[Elecraft] Shipping via UPS - A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

Fri Apr 15 11:47:03 EDT 2022

:-)  OK, here's my favorite courier story: In rural Truckee, CA, the
courier services contract with USPS for occasional "last mile" delivery
service. When they do that, USPS operates by their own service rules which
stipulate that you must have a USPS mailbox. I don't, which is why I use
couriers who offer doorstep delivery. So I ordered a nice camera lens for
courier delivery to my house and USPS got the delivery assignment. But,
because I don't have a mailbox, USPS marked it "Delivery refused, return to
sender." I was ticked off, cancelled the order, and pondered how best to
get the lens. A couple weeks later, it went on sale at $100 off the
original price. I re-ordered with delivery to a suburban address where it
arrived promptly by courier, saving me $100.  ;-)

/Rick N6XI

On Fri, Apr 15, 2022 at 1:00 AM Jim Rhodes <jimk0xu at gmail.com> wrote:

> Decades ago by parents spent their winters travelling in warmer climates
> and I, being the only one left in the area, took care of their mail, bills
> and such. One winter they were home for christmas and my father took one of
> his hearing aides in to be fixed and they had to sent it off to a repair
> center. He asked that it be mailed out to him when it came back, then made
> arrangements with the local post office to forward that package to the next
> address they were going to be at for a few weeks. Well the few weeks came
> and went and no package, they told him over the phone that they had mailed
> it out. I double checked with the postmaster there and they hadn't seen
> anything come through, so I called the hearing aide people. I talked to a
> young lady there and asked when they had mailed it. She looked it up and
> told me the date, which was around 2 weeks earlier. I told her the post
> office out there said they never received it. she replied that no they
> would not because they "mailed" it via UPS. I called and talked to a number
> of people at UPS before getting an answer that it had been delivered on a
> date about a week earlier. so I drove out to their house out in the
> country, waded through about 50 yards of knee to waist deep snow and found
> the package about half way down through the drift by the door. When I
> called UPS back I asked them who signed for the package and was told the
> "Mr. Rhodes" signed for it. I said "That was quite a trick as he was in
> Arizona at the time, over 1500 miles away." I was told well he must have
> been there to sign, I said the only one there was a snow drift and it
> couldn't sign.
> This morning my doorbell rang and it was the mailman who had a package from
> KF7P that the box was a little bit squashed on one side. He appologized for
> the condition but the damage was minimal and it was just come cores and
> other small parts, so nothing was damaged. But a far cry from the "drop and
> dash" you get from UPS, FedEx, Amazon and the like.
>
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2022, 20:16 jerry <jerry at tr2.com> wrote:
>
> > I have one problem with USPS - they lie.  Occasionally.  They say things
> > have
> > been delivered when they have not been delivered.  Yesterday, they said
> > they
> > delivered a couple of pieces of aluminum for my latest project - I went
> > out to
> > look when the email came in... no package.
> >
> >    Sometimes stuff will appear a few days later, sometimes not.  It's a
> > real PITA,
> > because then I have to go argue with the seller - who is totally not at
> > fault, but
> > what can I do?
> >
> >              - Jerry KF6VB
> >
> >
> >
> > On 2022-04-13 08:06, Andrew Moore wrote:
> > >> What's your favorite kind of potato chips? I like Utz, or anything
> > >> plain
> > > and unruffled. Cape Cod is good too.
> > >
> > > Plain Utz is my favorite! But with ruffles. For Cape Cod it's the dark
> > > russets.
> > >
> > > Salt and vinegar: Just say no. If vinegar and chips don't belong in the
> > > same room together, how can they possibly be allowed in the same bag?
> > > Makes
> > > no sense.
> > >
> > > Your preemptive strike on the "easily ruffled" joke is appreciated.
> > >
> > > On Wed, Apr 13, 2022 at 10:38 AM Julia Tuttle <julia at juliatuttle.net>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> What's your favorite kind of potato chips? I like Utz, or anything
> > >> plain
> > >> and unruffled. Cape Cod is good too.
> > >>
> > >> Tragically, I will now be making the "that's funny because you're so
> > >> easily ruffled, Julia" joke before any of y'all have a chance.
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 10:01 Andrew Moore <andrew.nv1b at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> > Elecraft products are relatively small however they are expensive
> and
> > >>> many of us have shipped them so I think this is a good subject for
> > >>> the
> > >>> list.
> > >>>
> > >>> Kudos to John for bringing some humor into an otherwise monotonous
> > >>> thread
> > >>> (I'm not being sarcastic here).
