Shipping tip from the USPS

[Barry E Harris]

Well, looks like I might have my first knife lost in the mail since I started collecting. It was shipped from Missouri and got scanned by the U.S. Postal Service twice in route. The last scan being when it left the regional distribution center 180 miles from my house about nine days ago. Of course, the Post Office could absolutely care less. The bad thing about it was that it was a mint Schrade U.S.A. 15OT Deerslayer that I only paid $15.00 for. What a deal! I did get one piece of useful information out of one civil servant today, though. He told me that one of the chief causes of lost packages are preprinted addressee labels (like those printed off PayPal) that are not also covered with clear packing tape. According to him, the automated machines often catch the corner of these labels and pull them right off. He recommended taping over all labels (addressee and return) with clear packing tape. I thought I would pass that on for those of you who sell knives. I must observe that, after five days of trying to even get the time of day from a postal worker, I can fully understand why periodically one brings a rifle to work and shoots his coworkers. Let me add, in this post 911 one slip of the tongue and you're in Gitmo enviroment, that I personally would never contemplate such a horrid act. The other interesting piece of info I got is that at USPS package distribution centers, they spend most of the day on Priority mail. Unless they finish all their Priority Mail early, which is rare, they allot about two hours in the afternoon to Parcel Post on a first come first serve basis. The more days it sits there, the more chance there is of it disappearing. I would hate to think my knife is sitting on some postal worker's dresser. This jives with the previous posts about shipping - stick with Priority or on small folders - First Class; stay away from Parcel Post; tracking and delivery confirmation are good. To top it all off, I paid the seller for shipping insurance and they didn't include it.

 

[Timstools]

Thats really unfortunate, Im sorry to hear that.
Ive had some postage problems getting Schrades over here to Australia from USA. Cheapest quote for LB7 sized knife is US $5.25cents post and most expensive has been $38.00 and everything in between.
$5.25 is a great price to send from USA to Australia. This is for a 4 pound rate cardboard flate rate global priority envelope (large about $8.75), yep just $5.25. Only problem is that they do get holes in them. I had a valuable one lost in transit like this. If postman delivers on a rainy day the cardboard can turn to a big messy mush (I presume the postman is supposed to try and keep them dry). I had one sent like this once and as I lifted it out of the letterbox the knife nearly fell out of a huge wet hole in the envelope.
All of this can be easily fixed if the seller just buys a large roll of wide clear tape and covers the whole envelope and around edges in clear tape with bubble rap around knife, It doesnt take long at all and makes the cardboard much stronger and more water resistant. Dont know why more sellers dont do it, I would have saved a LOT of money on my collection.
Purchased an LB7 a few days ago, cost me $27US (about $38AUD) for standard airmail from Canada (ouch!). Was a good seller !! My fault should have checked first !!
Regards Tim

 

[relodr36]

He recommended taping over all labels (addressee and return) with clear packing tape

Barry,
Yes,the whole label,except the bar code should be taped.
All edges should be taped.
Any folder can be shipped cheaper and just as fast by 1st Class mail.
If you paid by Paypal and paid for insurance,and the seller didn't insure it,you should contact Paypal.
If the seller is reputable,he should refund your money anyway.
If the seller doesn't state total shipping costs in the ad and include the international shipping calculator in the ad,e-mail him before you bid. Some sellers play that game.:thumbdn:
Ron