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CampWest
02-16-2010, 06:41 PM
Again, I am victimized by the USPS. Received another empty bat tube today. Package was clearly ripped open and re-taped.

Thats at least the third time I can recall the USPS delivering an empty and opened package to me.

Anybody else have any empty package delivery stories?

Luckily this was not a large dollar item... But if you see it around please let me know... Package was shipped from Washington state to Overland Park Kansas, Kansas City suburb.

Game used bat of former Major Leaguer Mike Macfarlane. 34" long, handle is cracked and repaired. Previous owner appears to have lightly sanded bat around repair job of crack, "15" on knob, end is cupped, shows light game use, great gamer.

Unfortunately seller only has one barrel picture so not much to match it up by aside from a possible repair goof.

http://home.everestkc.net/wescampbell/PCollection/MacStolen.jpg

Manram
02-16-2010, 07:11 PM
I have never had problems with USPS. I have shipped and recieved from them and never had anything bad happen. Sorry to hear that you did though

Lokee
02-16-2010, 07:15 PM
Usually these stolen bats are from UPS not USPS. Interesting.

Manram
02-16-2010, 07:33 PM
Usually these stolen bats are from UPS not USPS. Interesting.

That's what i thought also

ivo610
02-16-2010, 07:37 PM
Just curious but what do you do? When the driver hands it to you and you know its a little light do you not sign for it? Do you call the police? Or just file a claim? Im not into baseball stuff but I always worry about this happening.

nycpropain
02-16-2010, 07:43 PM
It sounds as if the problem is close to you, I would contact you local post office and ask for the proper phones numbers to file a complaint. The fact that this is this is the 3rd time its happened to you I would bet the problem is somewhere between your local sorting facility and yourself.

CampWest
02-16-2010, 07:55 PM
Just curious but what do you do? When the driver hands it to you and you know its a little light do you not sign for it? Do you call the police? Or just file a claim? Im not into baseball stuff but I always worry about this happening.

Well, unfortunately, I was not home at delivery. It was left on the doorstep. I don't believe it was stolen after delivery, because there were three items delivered today and only one was stolen, so I think it was probably in the USPS custody chain. I am surprised the delivering postal clerk left it there without notice, the box was mangled and clearly breached with the contents missing.

Pretty much nothing to do... if the item was insured I could file an insurance claim. As is I will just take the package to my local PO and file a report with the Post Master. I'll email the seller and see what they say, I could probably claim a refund from paypal/ebay, but I feel bad for the seller, because I do not think its their fault.

Those three items were all delivered to different cities in which I've lived or worked over the past 10+- years. I've spoken to others who have had items removed. Since they are so spread out and infrequent I doubt its isolated to one person or one facility.

And to be fair, its only 3 bad experiences out of over 1,500, but its still frustrating when it happens.

CampWest
02-16-2010, 08:54 PM
Here is the box... I could tell immediately it was empty, so I haven't tampered with this at all, this is exactly how it was delivered. Crazy.

I had a box end open up one time on a bat, and they (USPS) pushed the bat back in and re-taped the box, put damaged in transit stickers on the box and offered to cover the insurance "because the bat was broken". When I told them the bat was broken when I bought it they just looked really confused - i guess they expected me to take the $150 and run. Anyhow, my point being they clearly should have determined that this package was breached in transit and contents were missing and followed normal protocol in labeling the packaging damaged in transit.

Also in the interest of fairness, I originally assumed the item was stolen because the end appeared to be ripped open, but after closer inspection I guess it is possible the box was unintentionally damaged and the contents may have fallen out harmlessly somewhere along the way due to insufficient tape on the end of the packaging.

In retrospect, I may have acted a tad too quick in labeling it "probably stolen". I will try to file a "lost and found" claim with the PO and see what happens.

http://home.everestkc.net/wescampbell/PCollection/MacStolenPackage.jpg


http://home.everestkc.net/wescampbell/PCollection/MacStolenPackage2.jpg

Lokee
02-16-2010, 11:22 PM
:eek: holy crap that box looks like hell

allstarsplus
02-17-2010, 10:03 AM
Yep, missing items are tough to deal with.

