Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:13 am
I've been lurking for awhile as I was searching for a good used euphonium but this topic and my recent shipping experience is enough to bring me out of lurkdom. 
The shipper took the box to the USPS, knowing that if it was going to be too costly, he would seek out another shipper or consider repackaging the box. The clerk who checked it in did the weighing, etc. and all told it came to $44 which seemed very reasonable so the horn went on its merry way from California to Illinois. When it arrived here my postal carrier informed me that there was $68 postage due and in looking into it further I was informed that even though it was a USPS error for not recognizing it was an oversized box that I was going to have to pay to get it. The other option was to refuse the package in which case it would be returned but the individual who shipped was going to have to pay the amount to get it back--basically a horn held hostage by the USPS. It took multiple trips to the post office on both ends before the postmaster here finally relented and gave it to me without the extra charge.
By way of a heads up--the deal is a recent govt audit showed that USPS has been losing millions in uncollected postage due to errors and they are out to remedy the situation both by being extra vigilant on both the shipping and receiving ends which means packages that would have once slid by probably won't any more. I told them I was sympathetic to the need to tighten up the ship but if this was the way they planned to treat customers they were likely to sink it.
After the shipping soap opera came to a conclusion we did wind up with a nice horn. But I sure could have done without the hassle.
The shipper took the box to the USPS, knowing that if it was going to be too costly, he would seek out another shipper or consider repackaging the box. The clerk who checked it in did the weighing, etc. and all told it came to $44 which seemed very reasonable so the horn went on its merry way from California to Illinois. When it arrived here my postal carrier informed me that there was $68 postage due and in looking into it further I was informed that even though it was a USPS error for not recognizing it was an oversized box that I was going to have to pay to get it. The other option was to refuse the package in which case it would be returned but the individual who shipped was going to have to pay the amount to get it back--basically a horn held hostage by the USPS. It took multiple trips to the post office on both ends before the postmaster here finally relented and gave it to me without the extra charge.
By way of a heads up--the deal is a recent govt audit showed that USPS has been losing millions in uncollected postage due to errors and they are out to remedy the situation both by being extra vigilant on both the shipping and receiving ends which means packages that would have once slid by probably won't any more. I told them I was sympathetic to the need to tighten up the ship but if this was the way they planned to treat customers they were likely to sink it.
After the shipping soap opera came to a conclusion we did wind up with a nice horn. But I sure could have done without the hassle.