Hat Horror Story

[epic610]

i had sent a borsalino allesandria out to art to be cleaned, blocked and re-sized. as it is an older hat and as i have bought a number of hats through miller's and bencraft and had no problems, didn't think insurance was necessary.

it was delivered yesterday .....in a plastic bag. the hat box dripping wet. all the cardboard fibers had fallen apart. it was only 2 1/2 inches at its highest point. obviously it had gotten wet and something very heavy was piled on top of it. the borsalino was wet, water-stained and starting to mildew. needless to say all of art's artistry long gone.

i must say art was very gracious and gentlemanly about it, immediately telling me to send the hat back to him and he would bring it back to life. and i appreciate it.

the post office, however, will not even entertain any discussion about compensation. even went direct to the local postmaster. nada!

has anyone else on the forum ever had a problem like this? and what direction should i take things now?

there seems to be a larger question, though. as we proceed into the 21st century, to what degree should we tolerate ...much less subsidize ...such shoddy service? and shouldn't we be directing our business to more responsible, consumer-friendly companies like UPS, FedEx, DHL.? are there any others.....or am i even being naive about these mailing services as well.

there, got that off my chest

[Johnnysan]

Sorry to hear about this...here's some information from the USPS website. Given the damage, I'd certainly be making a few calls...



The United States Postal Service?Ç¬Æ is currently using a method of capturing customer complaints and eliminating the complaint card used at Post Office?¢‚Äû¬¢ facilities. This new and expanded program will permit you to submit complaints in one of three ways:


Filing a complaint online by visiting the Contact Us > email Us link (http://hdusps.esecurecare.net/cgi-bin/hdusps.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php)on our web site (Please select the Topic, Sub-Topic and Comment Type that most closely relates to the complaint you have this will allow us to route your issue to the appropriate department or group.)

Calling 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).


Speaking to the Station Manager or Postmaster at a local Post Office.


Good luck!

[feltfan]

The catch-22 is, if the post office does give you
a refund, you have to give them the damaged item.
For a lot of vintage, irreplaceable items, that's not
a good deal.

As for subsidizing the postal service, it's a drop
in the bucket compared to all kinds of crazy
stuff done with our tax dollars. I have lived and
traveled in other countries. Makes you appreciate
our postal service. In a lot of the world, the level
of reliability we take for granted is just a dream.
I'll pay a few pennies for that.

[Art Fawcett]

in fairness to USPS, this is the first problem I have had with them and my local post jumps through hoops to keep me happy, right down to thanking me for my business ( what??? in SF they barely talk too you let alone Thank you)
What this tells me is that I will have to raise my postage fee as I will now insure everything going out so that there will at least be recourse.
Stuff happens...

[Doghouse Reily]

Lately I have been recieving most of the items I order online from USPS. Some of the things I do get UPS. Lately I have been getting things faster through USPS. While certainly not an endorsement of USPS, at least they are getting faster. Competition with private companies may make a government entity change they way they do do business, maybe.

[Zemke Fan]

The Post Office generally does a great job in handling the eBay items I take to them to ship, but I recently had a bad experience with an expensive bullion patch that I shipped to a buyer just north of me in Penn. Fortunately, I did insure that package, but when it arrived only the package was trashed. Miraculously, the patch was undamaged. Has led me also to think about double bagging somethings and sending everything flat-rate priority mail and not first class. -- ZF

[Michaelson]

Speaking for myself, I'd rather pay the little extra for insurance as Art suggests than go through what you did with your Borsalino.

Regards! Michaelson

[John in Covina]

Those lines about rain, sleet and dark of night are literal for the USPS.

I try to insure every thing, because a problem is simply a matter of numbers. SHip X number of times and you'll have some type of problem. USPS offers insurance, if you opt out, it is your gamble not the USPS. I have had stuff lost more often than damaged. On the flipside is the question of packaging and what you can do with in reason to protect what you are shipping. In my time especially receiving stuff where I worked, there was alot of boxes that where poorly packed and taped or the choice of box was poor all of which disintegreted during the trip. Items have been lost and damaged and even misdirected. In sending I over engineered packing because of the many examples of inadequate packing on the receiving side.

For something to be soaked means that it was either placed into an enviorment that lead to the soaking or it was with a poorly packed shipment that contained the liquid. Remember when shipping by USPS they always ask if you are shipping liquids or something that can go bad, or dangerous items.

To protect against liquids is perhaps above and beyond reasonable packaging, do you use an inner plastic bag or an outer shrink wrap or both?

Chalk it up to a tough break, because 99% things get thru just fine and in time and again if you didn't insure, it's you that took the gamble.

UPS has a blanket insurance to $100 on each package and you have the option to increase the coverage. You need to establish a value to collect, I think with receipts and such.

Sorry to hear of the problem, I hope others will heed the warning!

