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The CRPF "Bad Packing" awards

Started by Dan, March 01, 2009, 04:54:43 PM

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LarryInMichigan

During a brief episode of temporary insanity, I bought this SC 1197 and 1156 subset: [url-http://www.ebay.com/itm/110968404448]ebay link[/url] a few days ago.  I added a not to the seller during the checkout explaining that these phones are extremely brittle and that they need to be packed well with plenty of padding and the handset kept away from the base.  I then sent a message to the seller reminding him to read the note.  His reply indicated that he understood.

The phone and subset arrived this afternoon.  The box seemed a bit small to accommodate everything, so I was a bit nervous.  After opening the box, I couldn't believe what I saw.  The subset was sitting an a couple of layers of newspaper at the bottom of the box.  Right next to it, wedged between it and the side of the box, sat the phone with the handset in the cradle!  The handset was tied down to the cradle with the cords.  There were a couple of pieces of newspaper beneath and on the sides of the phone and bit of bubble wrap and crumbled paper on top of the phone.  Amazingly, the phone suffered no apparent damage.  The last time that I received a bakelite SC phone, it arrived badly damaged, and that one was packed better than this.

The phone and handset are actually in pretty good condition.  The handset has some scuffs, but these handsets sand very well.  The subset unfortunately has a frequency ringer.  I don't know if I really got a good deal on this.  The handset is worth at least $20, but I already have a spare.  I mostly wanted the subset to use with a SC candlestick.

Larry



Russ Kirk

That is a nice phone.  You are real lucky, lucky, lucky it arrived in great shape.
I wish I had one.....
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI


Nick in Manitou

Being pretty new to this, it didn't occur to me to request specific packing practices. 

The phone arrived in good shape in spite of the lack of anything inside the box but the phone.

The picture below was taken as I opened up the box because I didn't like the way the package felt or sounded when it was shaken...

I notified the seller of his/our amazing good luck and suggested he do it differently next time.

LarryInMichigan

QuoteI notified the seller of his/our amazing good luck and suggested he do it differently next time.

Perhaps, next time he'll toss a brick into the box with the phone ;D

It's amazing that this phone survived so well.  The spit cups on E1s break very easily, and enough banging of the handset could have broken off a cradle ear.

Larry

TelePlay

Got to bring the USPS in. Got an oak ringer box with magneto this past week, about a 18 pound box, and the first thing I noticed with the 3 runs of tape used to seal the box shut. It said

      DAMAGED IN HANDLING IN U.S.P.S

REWRAPPED AT MILWAUKEE, WI 53201-5041

Never say that before and I've been around for decades. I've seen stamped messages on boxes but never this tape.

Dumping the box out of a sorting bin must have ruptured to tape the seller used to seal it shut. No damage, fortunately.

Having printed tape made special for each post office says this is not the first box they tried to destroy in their sorting process. On the up side, they did a nice job of resealing the box.

Rokumoncat

Well, last Wednesday, I received in the mail a white WE 760A speaker phone speaker. It was packed with one layer of bubble wrap, and that was placed inside of a padded envelope. By some act of God, it was not smashed into a thousand pieces. I do not know how this made it through the Postal system intact. On top of that, the PS wanted four cents postage due.  ::)

I really should send the seller a polite note suggesting better packing methods, but I won't bother as I know that either one of two things will happen... either the seller will not even read it or will get ticked off that I dare suggest that his packing methods were lacking. Thus, I will save my keystrokes.

The good thing is that now I have a white 760A. That makes white, black, moss green, and beige. Now comes the hard colors... red, yellow, blue and etc. Those usually go for hundreds of dollars.


Best,

R. Cat

mycjobe

I just wanted to thank everyone for the advice on this thread; as a very general vintage seller on ebay I had no idea that the 500 series phones were so fragile or that it was a bad idea to mail them with the handset secured on the cradle. I guess I've just been lucky with the dozen or so I've sold over the years.

One problem I've had from a seller's point of view, not with phones in particular, but in general, is that buyers refuse to pay what it costs to ship an item properly. I've had many buyers demand I ship items cheaper because "it shouldn't cost that much" and refuse to accept the explanation that extra packing material adds size and weight to items... It makes it very difficult to balance packing methods. I have to say though, I love it when the buyer tells me how to pack the item properly, I certainly don't want to see any amazing pieces of history damaged in transit!

