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GoodTurns

GoodTurns

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
4,145
Location
Bowie, MD, USA.
So I stopped in to speak with the Postmaster re: the damaged package.... took a blank off the shelf to show him what I was talking about, showed him the damaged package and said "There were four pieces of wood about this size" and handed the blank... he immediately said "oooh, nice cocobolo"... turns out he's a woodworker and could at least understand why the pieces were important... he took my info and said he would check with the carrier and sorters (yeah, right).... with my mail today....drum roll please... one piece of Andrea Doria Rail and hopes kept alive!
 

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I feel your pain and I wish you luck. When I had someone send me a fly rod blank in a piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe, it arrived with a truck tire imprinted on the PVC pipe which had been crushed, as had the fly rod blank inside the PVC pipe. When I brought it to my postmaster, he was very pleasant, when he asked "So what's the problem?" I pointed out the tire mark and the crushed PVC and fly rod blank and he simply said, "Did you have insurance on the shipment? If not, there's nothing I can do for you." When I asked him if that meant that they could destroy or completely lose a shipment and they have zero liability, he said "I'm afraid that's right."

Gee, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that they are losing so much money that they would be declaring bankruptcy if they were a privately owned company?

I realize that they do a good job on the large majority of the mail they carry, but when it comes to packages, especially something of value, I won't ship anything via USPS unless I add insurance. Just my 44 cents worth.

Jim Smith
 
It's amazing how it really is all about finding the right person to work with you and who actually cares. If only this was the rule rather than the exception.

Congrats on the recovery of the blank!
 
Most of my shipping is via USPS. Being aware of all the problems (loss, damage,etc.) I have set a personal policy of "self-insure" for Retail Value of up to $75. Above that I will buy insurance. BTW, I once decided to take on the USPS by filing a claim for damage. I got the expected initial denial. Reason cited: my fault (not packaged properly). I did an appeal showing photos to validate my method of packaging, which proved that the package must have been dropped on a hard surface from a height if over 8 ft to cause the breakage experienced. I cited my engineering degree and other work experience to validate my method of testing. Quite a bit of effort and time. The amazing result: Full retail price settlement! Just an added note here: I always use pricing as a "DELIVERED" price, instead of a separate line item for "shipping". That way, in a claim, I am able to get my full cost basis. USPS will only pay the item cost and exclude shipping cost if they deliver a damaged item. (They did that part of the job:delivery accomplished...sorry it was broken by us.)
 
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