[Milsurplus] Golden years of collecting?

[Michael Bittner]

OK Robert, thanks for the info.  Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: WA5CAB at cs.com 
  To: mmab at cox.net ; RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu 
  Cc: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:48 PM
  Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Golden years of collecting?


  Mike,

  We still use First Class (and First Class Mail International, although it has gotten so bad we've seriously considered killing most of our foreign sales by dropping it because of both transit times and loss rates).  I was just pointing out that if First Class takes six or seven days, that's not unusual and the buyers will blame you (if they are the blaming type, which fortunately most aren't).  But first class is super erratic.  We've had it take one day to get to Seattle and 7 days to get to Seguin (a little town two hours west of Houston).  USPS seems dedicated to meeting the 2 to 3 days they promise for PriMail.  Even out to the Territories like Guam.  But their on-line claims for First Class and PP have to be taken with a large glass of salt and Tequila.

  Media Mail is about like PP.  And fortunately people don't seem to expect better.  But only about 1% of what we ship goes that way.  I'm guessing that you think otherwise because by and large, most of my For Sale posts on the various lists are for manuals.  But that's because the lists are basically non-commercial, and I only post stuff I think might be of interest to whatever list seems appropriate when I first have it available.  And more often than not, that's a manual I just scanned because someone wrote asking whether I had one available.  And not so much hardware.  Most of the ex-NATO warehouses in Europe are gone.

  Which reminds me - I don't think I mentioned that I have GC-7 cranks again, mostly marked -GY.  And a guy I know who does mostly vehicle mount hardware repro's has almost solved the problems associated with reproducing LG-3 and LG-13 legs.  I loaned him one of each to work from.  

  In a message dated 3/10/2010 9:41:13 PM Central Standard Time, mmab at cox.net writes: 

    Robert, My recent experience is the 44 items I shipped this past Monday.  Most of them small items, coils and such, shipped by 1st Class Mail.  Today Thursday, I've already got positive feedback on 10 of the items from people who received them.  Thus far, I've beat the priority flat rate charge every time, but there may come an instance were a flat rate priority box works out better.  Thanks for your other information on shipping.  BTW, don't you send most of your stuff via Media Mail?

    Mike W6MAB



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