Shopsmith Forums

qtndas01 wrote:That was a typo - order not oder.

No offense meant, qtndas01; the guys that I work with call my little jokes "Tim jokes" and they laugh AT me not WITH me. But I don't mind; at least they are laughing.

All my deliveries come to the front door. Unfortunately my front (entry) door isn't on the front of the house, it is on the side and deliveries have to be carried around the house to be left there. This area also has less protection from the elements, and packages that are left can be seen easily from the side street. (not a good combo)
I caught the Fed X delivery guy after a delivery and asked him to leave packages beside the garage. This serves three functions, it is more secure, it has more protection from the elements, and it is WAY easier for a delivery person to just put packages there instead of the trek around the house.

My last package was sitting on the other side of the garage.

Now, if I can get the mail man to close the door on the mailbox I'll stop getting wet mail.
Chalk one up in the Fed Ex column.

Tim -No offense taken. i try to read all posts before sending but miss some things. Its really hard to type with a dog lying on your arm.

I just have to say something in the defense of all delivery personnel.

I have been a Postman for thirteen years. In that time I have seen the Postal system go from an almost manual sorting process to a highly mechanized process and will be more mechanized in a couple of years. When I started a four hundred house route was big now a six hundred house route is normal. In a couple years nine hundred house routes will be the norm to received the same or less pay that we are receiving today.

I am certain that a lot of the poor delivery times experienced by people are more than likely caused by the automated systems that all carriers (UPS, USPS, FED EX, and DHL) use to cut down on costs. The standard joke is to ask if we can deliver a letter personally when a arrant letter to Hawaii shows up at our small office in Washington. Closer examination of the letter usually reveals that somehow an incorrect bar code (what the machines uses to sort the mail) has somehow gotten sprayed on it. The same thing happens with with parcels. An incorrect bar code can easily send your package to Florida instead of California. Yes it is a pain, more than likely the bar code was placed on it by a machine, but the machine got the previous Nine hundred and Ninety nine correct and saved you and the carrier money in the long run by reducing shipping costs overall.

The damaged in shipment are again more than likely caused by the automated equipment shoving the parcels on to conveyor belts and trolleys to speed to final destinations. I know, not a help when it is your package:mad: But again in the long run it keeps operating and shipping costs down. All I have to do is see the complaints in this forum about the cost of shipping for the maintenance CD to know that shipping costs are important to people.

The vast majority of parcels make it to their destination on time and not damaged no matter the carrier or carriers used to get to the customers door step.

Remember, You are our customers, we want you to be happy with our service. As Pinky pointed out if you want your parcels put somewhere other then the front door let us know. I know in my case if I leave a notice in your box that you have a parcel at the post office for pick up it is not because I was to lazy to deliver it, it is because you were no home, I could not leave the parcel, and you box was the best place I knew of to leave the notice so it would be found. Also if your letters are getting wet in your mailbox, fix the mailbox, its yours, Justs as your SS needs maintenance so does your mailbox. Does it have a manufacture flaw, is it installed properly, is the door not closing properly, has it been hit by to many kids with baseball bats? All to many times it is one of these problems but instead I am accused of "Slamming the mailbox" or "to lazy to close door".

I will get off the soap box now that I have had my say. Thanks for listening.

In my defense, my mailbox is in perfect condition. The door works great, I think the guy just gets in a hurry. It probably is that his route has been increased and he has to hustle that much harder.
Just a lil niggle in the system, I'm not upset with the guy, in fact I'm getting ready to install a locking mailbox soon, so I haven't even mentioned it to him.
I am planning to talk to him so he is involved with the location and height of my new mailbox.
I've done this in the past and the mail carrier was greatly appreciative since it made the delivery easier. (Long story but it actually made his stopping much safer too)
I think email has spoiled us. Before it came around it was just amazing to me that a letter could go from me in the Midwest (at that time) to someone in Japan, for a very small fee.
I joke around a lot, and believe me, I've heard a lot of fireman jokes in my time.
And no...I'm not coming over to get your cat out of the tree.

Just so you know locking mailboxes have their own set of delivery regulations you might want to ask before installing.

Thanks for the heads up Walt, I'll talk to the postmaster before i open the box.

My FedEx Ground deliveries were fine until 2 1/2 years ago when a Shopsmith Power Station was attempted delivery a day early. So a tag was left on the door. The same thing happened the second day. By the third day, it was delivered. The box looked like it was dropped from 10,000 feet. I was home that day & the driver took the box and pushed it with his foot from the rear of the truck to the step. Then he kicked it again from the step to the ground. This was a large box which should been pulled off the rear of the truck. The motor was dislodged & was bouncing around as the box was kicked.

There were several bent pieces & one creased. So I put in an on-line claim. Then the next day, the same driver showed up & wanted to take the whole Power Station back for an inspection. They gave me no notice and there was no way I was going to repack the Power Station because I believed I'd never see it again. Instead, I took a number of pictures & sent them to FedEx.

Then for the new few months, the same driver would not deliver anything to my house until the third day. One day, I expected a software program. It was on the truck for delivery & never showed, but the status showed no one was there to receive it. So the next day, status still showed it was on the truck for delivery, so I called FedEx and had a rep on the phone for 15 minutes. During that time, mind you I was on my front porch and then all of a sudden the rep told me the driver just updated the status to no one being home. I was waiting out front of my house & a FedEx truck had never drove down my block. The third day, I saw the truck & a moment later the package was dropped off, No Signature Required! This driver is gone- thank goodness.

I have had no problems since then with either UPS or FedEx

I work on a dock at work. Just FYI. If you ever have a box look damaged never ever accept it. Have the driver take it back and sign nothing. That is the fastest way to get it fixed.

I just received my 5-foot extension tubes today and I have to say that Shopsmith packages them well. The cardboard tube they came is was very thick and sturdy. One of the end caps was pushed in and bent, so I took a photo before opening the package. Thankfully, there was no damage to the tubes.