USPS

[mikeeebikey]

So last month I decided it would be a good time to keep up with tires on the e-bay/craigslist and re-rubber 3-4 of our bikes.
On the 5th I ordered some tires off e-bay, got a message right away from the seller, he'd ship lowest class a.s.a.p.. Shipped the 7th at the post office, 3 days later they left for New Jersey, from Cally, this is where it went weird, they stayed there for a week, then showed they'd shipped out.
2 weeks later I got wondering where they were.......so I plug in the tracking # and they are in Washington state!!! DO WHAT! WAIT! WHY!
So I call and the nice goverment employee explains it is only "D" class shipping, just wait.
A week later I look again and it's still in Washington.
I get the 1-800 and call, get a case number and told they would call me within a week.
So a week and a day later, I call them. The nice goverment employee tells me they are in shipping.
I look the tracking and it shows it's in Washington!
It's been a month!
Yesterday I e-mailed them, offered to pay more, offered to donate to any charity they liked, fight Mike Tyson, whatever it would take to get me in touch with a couple tires!
Got a call from my local postmaster, this is where I give in, they shipped my tires to "gotohellandwait." The man told me, wish I knew if he was straight faced, said I swear to you, "I betting the shipper goofed the address and our automatic sorter keeps kicking it back." "I could send an e-mail but if it's shipped it's just going to mess things up more."
In my minds eye I am seeing the Terminators sweeping the earth ridding it of the evil postal empire, ok maybe not that extreme....
I have never had anything like this happen in shipping, never lost any packages. Ran auto and bicycle buisinesses off mailed parts.
I have since cut my stress and just ordered some other tires, they got here in 5-6 days, from Cally!
Just ordered some for the kids bmx, from Cally, betting 5-6 days on those!
Got a frame from Cally that shipped on the 6th today, but it was class "C" insured.

 

[Sphinx]

I bet ya the missing ones are at Luke The Jokers house in OZ. :shock: :lol: Luke, give the guy back his tires, dern it! :wink:

 

[KOTA]

I retired from the USPS over three years ago, after 35 yrs. Last year I went to work for a private shipping business that was a Fed Ex, UPS, and USPS agent...I never heard of "C" or "D" shipping. For USPS there was only Express, Priority, Parcel Post or Media (books)..Everything, except Express, goes to a Bulk Mail Center. If it has a wrong zip code on it, and not corrected, it can (possibly) go back and forth for a LONG time. The majority of mail is read by machines, not people....Good luck!

 

[41DX]

Just speculating, I bet the three looks like a Nine on that zip code when you finally get it!

Here is one that gets messed up;
Bellevue Nebraska 68005, Bellevue Washington 98005.

Been in the shipping industry for a long time.
Neatness counts.

Always made me wonder how so many people will pay $20+ to ship a letter overnight across the country but they don't make the time to correctly and neatly fill out the airway bill.

Good luck in getting your stuff.

 

[Redd]

A word of advice: DO NOT ORDER PARTS BY MAIL, SHOP LOCAL OR SPEND THE GAS MONEY AND GO GET THEM!!! Not only can you not trust the post office,UPS etc., but you also don't know if you're dealing with a legitimate mail order parts company. I sent money to Master Lowrider at least a month ago for some parts and sent them about a dozen e-mails and... NOTHING. No response, no parts and I lost my money which I can't afford to lose being out of work for seven months and counting but I'm trying to get my bike running for Spring. Be careful my friends and stay clear of companies you are not familiar with,and don't count on shoddy outfits like UPS either! :roll:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I bet ya the missing ones are at Luke The Jokers house in OZ. :shock: :lol: Luke, give the guy back his tires, dern it! :wink:

I can neither confirm nor deny the arrival of a large package at my address 8 days ago. Has come in handy though!
Luke.

Just kidding, hope they turn up for you eventually...

 

[mikeeebikey]

A word of advice: DO NOT ORDER PARTS BY MAIL, SHOP LOCAL OR SPEND THE GAS MONEY AND GO GET THEM!!! Not only can you not trust the post office,UPS etc., but you also don't know if you're dealing with a legitimate mail order parts company. I sent money to Master Lowrider at least a month ago for some parts and sent them about a dozen e-mails and... NOTHING. No response, no parts and I lost my money which I can't afford to lose being out of work for seven months and counting but I'm trying to get my bike running for Spring. Be careful my friends and stay clear of companies you are not familiar with,and don't count on shoddy outfits like UPS either! :roll:

Like I said, I never had any problem before, the after problem is the disturbing? part, the post office has no help that can help me!~Kinda like Obama care..........
I am cheap, local shops skewer you for "unique," parts, for example, Dyno flame seat, would you guess $40? More like $60.00, at which time I bought 2 cables, with teflon housings, $20.00!!! I am sticking to mail order or saving up a bunch of stuff I need and heading down to St. Pete or Tampa. I have actually had great luck on Craigslist, buying privately.
Worst lesson learned, shipping a PC years ago, it'd been slammed so hard the ram chips popped out! Locked in or not, that's a good kick!

 

[NicksGarage]

I'm sure they are caring less and less the more the bus keeps running them over. I've had great luck with the post office over the years but it has been degrading.

