Round II for the Tool & Material swap sign up

[Kdog]

Whoa, Lotsa stuff is missing. I do mean lots. I'll call PO and see what happens next. Fishing reel, PC cup, All those jars of PC, Bucktails, feathers. legs. flash. various tails, a few capes etc...

I have a list in the basement of what was there. Will post tomorrow

It was insured BTW

Did you report damage when you picked it up?

PO worker Sealed the box and shook it appeared to be sealed w/o additional tape when I left PO.

By my notes in the basement there were a total of 142 items in the box. Looking at your picture, you received 20.

 

[LedHed]

This is not good. Looks like somebody in the PO helped themselves..... At least we have photo proof.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I think insurance only pays $50 unless you buy more. It looks like they emptied the box out, sure isn't much left in there.

 

[Kdog]

I feel terrible and looking at USPS filing a claim is gonna require receipts etc.
So I am going to out together another box of all my duplicates and send to AF to try to make up for the loss, I shipped it and it is my responsibility to make it right. The Box will go out sometime today or possibly Saturday as I have a full morning. I will pack it, seal it and if it does not arrive intact will most likely redefine going postal.

Looking at what AF received, the eyes on yellow 3x5 cards there were 10 cards and they were all banded together, yet only 1 was received. All the jars of PP were in one end of the box, the Fluid bed and reel were in the other end of the box. It is quite obvious the box was opened and emptied then repacked. That box was packed full and tight and even before sealing, most of the contents would not shake out. So whatever happened, someone knew it.

I will do what I can to make it up. Plus I have an order coming today I hope with a bunch of goodies and will include some of those as well.

Lesson Learned. Do Not Let PO employees change your plan. Pack it yourself, go overboard with extra inside bag and tape. I will post a picture of the contents before it pack it as well as packaging that will be delivered to PO.

 

[LedHed]

Kdog - speaking for myself - it's not on you. There are risks doing these swaps and we ran into one.

Another lesson learned - maybe start minimizing the amount of stuff in the swap (maybe 2 items each). Could get more insurance but it sounds like it's more hassle then it's worth.

 

[Jay Wirth]

Thats too bad. Maybe going back to the same PO and talking with the post master and pointing out the POS at the same time. Im sure we wont get any compensation - insurance on shipping things is a joke.

 

[AtticaFish]

Have to agree with LedHed, not much any one of can do.

- I did not report any damage, it was delivered to my house and did not open it till late in the evening. Box appeared in fine shape on the outside.

- Some of the plastic bags had corners torn off, with the remains of the bags still stuck to the adhesive on the box. Looked as if they got stuck on the adhesive and were ripped off.

- A few things are in the box that i did not see in any of the pictures taken.... that has me scratching my head.

- I ran the tracking number last night and nothing looked odd about the route it took. Here is link to the actual tracking: USPS Tracking Going to try and make some calls to those facilities today on a whim they might have a pile of the stuff sitting in a corner.

 

[Kdog]

Kdog - speaking for myself - it's not on you. There are risks doing these swaps and we ran into one.

Another lesson learned - maybe start minimizing the amount of stuff in the swap (maybe 2 items each). Could get more insurance but it sounds like it's more hassle then it's worth.

Yes, I did what was expected, but I still feel responsible so am gonna do what I said as far as a make up box. I have already talked to post office and the will be initiating a search for missing items. It may be a success given the rapid action but as I was told, Warrendale is a big distribution point and it is hard to find things. Unless each item was indiviually tagged with an address I was told you might get lucky.

I need to take some pictures of the contents to PO so he can upgrade the search/trace. I have an appointment in 20 mins and after that can get started on the redo.

 

[AtticaFish]

Tried to call Warrendale.... could not even find a working phone number.

Called my local PO and the lady said she was going to look into it and call me back. Said it is sometimes possible to do a mail recovery on individually lost items IF they are listed as lost and can be identified. Gave her a quick general list and explained some of the items, but not sure how many people would identify a lot of the stuff with fishing at all unless they were familiar with flytying. She also noted that if they get a box that is opened in any way, they are instructed re-seal the box with tape and place a note on the box stating that the box or contents could be damaged. Box was re-sealed with the priority mail tape, but there was no note.

Kdog - you have the possibility to at least recover the $50 worth of insurance that comes with all priority mail. We have plenty of photos and if you have a list, even better. I would guess the cost of what was lost was easily over $150......

 

[CrappieHappy]

DOH....

 

[Kdog]

I am about to head to PO with my list and pictures. The biggest problem is the PO wants receipts for the contents! Little bit iffy if you ask me. I added values to my list and maybe that will work, maybe not. I'll post when I get back.

I scrounged all my materials and put together as much as I could. I did fill a medium box.
Lined the box with a dollar store mesh laundry bag and sealed.
extra layer of cardboard in bottom and top of box,
Closed box, cross taped and double taped all folds
ran 1 wrap around all 3 sides of box

Pics below

View attachment 1View attachment 2View attachment 3View attachment 4

 

[Kdog]

Post office is gonna try to find the missing items and gave me a number to call which of course never gets answered. I tried every 15 minutes between 1pm thru 5pm straight to voice mail every time.

