Packing & Shipping: What not to do
Dropped off packages at the post office and spotted seven med flat rate Priority boxes in the laundry hamper for prepaids - all with a massive gap like this:
I see this happen all the time. I've received many packages just like this, often with damaged goods.
The shipper didn't even put a piece of cardboard under the gap to protect the contents.
Not only are the contents more vulnerable to damage, but because the box is not sealed within the "normal folds" or "properly closed" (terms from the DMM), USPS can apply cost adjustments to those prepaid flat rates.
Your turn. Add a "what not to do" tip below.
22 comments
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoWhen it comes to packing and shipping, never do this:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/After-7-weeks-of-waiting-for-item-it-finally-arrives-Ebay-ok/td-p/34583632
😬
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoHere's a good what not to do example. This wasn't an eBay purchase, it was from an outdoor clothing brand. Abusing brand new UPS Express boxes and UPS labels by shipping USPS Ground Adv. I'm surprised the PO isn't rejecting these. If this was the reverse (USPS box shipping via UPS), the package would have never made it past the drop off point.
At least it wasn't a crushed product in a polymailer, right @inhawaii ? 😉
simba6
·2 years agoNot so fast. The post office will accept UPS boxes and labels all day long. It's only their priority boxes they insist on priority postage for. I have used UPS express envelops and boxes and there was never an issue.
southern*sweet*tea
·2 years agoWhat not to do:
Please do NOT ship collectible books in a bubble or poly mailer. Just don't. Get a box.
Trade paperbacks are fine in mailers, but hardcovers and anything (PB or HB) collectible needs to be in a box.
Please do NOT ship an antique paper item in an envelope. Just don't. Sandwich it between some corrugated cardboard and then mail it. Yes, it will be a package and it will cost more than a stamp to ship, but the $50 paper item I paid good money for won't be destroyed by the high speed sorting machines or folded, spindled and mutilated beyond recognition.
Thank you.
rudy2828
·2 years agoThat's absurd. I've never shipped or received a parcel like that.
As a shipper I can't remember the last time I used Flat Rate boxes, except for the discontinued Regional (A, B,&C) ones that can be used for Priority Mail.
mtgraves7984
·2 years agoYour turn. Add a "what not to do" tip below.
@wastingtime101
You asked, so I went to a bookmarked post (from the last time I popped a gasket) and copied and pasted my part below. Read on...
___________
I got an item yesterday (GA) that arrived in a black plastic bag with clear tape wrapped around and around and around it. 😑
It was a clothing item, so I was very careful to undo the mess by hand (afraid I'd snip it if I used scissors)... only to find the item secured in a brand-new USPS FR bubble mailer underneath the black taped-tight plastic with the GA label affixed to it.
I threw it (and a few bad words) across the room before I opened it. Misuse of USPS products is a huge pet peeve of mine. Thieves like that keep prices up for all of us.
___________
- That seller left me good feedback. I obliged by leaving no feedback. 😶
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoSame. Last year I purchased a set of 3 salad plates which arrived via Ground Advantage; within the box, each plate was carefully packed in a flat rate bubble envelope. The seller had used the sealing strip on the envelopes so they weren't easily re-used. She's lucky that she didn't ask me to leave feedback.
mtgraves7984
·2 years agoShe's lucky that she didn't ask me to leave feedback.
@nobody*s_perfect
Mine is just as lucky. 'Cause if she does... I will. 🔨
rudy2828
·2 years agoNot to mention completely illegal.
bennotbill
·2 years agoAt least those items were in boxes.
I was in a shop when a young woman was buying a postage label for an eBay return. The item was a T shaped plastic thingy about a foot by a foot. I know that because she was trying to stick the label to it. The shop keeper had to explain to her you need to wrap it up put it in a box. That it couldn't be accepted just with the label stuck to it. She walked out not at all happy so I suppose someone got a neg.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoThat's even worse than the package I got of a ceramic item in a box with no packing material. Just bouncing around from state to state in a box 6 times the size of the item.
ednasells
·2 years agoboxes in your picture are not "medium flat rate priority mail boxes" they are #7 priority mail boxes
a_c_green
·2 years agoThe lower box on the left, under the one that takes up most of the photo, does have 'MEDIUM FLAT RATE BOX" visible at lower left, along its side, if you zoom in with a large monitor. I cannot see the sides of the others, but they appear to have identical graphics otherwise, in identical positions.
EDIT: Whoops, sorry, no... I see now that the upper right box has different graphics and is a bit bigger.
Odds are that all the boxes from the same shipper are probably all the same in the photo. It's definitely harder to obtain the non-Flat-Rate versions without on-line ordering, and if you're at the stage of ordering non-Flat-Rate PM boxes on-line, you probably already know their advantages over using Flat Rate packaging for everything.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoYeah, box #7 on upper right was my package. It's one of a few personal packages I brought to the PO that afternoon after all my business packages had already shipped that morning. I plopped it on top of the other shipper's gapping med flat rates.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoYou are mistaken @ednasells . The box all the way on the top right is box #7 and sealed all the way - that's from a different shipper.
All of the other Priority boxes, the ones that aren't sealed all the way, are med flat rates. Image is a bit blurred when I zoom in that much, but they're definitely MFRB.
a_c_green
·2 years agoYikes...
Y'know, unless there was zero room left inside those boxes, it looks to me like a little pressing-together of the sides should have gotten those top flaps to meet in the middle. I don't know what the actual package weight was, but it might have been interesting to compare its cost to a standard weight-/zone-based Priority Mail box of similar size, or Ground Advantage in a plain brown box.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoAt that post office, there are 2 main offenders. One is publishing company; I assume they're shipping promo copies of books most of the time and aren't concerned about damage.
The other is a local online seller that makes her own candles - glass jar candles that are definitely too wide for the boxes she uses. She used to ship in the RRA then switched to the Med Flt Rt when RRA was discontinued. I wonder about her rate of shipping damage. She'd definitely save money if she ordered Priority Box #4 (7x7x6) and used those instead with access to cubic rates. She'd also save if she invested in plain brown boxes and shipped GA.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoWhile waiting in line at post office...lady came in with a box that had wine written on it. I mentioned it to her you cannot use a box with any words of alcohol on it to mail. She said you can tell it's not wine because it's not heavy. She cussed me out and said let the clerk worry about it. Sure enough clerk told her and she was furious. We mention about using tape on the box to cover up all the words. She bought tape there and still was cussing about it doing it. Next time I won't say anything.
wastingtime101
OP2 years agoYeah, I tend to avoid being helpful at the PO. Every other time I go to the PO there is someone screaming at the clerks or the manager and I don't need that to be me. ðŸ˜
Good tip to not use a box with alcohol or alcoholic markings on it. One could flip the box inside-out to make it work.
rudy2828
·2 years agoJust cross out the offending words.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoSeller shipped 6 trade paperback books in a vinyl bag.
Two arrived with postal sticker saying Received without Contents, Received Unsealed.
Seller refunded promptly for the missing 4 books.
rudy2828
·2 years agoI'm sure you'd rather have gotten the books than a refund.