and after all the aggravation you went through, Nokia won't honor your warranty.

best thing about this is you get to buy a new phone :-)
[Reply]

My spendings on phones are higher than cigars. :-)
[Reply]

You either have a very expensive phone or you don't buy enough cigars. Hang out here long enough, that will change.
[Reply]

I'm almost willing to trade my phone for cigars! :-)
[Reply]

Ive been with CA and CS for quite a while now.

I just have an expensive taste in phones.
[Reply]

^Lol must be a N series fan. Just like me.
[Reply]

Out of curiosity, I missed what kind of phone you had (or at least what provider).

Was just wondering, I have collections of old phones laying about, but I think almsot all are Verizon.
[Reply]

I never ever mailed anything USPS till I joined cigar boards :-) it is still a learning process for me to buy insurance. I am so used to shipping UPS and getting automatic X amount of insurance...and they always make it a point to ask if you need more insurance.
[Reply]

Ding ding ding ding ding.

This was the Nokia N95 8gb
[Reply]

Wow that new of a version and broken already?

*Knocks on wood that his 2 yo + N95 is still working like a champ*


And on a related note. As someone who has worked in hubs for UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL (before going boom), and at airport, seaport and truck freight terminals a LOT of things are possible with just one package. I got stories that would blow your mind about what happens behind the scenes and none are particular to any one of the settings. **** happens everywhere.
[Reply]

That's for sure, the difference is how each company deals with it.

I will go out of my way to avoid UPS since they treated me like a felon when they damaged a shipment and acted like they did nothing wrong.

The whole "insurance" crap at the PO drives me crazy too.

You take your car to get an oil change and while the guy is performing a paid service to you car he drops a wrench on the hood of the car and puts a deep scratch in it. Does he lean in the window and say "my bad did you buy the insurance?" While the cable guy is mounting the new HD dish on the roof his tool belt hits the window on the way down the ladder and breaks the window, does he shrug his shoulders and say "bet you wish you bought the insurance now".

Good gig they got going I guess, what other service business can get away with damaging or flat out misplacing your item and not be responsible?

Chas

PS Hope it all works out, I'm on my way to get a new phone for the wife tonight since she dropped hers in the toilet last night and I am 2 months shy for the new phone. I know where thats going tonight :-)
[Reply]

Very cynical! I like the way you think brother!

Unfortunately, I would bet my wooden nickel the reason they assume no liability and offer insurance is to keep the costs down so that we can afford to ship 30 cigars to someone across the country for 10 dollars.


If they assumed liability, the overall claim rate would probably force the price up to something absurd like $200 for a flat rate box. It would also mean a LOT more people playing funny business to defraud the system.
[Reply]

First question I'd ask is why did you send it USPS?
UPS and Fedex for me from now on.

I had another bad experience at my local post office and it was similar to yours, one person working the counter, three others back behind and laughing it up, twenty people in line while I'm tight on time.....

I'm all for privatizing the post office now.
[Reply]

That is one hell of a point and I agree 100%
[Reply]

A great way to keep costs down is by competition. If you have a monopoly on something like mail then you are able to be as unaccountable as you want to be.

There is a reason the post office loses tons of money each year.
I'm not a hater, just someone who got fed up with bad service and won't do business with them anymore than is absolutely necessary.
[Reply]

Fair statement, but the other shippers found a way to build the price into the rates.

For comparison sake lets say a 3 lb package (since all round up) mailed from the mid west to CA.

UPS Ground 4 days - $10.48
FedEx Ground 4 days - $9.43
USPS Priority 2-3 days - $11.95 ($11.41 if done online)

The only real savings with priority is 1 pound maybe 2 and under.
Once you hit 2-3 pounds, its almost always the same with UPS and FedEx.

Depending on the distance ground will get there in the same amount of time.

UPS and FedEx include up to $100 in liability included in the price.

UPS is the only service I have had to deal with a claim and they do make it very difficult to collect. I assume if I would have endured the process I would have gotten my money but I said screw it and gave up.

Chas
[Reply]

The reason the monopoly was created is to provide universal service to every U.S customer. If mail service was privatized, UPS/Fed Ex/Joe Blow's Mail service would only pick up major metropolitan areas....while snubbing rural areas. For that reason alone you will never see Congress lift the first class mail monopoly. Also, the Post Office hasn't lost "tons of money" each year. Up until 2006 the Postal service wasn't allowed to make a profit. It was a break even operation. In 2006 new laws require the Postal Service to pre fund the retirement fund to the tone of 5 billion a year. That means a 5 billion payment each year required by congress gets dumped into the US general fund. Do you think Congress is going to give that up for the sake of competition?
[Reply]

UPS delivers to every address :-)

If that was true they would probaly not do it now. A quick Google search returned:

UPS ground service reaches every address, urban and rural throughout the 48 contiguous states.

Chas
[Reply]

They also charge extra for residential delivery
[Reply]

True :-)

But being a believer in the free market, if they had a larger portion of the market you should see that shrink or diminish all together.

Chas
[Reply]