Hmmmm, the post master in our town told me to turn an express box inside out when they didn't have the priority boxes in stock.
VERY frustrated with Priority Mail
I turned a box inside out just the other day.... I was re-using a Priority Mail box that somebody had sent me, but I didn't want any questions about the box at UPS. I agree that it's not right to use new, free Priority Mail boxes if you're not shipping via PM.... but that leaves me with a whole bunch of boxes that the USPS shipped to me last fall! Ah, well, perhaps PM delivery will improve again... at least the boxes are folded flat!
seeing the above post, I should say rather that I didn't figure it was right to use a USPS box to ship via UPS or another shipping service... I don't think it seems wrong to use one kind of USPS box to ship via a different USPS method.
This message was edited Jun 29, 2006 11:50 AM
Critter, I have recycled FedEX boxes a couple of times. Used them to mail plants via USPS priority mail. The postal clerk told me it was fine as long as I scratched the words Fedex from the box.
also, when all I have is a priority box and what I'm mailing is first class, I just take a brown paper sack and use it to wrap the box. takes me a few extra minutes to wrap.
I talked with a friend of mine today at lunch. She runs a small book store and mails priority mail all the time. Says she has never had a problem. THING IS: she takes her parcels to our downtown post office. I have been using the bigger one down the road. I am thinking the bigger PO is messing me up since I get other folks priorities just fine, but can't seem to get mine outta here. I am sending a trade on Monday. I think I am going to pack and send from the downtown PO and see if that makes a difference. Will let all know.
DH generally drops Priority Mail boxes off at the substation in Rockville for me, which should cut at least a day or two from their travel time. Last year, almost every box arrived in 1 or 2 days. I even got a box from CA the day after it was mailed! This year, I am lucky if they arrive in 2 or 3 days rather than 5 or 9.
PO service for June this year has been atrocious - 11 days for seeds to get to Sheran in CA for a "Red/White/Blue swap. She sent the swap out without my seed (90 packets of home-collected, hand-cleaned packets arranged in 9 red/white/blue "rainbows" for each member of swap) and later sent my "rainbows" separately at her cost (I accidentally sent enough extra postage at an earlier swap to cover it). She sent seeds to me Wednesday, 6/21/06 and I am still waiting. We have always used priority mail with seeds and plants. There's gotta be a better way.
Tuesday I mailed a priority box from Indiana to Pennsylvania. I marked on 5 sides LIVE PLANTS-PERISHABLE, in big bold black magic marker.
The lady at the PO then asked (automatically,) if I was shipping anything perishable. When I replied yes, she stamped it with a red stamper...saying 'PERISHABLE' twice on the top only. Possibly if one made a conscience effort to BOLDLY mark the boxes as perishable, they would arrive some sooner....why else would they ask? Well in answer to my own question, possibly they want to know if they should be alarmed when it starts stinking due to not delivering it in a timely fashion.
Just my 2 cents.
Sue
I don't think marking the box "Perishable" gets it there any faster. If you are LUCKY, marking the box may cause somebody to move it out of the bright sunshine or into a cooler corner of the truck.
I just mailed plants Priority from here (Chicagoland area) to Maryland, and they got there in two days and in good shape. I'm beginning to think I'm just lucky...??
Does anyone know, is the post office open today?
Molly
I mailed a priority mail package at 10:45 AM on June 19th, 2006 from Boone, NC. The package is marked "perishable." It has not yet arrived, therefore breaking the record this year for the longest time to take to get from one place to another--19 days and counting. Previous record for the year: 12 days. Average number of days this year it has taken my priority mails to get from one place to another: 11.75 days. So I ask again? What's the point of paying the price for priority?
Today I mailed a trade UPS, guaranteed delivery by Thursday. That's fine and dandy, but UPS costs more and I am going to have to make large trades in order to justify the price.
Molly,
The PO is open regular hours today; they're closed tomorrow.
Marsha.
Thanks Marsha,
I found that out when my mailman came tooting his horn up my driveway. He brought 4 boxes for me.
Oh well, I'll mail that package on Wednesday.
Have a great 4th tomorrow!
Molly
Kathy mailed me a heavy big box priority mail maked 'live plants'. The box arrived soggy. It arrived in 3 days!! The post office did a great job this time!
I sent her a 27 lb box parcel post because the priority cost was outragous. It got there in four days.
My postal experiences have been great lately. Rachel