Howdy All,


David Witts bought a copy of the Domesday Book #13 in the last Jeff Perren Benefit Auction. David informed me, none too pleased, that the package had arrived 60 days after I had sent it!

The pertinent dates are as follows:

Sale Date: Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 21:37 PDT

Mail date: Friday, Jul 28, 2006, 14:35 PDT
Airmail Parcel Post  4-10 Days  $16.75
Insurance for $650 value  $9.05

When I went out to check the tracking online I got the following:

Search Results:
Label/Receipt Number: VF09 5110 936U S
Customs Form: CP23 9533 995U S
Acceptance, July 28, 2006, 12:35 pm, OMAHA, NE 68124
International Dispatch, August 09, 2006, 11:28 pm, Chicago (O'Hare) AMC

No details of it's delivery date in Great Britain are to be had but David sent me an email three weeks ago, saying, "[I was] told [it] had arrived last Monday". That would make the delivery date September 25th! That makes 60 days for delivery.

Does anyone have any idea what happened here? Has this sort of delay happened to anyone else? Would someone in the UK look up those codes on the British post office system to see if it gives the same information?

Until I hear back from David on postmarks and customs remarks, I don't really know what happened. My guess is that depite being charged for Airmail Parcel Post, the package somehow ended up going Economy Parcel Post (surface). However, the receipt and the fact that I had insurance, which is available for Airmail Parcel post but not Economy, contradicts this possibility. Further, the international dispatch is from O'Hare, doesn't that make it the last point of departure from the US? Certainly they can't sail a mail boat from O'Hare to Britain!

In any case, I don't want this to happen again, so if it is something I did on my end I want to be sure to avoid doing it a second time.


Futures Bright,

Paul

GamersRest[FNG] wrote:...the 19% cut in pay they received over the last year ...

ouch!!  

as to tracking - I got "The reference number has not been recognised. Please check that you've entered it correctly." Even though it is the right length.  My guess is that it got stuck in a local sorting office for a month.  

Paul,
 I ran into a problem like this a year ago where the USPS shipped a largepackage Surface mail parcel post even though I purchased and paid for Airmail Parcel Post with insurance.  I sent the package to Alan<Killjoy32> on December 3 IIRC and he did not receive the package until late in the second week in January. We were both pretty pissed.

The Collector's Trove wrote: However, the receipt and the fact that I had insurance, which is available for Airmail Parcel post but not Economy, contradicts this possibility.

Paul, just wanted to point out that isn't true.  Any insurance available for Airmail Parcel Post is also available for the same rate for Economy Parcel.  In fact, I just double checked to be 100% certain and it comes out to $9.05 for Surface Mail insurance on a $650 package.

Surface mail goes to set destinations where they wait until enough packages arrive to fill the cargo area of the boat.  So, the package could have well flew out of O'Hare as Airmail, but when it arrived at its next "sorting" destination, it got mistakenly put in with the Surface Mail packages.

However, after reading this:

Acceptance, July 28, 2006, 12:35 pm, OMAHA, NE 68124
International Dispatch, August 09, 2006, 11:28 pm, Chicago (O'Hare) AMC

I would say it was shipped as Surface Mail from the start.  It was 12 days waiting to just get out of O'Hare?  Not likely . . . it should have been in Britain by August 9th and if not in Dave's hands, then arriving there any day.

In any case, I don't want this to happen again, so if it is something I did on my end I want to be sure to avoid doing it a second time.

Part of the difficulty is there is little distinction between the two types of packages.  Sometimes they just write "A.P.P" in sloppy marker (this indicates Airmail Parcel Post).  I would suggest specifically requesting they put an "Airmail/Par Avion" sticker on the package.  Better yet, I would suggest you print out the customer address label and also print out (or handwrite) another label that states "Please Send Airmail" or "Airmail Parcel Post" or something of that nature.  Put it on the box bottom and on the lower left corner.  Put clear tape over this and the address label itself (so that rain or machinery don't accidentally obliterate the wording).

In short, "idiot-proof" your packages.  As I've said several times before, I've yet to have even 1 problem with international delivery.  


Make everything crystal clear . . . make packages too much trouble for customs to open.  Make it easier to deliver the package than make a mistake.


The drones don't want to think . . . don't force the drones to have to think.

I had about the exact same thing happen this summer. One of our esteemed members from the island bought several items from me and I think it took about six weeks to get there, maybe more.