Crap!

[GrayBeard]

U. S. Postal Service strikes again!

They tore my ornament mailer so bad they had to return it to me! They could barely read my return address afrter the machine ground it up.

Ornament is OK but have to remail tomorrow.

Sure hope it gets there this time!

~~~GB~~~

[chelcass]

Leave it to the good ole post office.  What a bunch of idiots.  Thank goodness the ornament is ok. 

[Keefie]

You're lucky the ornament is ok, could have been a lot worse, your postal service sounds almost as bad as out Royal Mail.

[daliclimbs]

Wow... that's service with a smile! Glad the ornament is intact...

[Mainewoods]

Chelcass, the machines that do the sorting nowadays can sometimes "eat" things.  Not something to blame on any individuals! 

MW - Current postal employee - as was my father before me, his father before him, and his mother and father before him.

GB, glad the ornament survived!

[chelcass]

They could have hand cancelled it. 

[wombatie]

Hope you don't have to repay to post it.

Marg

[jimbo]

I think they are all like that all over the world
Jimbo

[Marshall]

I have had to re-send a couple out again for they got lost period  ...............MB

[Mainewoods]

They could have hand cancelled it. 

Yes they could have, had it been requested and needed.  Only items with stamps get cancelled.  Items with metered postage get processed without the need to cancel, because the meter strip is dated and can't be reused.  Plus, there's a difference between cancelling and sorting, and the sorting is likely where GB's item got damaged.  Hand sorting happens on a very small scale these days, due to the large volume of items that have to be sorted, and the time crunch to get them on their way.  People were replaced with machines quite a few years ago because the machines can sort faster and cheaper.  Just like with anything else, sometimes things get caught and get damaged by the machine.  Best advice is to pack it well.  Simply stamping "Fragile" on it doesn't guarantee it's safety, the machines don't know the difference. 

[GrayBeard]

Curiosity....Do 'boxed' packages go thru the same or similar machines as the letter type mail.

I know for a fact that jewelers use the regular mail sending millions of dollars of expensive jewelery every day and seldom have a package get lost or destroyed.

~~~GB~~~

[Russ C]

I don't think so GB. I always ship in a box and so far have had no problems. Might cost just a little more but worth it to me. 

[Mainewoods]

Curiosity....Do 'boxed' packages go thru the same or similar machines as the letter type mail.

~~~GB~~~

No, GB, they don't.  The letter machines can't handle anything more than 1/4" thick, that's why if you mail a letter sized  envelope with something irregularly shaped, or more than 1/4" thick, it requires additional postage for being "non-machinable".  The machines handling the letters not only cancel the stamps, but sort them at the same time to get them grouped with other letters going in the same direction.  As for the parcel handling, those machines only sort packages as they move along a conveyor and don't do any cancelling of postage.  I've delivered to the jeweler here in my hometown, and nearly everything he received was "Registered" mail, which is the most stringently controlled type of mail...it is under lock and key when not in someone's hands.