I wrote a thread a long time ago about an amazing Alfonso Soriano Yankees bat that disappeared in a UPS shipment.

My only recent complaint with USPS was when they broke a really nice hockey stick.

For lack of a better description, all shippers suck in my opinion. I have seen how they load trucks so it better be packed well.

Most of my customers are between NYC and Washington, and if the order is large enough and the item is fragile, it is sometimes more cost effective to drive it to them.

I had a $200 shipping bill on an oversized package that I told them I could have shipped it in a Coach seat on an airline. Unreal!

JCC1968
02-17-2010, 10:30 AM
Hi

Have never had a bat taken yet (knock on wood) but did have a weird ordeal with the UPS man. It was a Sat. and I was doing yard work and he pulled up in his truck and looked at me and went to the back of his truck. When i reached the truck i noticed that he was sliding my 73-75 H and B Pitchers bat into the tube (carrier it had been in. When i asked him why he was doing that he said the package had been damaged and the bat had fallen out of the tube. I looked at the tube and could clearly see that the tape had been clearly cut open. When i questioned him about this he got upset and said i have my bat and i should be happy. Since that day i refuse to send anything UPS

Jason

cincy13
02-17-2010, 11:29 AM
I can tell you what the problem is. I've shipped USPS for over 12 years. My postmaster told me anything that is shipped by plane is done by FedEx. The USPS has a contract with FedEX, think about it.... USPS doesn't have an airline, so they contract with FedEX. I always have a problem with the Arizona area when it comes to bats. I've receive two empty bat boxes from that state; that's when my postmaster here in ohio told me about the contract they have with Fedex.

Manram
02-17-2010, 05:10 PM
I can tell you what the problem is. I've shipped USPS for over 12 years. My postmaster told me anything that is shipped by plane is done by FedEx. The USPS has a contract with FedEX, think about it.... USPS doesn't have an airline, so they contract with FedEX. I always have a problem with the Arizona area when it comes to bats. I've receive two empty bat boxes from that state; that's when my postmaster here in ohio told me about the contract they have with Fedex.

Never new that. Thanks for the info

platinum1
02-17-2010, 07:26 PM
I can tell you what the problem is. I've shipped USPS for over 12 years. My postmaster told me anything that is shipped by plane is done by FedEx. The USPS has a contract with FedEX, think about it.... USPS doesn't have an airline, so they contract with FedEX. I always have a problem with the Arizona area when it comes to bats. I've receive two empty bat boxes from that state; that's when my postmaster here in ohio told me about the contract they have with Fedex.
That is not true at all!! I worked for United Airlines for 10 years and all the mail goes through the airlines. Mostly United and American Airlines.
Thats how the airlines make most of there money.
Thats why they can still afford to send a half empty airplane because instead of luggage they can pack the crap out of the plane with mail.
Trust me I have been in the pit of the plain packing the crap out of it with mail. Its not fun at all

allstarsplus
02-17-2010, 07:43 PM
That is not true at all!! I worked for United Airlines for 10 years and all the mail goes through the airlines. Mostly United and American Airlines.
Thats how the airlines make most of there money.
Thats why they can still afford to send a half empty airplane because instead of luggage they can pack the crap out of the plane with mail.
Trust me I have been in the pit of the plain packing the crap out of it with mail. Its not fun at all

Wow, I didn't know that. Interesting!

cincy13
02-17-2010, 08:12 PM
I'm just tell'in what the cincy postmaster told me. The point is, USPS doesn't have their own airline, so your mail is exposed to alot of non-USPS people.

platinum1
02-17-2010, 08:40 PM
I'm just tell'in what the cincy postmaster told me. The point is, USPS doesn't have their own airline, so your mail is exposed to alot of non-USPS people.
Yeah I do agree with that.
Boxes get damaged and the item can fall out very easily.
Trust me it has happen to me many times.

flota89
02-17-2010, 08:45 PM
I got a bat in the mail the other day, and the box had clearly been opened. The tape was completely cut and then retaped(looked like it was done quikly). Luckily, the bat was still in there.

