How did it survive? (USPS rant)

[Sixxer]

Hey TB, my latest adventure with our fine postal service. Bass purchased 9/27, shipped the next day from NJ. I'm in Birmingham, AL. 9/30 it arrives in Atlanta, a 2 hour drive from my house. No update for TEN DAYS! I file a missing mail claim. 3 days later it resurfaces, back in NJ! The seller calls USPS, they said they were sending it back to him for reasons unknown. He redirected it back to me. 3 days later, 18 days after being shipped it finally arrived.
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Somehow it survived unscathed. I've had nothing but bad experiences with USPS lately. Unfortunately I've had nothing but bad experiences with FedEx lately as well. UPS has been solid, but only recently. At this point I'm considering just going local for gear purchases/sales.

Fedex did this....damaged, and returned.

 

[Pirate Captain]

I’m not “slagging off” the USPS. It’s the only mail service i use because it needs to be protected and funded.
The fact that the previous Postmaster General was intentionally undercutting the service is just that, a fact. He was a turd who was only appointed to that position precisely because he wanted to defund the USPS. American politics at work: claim a service doesn’t work, then defund that service so that it doesn’t actually work, so it can be privatized. The service doesn’t get better but now a small number of people are making more money.

not you...I was agreeing with you...I meant the people making one damaged (but insured) package into the failure of a national institution

 

[bdplaid]

I've had best luck with USPS, followed closely by UPS. FedEx is so bad i have to request and insist that they not be used. FedEx places my packages not at my front door, but rather at the street end of my driveway. In the rain. With no additional protection.

IME it depends on the office and driver in your area.

But there was the time a USPS package arrived late and repackaged, inside were the tuners I'd bought which had obvious fire damage. The seller knew nothing about it (I trust them as I'd used them many times), and the post office knew nothing about it, and even gave me a hard time when I was returning them. But that was a one-off. Usually they're super reliable.

 

[Sixxer]

Fedex did this....damaged, and returned.

New replacement arrived in good shape. UPS handled it the 2nd time.

 

[NickyBass]

I shipped an Azola Bug Bass with Fedex. The truck caught on fire somewhere near California. It was delayed a few days, but arrived safely.

 

[GretschWretch]

My kid asked me..... Dad, what was it like in the 1960's?
I drove down to the Post office with my kid and said... "This is exactly what it was like in the 1960's"
.... End of story

In the nineteen sixties we got two mail deliveries a day. My local post office is one mile from my house. The nearest UPS drop-off is forty miles away. I need to look into Pirate Ship, but I doubt there is an outlet near me.

To put things in perspective, earlier this year I purchased four basses from a seller in Kyiv, Ukraine. From the shipping point to my door took only ten days.