[Pilgrim]

Good thoughts. I have three hats to ship later this week when auctions conclude. All three need to go out protected by plastic.

[Magus]

I am so sorry to hear about your hat...Art will set things aright I'ms sure.


As to the Post Office I heard a comedian do a set on the post office once...he went into detail of what it took to move a letter from one end of the country to another...all for $.32 (at that time) He ended with "...go to your local school and see if you can get a kid to even lick a stamp for $.32....!



But....maybe that insurance thing is a good idea (making note of it)

[Wolf]

Whooops, now I'm scared. I just shipped Art my borsalino last week. Hope it makes it ok.

[Marc Chevalier]

Speaking of spelling ... it's "Borsalino" with an "a", not an "o".


:cheers1:

[Marc Chevalier]

From now on, I'm going to call out every misspelling that occurs on the Lounge.

Dyslexics, nonnative English speakers, and the gravely undereducated will be exempt from my wrath.


.

[Baron Kurtz]

From now on, I'm going to call out every misspelling that occurs on the Lounge.

Dyslexics and nonnative English speakers will be exempt from my wrath.

You'll be a busy man. Archaisms allowed? Hattes enrounded by silken rybons, for example.

bk

[scotrace]

Just one bad experience with the USPS in my life. Not bad.

Everything I ship now goes priority insured, the insurance usually at my own expense whether the buyer wants it or not.
Priority Mail isn't. It doesn't get there any faster than regular mail, but the boys at the PO told me that if there's a problem with the address or delivery, Priority Mail goes into a resolution procedure, whereas regular mail goes into the Great Mail Void.
Also that ridiculous Click & Ship tracking claptrap. Days after I get the item, it still says "electronic notification received... check back later..."
It's a government agency. As such, it's got built-in inefficiencies.

What a sad hat tale. Eeek.

[Marc Chevalier]

Archaisms allowed? Hattes enrounded by silken rybons, for example.

Only if posted by Andrew Marvell or Guy Fawkes.



.

[jamespowers]

Dyslexics, nonnative English speakers, and the gravely undereducated will be exempt from my wrath.


.

That should be "non-native." :p :kick:

Regards to all,

J

[Marc Chevalier]

The OED recognizes both versions, kiddo. :kick: :kick:

[jamespowers]

The OED recognizes both versions, kiddo. :kick: :kick:

What is the OED? My dictionary says it is wrong.:p

Regards,

J

[Marc Chevalier]

The OED is the Oxford English Dictionary, also known as the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language.

[John in Covina]

OED, sure get all technical on us!

[Marc Chevalier]

But of course.

[jamespowers]

The OED is the Oxford English Dictionary, also known as the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language.

My point is who is to judge what is right when you have two acceptable forms? My Websters New World Dictionary (WNWD) has no such thing. :eusa_doh: [huh]

Regards,

J

[Wolf]

From now on, I'm going to call out every misspelling that occurs on the Lounge.

Dyslexics, nonnative English speakers, and the gravely undereducated will be exempt from my wrath.


.


Corrected, and put me down under gravely undereducated, I went through public schooling. :beer:

[jamespowers]

Corrected, and put me down under gravely undereducated, I went through public schooling. :beer:

Hahahhahahahahhahahah! Now that is funny. :p

Regards,

J

[Miss Neecerie]

Now see, this is when the fact that you are all gentlemen should come into play.

Gracious manners should prohibit one from pointing out the lackings of others.

You do not notice the women pointing out your spelling and grammar errors now do you?

[jamespowers]

Now see, this is when the fact that you are all gentlemen should come into play.

Gracious manners should prohibit one from pointing out the lackings of others.

You do not notice the women pointing out your spelling and grammar errors now do you?

That is exactly what I was trying to point out. Unsuccessfully I see. :p Who judges, why and who appointed that person to do so? I could care less if someone misspells a word here and there. Wheee! It is content that counts and not making someone feel like an oaf for a simple mistake. We cannot all be English teachers. :eusa_doh: :eusa_booh

Regards,

J

[John in Covina]

I am not an oaf, I am a Neanderthal and proud of it!

Actually I wish the spell check worked in here. If I find I am going to write something big and if I think I'll be using the same answer again, I'll write in my WORD files to use both spell and grammer check there. Then I'll copy paste into the post reply box here.

[tonyb]

Don't put much stock in grammar checkers, especially the ones that "grade" the writer's peformance.
Popular usage trumps, eventually. It's a living language, y'all. It is forever changing, and there is no final authority on its "proper" usage.
Still, I can be brutal with a blue pencil. It's just fine to deviate from "standard" English usage (whatever that is), but it's good to know when and why you're doing it. Misspellings and awkward constructions don't do the reader any favors.

As Twain put it:

"There is no such thing as 'the Queen's English.' The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares."

