Re: [GSAS-Member] is it me, or is the Postal Service just laughably incompetent

[HIRO TAK <neon98102@yahoo.com>]

  Matt K, Cliff,

  I am sorry to hear the difficulty with USPS.  Fortunately I have not had much 
bad experience with them YET.  Knock the wood.
  Bad I figure they are just like any other government operated service just 
like DMB.  You expect to have less than satisfactory service.  Especially come 
to the time.   It usually have different sense of time between yours and 
theirs.  And I think you would improve your chance of receiving satisfactory 
service by being the first one at the door.  Than go there at the lunch break 
or 10 minutes from the closing time.  Not to mention less chance of piss off 
people behind you by make them wait.  

  And receiving box in acceptable time is like luck of the draw, I am afraid.  
And I have been lucky enough that so far I can't complain.  I got one fish box 
from FL with express and due by next noon.  And they did delivered it 20 
minutes before noon.  And I did received few fish box from NY, MD with priority 
in 2 days.  And there are no DOA.  
  And I sent fish box to NY and IL with priority and NY took 2 days and IL took 
3 days but they all made it.  And I am suppose to send 1 box to TX and another 
to MD next week.  Hopefully they have good luck with timely delivery time.

  I know there are much you can do with receiving fish in the mail but prepare 
the proper tank and be there to receive box and open the box ASAP and acclimate 
the fish.  

  But sending the fish, here is the tip I learned.  Just like anything else, 
there are more than few ways to do it but here is the good start.  And he 
explain with pictures.  

http://www.angelfish.net/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=14459

  Of course, you have to consider other things like species of fish, size, 
number you are sending, temperature and time of the year., etc.

  And I don't think the USPS would guarantee the live of living things.  So I 
don't think the insurance is useful for the life of the living thing.   I think 
they only compensate if the box is lost or damaged for insurance.  And I am 
pretty sure the damaged  creature would cover by the insurance.  And I think 
they only guarantee the delivery time for express mail.  
  So I don't bother with insurance when I send out the fish in the mail with 
USPS but I do buy the tracking with priority.  Mainly for the record that the 
box left at my local post office and usually delivered to the person 2~3 days 
later.  And it usually show it on their web tracking record a day later or so.  
And it seems to help for them to locate if there are number(tracking) on their 
electronic record.  But nothing is guarantee, especially come to shipping in 
the mail.  Let alone the living things.  
  I just take it as it is and hope for the best.  And I know it is always a 
risk but I use USPS Priority flat rate box and do not need to worry about the 
weight or location within US and delivered USUALLY in 2~3 days(which most fish 
can handle if they prepared correctly) for less than $10 with tracking.  Since 
Express cost usually $30 and up and that would be too expensive for some of the 
fish, unfortunately.

  And I do prefer to place my extra fish locally but not always have demand for 
it.  And most of the fish in the local store are shipped from somewhere anyway. 
 And I think it would be better for them to send to the person who really want 
them than sell/trade to store and I don't know how long they gonna be at the 
store and kept in not so best condition.  So I start to send fish in the mail 
recently.  And so far so good.  And hopefully it will continue but I am not 
naive enough to think that I would never have DOA.  But try to do my best 
before shipping.  Like fast the fish before shipping so less waste they create 
in the shipping bag, double or triple bag them, pick the fish of right age and 
size(not too young or old) so they can handle 2~3 days in the box, and I 
personally only ship on Monday or Tuesday so they have less chance of stuck 
over weekend., etc.

  Anyway, I hope the link would help for the person who are planning to send 
the fish in the mail for first time.   Like I mentioned, there are not much you 
can do about receiving them but make sure the box won't stay outside too long.  

                                                                                
 

  Matt K, 

   BTW, what do I need to do about BAP?  I have 6~7 free swimming Celestial 
Pearl Danios(Formally Galaxy Rasbora).  Although I would not bring in for 2~3 
months since they still look like some tetra frys.  Beside I do not consider 
successful breeding until the off spring become look like adult shape and 
coloration.  
  I know you probably busy but for the record I have frys from them.  That's 
all.

  And for those of you wonder about my Gold Rams, I arranged date for the 
female.  And first day, she was showing who wear the fish pants in the family 
and I thought I have to put divider or separate them.  But they made up on 2nd 
day.  And I think she will be ready in few days with 2nd husband.  And I did 
tossed in some runt Corydoras for dither fish and common enemy.  


  I guess I'll see you all next months.


                                                                                
            Hiro

Clifford Miller <clifford@clevergeek.com> wrote: 
I haven't had the best luck with USPS.  Most of the live shipments I have
are non-fish, and can't legally be sent through the post office, but I've
still found that any carrier that won't insure live goods as live goods is
more prone to have problems.

If you can insure them as live (which in the past you've been able to do
with Fedex (not sure if you still can), and can still do through many air
carriers (US, Delta, NWcargo, Alaska, etc), at least the carrier has a
greater vested interest in getting the package delivered.  The snafu that
cost you this last batch of fish probably only cost the post office $10-30
in the lost fees (or more, depending on how much you were
shipping)....which could easily have been worth ten times that or more if
insured, depending again on what you were shipping.

I tend to consider lost USPS items the cost of doing business with the
state over Fedex (which isn't to say they don't lose packages too, they
do, but less often in my experience).  I guess if you do a lot of
shipping, it's still probably worth it in saved shipping costs.


***begin unrelated USPS story...***
On a side note, since we're on the USPS topic, I recently lost a decent
sized postal money order (my bad, obviously) from an online animal
sale...so the buyer mailed me the receipt so I could do a trace.  (he
didn't feel like dealing with the hassel or $5 fee, which makes sence--
not his problem)

I went to my local office, explained that I needed to fill out a form to
do a MO trace, and that the buyer had mailed me the receipt to accomplish
this.  Five second converstaion, right?  Noooooo.  The fact that I was the
one missing the check AND that I had the recept so completely baffled the
postal employee I was working with that it took almost an hour to get them
to understand what was happening.  (which of course thrills the line of
people behind you going all the way out the door...)

While she was trying to get the form filled out (a USPS person must fill
out the second half of the form) I had to correct her several times (so
picture me, reading a poorly xeroxed form, upside-down, from across the
counter, making helpfull suggestions like "It looks like that spot asks
for ID Type, so I don't think you should write the Drivers License number
there", "That spot asks for printed name, so I don't think you should sign
it that way (illegible)", "That spot asks for License/ID number, so I
don't think you should leave it blank".  I felt like a jerk, but didn't
want to kiss my money goodbye because she couldn't/wouldn't read.  =)

I have a long, slow fuse when it comes to issues like this, and am
especially sensitive about being a jerk when I know I'm there as a result
of my own carelessness (which I was)...but by the end of my postal
adventure, I wanted to reach over the counter and shake someone.  ;)

Cliff
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