Hi Mike, Gary, Al, Bernd, Chris, and List, I concur with Gary on this one about USPS. Now, I don't completely disagree with Chris Peterson's assessment of the postal service, because they have their fair share of inefficiency and waste - and that is why they are hemorrhaging money to the tune of billions of dollars.
Perhaps I have just been lucky with USPS. It is very rarely that I lose a package without a trace. I've been selling a wide-range of collectibles online since 1999 and I can count on one hand the number of times USPS has lost a package (or damaged it to the point of being a total loss). This handful of lost packages was the minority in thousands of successful mailings. More frequently, a package will be slow through USPS and take several days (to weeks) longer to arrive than it should. Delays of a few days are not uncommon and delays of weeks happen about once a year. In my personal experience, the "hiccup rate" with USPS is about one package out of a few or several hundreds. On the other hand, I have shipped via UPS about 20 times in my lifetime. Out of those 20 times, I have had major issues about a half-dozen times. This includes lost packages, damaged packages, and very poor customer service. My personal hiccup rate with UPS has been about 25-30% of packages shipped. For this reason, I ceased using them entirely about 2 years ago. I don't even like buying from vendors who use UPS and I tend to avoid sellers who ship via UPS in favor of those who ship via USPS or FedEx. I've never had a problem with FedEx and find their service to be reliable, albeit more expensive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone News Feed - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516 Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone Meteorite Top List - http://meteorite.gotop100.com EOM - http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/collection.aspx?id=1564 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- On 12/21/10, Gary Fujihara <fuj...@mac.com> wrote: > Aloha Mike, > > Sorry to hear about your package going AWOL, but as everyone has already > mentioned, there is hope that it will eventually arrive at its destination. > > FWIW, despite everyone's grim perspective of the USPS, I have found their > service to be exemplary, especially when compared to UPS who gouge us in > Hawaii and lose or damage packages on a seemingly regular basis. Gotta also > remember that its the busiest season of the year for the post office, who > are operating under a constrained budget with less staffing than in years > past. Good luck getting your package to its destination Mike! > > gary > > On Dec 21, 2010, at 6:18 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > >> Hi all, I shipped a priority flat rate box on Dec 6th and it was >> scanned and left the Las Vegas sort facility on the same evening. Now >> ever since it has just said it was in transit to its destination. I >> did use a signature confirmation. The bad news is it is a meteorite >> that I sold for several thousand dollars.......I know but it is too >> late to register and insure the package. I am hoping there is some one >> who investigates something like this because I don't think the item >> was lost it was in a flat rate box, hard to miss that lying on the >> floor. So if it is gone then I am guessing someone has stolen it. >> Input would be helpful....and I guess the moral of the story is >> shipped expensive items insured and registered, they can go missig >> even from state to state. >> >> -- >> Mike Miller 3835 E Nicole Ave Kingman Az 86409 >> www.meteoritefinder.com >> 928-757-1378 >> ______________________________________________ >> Visit the Archives at >> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html >> Meteorite-list mailing list >> Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > Gary Fujihara > Big Kahuna Meteorites (IMCA#1693) > 105 Puhili Place, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 > http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/ > http://shop.ebay.com/fujmon/m.html > (808) 640-9161 > > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > -- ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list