........

same deal 21 years of servitude for buster brown

--  they frown upon commenting of internal issues , but anyone familiar with any shipping company knows the routine , in most peoples eyes the strongest contributor to damages is poor package handling , combined with a staffing issue

You can get around this 90% of the time with very good packaging - but eventually and unfortunately a customers luck will run out  - this is where buying insurance comes in -

I had to recently break down I buy a bulk box packaging for shipping out my push pin calls - its big enough for me to layer the call in eps foam and box it up and send out via US mail or UPS -  buying the boxes is not cheap , but it is a higher quality box then what is offered for flat rate - plus..... you can just pay the actual weight and service of the box , verses using their boxes and having to pay the higher flat rate - better boxes....

UPS costs a bit more , but they have a automatic $100 insurance on anything you send with them - the tracking and service is second to none - but you get what you pay for - I would say run it by the customer let them know the options , they make the choice - we all know if the package gets destroyed after they oped out of the additional services ,they will still want them to send you another call , its just a gamble you make - 



   

[TarheelTurk]

I haven't had an issue "yet" shipping a call and it being damaged. However, on several cases the boxes my supplies (glass, slate , etc..) the box has been damaged to the point I was oh mercy !! But nuthin was damaged so far ! Wendell I hate that this happened for you and your customer. Jason

[smurf]

Look into buying some white mailing boxes . They are built stronger than the priority mail boxes and stand up to more abuse . The best part is that they will cost you very little per box , probably around 25 cents apiece. My postal clerk always says " Marking the box fragile is ok , but that 40 lb box that drops on it ...can't read ! "  With the mailing boxes you don't pay the priority rates that go with their boxes from the P.O.  It will drop your shipping rates by half .

you can get them for nothing and delivered too.  From the postal web site.