autos and the USPS

S

SIFU1A

Joined
May 12, 2001
Messages
11,707
just a q - my wife mailed out an Emnerson CQC7 from our local office of the USPS - i am trading it for a spydie Lum - i boxed up the emerson as usual, and she took it to the PO - they made a big production of 'is that a switchblade' etc when she said it was a knife for insurance purposes - took the knife out of the box and examined, and when declared legal, i guess, they reboxed and shipped (i think) has anyone else had similar experiences w/USPS? i couldnt believe they gave my wife a bunch of crap, i ship knives from there all the time no probs - an over zealous new guy or ?? any input appreciated ...........like i said no previous probs .....and then 3 days later she shipped a cRKT KFF, same deal, w/no probs - WTF is the deal????


sifk
 
I have never encountered a problem with USPS yet, however, I box and seal my knives before I take them to the P.O. Did your wife pack the knife up at the P.O. or did they ask her what was in the box?
 
Never had that issue at my P.O. I've shipped autos, non autos, and a couple medium fixed blades. Of course I had them wrapped or boxed up before I went in there. Even when insuring the knives, never had em ask me what I was insuring. Hmm. Almost sounds like they were either being nosy or invading some privacy.
 
On the insurance form. I live overseas and whenever I get a new knife (not often enough:) the companies that send me the knives always write TOOL on the customs form. Hope this helps. -Rick
 
I would never ship a knife by USPS. UPS is pretty bad too (nickname 'OOPS') so I only use FedEx now.
 
I've gotten funny looks, but never had a package inspected. There must be some recent hubbub to cause that kind of reaction, or as you say an over-zealous employee.

I agree that USPS is not the best way to go just from the standpoint of the general suckiness of their tracking system. Half of the time their online system is never updated to show packages delivered.
 
As far as I know, it is illegal to ship automatic knives via USPS. I have never been questioned about the manual opening knives I've sent by mail, nor have I ever had the package opened for inspection.
 
I believe it's a federal offense to ship autos through USPS. I also believe it's not the best idea to tell them or write that it's a knife. Other than the sheeple freak-out factor or the potential legality issues, knives are tempting to theives. Call it a "tool" or "hand tool." It's easier all the way around. I've shipped and received knives, auto and manual, and never had any problems. Mail once came when I wasn't home & the delivery person left one package at my door, but left a note because I had to sign for the other one. The package I had to sign for contained cigarettes, & they couldn't leave it at the door because someone under 18 might get a hold of it; the package they left at the door contained two autos. :eek:
 
I've got a USPS insurance form right here (mailed a package just the other day). It never asks what's inside, just the value. So, I wonder what form you were using? Perhaps your wife was using UPS and not USPS?

I did ship an article internationally the other day and the customs declaration form does ask you to identify the contents. When shipping a knife, you could write "hand tools" or "machined parts" if you wanted to.
 
When I got a Bali-Song in from another country I made sure that the package read "tool" and not "knife" or "butterfly knife".
 
I had a similar situation arise about a year ago:

I had bought one of those replica Winchester lever action rifles (non-firing) and it had a piece missing from it. Well, I box it back up and take it to the UPS store (thats who delivered it to start with). I paid for the shipping and left. Well, later that day I get a call from the UPS store and they say they have a problem and I need to come down right away. I arrive and they have the box open and the gun is laying there on the counter. The man says "we don't ship guns". "Thats illegal". I say, "well, why the heck did you open the box?" The guy says "we didn't charge you enough shipping and your name wasn't on the outside of the box so we had to open it to find out your name and phone number". I quickly grabbed the gun up and worked the lever (as if loading a shell in the chamber) and pulled the trigger. You should have seen the guys face. I think he sh** himself. Anyway, I finally told him it was a replica gun and he still didn't want to send it. He told me to go to the post office because "They are the only way to ship guns". Well, the P.O. is right across the street so I went in there with the gun and boy did I get some strange looks. They told me that they didn't ship guns either. I explained that it was a replica but they still insisted that I leave ;). Anyway, I finally made the guy at UPS send the item. I was still mad at them for opening my package. Imagine sending something really illegal and someone opens it that isn't suppose to :)
 
thanks for the input - yes it was USPS not UPS - the emerson was in a CRKT box, w/the knife wrapped in plastic bags and the box taped-intended to buy a box to put the box in from the USPS people - the guy asked my wife the value for the insurance, and then asked if it was a knife - she said yes (duh, the CRKT box LOOKS like a knife box which is what it is ...) and then the guy asked is it a switchblade, and she said no - i know its illegal to ship autos out of state - then he tore off the tape, took knife out of the bags, examined, then replaced - i got to thinking about all the crap CRKT had w/customs and that emerson had a loosened pivot pin and would flick pretty darned easy, i guess i better be glad he didnt start talking gravity knife, etc - just kinda made me mad, and really PO'd the wife - from now on am gonna ship inside another plain box, and call it a tool of some sort, might woulda handled the whole thing different (ie - ask the guy if he's writing a book??) but the wife was just trying to be helpfull - i personally think it was a newbie because i have shipped knives numerous times before and after the incident, w/no probs like this - anyway just thought i would see what was up.....and it might be a good idea to be a little 'covert' about shipping knives of this sort - prob no prob w/a case lol


sifu
 
I tried to mail Glockman a thum stud from a Ryan seven. Dann got the envelope, with a corner torn off and the thumb stud GONE. I asked Dann to mail the envelope back as I notified the Postal Inspectors and demanded a CRIMINAL investigation. So far what is clear is that SOME EMPLOYEE of the USPS thought the object was valuable, so "HE" tore off the corner containing the thumb stud and just shoved it in his pocket. Then they claimed the enveloped got stuck in a sorter although it was Stamped Fragile twice by MY Post Office and therefore was required to be hand sorted. Well the empty envelope makes it to Dann's, minus the thumb stud and I wonder what the idiot's expression was when he checked his "stolen loot" looking for that diamond ring and found something that "He"had no clue as to what it was. They have since informed me that they know where the theft took place and they know who the person is, but have insufficient evidence to fire or take action against him. And the USPS will not even make good on the THEFT by paying three bucks, the price I figured it was worth. So I got screwed, Dann got screwed, the Thief keeps his job and has a Thumb Stud to stick up his Postal A** I HATE THE USPS.....wolf:mad:
 