 

[QPassage]

My thought's for what they may be worth. :-/ The PO service sucks, :megaphone: always has and always will, Gubment run is take and be wasteful. Being in a mail order business I replace tons of stuff each year. It's no biggie, other than if it didn't happen I could sell for less money.
That aside, it was obvious the box was getting full and needed to be lightened. Someone must have just needed the stuff more than us, heck if I'd have known, I would have just sent him a start up kit.
I will state though, that, if our President heads out soon, on a fly fishing vacation, :argue: I'm going call him and just see what all he has in his fly box. Fear not, once that rascal arrives here it will leave with a ton of goodies. I was worried there wouldn't be room in the box for my stuff anyway. I say lets just cut our losses and run it around the group again. :t-up:

 

[Shoemoo]

The box doesn't look like it's been smashed or anything, and if there are plastic bag remnants stuck to the adhesive the bags would have stayed with the box unless forceably removed. On top of that, look what's missing. All of the valuable things and every jig head and bag and container of powder paint. I have no doubt the contents were stolen and not lost by accident. Probably by someone at the post office it was dropped off at. Especially if kdog changed from a medium to large box at the post office. I'll bet any amount of money someone behind the counter saw what went in and decided to help themselves.

 

[Kdog]

It is immaterial at this point. I did the best I could with make up items and packaged it such that if it dont make it, someone stole it. My quest continues, the Postmaster in charge of this part of the state (actually most of Ohio) called me last night and insured me that a search will be done. (Her call was prompted by a discussion she had with my brother-in-law at a dinner meeting) I told her that the items are so obvious that unless they were stolen, they would be obvious and anyone finding them would be sure to remember. I did send her a bunch of pictures and she agreed that if she picked those up off a floor or in a tote or on a conveyor she would remember. So maybe there is hope.

Anyhow, if I ever do one of these again, the first item will be a mesh laundry bag for a box liner, It will contain a card with my address just in case. These bags are very durable and pretty darned tough. I use them for carrying decoys, various dog training items and they last several month of dragging through brush and bouncing around the back of the truck. Drawstring to seal tight so nothing will come out. If the box get destroyed, contents should still remain together and at least they can figure out where it came from.

So if nothing else was Learned, an inner pack may save a lot of grief. I am partial to the mesh bag idea but am sure there is an even better solution. I know that UPS and Fedex destroy packages as well and finding any lost/missing items is a joke. A company I worked for had a product that contained a 1" diameter, 42-3/4" steel pole, Powder coated silver, At least a dozen a month never made it to the destination. UPS never, ever found one of the poles.

I have toured the distribution centers and am amazed that anything makes it through them intact so live and learn.

 

[LedHed]

Thnx for staying on top of this Kdog and glad your BIL had some pull. The thought of someone in the PO ripping off packages is disheartening.

"I did send her a bunch of pictures and she agreed that if she picked those up off a floor or in a tote or on a conveyor she would remember. So maybe there is hope." - hope they nab the rat.

 

[AtticaFish]

Your 2nd box arrived today... unscathed. Looks like everything is there. I will go through the box in the next few days and let you all know when it heads back out.

- On another note about the missing stuff...... it sure does appear as though someone knew what they were taking. Can't imagine how much $$$ worth of fancy feathers that are 'gone' now. All the jigs gone as well. Kdog, did you contact mail recovery in Atlanta?

 

[Kdog]

Your 2nd box arrived today... unscathed. Looks like everything is there. I will go through the box in the next few days and let you all know when it heads back out.

- On another note about the missing stuff...... it sure does appear as though someone knew what they were taking. Can't imagine how much $$$ worth of fancy feathers that are 'gone' now. All the jigs gone as well. Kdog, did you contact mail recovery in Atlanta?

that is supposedly part of the process that I initiated on this end. Gave the PO my list of items, John the manager of our local office said he would put it in the recovery system.

 

[AtticaFish]

Here is what i am keeping.....

And what i am putting back in.......

I carved the dubbing twister myself, did not seal it with polyurethane so whoever keeps it may want to rub it with another coat of oil.

The box will either head out tomorrow or Friday, depending how work goes.

 

[AtticaFish]

The package left OH on Friday, March 14th.... expected delivery today. Ran the tracking # and it looks to be on schedule. You should get it today Shoemo.

Getting pricey to play this little game since it had to fit in a large flat rate box...... $17.45. Think i would agree to have some sort of limit on number of items being swapped at each stop somehow. For what materials i have on hand that i can afford to 'swap' it is almost more worth it to just spend a 20 dollar bill at a retail shop rather than shipping. :-/

The priority mail comes with $50 insurance automatically and spent a few xtra bucks last material swap on additional $50 worth of insurance. BUT, if the PO requires receipts to ever get the insurance money from a lost box, i don't think that would be feasible. I did not spend the xtra on insurance this time. Sure hope it makes it in one piece.