OT: Postal Service delivery

I don't see why they'd care unless the USPS shipping didn't include delivery confirmation. A cell phone might be more prone to fraud than some other kinds of goods.

OTOH, maybe it's drop-shipped and their vendor won't use USPS and they just screwed up. That would fit with the "this particular model" line.

That would be my inclination. I presume you researched the vendor before ordering.. what did you find?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Back story: I went on line and ordered a new cell phone. Not pricey, about $120 USD. The vendor's web page offered delivery VIA US Postal Service. It was (much) cheaper than UPS and they will deliver to my PO box. That's important for a couple of reasons. I've had UPS just drop orders of multiple thousands of dollars of electronics gear off at my front door. Free for the taking by the neighborhood hoodlums if I don't get there first. On the other hand, some vendors (wisely) are hesitant to deliver to addresses other than a billing address. My PO box is my billing address, and the credit card company will verify that. So that issue goes away.

Now, I get an e-mail from the vendor stating that they do not offer this particular model delivered by US mail. Odd. Their web site presented this as an option attached specifically to this particular item. They are trying to get me to accept UPS, and a $25 fee (about $6 for USPS).

What's up? I know that some outfits don't use snail mail because they aren't set up to ship through the post office. But then they wouldn't offer it on their web page. The only thing that comes to my (suspicious) mind is that something about the particular item they wish to ship to me isn't kosher and they don't want US postal regulations heaped on top of attorneys general charges.

Any other ideas?

At this point, I could easily cancel the order and go elsewhere. But now I want to play with them a bit before giving up. I replied to their e-mail to fulfill the order as they originally accepted it.

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"Paul Hovnanian P.E." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@hovnanian.com:

I bought some $80 worth of SDRAM off Ebay a few years ago,it was shipped USPS Priority Mail,with a tracking number.I checked the tracking number on the day expected,it showed as being delivered. Never got the SDRAM,no key in box for large package bin.

I get my mail only at my apartment's mail kiosk,and they have bins for larger packages that don't fit in my mailbox. My dealings with the Postal Inspector were VERY unsatisfactory;he suggested that I was trying to defraud the USPS. They would not cover the loss.

Result;out $80 and no SDRAM.

I suggest Fed-Ex.They are reliable.I won't use USPS if I can avoid it.

BTW,doesn't UPS have an option to pick up at local UPS office rather than leave unguarded on doorstep? UPS delivers to my apt.office if no one answers the door,and leaves a post-it note.

The note has the option of pickup at the UPS depot,you check the box,leave the note for the UPS "second delivery attempt".

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If it was me, I'd fix the web page. The shipping option is presented only after selecting the product and I'm thinking this must have happened before.

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I Googled the name an didn't see anything bad.

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The only problem I've had with the USPS was for a time, I suspected that someone in the post office was borrowing my copy of The Economist for a day or two. It came late and a little wrinkled (I don't want to think about where it was). I called to office. They told me that such a thing would _never_ happen at such a fine establishment. But it stopped, so I'm sure the boss just turned around and told the staff to cut it the hell out.

I've actually had the UPS hold packages at the depot and mail a note to my PO box. But that note alone might trigger postal fraud jurisdiction.

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I get a lot of stuff delivered to Australia via USPS if possible (due to cost), never had any issues at all.

In over 20 years of shipping thousands of kits and other stuff all over the world using local postal systems almost exclusively I've only ever lost one item - touch wood.

Dave.

We sell truck electronic parts and ship 99.9% of all orders via USPS. Excellent service, with a better cost than any other shipper.

That said, there is no way that UPS costs $25, the seller is adding to their profit margin and that is probably what is up. We find that UPS is about 20% (so for a six dollar shipment via USPS, it would run eight or nine dollars if UPS).

If they rely on a 3rd party for web design they may not be able to. I have seen an incredible amount of incompetence in that trade, unbelievable. Teams who manage to screw up a functioning web site in a matter of hours. While getting paid!

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Regards, Joerg

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That's weird. Every time I've had something shipped by UPS, and I'm not home to receive it, they take the package back to the substation and leave me a little yellow note so that I can go pick it up or reschedule delivery.

I'd complain to the local UPS office - they're a private business, so _should_ have a vested interest in keeping their customers happy.

Good Luck! Rich

My rant on UPS; I shipped a motor controller from Fl. to Oregon, it took 10 days. The lady in the offfice gave me the date it would arrive, I said that's 10 days, she checked two more times, she couldn't believe it herself. I tracked it, it took 10 days. The flip side; I used to order parts from Ohio to be sent to Michigan. If I ordered the parts before

11 am, they would arrive by 10:30 the next morning. Mike

That's what I'd have thought. But >50% of the time they just drop the packages and leave. When they dropped the scope without wanting a signature that blew me away. If it wasn't for our dogs it would have been sitting there all night. When they bark, then stick their noses to the bottom of the door and inhale that's the "UPS sniff", then something must have arrived.

I'd imagine that UPS would have to cough up the money if it got stolen because I can't imagine Newark authorizing that kind of procedure.

BTDT. Didn't help :-(

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Regards, Joerg

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Profit motive, bait and switch. I can buy that. They advertise USPS delivery, but get customers to switch to the inflated service.

I'll bet that the difference between the $25 charge and approx. $10 shipping cost reflects their entire profit on the sale. The advertised price gets them bumped up to the top when searching by price. Of course, that price doesn't exist.

Something the State Atty General would like to hear about. But since its an out-of-state order, I'd like to push the USPS delivery angle. Its easier to get people who run afoul of postal fraud regs if our state AG can't touch them.

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Well, our problem here was getting them to deliver to us, and not somewhere else. Our house is a new house, in a new community, and so doesn't show up on mapquest, google earth, etc. Our street comes down and does a 90 north, so while the majority of the street runs E-W, our little section runs N-S. So, our numbers are completely different from those on the rest of the street, ours are 13XXX while the main street is 68XXX.

Now for the fun part. There is a house at the far end of the street that has the same last three digits as ours. Delivery folks looked at the street, saw the last three digits were the same, and decided that the sender 'must' have just put in the wrong address. So, an $800 water filter system ended up at the wrong end of the street. The Post Office put in a change of address FOR us, so some bills were changed to the wrong address. We recently found that one of the credit report agencies had us at this wrong address.

Also, I said that mapquest didn't have us. If you put our address in, it pointed you to a community 20 miles away, on a street in the middle of the desert. We have had several delivery services call us, and wonder how to find our house.

The really bad news? We have lived here for over two years now, and the STILL don't have us in the system.

Charlie

If it's any comfort UPS did two delivery "attempts" and when I called they said our address doesn't exists. Yet at that time it did exist since >30 years.

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Regards, Joerg

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Go. It is probably related to the included lithium battery though.

I have found that it depends on the terms it is shipped under. I have had to go the post office just to get a letter, and had packages just dropped at my door. Infrequently i get the little yellow notes, but i get them from ups / uspo / other. Usually they will either drop it at my door of stuff it in my mailbox if it will fit, only rarely do i have to go pick it up.

There are well known errors in the USPS datasets and the UPS datasets are based on those. And guess what, after over two years no effort is being made to correct them. Can you say misdesigned, overly complex systems?

Being well aware of the size and usual shipping for such, it should have been stuffed into your normal mail receptacle, in an anti-static wrapper inside a 4 by 6 bubblepak envelope.