Art & Inspiration Be Careful How You Ship Your Parts!!

USPS lost the 2 distributors and 2 carburetors I sent to Chevs of the 40s for cores, now I am out all pieces. And if I want to make up the loss, I will have to go to the junkyard and find some. A few years ago Fedex lost one of a pair of leaf springs for my ‘55 Chevy. I ask, how do you lose a 3’ long 40 lb piece of black steel? Especially when it was part of a set!

 

If it gets separated from the box or shipping container, they don't know where it goes. If the shipping label or tag or whatever comes off, no way to tell. Keep that in mind when shipping anything, no matter the weight or size, affix another shipping label to the item itself (inside the box) in case that happens.

 

In years past I used USPS without any problems, now I never use it for a purchase or sale of an item, same deal with the mail service, it's gone to shit for some reason. Still use priority mail, insure it, pretty pricey, no problems yet. What the hell, many years in business 1976-2010 sent out approx 45,000 checks, not 1 lost, only time the check got lost in mail was when customers were sending me money owed, 1 of the 3 most used lies, the checks in the mail.

 

I’m not a internet bill payer or use a credit card for utilities or food. I’ve noticed over the last year it takes a lot longer for US mail to deliver and checks to clear. Was never a problem in the past.

 

I'll take the USPS over FedEx every day of the week. They're so bad that they removed phone numbers for both customer contact and complaints. Even staff at FedEx stores cannot contact someone-in-the-know to help you. You simply cannot escalate an issue or contact someone to get "eyes on" when a package is "trapped" in a location because that service no longer exists. It was removed because it was overwhelming.

 

Interesting, I haven't had any problems with FedEx or UPS, but have talked with the UPS and FedEx drivers, about boxes arriving with some damage, contents OK, ( I check before they leave)both are car guys and they said that the sorting belts/ assembly line automated systems at the centers are running at faster speeds than ever due to volume, pack your items carefully as some fly off/out of machines. Just an FYI

 

My Folks mailed a envelop full of information to a insurance company . Mom had it tracked , it is lost in the system some where . It disappeared 4 weeks ago and hasn't been delivered . Tulsa OK hub shut down for 2 weeks during the artic blast and snow . What happened to Rain , sleet ,snow or sunshine the mail will be delivered ? I was out in it every day feeding cattle.

 

Without being political, what happened was that a system meant to be a service has directors who think it is supposed to be run like a business and make a profit. So services are cut, good work is discouraged and volume is affected by a pandemic. Now, add in the politics but rant about that somewhere else.

 

I ordered some tanks for a 46 Indian Chief 3 years ago . They were made in CA and were expensive. The manufacturer of the tanks told me that there had never been a issue of damage during shipping and not to bother with insurance. The Brown truck dropped off the box with a hole in the side that they had wrapped clear shipping tape over it . A fork lift had hit the side of the box and damaged one of the tanks . The manufacturer had me ship the tanks back to him . He made a new tank that matched no cost but shipping one way . I built a wooden box to ship them back in . The tanks were returned in the wooden box with no damage. The wooden box looked like it had been rolled down a ramp and shoved back up the ramp .