It's exciting to find someone that has something you would like for SASE. On the other hand, it's very frustrating when you go to the time and trouble to go to the post office to have your envelope weighed frontwards and backwards and find out that it's being sent back. I completely understand the traders side of this. But, it troubles me that they think that I just guessed at the postage. It seems such a hassle to go through. Wondering if ordering or buying locally would be better. Is it all worth it, really?
Very Frustrated with PO
I've had the same problem with the PO. You'd think the people at the post office would know how much postage to put on since they are the one's who weighed it. I think good communication with the other party has worked well for me though. Most people who ship things like this know it can be a problem sometimes. Some others will just be difficult and not understand, those are the people you have to make note of for future trading.
I've done trades like this a couple times, but luckily they weighed the package BEFORE so I send the correct amount of postaged..even a home scale can give an educated guess.
DIRTYGIRL, the PO did weigh the bubble envelope before. That's why I'm frustrated. Time is valuable too. There must have been a problem with the other end of the Postal Service.
Good communication is the key Catz. All is well.
You can file your complaint directly to the Postal Service using the number: 1-800-275-8777.
You need to write out your complaint with all the details you can offer along with names, even if it's only first name - because it's a rare circumstance that any of these employees will provide a last name - and dates and times of any "incidents" and mail this to The United States Postal Service Office of the Consumer Advocate-475 L'Enfant Plaza S.W., Room 10433 Washington, D.C. 20260-phone number 1-202-268-2284.
You should contact USPS Postal Inspectors at postalinspectors@uspis.gov and file a complaint, as well. If this doesn't get your problem solved, call your state attorney's office and ask for a complaint form, fill it out and send it back for them to investigate. You might be able to do this online.
I am unhappy with the post office also. It's our government at work! I ordered meal worms for my bluebirds. They left a parcel pick up notice on Saturday for me to pick them up on Monday. Those worms will probably be dead by then. I ordered 5,000.
The obvious remedy here is to pack up the box, get it weighed and the postage applied, then email the person before you mail it and have them PAYPAL you the postage. That way no one loses time, money or anything else
Birder, I know what you mean. That's happened to me before.
And why does priority mail sometimes take 4 days?
As far as time goes, I've found that mailing on Fri or Sat works best. Packages usually arrive on Mon. It's not true that the packages just sit around at the p.o. all weekend. They're constantly in transit. Postal employees work round the clock, 7 days a week. Mail is even in transit on Sun; it's just not delivered to your door on Sun.
Different post offices figure bubble mailers differently. Even the two in my town have varying rates. Some don't apply the 12 cent surcharge for handling by hand. I insist on it if they say they won't. I hate to have an envelope returned for 12 cents, and I hate for a recipient to receive it with postage due.
On the Priority Mail thing, 2-3 days is "just an estimate, what we strive for" according to the post office. It's not a guarantee. I have found that if you print postage online and get delivery confirmation, packages seem to arrive in a more timely manner. And you save a few cents, even $1-$2 per package when printing postage from their site. And now, with the increased fees, many packages ship by priority mail cheaper than by parcel.
I'm feeling very lucky.....I adore my PO. They have worked great for me. In all of my (mumblemumblemumble) years, I have been happy with most every mailing. With only 2 exceptions and one was of my own fault, have to write the info out correctly, LOL.
I have heard others (in another club) complain and feel for you all. One even reported that she believed her boxes where "Kicked out of the truck with the force of a winning field goal"
I recieved the returned envelope today. I went back to the same clerk at the PO. She reweighed it and it came out the same. She though at first that her scale might have been wrong, but then thought the other end had considered it a parcel. She said she was not trained that way and went and got 34 cents out of her purse and stamped it for me. It surprised me that she took the money out of her own purse.
angeldawn47, aside from forking over a mear 34 pennies, ask her what she would have done if the plant had died? Will she pay to replace that too?!? AND your gas money to make the second trip to the Post Office!?!?
I don't know if it was her fault or the fault of the other end? So... I just would hate for that to happen again.
If it's a bubble mailer, it is considered a parcel now. They changed it with that last price increase. So you could send it in a box of the same weight for the same price.
seems to me that if it's ok'd on one end of shipping, why would they question it on the other end?
((lost mail, return to sender, late delivery, packages left in a hot mailbox when it's CLEARLY MARKED PERASHABLE)) yeah, these are the 'days of our lives' when we ship something...at least th PO hasn't screwed up E-mail .............................yet............
Well, because it was wrong on the first end, so the 2nd end required the correct postage. All over 34 cents. It will cost them more in man and machine hours than they make, but they'll return it to make a point I guess.
It's really best not to ship plants in bubble mailers. The plastic inside will cook them in this heat. And since it costs the same as a box, why not ship in a box? But even when mailing seeds in a bubble mailer, it's still considered a parcel, so just make sure in the future that your post office charges you for a parcel instead of a letter.
With bubble mailers, sometimes they end up being considered parcels and sometimes not, but the rules are so convoluted to determine their status that it's safer to just use the first class package rates to determine postage.