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| Throwin sparks makin knives  |
Hey guys I haven’t had a good rant in a long time. It’s my friggin turn. As you know I do a small amount of knives in my small shop here in Nashville. I really love what I do, I do not mass produce, and this really is a passion that I like to pass on. Thank you to Sigforum and to all that have been interested in my work over the years. Now my bitch. I have always used United States Postal Service, priority mail to deliver my knives to my customers along with a tracking number. My last offering here on the forum was a”Finish It Your Way” project with Raindrop Damascus. It promptly sold here on the forum. I was on the way to the post office and the line was out the door so I decided to go to one of the UPS stores and mail the blade in an envelope as I do from the Post office. The blades are taped extremely well, Double sided with cardboard and never has been a problem. I thought what the heck no line at UPS so I go in and send the package to Peters Heat Treat In Meadville Pa. Actually I took the padded envelope off the wall in the rack, handed everything to the young lady. Normally I watch while everything is packaged and taped well but she was short staffed and placed it in a box with the paperwork to be addressed at her spare time. She assured me she would take care of it. I got a call from Peters Heat Treating saying the envelope arrived, top torn off and RETAPED!!!!!! WHAT!!!!! Really!!!! I have a claim filed, UPS is about as sensitive as a rock... Back home I go and contact my customer and explain the situation  and remade the blade for him!!!! Now I’m modifying it all over again, this will be the third time. My profits gone my labor time is eaten up. I must say the damn thing is gorgeous though.Coronavirus this whole crap can kiss my ass https://imgur.com/a/BBZbbDQ Hope this will make someone very happy I feel better now rant off!! | ||
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Oriental Redneck |
Do the packaging and taping yourself. Q | |||
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| Bunch of savages in this town  |
Sybo, You can request USPS shipping boxes be sent to your house. I would honestly just ask your mail carrier for the size of flat rate priority boxes that you need. If it fits in the box, it's fairly cheap. You can then request a carrier pickup at your address. Once that is generated, a carrier gets a work order that has to be scanned, once the pick up is completed. If not, the people with clipboards and ties will start asking questions for the carrier. You don't even need to go to a Post Office, you can get the boxes, pay for shipping, print the label yourself, and schedule a carrier pickup. You should see how I wrap packages, and it's because I have first hand knowledge of how packages can be treated in shipping, as well as individuals who honestly don't know how to ship a package. I literally wrap the entire box in clear packing tape like a Christmas present, with the address and any bar codes, clearly visible underneath the tape. This serves two functions, it is almost virtually impossible for a package to become unintentionally open in transit, and gives a somewhat waterproof barrier. Printed shipping info is notorious for water damage, mainly from rain, but it can make barcodes, and addresses, illegible. And pad the inside of the box with whatever you deem fit. Newspapers, plastic grocery bags, bubble wrap, etc.. I still get customers who complain because someone mailed them a key, in a standard envelope, and the envelope arrived, but the key didn't. Almost everything is run through machines these days: packages, magazines, letters, etc... Machines are probably rougher than humans. ----------------- I apologize now... | |||
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| Throwin sparks makin knives |
All you guys are right, boy did I need to bitch......... | |||
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| Thank you Very little  |
what ASK said, we run Stamps.com here, and just keep a supply of the USPS flat rate envelopes and boxes in house. If you are in the USPS pick up a batch of both, the small one is about $8 unlimited weight (well, limited to the boxes capacity). We tape up the label like ASK says since rain, sleet or snow may not stop the carrier, it does cause ink to run and paper to tear. Be sure to include a copy of whatever document you are using to include a return address, and mail too address, just in case the label is damaged. You can print the label, postage paid with bar code from the innerweb and drop it in your outgoing mail. I prefer to take these to the USPS location, ours has a prepaid, drop, so you don't have to stand in line unless you want a receipt. Be nice if they put in scanners at the drop point so you could get a printed receipt that you put it in the mail without standing in line.. | |||
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Member |
As a rule I don't leave my possessions to chance with minimum wage earners so I always package things myself. | |||
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| Three Generations of Service  |