[epic610]

but i just got off the phone from a20-minute chat with our local postmaster himself. seems that if there is no insurance, there is no mechanism nor discretion available to pay for any damages.

as much as i hate to eat the damages, i hope one silver lining will be that you guys are on alert and will not be vulnerable to the same disaster.

[John in Covina]

but i just got off the phone from a20-minute chat with our local postmaster himself. seems that if there is no insurance, there is no mechanism nor discretion available to pay for any damages. As much as i hate to eat the damages, i hope one silver lining will be that you guys are on alert and will not be vulnerable to the same disaster.
*******
We all regret your difficulties and disappointment. It is one of those things, the only guarantee is the mail must go thru, there is nothing about condition of the mail listed. Let's learn from this and go forward, heed that warning before it's too late! Insure and pack well!

Sincerely,

[Michaelson]

I often wonder about postal regulations vs practices. I received a pocket watch from repair this morning via USPM, delivery confirmation, and plainly marked fragile. The box appeared in fine condition, and the watch was triple wrapped in bubble wrap and packing peanuts.....and yet it was plain that the box HAD to have been tossed against a hard surface with quite a bit of force. When I unwrapped the watch, I found the second hand rattling around inside the bezel and crystal, and both the hour/minute hands jammed against the crystal as well. This could have only occurred if the box had been slammed flat on a hard surface in the direction to pop the hands off....not an easy thing to do.

After a bit of work, all is back together, but such a force could have easily broken the balance staff of the watch if it had been bounced on it's side, rendering the watch DOA, and back to the repairman for a costly repair.

What I wonder is, if one places the word 'Fragile' on a box, is one painting a target for the postal workers to shoot at as it goes through the system?:rolleyes:

Regards! Michaelson

[John in Covina]

If one places the word 'Fragile' on a box, is one painting a target for the postal workers to shoot at as it goes through the system?:rolleyes: Regards! Michaelson
*******
In any group of ten people, one is usually at least a little nuts, standard of 10% is considered about right. :fing28: As you multiply that by the staggering number of people that work for the USPS, you come up with a fairly large number of "unstable" people. Add to that a trait in human nature that any discomforts gets passed along.

Someone has a bad day and thinks it is not fair, they may take their anger out sometimes by snapping at others or in your case, on an inanimate object like your box containing the watch. The fragile label is a selection to insure their actions are effective. To pass along that anger and to have no repercussions to their actions they abuse the box in hopes to ruin your day, which then makes them feel better.

I think of the begining of "Ace Ventura Nature Calls" where Jim Carey is playing soccer down an apartment complex hallway with a soccer ball sized box marked fragile.

SO some are accidents due to inattentiveness, others are deliberate, but they occur intermittantly. As a balance to this, there is a good chance that something good will come by to offset the bad.

[Michaelson]

Sad thing to all this, John, is that if I wanted to play the odds, I'd go to Vegas....not the U.S. Post Office. That's what I'm paying THEM for... to ship my items safely and securely...not to give them something to use to help them offset their anxieties.:rage: [huh]

Ah well....

Regards! Michaelson

[jamespowers]

Sad thing to all this, John, is that if I wanted to play the odds, I'd go to Vegas....not the U.S. Post Office. That's what I'm paying THEM for... to ship my items safely and securely...not to give them something to use to help them offset their anxieties.:rage: [huh]

The post office is like everything else pseudo-government and government in general. It never costs what they say it will at the beginning, it takes twice as long as they say it will(at a minimum) and it never does what they say it will. Equating that to the post office we find quite a match. :p
I always fully wind the watch before sending it off.

Regards,

J

[Michaelson]

I always fully wind the watch before sending it off.

Regards,

J


Me too, but they don't run the 3 days it takes to get to my watchmaker. Unless it gets there in 36+ hours, it's a moot point.:cool:

Regards! Michaelson

[jamespowers]

Me too, but they don't run the 3 days it takes to get to my watchmaker. Unless it gets there in 36+ hours, it's a moot point.:cool:

Regards! Michaelson

Heheheheheh! I guess you don't have the 60 hour mainspring then? ;)

Regards,

J

[Michaelson]

Boy, don't I wish! Illinois 163 Bunn Specials with the 60 mainspring are bringing 4 figures these days! SHEESH!!!!!:fing28:

Regards! Michaelson

[Dusty Rhodes]

The post office is like everything else pseudo-government and government in general. It never costs what they say it will at the beginning, it takes twice as long as they say it will(at a minimum) and it never does what they say it will. Equating that to the post office we find quite a match. :p
I always fully wind the watch before sending it off.

Regards,

J

:eek: :eusa_doh:

[jamespowers]

Boy, don't I wish! Illinois 163 Bunn Specials with the 60 mainspring are bringing 4 figures these days! SHEESH!!!!!:fing28:

Regards! Michaelson

Geez! Four figures!? I am going to make sure mine is safe then. :eek: :cheers1:

Regards,

J