Last month I ordered a set of pedals from NY and when the tracking said "out for delivery" for a couple weeks and I didn't get them the post office basically told me and the seller to pound sand. The seller sent me another set for free.

I also lost a set of wheels in December that I bought off the forum. I think they got stolen from my porch.

 

[Voyager Al]

I buy very little online, except for amazon.com
Bike parts,I found a local shop that doesnt gouge. He is a plumber,full time, and has the bike shop for his son's income,and the kid doesnt work their anymore.LOL. He orders stuff in weekly, and charges way less than most LBS's do. He even gets me stuff from F&R in Cali, and its always less tha I expected. Shop around, and try to buy LOCAL.
Bicycle Heaven has everything else I need, and is open 7 days a week. He treats us Kool Kats from Pittsburgh great.
Michaels Cycles is my main LBS. Great guys there!

 

[partsguy]

Maybe if they get sold off and forced to really compete with FedEx and UPS, they might change a little! Other than the occasional TV set being pitched over a fence, they seem to be no trouble at all!

 

[Redd]

Yeah, right on Al! Shop local! Glad to hear that F&R is still around though. I used to be a lowrider and ordered parts in the past with no problems. I still need those parts, but after getting ripped off by Master Lowrider, I'm a little weary of mail order now. :x

 

[Voyager Al]

F&R is the only place that has 26 X 1.95 tires. I use them on my middleweights. Fits under fenders, and looks real close to the ballooner size. And CHEAP. Not a big assortment of colors, maybe 5, but better than black or WW only

 

[jadewombat]

Everyone has a bad story or two. DHL couldn't find my house which was in an established neighborhood for 30+ years, right in the middle of the block, nothing weird about the address. DHL wouldn't redeliver and made me drive across town to pick up the item in person which killed an hour out of my time, they didn't need my business anymore after that. UPS shipped a pair of tires for me banded together last year, then tried to charge me extra because they weren't boxed up. I argued with the guy from UPS for 20 minutes on the phone, told him the exact page on their website where it said that tires just needed to be banded together, then he argued with me a COMPLETELY different part of their website where it said that they needed to be wrapped--of course no links between the two. I kept saying to the dude from UPS that they couldn't do this, round and round we went for a long time, I finally said, "You know what, you NEED to take these charges off!!!" and he did just like that like nothing had happened because that is the way these phone people are hard-wired. But my favorite experience was with FedEx. Had some stuffed shipped from Mexico to me via FedEx and it got to the local distribution station within a few miles of my house then went...wait for it...this is so good...all the way to...South Korea!!! Yep, they didn't know why. Went half-way around the world then back again.

I still use UPS for shipping big stuff and USPS for small stuff because the flat-rate boxes are the best value. FedEx is always too expensive and they're complete a-wipes about boxing (there's always something wrong with the way it's boxed, etc.).

 

[outskirtscustoms]

About 90% of what I ship fits in flat rate boxes and I haven't had any major problems, I did have one package that was larger that took a bit longer than expected but it eventually got there safe and sound. As far as the customer service goes they are all clueless and are just there to further frustrate you and tell you to check their website again. (As you have done 10 times already) For me USPS works, it's easy, it's close by the house, BUT I OVER-INSURE AND TRACK EVERYTHING just to be safe.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Well after doing it exactly how I was told by GOVERMENT employees I got this yesterday;
Dear Mr. Walsh:

This is in response to your recent inquiry concerning a Standard Mail item sent with Delivery Confirmation 0311 3260 0001 0443 2787 but was never delivered. The item was last scanned Depart USPS Sort Facility on Jan 20, 2013 in Federal Way WA 98003. Since that time, there have been no additional scans for this item. You will need to check with the sender in order to find out how this item was addressed. We do not have that information. I can assure you that we are well aware of the responsibility we accept when our customers entrust us with their important business and personal mail. It is always disappointing to receive a report from a customer about mail that has not arrived. No matter how careful we are, however, occasionally, mail is lost while in our care. When mail is lost or delayed, it is very difficult to determine what may have happened. Since so much time has passed since its mailing, we must reluctantly conclude that the item is irretrievably lost. I share your disappointment and sincerely apologize for any hardship or inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of this loss.

Sincerely,

Paula
Consumer Affairs Office

Suddenly I am filled with urban rage and am going to go, "postal," on them, show them how I grew up, in the ghetto, flailing my arms about like a village idiot......But I will not, I am demanding each and every employee that told me to wait calls and apologizes, I don't want my money! I want my dignity back they took by treating me as if I was a second rate customer.
I will also be using U.P.S. from here out.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

About every forth or fifth package I get says delivered, but there is no package at my door. The other night about
8 at night I hear a knock at my door. I look out and don't recognize the guy standing there. He says, did you get a package that's not yours? I laughed and said no but to go around the corner to another 3405 and he would probably find it there. The last one that said delivered and wasn't
at my house was at her house. We all live several houses apart but on different streets with the same address numbers.
As the guy left, I told him I had ordered some tires and they would be delivered Friday and for him to look for them. :lol:
Got to love UPS. I was going to tell them about the new invention called GPS. Hello!