Do not use USPS!

[sinwrath404]

Recently I just sold a bunch of my buddies stuff on ebay in a two week period, well in that 2 week period I had 1 game get crushed, 1 joystick pad get broken and both were packed properly the mail carriers must have dropped a box on the game and dropped the joystick or something, then right now I have one box in limbo, the dude got 2 out of 3 boxes I shipped and the 3rd most expensive box has yet to arrive and the tracking info shows it has not left the post office since being dropped of for shipping and finally the most absurd thing I have ever heard and this claim is coming from someone who has been on ebay for 12 years has over 7000 and 100% feedback, he got his box and it was opened and 80 super nintendo games were stolen out of it, yes 80 and then they taped it back up with a florescent white type tape (which I use clear tape always) and then delivered it, so a box that was 20lbs when it left now only had 13 games and was 4lbs when delivered which means someone at USPS stole the games at some point on the boxes trip. This is all just crazy too me cause I have never had a problem in the last 7 years now all of a sudden all this stuff happens.

To re-cap in a 2 week period, 1 game crushed, 1 joystick pad broken, 1 box in limbo, and 1 box opened and things stolen, so DON"T USE USPS! EVER!

[Jadeduo]

Yikes! FYI I too have had several issues in the past but never in one week!

Actually a month ago I bought the Loveless Artbook off of Amazon, and the post office jammed the hardcover artbook into my mailbox by slightly bending the package! The same day that I recieved it, it rained so the end of the package got all soggy I basically had to tear off the package to get the book off water damaging the bottom of the book and getting it all bent out of shape!

I've also heard horror stories about cels, someone once posted here that the package they received was punctured through like with a sword or something!!!

FYI also they will not hold a package longer than like 3-5 days, if you have to have something sent by a seller who will not budge on signature confirmation they will not hold the package for you till saturday to pick up and redeliver it is a huge nightmare. I've had two packages sent back to the seller because of this insane policy some of us are out of the house from like 630-630 IJS!

Jadeduo


*kicks Post Office*

[kathpatty]

I know it is frustrating ! Recently I also had a package entered and items removed and repackaged. I guess crooks are everywhere - even the post office. I reported it , but nothing was returned or resolved as far as I know. Overall, besides that incident= I only had one lost item in all my years using the postal service...
It's sad but I would not stop using them...one bad apple spoils some but not all

[sinwrath404]

I have only ever had one package coming to me get lost, but 2 years ago when I was selling my buddies stuff I had shipped two boxes to a guy, well one box made it the other got caught in limbo being shipped back and fourth from Florida to Texas for like a month before finally being returned to me with the box being torn up barely held together and then when I went to ship it they made me pay another $60 to ship even though they admitted that they messed up. To top it off the post office people around me are a bunch of assholes. I will always ship things ups from now on, at least I know the guys at the ups store and they are friendly. I have just never personally had a problem come up with anything shipped to me or that I shipped using ups.

[zerospace]

It's always interesting to see who has issues with which carrier -- it really seems to depend on where you live. I've always had more problems with UPS than USPS. I've shipped hundreds of packages over the years with USPS, and they've always been cheaper & faster than UPS (unless it's a heavy or large package). My USPS people are OK here -- I never see them unless there's a problem, though. I use carrier pickup, and despite sometimes having them miss pickups, they've only ever lost one package of mine (and it was an international one). In my old town in PA, USPS employees were absolutely the best, while UPS was absolutely the WORST. Where I live now, UPS is just OK, and USPS is pretty good. Fedex has always been good for me, but they've also always been the most expensive (and have the least drop-off locations for packages).

So, there's a caveat to all this, sinwrath -- it may be that you've had awful experiences with USPS, but I've had the opposite -- mostly positive , so saying "do not use USPS" really isn't quite right for everyone. It's best to choose your carrier based on how things go for you where you live -- it definitely varies. My personal preference is to ship via insured USPS packages (and to pack things to withstand being dropped/kicked/having something heavy sit on them/etc.) -- if they screw up, damage, or lose the package, an insurance claim will take care of it. I've also found that the nastier you get with the employees when there IS a problem, the harder it is to get them to resolve it (IMHO, it really has to do with how you approach it -- for me, firm but polite seems to do the trick when they screw up, but YMMV).

Just my 2 yen on the subject.

