New USPS Fragile Surcharge

[Leave a Whisper]

This is insane... postal workers as a whole are so lazy and mishandle packages constantly, to the extreme. They should be punished instead of having customers charged even more :/ All packages should be treated with care instead of being thrown around, kicked, stepped on, crushed, bent, etc by employees.

Exactly!

[Wardah]

This is insane... postal workers as a whole are so lazy and mishandle packages constantly, to the extreme. They should be punished instead of having customers charged even more :/ All packages should be treated with care instead of being thrown around, kicked, stepped on, crushed, bent, etc by employees.

Tbh it's mostly not the employees responsible for damage. Everything is automated so packages are rarely handled by a person until they get into the mail trucks.

[FantasticFirefly]

Cool option- nice for those who already pad well and send things like fine bone china. or plants, etc. I think Belleek collectors would be happy with this upgrade.

I have bought and sold off things for years. I haven't had a case yet of postal negligence resulting in a crushed box (which would be like a post truck backing over a package). but a lot of seller negligence in packaging a parcel. resulting in my stuff lost and damaged. a well wrapped flutter pony (wings removed, padded in a box) shouldn't need a fragile stamp. shipping my collection to my home we could play street hockey using the boxes as they were sent as pucks and the stuff would be fine inside. remember, on lines and machines nothing is gentle. they will be jarred and jostled, dropping into sorting bins and so on. be sure the crush rate of the boxes you use are sufficient for having larger boxes with heavy items tumble on top. and always leave a padded perimeter around your objects and be sure nothing inside is slamming around inside the box. you'll be fine. Kinda like the grade school science thing where you had to make a container that will protect a fresh egg from being dropped 8 + feet without breaking.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

This is insane... postal workers as a whole are so lazy and mishandle packages constantly, to the extreme. They should be punished instead of having customers charged even more :/ All packages should be treated with care instead of being thrown around, kicked, stepped on, crushed, bent, etc by employees.

Tbh it's mostly not the employees responsible for damage. Everything is automated so packages are rarely handled by a person until they get into the mail trucks.

Well, I believe Taxel is referring to postal workers doing stuff like cramming "Do Not Bend" envelopes into mailboxes and bending them anyway, just tossing packages into the yard instead of gently placing them, etc.  Of course, this is hardly limited to USPS - UPS and FedEx do it too, in my experience to a greater extent even. At least USPS workers get out of the truck. The private carriers? It seems like it's a 50/50 unless they need a signature... The sad fact is that these people are paid and trained to prioritize expediency above all else. Balancing expediency with careful handling is tricky, and it hasn't helped that budget cuts (instigated by people who forget that the post office is a government service not a for-profit business) have sapped USPS morale and discipline. In any case, the onus has long been left to the customer to protect their parcel with adequate padding - that much is not really anything new, though the lack of effort on the couriers' part certainly seems to have gotten worse in the past 5 years.

All of that said, taking packages out of the regular cycle, hand-sorting them, and carrying them separately in smaller (probably often single) delivery batches is about the only feasible way for a courier to offer extra protection throughout the whole process. So having to pay an extra surcharge for that consideration is irritating, but at least it actually means something and has some reason behind it.
And you can bet you'll soon see the same kind of practice from UPS and FedEx. If the tax-funded government mail service is going to charge you for this, do you really think the for-profit companies won't?

[Taxel]

Zelda hit the nail on the head. There are countless videos, photos, and personal accounts of postal workers (of USPS and other companies, in and outside of the US) treating packages horribly. Sorting machines and such damage packages, of course, but its also been proven over and over again that workers do a lot of damage themselves. Those workers should be fired but companies, government and private, just don't care at all.

[Skeen]

I have had my mail lady shove "do not bend" packages into my mailbox before.  She seems to think that just because something WILL fit in there if she jams it in, it SHOULD go in there instead of being left on my porch.  She has actually broken my mailbox several times - the whole box has come off its post when she's shoved packages in, and then she has the gall to insist she can't deliver mail to me until the box is remounted, only for her to break it off again!

I am not sorry in the slightest that I order 40lb bags of cat litter in the mail. 

[Leave a Whisper]

I have had my mail lady shove "do not bend" packages into my mailbox before.  She seems to think that just because something WILL fit in there if she jams it in, it SHOULD go in there instead of being left on my porch.  She has actually broken my mailbox several times - the whole box has come off its post when she's shoved packages in, and then she has the gall to insist she can't deliver mail to me until the box is remounted, only for her to break it off again!

I am not sorry in the slightest that I order 40lb bags of cat litter in the mail.

Most awesome subtle revenge i've ever heard!

[Lorelei Redfern]

I acuatly know  soemone who works for UPS. (not usps) and hse said that there  re a couple of workers who if htey  see  fragile on a box they ltieraly throw it into a wall as hard as htey can and laugh. also she told me that  they  drop the packages from 5 feet up in the air onto the ground.(joy)

sadly  they   dont  seem t care about anyone  elses packages these days. i usualy write do not drop or throw  on my packages. just in case i've had a few that literally have arrived with hoelsin them cuasing the contentss to get damaged

[DazzleKitty]

I am not sorry in the slightest that I order 40lb bags of cat litter in the mail. 

LOL. Serves her right for breaking your mailbox so many times.