The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have to say that I have had many more issues with UPS than USPS. I live in a pretty small town and I get a lot of things via online purchases. I would say that 85% of the boxes from UPS show signs of being smashed by being dropped, smashed, or thrown. I rarely see that with USPS. I think it really does matter what processing center(s) gets used by either service.

I guess that is why in the old days when things were delivered largely by train virtually everything was shipped in wooden crates. I have never had an issue with Media mail for records of all types. I am very sorry to hear the horror stories folks have told here and it seems there are some employees that probably need to go in southern California.

Dan

If all of this wasn't enough, here's another tale. Today the post office delivered a highly desirable Edison electric Diamond Disc. Even though is was just one record, it came in a large box. The top looked a little funny, like the top of the box had been rained on or something. So I ignored that and opened the box. I started to feel very wet cardboard stuffing inside, and then I saw the DD inside a plastic baggie. To my horror, the baggie was full of water!!! The Edison labels were floating inside the records sides had become unglued from the record base. So I wrote the seller and said how could the record be all wet and the box is dry???? Then I looked at the box and realized what happened. Someone, maybe the post office, left the original box out in the rain where it got thoroughly soaked, and cut the address and postage part of the box off. Then they put the soaked contents in a new dry box!!!! That's media mail for you!

marcapra wrote:If all of this wasn't enough, here's another tale. Today the post office delivered a highly desirable Edison electric Diamond Disc. Even though is was just one record, it came in a large box. The top looked a little funny, like the top of the box had been rained on or something. So I ignored that and opened the box. I started to feel very wet cardboard stuffing inside, and then I saw the DD inside a plastic baggie. To my horror, the baggie was full of water!!! The Edison labels were floating inside the records sides had become unglued from the record base. So I wrote the seller and said how could the record be all wet and the box is dry???? Then I looked at the box and realized what happened. Someone, maybe the post office, left the original box out in the rain where it got thoroughly soaked, and cut the address and postage part of the box off. Then they put the soaked contents in a new dry box!!!! That's media mail for you!

Good grief. It just goes from the ridiculous to the more ridiculous. I didn't have your grievous mishap, Marc, but did just today receive a 78 sent via media mail, and was literally stunned that it arrived in one piece. The seller, who professed earlier to me he "knew how to ship" 78s, had swathed the record in tissue paper, folded a piece of cardboard over that, then used part of a used cardbox box to fold around the entire thing, taped it up, and sent it on its way. That's it. How it arrived from PA to CA in one piece is a mystery to me. A pleasant one, but a mystery, or better, a miracle. It goes without saying I won't be buying from this seller again.

Truly sorry for the mishap with your DD. Certainly makes one wonder if the P.O. is in the business of repackaging things.

As well, I have quietly wondered to myself if the postal "service" may do away with media mail altogether . . .

If anyone wants to see the ocular proof of the criminal activities of the USPS Media Mail. They even tried to do a cover up by cutting off the address and postage from the water logged box and taping it onto a new box, as if the soggy contents would not give them away! here are the pics:

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Proper packaging makes all the difference. This damaged media mail shipment has made all those other albums worth more!