[ReiTheJelly]

It's always interesting to see who has issues with which carrier -- it really seems to depend on where you live. I've always had more problems with UPS than USPS.

Same. USPS has always been pretty good to me (both on the sending and receiving sides), whereas UPS has been awful all the way around. FedEx isn't much better.

[Serendipity_Collections]

Hands down I would rather use USPS then use UPS for items. I have have very little issue with USPS but UPS has broken and damaged every package I have ever mailed and received from them. With UPS if the package is insured and when it's delivered you do NOT open it up in front of the delivery person that minute to verify content condition you forfeit their insurance claim. I found this out first hand with dishes that were mailed by my mother from Florida to CA about 10 years ago. The rep said I am sorry but you should have opened the package before the delivery rep left as it invalidates the liability on our side because we don't have proof you didn't damage it yourself to file a claim on it. Sad thing is that I think they literally drop and run all their packages. I believe they get paid not by the hour but by the truck load. They basically have deadlines, and they have a set limit they must drop to get their full amount or something like that. At least that's the way it appears. By the time the doorbell rings and you open the door they are already in the truck and pulling away.

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

Probably that's a factor of their insurance policy. If they can run away before you open it, then sucks to be you. Frankly, I refuse to have people send things to be via UPS. They're terrible. They have damaged everything I've seen them ship both to me personally (before I finally called enough is enough) and to my office where I work. Worse than that is if you have to sign for something. They will NEVER arrive when you're home and they will not schedule a delivery either. They deliver three days in a row and screw it if you try to tell them you won't be there for any of those days, send it on the fourth day instead. You get told to pick it up at their distribution center, which is (for me) over an hour and a half drive ONE WAY from my house..... and BTW, if you don't get your butt over there IMMEDIATELY, they'll return the package. Sure, because I just have tons of time to just drop everything for a three hour roadtrip during regular working hours. (They're not open past 5p to the public.)

On the other hand, I have had very few problems with the USPS and a couple of those few problems were definitely attributable to poor packing on the part of the senders of the packages. I love my postal workers at my local office. They have gone the mile for me in the past and they're definitely ready to help. They're also cheaper by far.

[zerospace]

Probably that's a factor of their insurance policy. If they can run away before you open it, then sucks to be you. Frankly, I refuse to have people send things to be via UPS. They're terrible. They have damaged everything I've seen them ship both to me personally (before I finally called enough is enough) and to my office where I work. Worse than that is if you have to sign for something. They will NEVER arrive when you're home and they will not schedule a delivery either. They deliver three days in a row and screw it if you try to tell them you won't be there for any of those days, send it on the fourth day instead. You get told to pick it up at their distribution center, which is (for me) over an hour and a half drive ONE WAY from my house..... and BTW, if you don't get your butt over there IMMEDIATELY, they'll return the package. Sure, because I just have tons of time to just drop everything for a three hour roadtrip during regular working hours. (They're not open past 5p to the public.)

On the other hand, I have had very few problems with the USPS and a couple of those few problems were definitely attributable to poor packing on the part of the senders of the packages. I love my postal workers at my local office. They have gone the mile for me in the past and they're definitely ready to help. They're also cheaper by far.

This is pretty much EXACTLY my experience with UPS vs USPS. When I lived in PA, I ALWAYS had to drive to UPS to get my packages because they'd never deliver when I was home & they wouldn't leave a package in an apartment building. The location was a 45+ minute drive from where I lived. After wasting tons of gas to pick up packages, I finally chewed out UPS for claiming to attempt a delivery when they clearly didn't even stop by my building (I was actually HOME waiting for them). At this point, I was told that they can leave my packages with my neighbor in the building who was usually home, so that's what I had to do.

Where I live now in CA, UPS will leave most everything at my house without a signature & they're almost always here at the same time of day when they do deliver (holidays excluded -- they're downright awful during the holidays, but to be fair, USPS is as well). Thus far I haven't had anything get broken by UPS, but I don't receive much in the way of fragile items either. Most of what I get via UPS are supplies for my Etsy jewelry shop, so my packages are small and pretty indestructable (though if they ever did anything that resulted in serious damage to say some expensive precious sheet metal, I'd be seriously miffed).

I got my first taste of picking up a direct signature required package from FedEx just last week -- thankfully, the Fedex office is only about 10 minutes away, so that wasn't so bad ^^;.