AE40FAN

I recently won a soft plastic yellow 500 on eBay.  Package was securely packaged and shipped to my address.  I received a delivery confirmation from FedEx stating packaged was delivered.  I arrived home that evening and package was nowhere to be found.  I filed a complaint with FedEx and I followed up with them this morning.   They were able to contact the driver and from the description (knowing another package in the screen door) it was indeed delivered.  To sum it up, the package was stolen from my steps!  I can't believe it.   FedEx is taking the responsibility but, the fact is this isn't easily replaceable and I may never see one for a reasonable price in decent condition again!  I've had numerous packages delivered and this has never happened before.  I cannot trust any of my neighbors at this point.  I am not even sure what to do?  Do I file a police report?  Will it do me any good? I will be checking the dumpsters and surrounding woods when I get home as I will assume the thief will not find any value in this...

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: AE40FAN on August 15, 2013, 09:38:07 AM
I recently won a soft plastic yellow 500 on eBay.  Package was securely packaged and shipped to my address.  I received a delivery confirmation from FedEx stating packaged was delivered.  I arrived home that evening and package was nowhere to be found.  I filed a complaint with FedEx and I followed up with them this morning.   They were able to contact the driver and from the description (knowing another package in the screen door) it was indeed delivered.  To sum it up, the package was stolen from my steps!  I can't believe it.   FedEx is taking the responsibility but, the fact is this isn't easily replaceable and I may never see one for a reasonable price in decent condition again!  I've had numerous packages delivered and this has never happened before.  I cannot trust any of my neighbors at this point.  I am not even sure what to do?  Do I file a police report?  Will it do me any good? I will be checking the dumpsters and surrounding woods when I get home as I will assume the thief will not find any value in this...

I am very sorry to hear about this.  Being that I live in a rather high crime area (the city likes to call it "diversity"), I worry alot about such things happening.  In the past when I worked away from home, I used to have packages delivered to the homes of friends in the neighborhood or to the office where I worked.  If I were you, I would file a police report, as much as it may annoy the police, because it is useful for the authorities and public to be aware of crimes being committed, and perhaps, by some unlikely circumstance, the police might recover the phone without the address on the box and not know whose it is.  

I sure hope that you get your phone back.  In the mean time, I will keep an eye open for another one.  They do appear occasionally.  I have a beautiful soft plastic yellow which I got for cheap a couple of years ago.

Larry  

ESalter

That's terrible, I'm so sorry to hear it happened!  I agree with Larry though, definitely file a police report.  My guess is this wouldn't be the thief's first or last time doing this.  They might have other reports within the same area that will help them catch who is doing it.  So, don't file a report with the hopes of finding the phone, but rather documenting the happenings with the hopes of finding the culprit.

About 10 years ago I had a piston and connecting rod out of an old locomotive.  I had just gotten it, and it was absolutely filthy, so I had it sitting on some cinder blocks right outside the back door of our shop/museum until I got the chance to clean it up.  We are literally 3 buildings away from the police department.  I show up the next morning and the thing is gone with a bunch of scrape marks on the concrete leading off our property and into the alley.  I filed a police report, they figured someone was stealing scrap.  A week or so later I got a call that they found it.  It was sitting in someone's garage about 6 blocks away.  A pair of kids tied it to their bikes and drug it home.  They took it because they thought it was neat because it was so big.  They offered to give it back, but they put some really nice flat spots on it dragging it home so I didn't bother.  Point being, maybe you'll get lucky :)

---Eric

AE40FAN

I contacted my superintendent and there has been instances where people are following FedEx trucks around in our area and taking the packages they drop off.   Larry, your sympathies are much appreciated!  I will have to just learn to let go.  I almost wish I didn't win this item as it would have probably survived in the hands of another bidder.  Very unfortunate situation.  My luck will hopefully turn around soon.

twocvbloke

I've probably said this before, but over here, all couriers are required to either deliver the item to the recipient, or with a neighbour, and if they couldn't find someone to hand it to, they HAVE to take it back to the depot and leave a "Sorry, you were out" card. Some couriers are a bit lazy though in that they'll just fake a signature and leave the item near your door (hopefully out of sight though), or they'll not even bother to try and deliver and just drop a card through the door...

The US & Canadian courier services need to adopt the "deliver to a person or return it to the depot" policy, cos the truck tails are going to keep following them and making loads of money from stolen post...

AE40FAN

I went ahead and filed a complaint with the police department.  They were actually very nice and an officer came to my door.  When he asked what it was  I had told him the story and then it turned into more questions on old rotary phones and what's that one worth.... :)  I also searched all of our dumpsters and the nearby backwoods.  No such luck:-(  I will have to let this go and move on.  Now, a soft plastic yellow 500 is at the top of my list of wanted phones. 
                                                   RIP little buddy....


Dennis Markham

Sorry to hear of the pilfered phone.  Drop by your local thrift shops or re-sale shops....keep an eye on the local Craigslist and if you see one on eBay from a seller in your neck of the woods it may be worth contacting eBay.  It just might turn up somewhere.  If you find it locally, contact the police where you filed the report and refer to the report number.  Let them do the follow-up.  You never know...........