OH, By the WAY.....

[Mike Griffin]

I had a thread on here earlier about the rising cost of shipping products and deleted the thread since it had run its course but I wanted to tell you all something.  The previous thread was talking about how expensive shipping was becoming and I had told you all that I preferred Priority Mail since it was quick and I had had very little damage.  Well. I spoke so soon.  One of my friends on here ordered a set of those YAK9 ribs and a plan.  I shipped it to him in the Triangular box you get from the Post office.  The ribs were laser cut in three pieces of 3/32 x 4 x 36 contest balsa sheets and the plans were rolled and inserted in the box with the sheets containing the ribs and I added some crumpled up newspaper to add some absorbing cushioning.  When he received the box it had been crushed and literally folded in half.  Of course this shattered the ribs but get this......the rolled plan was RIPPED...how the hell do you do that?  Good Lord...what kind of people do they have that would do this to a priority mail package?  I was stunned.....

I of course took care of the customer but that was a package I had to eat.  Makes me even more glad I will not have to stress about whether a package is going to get into your hands in one piece.....

Mike

[Gene O'Keefe]

Mike...after reading this I'd thought I'd reply. My triangular box was also "partially" bent in shipping. Fortunately just the outside edges of the balsa sheeting was damaged and "all" of the ribs are okay ( & the plans weren't ripped ).
To bad we pay for a service and don't get it from people who don't care in the shipping business.
My best wishes to you in your future endeavours and thanks for being a cottage industry guy.

  Geno

[Mike Griffin]

Mike...after reading this I'd thought I'd reply. My triangular box was also "partially" bent in shipping. Fortunately just the outside edges of the balsa sheeting was damaged and "all" of the ribs are okay ( & the plans weren't ripped ).
To bad we pay for a service and don't get it from people who don't care in the shipping business.
My best wishes to you in your future endeavours and thanks for being a cottage industry guy.

  Geno

Thank you Gene....I don't know what is going on with these priority mail shipments ... you pay extra for the service and get this kind of treatment...

Mike

[john e. holliday]

I have received several items over the years in those trangular boxes.   Sometimes a little damage and sometimes a little more.   They also make it hard to store things in.

[Bill Little]

HI Mike,

My package just arrived in what looks like perfect shape!

Thanks!
Bill

[pat king]

Mike,
I ship most of my kits in the Priority triangular mailers. I believe that there are some postal employees who do not like them and deliberately destroy the contents by mangling the boxes. I have had as many as two shipments to the same address get destroyed. That is why I insure all of the kits I send through the Post Office.

Pat

[john e. holliday]

Just looked at the postage on the kit that just arrived and wonder why my postal clerk that I wanted to send a kit to Big Bear said it was too big.   She measured it twice as I told her I had sent similar kits before thru the USPS.  I finally told her I guess she doesn't want the business. 

[dennis lipsett]

Mike,
I ship most of my kits in the Priority triangular mailers. I believe that there are some postal employees who do not like them and deliberately destroy the contents by mangling the boxes. I have had as many as two shipments to the same address get destroyed. That is why I insure all of the kits I send through the Post Office.

Pater

Pat,
 Insurance with most carriers is really a pain to try and get paid in a timely manner. I usually use delivery confirmation with the post office. Every postal person who handles and transfers the mail has to sign off on it and the carrier has to scan the delivery plus you get tracking for about $1.60 total. In 25 years or better I've only had one package with damage and that was UPS.

Dennis

[Mike Griffin]

Last year I sent 9 (count em) 9 Ringmaster kits that I bought from Eric to Anchorage, Alaska when the customer only ordered 3.  The first three left California by air for Anchorage and then just disappeared into thin air.  The post office confirmed they got on the plane.  They were no where to be found in the Anchorage post office.  I sent three more kits.  This time he only received the torn wrapper off the kit box with his address on it.  Yes you heard me right,the post office up there told him that was they received on the flight from California.  The last three kits I DID insure (the first six were not) and it took three months to get it processed and paid.  Now if I was a betting man, I would guess that the first six of those Ringmaster kits ended up in a postal employees trunk up in Anchorage and eventually ended up on E Bay.  Or the customer could have been lying to me and was making this whole thing up and decided when he got 9 Ringmasters, that was enough.  Even after all this I continued to use USPS priority mail thinking they were the less of the 3 evils.  Then I get this e mail from a friend about the ribs in the triangular box which had been folded in half and the plans were torn (I still do not know how you do that).  It really makes you wonder doesn't it.   It is hard enough to produce the kit with all that has to be done and then have to worry about this kind of crap happening.   