BaseballGM
02-17-2010, 09:43 PM
“The general public can rest assured that the integrity and delivery of their mail remains the highest priority for the Postal Service,” said Gleisner. “Of the thousands of employees who work for the Postal Service, sadly it takes only one or two to tarnish our integrity.”

Read this article about a postal employee with sticky fingers.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/embezzling-43789-postal-service.html

R. C. Walker
02-17-2010, 10:09 PM
That is not true at all!! I worked for United Airlines for 10 years and all the mail goes through the airlines. Mostly United and American Airlines.
Thats how the airlines make most of there money.
Thats why they can still afford to send a half empty airplane because instead of luggage they can pack the crap out of the plane with mail.
Trust me I have been in the pit of the plain packing the crap out of it with mail. Its not fun at all

FedEx Planes DO to ship USPS Express and Priority Mail. USPS has a contract with FedEx. Has been done for four to five years now. Media Mail parcels usually shipped on domestics flights. If there is room it goes. That's why Media Mail is so slow.

UPS even has a contract with USPS to drop parcels at local Post Offices to deliver for them.

Times have changed . . .

ziggy
02-17-2010, 10:13 PM
It only goes via Fed Ex planes if it is mailed via USPS EXPRESS.

2000mvpfan
02-17-2010, 10:14 PM
...I work for FedEx,and its correct-not only does the USPS use our planes,they are our biggest customer..so much so that the contract between them and FedEx was just renewed.That's why there's a FedEx dropbox at every Post Office-its part of the deal.

Joe

platinum1
02-17-2010, 10:19 PM
FedEx Planes DO to ship USPS Express and Priority Mail. USPS has a contract with FedEx. Has been done for four to five years now. Media Mail parcels usually shipped on domestics flights. If there is room it goes. That's why Media Mail is so slow.

UPS even has a contract with USPS to drop parcels at local Post Offices to deliver for them.

Times have changed . . .
Well maybe FedEx does ship some USPS packages but United Airlines also ship priority packages.
The letters get sent on long brown box.
Priority packages are in a huge orange cloth bag and
Express mail is a Orange and blue cloth bag.
I quit United in November and I was still packing planes with USPS mail.
United lost the contract with USPS about 4 years ago but got it back a year later. Thats the only time I didnt see mail on a plane.

BaseballGM
02-25-2010, 09:26 PM
Another one

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/us_postal_worker_in_newark_acc.html

CampWest
03-01-2010, 01:41 PM
Took my mangled package up to the post-office. The clerk seemed appropriately appalled that the package was left at my door in that condition without any indication of when and where it was damaged - based solely on the look on her face. She spoke with the branch post master, checked their on-site lost & found bin, but in the end had little to offer. They had nothing in the on-site lost & found. Sadly, they didnt offer an apology on behalf of the USPS... I know it was no-one there's fault, but it seems an apology for the damage and content loss on behalf of the USPS would be an appropriate response to a customer inquiry on such things. Thats just basic customer service, empathy goes a long way. I asked what happens to content that gets separated from its packaging and she said, "umm, nothing"- so I guess they just leave it where it lands until it dissolves into dust. :rolleyes:

In the end, all I got was comfort that the item wasnt sitting in the mail room lost and found, the 1800ASKUSPS number written on a scrap of paper, and a "NEXT" shouted in my ear.

The seller offered to send a full refund when I contacted them. Its been a couple weeks and they havent yet done so...

Lokee
03-01-2010, 04:08 PM
Yeah USPS's customer service is getting worse.

USPS is broke and losing money they say on a daily basis. As you know USPS is run by the Us Government. Imagine if they ran your Healthcare system LOL