> > >>>
> > >>> I eat snacks in front of my Elecraft so a discussion of potato chips
> > >>> is
> > >>> warranted too, LOL.
> > >>>
> > >>> The irony is that despite my initial ask (which I think only three
> > >>> people
> > >>> actually understood and addressed; the rest responded with irrelevant
> > >>> opinion), I find myself reading most of the thread.
> > >>>
> > >>> To the original poster (Ted I think? I was a while back):
> > >>>
> > >>> In the interest of staying on topic: despite your frustration with
> > >>> the
> > >>> cost
> > >>> of the UPS Store service, the explanation is also revealed what you
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>> the alternative - nearest UPS depot - was a 90 mile round trip. You
> > >>> pay
> > >>> for
> > >>> the convenience of having a drop-off location close by, not having to
> > >>> pay
> > >>> high fuel costs for a 90 mile drive, not having to spend a minimum of
> > >>> 3
> > >>> hours for that effort, etc.
> > >>>
> > >>> In the interest of getting off topic: I've had loads of success with
> > >>> USPS
> > >>> Priority, and there's probably a real USPS office near your location.
> > >>>
> > >>> I do understand your frustration with the price. I grumble every time
> > >>> the
> > >>> cost of potato chips goes up. A family size bag cost $2.45 just a few
> > >>> years
> > >>> ago. Now it's just under $5.00, and I swear the bag is smaller and
> > >>> it's
> > >>> filled with more air,  fewer chips.
> > >>>
> > >>> Oh jeez, here we go with the potato chips. My KX2 is out for delivery
> > >>> today! I'm going to celebrate by having a snack in front of it.
> > >>>
> > >>> Speaking of USPS, many thanks to Madelyn & Elecraft for such a prompt
> > >>> delivery. The KX2 left Elecraft in California at 3 pm Monday and will
> > >>> be
> > >>> delivered in Maine less than 48 hour later. That's 2,700 miles in
> > >>> less
> > >>> than
> > >>> 2 days and cost me just $32.46 via USPS, and all I did was sit on my
> > >>> butt.
> > >>> Eating chips.
> > >>>
> > >>> 73,
> > >>> -Andrew NV1B
> > >>> ..
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> On Wed, Apr 13, 2022 at 7:55 AM <john at kk9a.com> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> > In this case the subject line makes it very obvious that the
> original
> > >>> post
> > >>> > is about shipping. Elecraft products are relatively small however
> > they
> > >>> are
> > >>> > expensive and many of us have shipped them so I think this is a
> good
> > >>> > subject
> > >>> > for the list.
> > >>> >
> > >>> > If you read the archives like I do it is very easy to pick which
> > posts
> > >>> you
> > >>> > wish to read. It is easy to ignore the ones that are not of
> interest
> > and
> > >>> > there is nothing to delete.
> > >>> > http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/elecraft/2022-April/date.html
> > >>> >
> > >>> > John KK9A
> > >>> >
> > >>> >
> > >>> > Andrew Moore nv1b wrote:
> > >>> >
> > >>> > Other than trying to remember and ignore by subject line, is there
> a
> > >>> way to
> > >>> > mute specific threads on the Elecraft mailing list (via qth.net)?
> > Maybe
> > >>> > I'm
> > >>> > thinking of the feature on @groups.io mailing lists - but this
> > would be
> > >>> > helpful as Elecraft related topics morph into posts containing no
> > >>> Elecraft
> > >>> > content. While this content has value, it also dilutes value, as
> it's
> > >>> not
> > >>> > Elecraft specific.
> > >>> >
> > >>> > Thanks & 73,
> > >>> > -Andrew NV1B
> > >>> >
> > >>> > ______________________________________________________________
> > >>> > Elecraft mailing list
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> > >>> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > >>> > Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> > >>> >
> > >>> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> > >>> > Please help support this email list:
> http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> > >>> > Message delivered to andrew.nv1b at gmail.com
> > >>> >
> > >>> ______________________________________________________________
> > >>> Elecraft mailing list
> > >>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> > >>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > >>> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> > >>>
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> > >>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> > >>> Message delivered to julia at juliatuttle.net
> > >>>
> > >>
> > > ______________________________________________________________
> > > Elecraft mailing list
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> > >
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> > > Message delivered to jerry at tr2.com
> > ______________________________________________________________
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> >
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> >
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-- 
--

Rick Tavan
Truckee and Saratoga, CA