99% of my dealings with UPS are on the receiving end. My route driver is a peach and I have zero complaints. Of the other 1%, 99% of THAT is through a local retail store that is also a drop-off point for UPS. I package it, he weighs and measures it and prints a label. Again, zero complaints. The remaining 1% of 1% is through the UPS Store in town and it has never failed to be a complete clusterfuck. I think I'm seeing a trend here... Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent. | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
This thread contains two complaints and no compliments for The UPS Store. I guess it all depends on the staff. I have had an account a a local franchise for well over twenty-five years, starting back when the name was "Mailboxes Etc." I have always had outstanding service from them, but there is very low staff turnover and they do know what they are doing. The store manager goes above and beyond. A few times we have had incoming packages and she has recognized the return address (the sender) as a vendor of perishable foods -- she made room in the refrigerator where the employees stash their lunches, and stuck our package in there. Outgoing packages receive the same level of detailed attention. If there is a line of customers, so be it, the customer at the counter is taken care of properly. Like any other locally owned business (yes, this is a franchise, but the owner is local), the quality of service depends totally on the example set by the owner / manager, and the training that the staff receives. I have seen some locatons that give McDonald's type service; the location that I use is closer to the level of Chick-Fil-A. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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Spread the Disease |
While that would piss me off, I'm a bit confused. While the envelope was obviously opened and resealed, was the knife damaged or missing? Did I miss that? ________________________________________ -- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. -- | |||
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Nullus Anxietas |
You didn't miss it, because he implied it, rather than explicitly stating it. One might reasonably assume the contents were missing, since he's remaking it again. Re: His rant: I learned How To Ship Stuff from the pros where I used to work. While I won't blame the victim, my thinking is leaving something to be packaged by somebody else is a bit like leaving ones doors unlocked  Re: USPS. Shipping via USPS right now is a major crap-shoot, IME. They're seriously screwed-up by the fallout from the Wu Flu. Last package I had shipped by them, Priority Mail, took eight days from only two states away, spending six of those days in limbo. UPS got the exact same package delivered, from and to the exact same locations, in two days, Ground. "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher | |||
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| Member |
The UPS Store is not UPS. The UPS store, despite appearance and similar name, is a series of independently owned stores that package for UPS, but they aren't UPS. Just a franchise. Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking they're delivering a package to UPS for shipping when they go to a UPS store. It's not the same company. UPS is a parent company, having acquired a chain of private postal/mailbox stores, and rebranded them. If you're familiar with Mailboxes Etc, a chain that had mailboxes for rent, and did shipping and receiving, then you know the UPS Store: that's where the UPS Store came from. UPS bought Mailboxes ETC and it was a collaboration between the two, but every UPS Store is independently and locally owned, and operated. What you get at one store isn't necessarily what you get at another. As the shipper, you're always responsible for the packaging. UPS is responsible as the carrier, for damage done in transit. The limit of their liability depends on the declared and insured value of the package. If it the package has a declared value higher than the basic minimum applied to all packages, then additional shipping insurance must be purchased, or UPS (and USPS, and any other carrier) will only cover the item for the minimum, not the fuel value. If the higher insurance was paid, covering an amount in excess of the declared value, then the declared value is actually what's covered. That aside, it sounds like the packaging was done with a cardboard wrap, and the overpack was an envelope. The original poster probably ships his product a lot and knows what works for him, but were it me, I'd have used a cardboard overpack, too, rather than an envelope. The outer container would be better as a box, rather than an envelope, for two reasons; it's far less likely to be torn, and it's rigid. It protects space around the inner packaging. Envelopes are cheaper, but for the most part, I don't like them for shipping. As a side note, I received a package of magazines from Greg Cote, who sells here and has his own business. It was one of the most thoroughly packaged small shipments I've ever received. With an inner package that was double wrapped with paper for cushion, a sealed box, inside another box, wrapped in a cushioned envelope that was folded and taped until the entire package was nothing but tape on the outside, then labeled...and all that for five magazines. They arrived in perfect shape, though. When in doubt package more than you think it might require. | |||
