Beware of sending valuable records by Media Mail!

[marcapra]

Most of the time Media Mail works well if you pack well. It's a great way to save some money on shipping. But, if you are sending valuable records, or very fragile records such as wax cylinders, I don't recommend it. I just bought some valuable Edison electric DDs on Ebay and they were sent via Media Mail. Everything was going fine and then I tracked the packages to the Bell Gardens mail center in L.A. Usually, it takes about a day or two for a package to go 85 miles from L.A. to me. But now the packages have been sitting there ten days with no forward movement. I've gone twice to talk to the local post office supervisor, but they are of no help. After waiting about 25 mins. and repeatedly reminding the clerk that the supervisor had not come out, she finally arrives. When I said it's media mail, she just said, "oh, that always takes longer and they might have to be opened for inspection." Then I said that they are records, and she said "I don't think records are considered media mail." Then I said "You're the supervisor and you don't know the rules for media mail?" Then she said "I can't know every single regulation!" I did find out that you can't call Bell Gardens to ask about a piece of mail. You just have to wait about 25 days and then you can file a claim for missing mail. If you didn't buy insurance, you can't get your money back either. Maybe, Priority Mail is the way to go, or another carrier.

[gramophone-georg]

Most of the time Media Mail works well if you pack well. It's a great way to save some money on shipping. But, if you are sending valuable records, or very fragile records such as wax cylinders, I don't recommend it. I just bought some valuable Edison electric DDs on Ebay and they were sent via Media Mail. Everything was going fine and then I tracked the packages to the Bell Gardens mail center in L.A. Usually, it takes about a day or two for a package to go 85 miles from L.A. to me. But now the packages have been sitting there ten days with no forward movement. I've gone twice to talk to the local post office supervisor, but they are of no help. After waiting about 25 mins. and repeatedly reminding the clerk that the supervisor had not come out, she finally arrives. When I said it's media mail, she just said, "oh, that always takes longer and they might have to be opened for inspection." Then I said that they are records, and she said "I don't think records are considered media mail." Then I said "You're the supervisor and you don't know the rules for media mail?" Then she said "I can't know every single regulation!" I did find out that you can't call Bell Gardens to ask about a piece of mail. You just have to wait about 25 days and then you can file a claim for missing mail. If you didn't buy insurance, you can't get your money back either. Maybe, Priority Mail is the way to go, or another carrier.

Marc, if you request email alerts for your tracking number lots of times that will shake things loose after a day or so. I've gone through a lot of these nail biters with Media and they actually haven't lost one yet.

[EarlH]

I've had them lose three batches of records in the last year through media mail. It does help if the sender puts the address information inside the box in case the label gets torn off. Fortunately in my case, they were all insured but it was a shame about the lost records. Before that though, I don't think they had lost three things of mine in 30 years, so I don't know what is going on there. They could put some effort into finding the stuff, but they hardly ever will.

Not that I would send records through UPS, but they do have an overgoods department and I've seen them find quite a few things over the years that have gotten out of the package and the customer called and gave them a description of what they were looking for. A clock was the last things that I was involved with and the people receiving it didn't even say anything for almost a month about it. Maybe they were on vacation when it was sent to their house and didn't realize it hadn't gotten there. UPS had it out in Arizona it seems like, and they even sent it to them next day air once they figured out it was the clock they were looking for. The label came off the box and there was no information inside for them to go by. It was some old family clock, so I was really glad for them that it was found. AND in good shape too yet.

But that media mail thing you are going through is very frustrating. And it's a shame to lose stuff that cannot be replaced.

[marcapra]

Earl, I just saw that one of my boxes has finally moved. It has Departed Bell Gardens about an hour ago. But that doesn't mean it will arrive. My other box also Departed Bell Gardens and that was ten days ago! That's a very good idea about putting your address again inside the box in case the box gets its address label ripped off. I know a guy who bought an expensive Edison Opera for $7000. It was brought to UPS in three boxes and the seller let the staff label them. Only two boxes arrived. Then they found out UPS had no record of a third box. The third box was a recycled box from a blender, so it was sent to a lost packages of brand new merchandise warehouse, since UPS thought it was a new blender inside. The buyer was trying all this time to find the third box, which contained the mechanism and motor board for the Opera. The mechanism was insured for just $1500, but that was enough to get a friendly worker to get a day off to go and look for the blender box. Luckily, it was found just days before it was scheduled to go to the dump.

[Jwb88]

Oh man, Bell Gardens. I live in Riverside and can attest to how vulnerable that point is. Things sit there for days. I sent a record (that was needed for a birthday gift) via priority mail to LA. I could have driven it there in an hour. What happened? It went to Bell Gardens, then went to DES MOINES, IOWA, sat there three days, then went to LA. Post office said it was a sorting mistake. They did the same thing to Xmas gifts I was sending to relatives in Texas. They went to Oregon. Arrived almost two weeks later.

[marcapra]

I've had the same thing happen to me JW. Just had a book take a detour to Jacksonville, FL before it finally got here! I think we need to go to L.A. and interview the Bell Gardens supervisor. His name is Jack Weed pictured below:

[bigshot]

I've had good luck shipping media mail with large batches. Stack up thirty or forty records. Wrap them tight. Box them tight. Float that box in packing peanuts in a large box. Always arrives safe.

If the package is stalled, it's probably because your mailman doesn't want to carry it and they are waiting for enough items to schedule a package delivery to your neighborhood. Call your local post office and ask if they have any media mail for you and offer to come pick it up.

[tubaphone]

Media Mail can certainly be a "crap shoot". Since I'm in California I've experienced the same problem with Bell Gardens and the Richmond CA sort facility. One box sat in Richmond for 25 days and it only has to travel 50 miles to be delivered.

One word of advice, make sure that the ZIP code is correct. Sent a box of piano rolls to Indiana with the correct address on it but the ZIP code had 1 wrong number in it. Even though the package had the correct city it was to be delivered to along with the correct house address, because of the error in the ZIP code it kept bouncing back and forth between two sort facilities in different cities. It would go to the incorrect ZIP code they would realize that the delivery was not in their city so they would send it back to the correct city and then they would send it back to the incorrect Zip. This went on for weeks until I figured out what the problem was and got hold of the supervisor at the sort facility. She assured me that she would intercept the package and correct the ZIP. She did and the package was finally delivered. So always check the ZIP code 2 or 3 times to make sure it is correct. That won't help if the package sits at the sort facility for some reason but a simple mistake in the Zip code can cause major problems, take my word for it!

[GeorgeDixon]

Sorry so many folks have had problems. I just sent three boxes Media mail last week and they arrived at the other end of country yesterday. I insure so I get tracking and all in even with insurance it was about half of regular mail. I pack really really well (out of airplane fall type) and no damage. Remember this is how Kurt Nauck sends out all of his auction winnings, Media mail. Very well packed. I have sent many boxes after attending auctions in the East to our Seattle residence. No losses.

Maybe just lucky.

Ben

[tomb]

I hate to say this but I worked at Bell Gardens years ago. It probably has not changed since then. I now recommend UPS. I have had a lot of cylinders broke some thru bad packaging and records broke some thru the delivery person. All of my UPS packages have arrived intact so far. Tom B