Mike

[John Cralley]

Mike,

I bet you can guess.

I got my plans and rib set today and the USPS did a number on it as well. Snapped all the rib sheets in half but it all seems to be there. The plans are OK and I will be able to reassemble the ribs (like a jig saw puzzle) so don't bother to think about replacing them.

For what it is worth, I suggest that you get some florescent yellow stickers (LARGE) the shout Fragile!!! Do NOT Fold or Crush!!! Fragile!!! and slap them on all three sides of your boxes!

[Mike Griffin]

Mike,

I bet you can guess.

I got my plans and rib set today and the USPS did a number on it as well. Snapped all the rib sheets in half but it all seems to be there. The plans are OK and I will be able to reassemble the ribs (like a jig saw puzzle) so don't bother to think about replacing them.

For what it is worth, I suggest that you get some florescent yellow stickers (LARGE) the shout Fragile!!! Do NOT Fold or Crush!!! Fragile!!! and slap them on all three sides of your boxes!

John than you for letting me know...I may be ill......what is going on with these people?   Guess that was the last time if will use Priority Mail triangular boxes.....

[Serge_Krauss]

Yeah,...

I also have a Brodak Cardinal wing whose tips tried to meet in transit. I do believe that there are people disturbed enough that they do things like tis with intent.

[tom brightbill]

I just received 3 Lew McFarland kits from Mike and Eric today.  One looks fine, the second has a small crushed in corner, and the third literally looks like it was ran over by something, but I didn't find any actual tread marks.  I don't think that I could have built and crashed it and had more pulverized pieces. It was a joint effort between USPS and Fed-X.  These guys (Mike and Eric) work too hard at pleasing us to have this kind of service (if it can be called that). Not to mention the waste of all that beautiful wood.....

[Dan McEntee]

 This is one of the reasons I don't buy kits through the mail anymore. I have gotten much help from flying buddies to pick up stuff for me and get it too me at the next time I see them. I'm willing to do that for others also.No fault of Mike or Walter and the other suppliers, but when you get a kit in the mail that has tire marks across the box, that has to make you wonder about the intelligence of the people processing the package. Just plain irresponsible, and completely uncaring by the USPS. I have gotten stuff delivered to me in plastic bags because the envelope was torn open. When I inquired about it, I was told, "That's the way we got it." I replied, " I know the sender personally and he would not send me something like this. I think he's going to sue you for slander!". Both UPS and USPS keep pushing their systems and employees for greater speed and efficiency, and this is the end result, a bunch of people that just don't give a damn about me and my package.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[larry richards]

If it's any help, the kit of the Yak-9 arrived in excellent condition and on time.  Not a corner smashed or dents in the sides.  I still believe that when you put "FRAGILE" on the box they try to see if you really packed it right!  I've seen Airborne Express "FRAGILE" MARKED PACKAGES get thrown into the belly of DC-8's at Oakland and you could hear the glass breaking!  Nothing was ever said to the employee.  This is just the reason I NEVER put FRAGILE on anything I send including the many kits I use to make.  BTW, when the glass broke, the employee laughed and said I guess they didn't package it well enough!  Good luck on your next shipment.  Larry

[Mike Griffin]

I just received 3 Lew McFarland kits from Mike and Eric today.  One looks fine, the second has a small crushed in corner, and the third literally looks like it was ran over by something, but I didn't find any actual tread marks.  I don't think that I could have built and crashed it and had more pulverized pieces. It was a joint effort between USPS and Fed-X.  These guys (Mike and Eric) work too hard at pleasing us to have this kind of service (if it can be called that). Not to mention the waste of all that beautiful wood.....

Hi Tom

I sent you an e mail too but there is another Shark 35 coming your way.  I am sorry this happened but I cannot control the attitudes of the people in charge of shipping these packages.....and the Post Office wonders why people don't like them....

[john e. holliday]

Another thing we forget about, no matter the carrier, is the new automated conveyer systems they have.  The scanners used to sort packages when put on the conveyer correctly sometimes don't see what they are supposed to see.   Then the whole conveyer system gets jammed and a person has to shut things down and get it going again.  In reality I am surprised we get packages in fairly decent shape