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| Throwin sparks makin knives |
The blade was gone from the package and all that was left was the instruction sheet to the heat treating facility. Really strange, really strange. But I’m still out of a blade | |||
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| Member |
Was it insured for the retail cost? | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
I'd second the USPS Priority Flat Rate account recommendation. You set it up for free and get free packaging supplies sent to you for free. They give you a discount, you print the label yourself and most Post Office locations have a drop off area for pre-printed packages with no wait. Just drop them on the counter in that area. I've sent thousands this way in the last 15 years and had zero get lost. The tracking is comparable to FedEx and UPS and usually at a lower price. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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| Spread the Disease |
Ok, I would be totally pissed. ________________________________________ -- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. -- | |||
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| Member |
Thanks, Guppy, good info. I guess that's why guns have to go to a distro center. | |||
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Learn it, know it, live it |
^ This, thank you. Too many people think the UPS Store is a branch of UPS. It is merely a franchised separate entity. Question to the OP; Why the fuck would you put a knife in a padded envelope? Box it up.. | |||
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| Throwin sparks makin knives |
It is is a blank, it has been profiled, hand finished, and taped to a sheet of heavy cardboard, then the cardboard is folded over it be in the middle of the “cardboard taco”. Believe me I have received and sent as many as four blade at a time in this fashion and NEVER A PROBLEM. I have and many makers do this as if we are sending just a few blades without the size/ weight of boxes. It eats into the profit margins. I realize that this store is a Franchise, I should have clarified. I humbly apologize.. I really do not feel I did wrong, I did not put anyone in danger (1lowlife) “ Why the Fuc# would you put a knife in a padded envelope. “ Thanks Bro.... MY BITCH IS I AM OUT OF GOODS AND LOTS OF LABOR BITCH OUT | |||
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| Learn it, know it, live it |
My comment has nothing to do with safety. Putting a decent sized rigid object in a padded envelope isn't a good idea IMO. If you ever took a walk thru a sorting facility you'd understand why, it isn't pretty. Nice that you made it this far without issue. Also you blamed the wrong the business for said woes.. Nice to see you realize your error. In the future, pack and seal items yourself, make your own labels, drop them off. Eliminates someone else not doing their job, which seems to be what happened.. You can make your own USPS labels (on their website), pack up items and drop the items off at The UPS Store if the PO is too crowded. They have daily mail delivery and pickup. They can also provide receipts if you want one, just like UPS packages. Good luck to you.. | |||
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Member |
Your knife is most likely in what UPS internally refers to as “over goods”. All “fall outs” or contents that have for whatever reason, mostly from poor packaging, been separated from its container end up there. The am or pm clerk can sometimes figure out where stuff goes. In your case it sounds like the empty packaging made it, the contents did not. That probably wouldn’t have happened with a box. Remember the post office is set up to deliver letters containing papers (envelopes), UPS is set up to deliver parcels (boxes). At some facilities they will be using the same belts, belts designed for boxes not flimsy paper envelopes.If there is a jam on one of the many conveyor belts or diverters or if the corner of an envelope hangs up, the paper envelope is torn and the contents and label are separated. Such fallouts are logged into a computer with a description of the item. I doubt the clerk will forget about seeing a knife, especially a unique one. I’m thinking the knife could possibly be located.If you could post the tracking info here maybe that will let us see at what facility it could have become separated. If we could determine that we might be able to figure out the right person to talk to. Was the package insured for a specific value? It's a shame that youth is wasted on the young --- Mark Twain Anyone who is not a liberal by age 20 has no heart; anyone who is not a conservative by age 40 has no brain---Winston Churchill | |||
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