First the good feedback. Dave Stark is a helluva nice guy, honest and straightforward to do business with. I just traded with him for an Ernie Self slipjoint and the knife is outstanding. Dave and I kept in contact almost daily because our beloved gov't slackers at the USPS took over a week to send a priority mail insured package to me. We both shipped on the same day, he got his knife two days later and mine arrived 8 days later. We were just about ready to declare the knife MIA, presumed dead when the postal service finally kept their end of the deal. Anyway, Dave offered to refund the cost of the knife (it was insured) if it wasn't delivered. This is the way deals are supposed to be done. Except, we're both switching to UPS!
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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Dave Stark the GOOD...USPS SUCKS!
- Thread starter marcangel
- Start date
Dear God don't do that! I build custom scabbards mostly for sword folks. I shipped a saya for a Criswell Katana recently. This was no flimsy piece of material, it was solid wood construction with 1/4 inch walls. It then had the sword placed in it and was wrapped in bubble wrap. I purchased insurance that would cover the price of the sword plus the what I charged the customer. When it got to the customer the saya had been shattered. There was a split that ran down the seam between its two halves and then off into the grain of the wood. It appears that someone at ups decided to place something extremely havey on top of this package when it was placed with the ends of the box on something else with the middle unsupported. Its the only way I could see this happening. The sword must have actually been flexed in the saya and provided enough leverage to crack it. To say I was aggravated was an understatment but I had insurance right? Wrong! First ups said they wouldn't pay up because I had bought "execessive insurance." That was the purest b.s. and I wonder how they even came to that conclusion since I doubt ups has a bunch of sword experts or saya experts on staff. So I provided them with copies of all the receipts in question and they abandoned that story. Finally after hanging on to the sword for 3 friggin weeks they came back with "insufficient packaging." I'm not sure what else I could have done besides putting the thing in a gun safe before shipping but since there is no appeal what could I do? I have since found out that "insufficient packaging" seems to be their catch all when they can't think of any other reason not to pay up. My suggestion try USPS again. They are cheaper and they have been pretty reliable for me.
I have to agree with Triton. Even though service from the east coast really went to hell after 9/11, Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation is hard to beat overall. UPS is fine until you have a problem. Then they don't want to deal with you. I just spent 3 days looking for three boxes of books that they left sitting on the driveway at a house under construction a mile away. I'm just glad that it didn't rain! I can't recommend Delivery Confirmation highly enough. For forty-five cents you get proof that it was sent and prove that it was delivered. Any kind of tracking, either UPS or USPS is a waste of time and money. They can only tell you where it was, not where it is. Roy
IF KNOWLEDGE IS NOT SHARED, IT IS LOST.
IF KNOWLEDGE IS NOT SHARED, IT IS LOST.
I too have had time problems with USPS, it seems every third time I send something it takes twice or three times as long as it should. I would like to thank at least 4 forum members who DIDN'T start calling me a cheat and a rip-off artist when their packages were late arriving, and stuck with me and didn't flame.
As for UPS. I have a friend who worked night-shifts at UPS in the package conveyor/truck loading areas. I asked him about how they treated the packages and generally what the package did from step to step. Here is what I got out of him.
First off they treat packages like crap. The small boxes, that can be palmed, are tossed around like oversize softballs, that is why you see lots of smushed corners on your UPS stuff. These hooples are literally throwing these to the guy stackign boxes. You also get a RAISE if you can pass a zip-code test, that helps the packages get sorted faster in-line, this test familiarizes them with zip-codes obviously.
As for the truck, this is what goes down. The packages are stacked in rows as tall as the truck can accept, and lined up by the bay doors. They stack them ANY WAY they can, ensuring they are the correct height and depth of rows to fill the truck. Most of these USPS people are from poor neighborhoods. Often african american, spanish, caucasian races and really take no pride in their work. Their supervisors only care about time, and NEVER do the men handling boxes get in trouble for damaged goods. So what do they care, they never even hear about the broken stuff. UPS is crap. IMO you want good service and good insurance that won't hassle you, you gotta pay the bucks. Airborne Express and Fed-Ex are the best IMO, but they are ridiculously expensive. If I could afford it, I would use them for all items, but I am not a rich man so USPS still gets my money.
One tip (for USPS), get certified mail, or buy insurance, or send it registered mail. You got a leg up if you get one or more of these and it is only a touch extra, and still cheaper (AND SUPPOSEDLY FASTER) than UPS.
JC
As for UPS. I have a friend who worked night-shifts at UPS in the package conveyor/truck loading areas. I asked him about how they treated the packages and generally what the package did from step to step. Here is what I got out of him.
First off they treat packages like crap. The small boxes, that can be palmed, are tossed around like oversize softballs, that is why you see lots of smushed corners on your UPS stuff. These hooples are literally throwing these to the guy stackign boxes. You also get a RAISE if you can pass a zip-code test, that helps the packages get sorted faster in-line, this test familiarizes them with zip-codes obviously.
As for the truck, this is what goes down. The packages are stacked in rows as tall as the truck can accept, and lined up by the bay doors. They stack them ANY WAY they can, ensuring they are the correct height and depth of rows to fill the truck. Most of these USPS people are from poor neighborhoods. Often african american, spanish, caucasian races and really take no pride in their work. Their supervisors only care about time, and NEVER do the men handling boxes get in trouble for damaged goods. So what do they care, they never even hear about the broken stuff. UPS is crap. IMO you want good service and good insurance that won't hassle you, you gotta pay the bucks. Airborne Express and Fed-Ex are the best IMO, but they are ridiculously expensive. If I could afford it, I would use them for all items, but I am not a rich man so USPS still gets my money.
One tip (for USPS), get certified mail, or buy insurance, or send it registered mail. You got a leg up if you get one or more of these and it is only a touch extra, and still cheaper (AND SUPPOSEDLY FASTER) than UPS.
JC