Sure Am Glad I Put Fragile Stickers on This Box....

[portolan]

think of what the post office might have done to it without them!

At least the hat is now back in Mike's good hands for a brim trim (I'm a poet)! He said that in spite of the how the box looks, the hat inside was fine! Whew!

 

[zetwal]

Of the several seriously abused packages that I've seen most (if not all) have sported Fragile stickers. Really -

 

[Andykev]

That is certainly

That is certainly * one * way to set the brim and bash the crown!!!

 

[jpbales]

Good ol' United States Postal Service for ya!

 

[carter]

Kinda makes you wonder what they'd do if you put "CRUSH & MAIM" stickers all over the box.

 

[KY Gentleman]

Do you remember the Samsonite luggage commercial where bags were shown being trashed by apes? Well, it looks like they're back!

 

[handlebar bart]

I think I saw Capt. Sully carry that box out of the plane himself.

 

[duggap]

I have six of Art's hats and only two have come in with the crease still in it. The good ole US Post can be pretty hard on a hat. What was bad about what they do to Art's hats is I was not sure how he had it creased originally. But at least so far they have not ruined one for me. Me and Art might go postal on them if they did.lol

 

[majormoore]

I have these made for myself in rolls of 1000 per roll.

Major Moore

Two points:

1. Where do you get a "Hat Inside: Do Not Double Stack" sticker. Does the post office have those? lol

2. I'm actually quite shocked at the condition of the box, sticker or not. I'm also kind of shocked at the attitude you statesiders have of just laughing it off. What kind of half-assed service is that? Something's wrong when you can't track stuff like this down and get people fired from their jobs. In Japan there would be three people at my door, including the local postmaster, bowing and apologizing for this, if such a packaged arrived. And people expect to keep their jobs -- and get free health care?

 

[RBH]

. .

 

[Spats McGee]

Gives new meaning to the phrase "put a new bash on my hat."

(Glad the hat came through fine, though!)

 

[Mike K.]

That's pathetic!

My local post office learned the hard way what those "Handle With Care" labels mean. We had a shipment of live mice destined for the university's biology department. Long story short - we got a call, box looked about like yours, 500 mice on the loose in the post office. We just smiled at the postal clerk and said sorry about your luck. lol lol

 

[portolan]

Mike, which university? When I am not in San Diego

or Chihuahua I am in Sarasota.

 

[dnjan]

The airlines must be laying off baggage handlers. Those guys gotta work someplace ...

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

I very much fear that, in the world of freight forwarding, small parcel transport, less than containterload shipments and whatever you wish to call it, precious little heed be done to messages pasted on the box...

Almost all of these postal parcels nowadays, at some stage, go by air, where the weight-to-volume ratio mostly acts against available (spare) space...the airplanes are stowed chock full. Mind you, these small parcels don't get loaded into planes by hand: they're already in made-to-fit aeronautic containers. Now these cardboard boxes are not exactly as we (in the traditional ocean shipping environment) would call "seaworthy". They're cardboard boxes, for heaven's sake. In the best of cases, heavy stuff is laden below, lighter boxes on top: always good for stability!

All to that multiple handling (out seller's house, into car, to post office, into postal truck, at post office depot, via conveyor belt, into aluminum air container (and, at the receiver's side, more of the same). Makes you wonder why I had some qualms sending off my Stetson 100 to Optimo's, because here all that goes ...back and forth!

Please have a heart for the Postal Services. It is not that they would ever be capable of babying your personal little box around the world...it just doesn't work that way!

Paul