Mr. wolfmann601,

You just can't ship items that aren't basically flat in an envelope. Even if you do label it "Fragile" and even if that notation is noticed and the item is routed around automated handling (and BTW, when you buy a stamp for an envelope, it costs less than a stamp for a box (which is probably why you tried to use an envelope, to save a few cents). One reason envelopes cost less is that they can go through automated handling. So, when you pay for an envelope and expect it to be treated like a box, you're essentially asking for something you're not paying for.) envelopes are, eventually, stacked up and put on trays. This is where your envelope could easily have gotten torn.




Mr. NCBlades,

I've explained this about UPS before: when you shipped the item, you casually signed a little chit. In tiny print, that chit says something like "I agree to all of UPS's policies and procedures." One of UPS's specific policies is that they can open your package and search it.

In fact, UPS's expressed goal is to open and search ALL packages from individual shippers. When I asked why, the answer was that they are concerned about the possibility that the contents of packages may endanger their employees. When I asked them why the think they get all the dangerous packages (after all, the USPS, FedEx, etc. do not feel the need to imspect all packages) they said, "we can not comment on the policies of other shipping companies."

UPS WILL still ship firearms. But, only in their more expensive, "overnight" (yeah, right), Blue Label service. When I asked why, the answer was not safety, and it was not politics. The answer was that they've had to much trouble with employee theft of firearms from the Brown Label service.

When I asked if they felt there might just be a relationship between employees opening packages and inspecting their contents and employees stealing those contents, the answer was, "we've forwared your suggestion on for further consideration."
 
Dear Chuck,
You bet I was LAZY and just did not feel like boxing up a thumb stud, but unscrewed and with a piece of scotch tape,it was Given the OK by the Postal Employee I handed it to to make sure it was mailable. And No, I put 64 cents postage on it, and THEY stamped it fragile. The USPS admits that it was a THEFT, maybe I should have insured it for 100 bucks!!!!!! wolf:o
 
In the last 14-15 months I've averaged a knife a week, most shipped to me via USPS priority mail. No problem, yet-and I hope that continues. I will agree that before the USPS tracking system kicks in, I generally have my knife in hand. Not so with UPS - their system (when use is required) does an excellent tracking job. I can plan to be home when the package is delivered. Overall, I haven't had a problem with either service. My preference is USPS priority mail as the package is placed in a locked box. As to their 2-3 day service, yes- sometimes its 2 days and sometimes 5 days - doesn't seem to depend on the distance. Packages from VA can be here in 2 days, while those from MI can take 5 days, go figure!!
 
I worked as a parcel post distribution clerk in my mis-spent youth, sorting all the parcels inbound to San Francisco. We stood at a conveyor belt facing a wide and deep field of hampers, one for each zip code in the 941 sectional center, plus one for each big mailer, such as catalog companies -- maybe 60 or 70 all told. The game was to read the Zip, then toss the box into the right hamper. None of us were NBA stars, so we missed a lot. No worry, because those mis-tossed boxes would come back from the wrong station the next day, or maybe the day after. If we missed a 30-foot toss entirely, and the box landed on the concrete floor, it stayed there til a mail handler -- the guys who dumped sacks of cartons on to our conveyor -- got around to picking it up. Or not.

My most vivid memory of the conveyor line is a decal of a man kicking a pack of cigarettes, over a cartoon balloon that said KICK THE HABIT. Only somebody had neatly added eyes and whiskers to the pack, changed the cigs to long floppy ears, and changed the the H to an R. KICK THE RABIT.

Then I got promoted to driving the forklift part of the day, mainly because no one else wanted to. Had to get a special license.

uspo.jpg



Best part of that job was driving back and forth over anything marked FRAGILE. Back and forth, back and forth, cruncha cruncha crunch. Oh Joy! What Cheer!

Long before that I had worked after school in a small department store, mainly in the shipping department. My boss there taught me this rule for packing glassware. Pack it so well that you can kick the package all the way to the Post Office (two blocks away), including bouncing it off curbstones and moving cars, and it will arrive undamaged at the PO. It will then have better than 50% chance of arriving intact at its final destination. And NEVER EVER EVER mark anything FRAGILE. Only later did I find out why, did I become the reason why.

Two days ago at the PO I asked a clerk if they still use the hamper system for inbound parcels. With a :D she says, YUP!

* * *

How do I ship now? Valuable knives by Registered Mail, packed to survive nuclear blast. Ordinary knives by Priority Mail, insured for full value. Books by Media Mail. Manuscripts and photos by UPS red label (because I always procrastinate til the last minute). Overseas knives by Fed Ex (I admire the heck out of UPS, but their international service will not take antiques, and they are even worse at paying claims than Allstate).

* * *

Yeah, it is illegal to mail switchblade knives. Same penalty as a letter bomb. And there is no federal parole or probation. Share a cell with the Unabomber!

Also illegal to mail an ad offering a switchblade for sale, or any publication containing an ad offering a switchblade for sale.

Last time I checked, the high school defense "But all the other kids are doing it :( " is not recognized in federal courts.

First Amendment? Second Amendment? What you talkin about, punk?


BRL...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top