[78-L] A note to any users of the US Postal Service

[David Lennick]

I'm still at the same box number. The renewal was due on a certain date, I 
wasn't going to be able to get down there to take care of it, and I'm not using 
credit cards at the moment, so I'd asked another user in Toronto when he was 
going down there and if he could possibly take care of getting it paid for. He 
didn't know when he was going down and didn't get back to me. I'd had 2 or 3 
conversations over the phone with the postmaster, confirming the due date and 
that it would be taken care of, so the next move came as a complete 
surprise...in the past, they've phoned me when there have been too many parcels 
clogging up the back room (like a dozen oversized boxes of transcriptions).

Definitely some 'splainin' to do.

dl

On 9/27/2013 6:33 AM, Rjholtin wrote:
> Wow.  NEVER heard of them e-mailing or phoning anybody before and we get a notice every week for a month or more before the rent is due!
>
> Not sure there is a lesson to be learned or heeded when there is no consistency of any kind, but given other changes in the US this does seem an omen.
>
> True, we could ship to Canada with UPS or FedEx but the cost is increased by multiples, not just percentages.  I mail books up there every month and investigated that many times and there is no good way. I would expextt shipping to another continent would be multiple again .
>
> Did you get to keep your same box number after all that - or even keep one at that post office,  or shall I change my addressbook?
>
> Sent from my iPod - which explainz the bad typjng
>
> On Sep 26, 2013, at 11:10 PM, David Lennick<dlennick at sympatico.ca>  wrote:
>
> On the other hand, they e-mail me whenever there's new mail, and they phoned me
> two weeks ago about another matter. So it's not as if they don't know where to
> find me. Even a notification DROPPED INTO THE PO BOX (where I wouldn't have
> found it) would have been something.
>
> dl
>
> On 9/27/2013 12:03 AM, Rjholtin wrote:
> I will bet my entire Ken Griffin collection that the reason they did NOT contact you is because They, too,  would have had to pay the international postage to contact you - and they ain't about to pay that, either.  There is noway the US Post Office is going to contact anybody by any means other than the USPost Office - not by phone and certainly not by e-mail.  They will do things the wayu they've done them for 200 years.
>
> Anybody have any other experience on  this phase of the question?
>
> Sent from my iPod - which explainz the bad typjng
>
> On Sep 26, 2013, at 10:24 PM, David Lennick<dlennick at sympatico.ca>   wrote:
>
> I'm having problems with the PO I use in Lewiston NY, which closed my box last
> month (payment was late) and didn't send me any notification but merely began
> returning items to the senders, in some cases marking them "moved/left no
> address". My first knowledge of this was when someone who'd had items mailed to
> my box was contacted by the seller. I've been renting this PO box since 1995
> and am known to the staff, I update my contact information regularly, and when
> I paid them last Monday and said I thought I should have been notified, they
> agreed. New postmaster seems a little dippy (he wasn't aware of the price
> structure or the late fee). I think they got some 'splainin' to do.
>
> dl
>
> On 9/26/2013 7:59 PM, Cary Ginell wrote:
> To all who sell and ship records on eBay or through private auction.
>
> This is a warning that the United States Postal Service will NOT honor insurance that you might purchase on 78s or any other collectibles sent through the mail.
>
> I recently had a shipment of 78s broken due to mishandling by the US Postal Service. I had purchased sufficient insurance to guarantee the value of the records, but when they refused to honor
>
> the insurance, I filed a claim. After waiting for two months, I received a notice saying that I had mailed "prohibited" items, and therefore they will not honor the insurance. I checked their website to see why
>
> 78s are not covered. Under a lengthy list of standard and prohibited items (which include things like flammable chemicals, body parts, and firearms), comes this:
>
> http://about.usps.com/publications/pub141/standard-prohibited-and-restricted-items.htm
>
> "COLLECTIBLE AND/OR IRREPLACEABLE ITEMS (ANY ITEM WORTH MORE THAN ITS ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE OR THAT IS NOT COMMONLY AVAILABLE) INCLUDING
> BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANTIQUES, FINE ART OR COLLETIBLE COINS AND STAMPS."
>
> So, if you use USPS insurance, you are simply wasting your money, because they will not cover any damages as a result of their mishandling of the package.
>
> Cary Ginell