Usps Fails Again...

[dgturner]

I recently purchased a bottle of ink from FPN member pharmacist -- the transaction from initial questions to him shipping the ink was wonderful. Then the USPS got involved.

My tracking information did not get updated until the day it arrived in Milwaukee, 10 days later (on a Friday). The ink did not make it to my office on Friday, instead Murphy decided that of the 1-in-6 chance of attempting a delivery when we are closed, of course that is when delivery was attempted.

 

Someone else in Florida received their ink (shipped the same day as mine) on the previous Monday -- so it apparently took (benefit of the doubt here) one week to get from Belgium to the US (let us assume the shipment came in to the same city in FL to which it was delivered), but then takes another five days to get to Milwaukee, WI. Not good.

 

When it does arrive, the top of the bottle appears to have been either cut or torqued to the point of popping the top off. There is ink all over the outside of the bottle, and I had to pour ink out of the Ziploc bag that contained the bottle. The labels were clear and concise, the bottle was not a child proof model, and the package and bottle both possessed clear labels -- so why was the bottle cut open????

 

It gets even better -- when I went to the USPS Inspector General's website to find the telephone number (so I could complain) I see a nice graphic letting me know their hours of operation:

http://www.uspsoig.gov/images/hotline_box.png

 

 

When you call, you are told that the hours for live support are between 11AM and 2PM Eastern Time (I am Central Time, one hour behind...) It was 2:42 my time...

 

Pics

http://www.dgt2.net/images/InkBottle_1.jpg

 

http://www.dgt2.net/images/InkBottle_2.jpg

Edited October 25, 2011 by dgturner

[ticoun]

man, this is really bad!

[rbadger332]

Way to go USPS. Hopefully you can get them to pay for it, but I must say, good freakin' luck. My luck with USPS with or without insurance is, to be exact, 0%.

[subbes]

Obviously someone thought "Iron Gall Ink" was a code word for "illegal cheap Canadian blood pressure medication" and got search-happy with it.

[pharmacist]

Hi dgturner,

 

sorry for the problems you have encountered. Please pour over the ink into another well-lid bottle and keep it sealed. Hopefully writing using the ink will get you forget this incident .

 

Maybe the problem is caused by rough handling by the postal services and not cause by the custom officers.

[corniche]

Hello DGTurner,

 

I am sorry for your loss.

 

I could be wrong; however, I'd be quicker to blame a snoopy U.S. Customs agent rather than the U.S.P.S., based on the damage. It looks a lot more like "inspection damage" rather than "rough handling damage."

 

They probably thought some terrorist group was trying to smuggle in an explosive liquid disguised as iron gall fountain ink, (a substance which would confuse 98% of the population to start with).

 

Just my 2 cents. Either way, it is a real kick in the pants.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

Edited October 25, 2011 by S. P. Colfer

[dgturner]

Way to go USPS. Hopefully you can get them to pay for it, but I must say, good freakin' luck. My luck with USPS with or without insurance is, to be exact, 0%.

 

Mine as well...

 

Obviously someone thought "Iron Gall Ink" was a code word for "illegal cheap Canadian blood pressure medication" and got search-happy with it.

First reaction to this:

 

Followed by:

Of course that is what they were thinking, the ink was coming to me

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

After using the ink last night (I decanted it into a Noodler's bottle and filled two pens ) I must say that I will usually only load an ink into a max of two pens, but I may need to make an exception. Although I may need to make a trip to Europe to avoid the USPS man handling my ink.

Of course carrying an 'unknown' liquid through customs might not be a good idea, especially given that I might get a little defensive....

=====

ME: My ink, get your own.

TSA: We need to inspect the bottle sir.

ME: You can pry it from my cold dead fingers (clutching the bottle with a look of panic on my face).

TSA: Your call...

======

 

Maybe I will just have Pharmacist send more when I finish this bottle off...

<SIGH>

 

Keep in mind this is the same USPS that has managed to take a week to deliver a priority mail package from Goulet pens (and the tracking did not show anything past VA until the day after I received the package).

[Laura N]

What a bummer. But I hardly think the USPS would open your package and open its contents. I'm guessing that's Customs, DEA or Homeland Security. Which also would explain the delay.

[KCat]

sometimes it pays (albeit quite a lot) to use a shipping company. They rarely take the customs inspection hit and they have much better tracking.

 

As long as you don't live in an area that they "share" with the USPS. During Christmas we get a lot of packages that were supposed to be shipped by FedEx or UPS but end up delivered by USPS through some shared process which delays things and sometimes breaks things. :bonk:

[Chevalier]

I had my own share of nuts customs idiots (sorry, no other word available that would fit) with my order from the Goulets, there's little you can do. Ringing the bells really loud might help in Europe, but I think it might worsen the situation in the USA atm. I've been lucky this time, everything reached me really really late but safely.

 

The last order I've received in the US was the worst experience I had with customs and "security" ... a big load of ink sticks, every single one broken into 2 pieces. I bet they got search-happy with it too "Boy, a package of small cocaine bars dyed black from Asia". I always wondered what happens in such a case (they are sure they've found something and damaged the content subsequently). I guess we found out, too often nothing, they simply forward the trashed stuff.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Chevalier

[Dimitrios_P]

What a mess.....

 

Sorry for what you've been through.

 

One word: LAME.

[USMCMom]

That's awful!! If something has to go through heavy customs search or some such, it should have had label put on to it, that way you'd know who handled it. Of course, what do I know. To add to this ... the holidays are nearly upon us and most of us are well aware of what THAT means when it comes to USPS!

[welch]

What a bummer. But I hardly think the USPS would open your package and open its contents. I'm guessing that's Customs, DEA or Homeland Security. Which also would explain the delay.

 

+1.

 

I've only once had a pen damaged by the Post Office. This looks very much like customs inspection. Anything coming into the US gets delayed about a week at Customs. I rarely buy ink on-line, and the only time I shipped ink I worried that a bottle would crack. It went only inside the US, so no Customs, Homeland Security etc got involved.

 

At work, I have shipped CDs and Zip drive platters (remember them??). Each time, Customs US held the shipment. We used DHL, by the way. FedEx, UPOS, and DHL all seem to have the same customs inspection delays.

[Reene]

Is it possible the ink bottle was affected by cargo air pressure fluctuations during it's drip from overseas and the bottle just popped it's top from the buildup of pressure/gas?

I mention this because I've had cans and jars of cleaning or chemical stuff pop their plastic caps just like that, just while being stored.

[RudyR]

It was a spy. A damn spy. Sabotaging our mail. I've had really good results from the USPS and prefer going through them as opposed to UPS or Fedex. They always deliver the packages from Goulets directly to my door while the other two sometimes have problems getting through the security door of our complex. So they leave little love notes on the security door saying they stopped by. It usually takes 3 to 6 days for the package to get to me depending on how soon I want it.

[USMCMom]

I recently had a package being sent from California to Tennessee. It was mailed nearly a month ago and STILL hasn't arrived! The party that sent the package replaced what never arrived and it made it here within 72 hours. No telling what happened to the original package!

[GouletPens]

The USPS is definitely not perfect, but then no shipping company is. I've received damaged packages from every carrier, and also had crazy tracking/misrouting errors with packages coming in by every carrier. None of them are perfect! All that said, many of you know we ship by all USPS at Goulet and he have a remarkably low loss/damage rate with them. All things considered, I think they do a pretty decent job for what I consider to be a logistical miracle....seriously, it's amazing how complicated it is to get millions of packages all over the world every day if you just stop and think about it!

 

I really think Renee is on to something....perhaps it was the bottle itself just 'giving up' in transit! I'm sure it traveled by air at some point on its journey, and the pressure changes can make ink bottles burst like that. Perhaps no one is to blame at all except for physics!

 

Now customs....they are another story! You can imagine that we ship a lot of international packages, and we get headaches nearly every day from shipping delays in customs. The timelines for how they handle things is completely erratic and unpredictable. I get some first-class packages that go across the world and arrive in 5 days, other Priority Mail packages take 6-8 weeks....I can't believe the shipping class or carrier is the factor (in any country!), it all has to do with how long it sits in customs. I'm sure there are reasons in place for doing what they do, but whatever it is seems to be some kind of mystery (perhaps to keep harm-doers from figuring out how to smuggle in illegal things!).

[raging.dragon]

The USPS is definitely not perfect, but then no shipping company is. I've received damaged packages from every carrier, and also had crazy tracking/misrouting errors with packages coming in by every carrier. None of them are perfect! All that said, many of you know we ship by all USPS at Goulet and he have a remarkably low loss/damage rate with them. All things considered, I think they do a pretty decent job for what I consider to be a logistical miracle....seriously, it's amazing how complicated it is to get millions of packages all over the world every day if you just stop and think about it!

 

I really think Renee is on to something....perhaps it was the bottle itself just 'giving up' in transit! I'm sure it traveled by air at some point on its journey, and the pressure changes can make ink bottles burst like that. Perhaps no one is to blame at all except for physics!

 

Now customs....they are another story! You can imagine that we ship a lot of international packages, and we get headaches nearly every day from shipping delays in customs. The timelines for how they handle things is completely erratic and unpredictable. I get some first-class packages that go across the world and arrive in 5 days, other Priority Mail packages take 6-8 weeks....I can't believe the shipping class or carrier is the factor (in any country!), it all has to do with how long it sits in customs. I'm sure there are reasons in place for doing what they do, but whatever it is seems to be some kind of mystery (perhaps to keep harm-doers from figuring out how to smuggle in illegal things!).

 

At least in Canada, I think the customs staff just get overwhelmed by the volume of stuff they have to inspect. So sometimes they pass stuff through without even looking at it. Other times they hold a shipment for awhile before they have time to conduct a physical inspection. I have no experience with customs in other countries, so I can't comment on them.

Edited November 12, 2011 by raging.dragon

[fourseamer]

USPS has been good for me. Most of the carriers have been satisfactory. However, for deliveries to me, the local FedEx guy is maddening. On multiple occasions, he has pulled up to the door, failed to ring my doorbell, and posted a "you're not home" sticker on my door. I work from home. I'm home virtually all day, every day. There's no excuse for it. One time, I was in my kitchen watching the guy out the window. Saw him pull up, rifle through the back of the truck, and when he failed to find the package..."you're not home" sticker on my door and off he went. :gaah:

[saintsimon]

...There's no excuse for it. One time, I was in my kitchen watching the guy out the window. Saw him pull up, rifle through the back of the truck, and when he failed to find the package..."you're not home" sticker on my door and off he went. :gaah:

 

I think it is the time pressure they are under. It looks like these days the delivery folks have hardly any time to actually do their jobs right. And every "productivity increase" means less people have to deal with the same mount of cargo.