Worst packaging job ever?

Similar thing happened to me, I bought a coin from a seller in Sweden and the seller put the coin in a simple letter type envelope, loose without a flip or anything. When I received the envelope, one end was torn and very surprisingly the coin had not fallen out.

 

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At least he received it. I'm waiting for a photo I wanted on canvas. The Zip code was correct but the town was wrong.
I do take responsibility for that, notified both UPS and the seller. I wonder if it will ever arrive.
Reminds me of that song long ago about the MTA.
https://www.ups-mi.net/packageID/PackageID.aspx?PID=92642999937387513006088161

 

Tha'ts better than the used clear lunch container someone posted on FB .. I'll see if I can find it

 

Yup, I a real nicely rainbow toned Queen Vicky India 2 Anna and the coin never arrived. He admitted he had coin in his address so now he's changed it to abbreviations in the company name.

Still doesn't replace the coin I liked though.

As for the OP post topic, I would be pissed if I got a coin in the mail like that.

 

I don't have an eBay shipping label in front of me right now, but I am pretty sure the label says "First Class Parcel" [or something like that] when you pay the parcel rate. The label shown just says "First Class Mail", which I think means the shipper only paid 89c to send, not $2.45 - though I agree, it is hard to believe that the post office accepted that as a first class letter. Oh, and thanks for posting the rate chart; helps make the conversation clearer.

 

On eBay, for first class packages, I pay $2.45 for the first 3 ounces, and $2.60 for packages weighing 4-8 ounces. That could be an eBay discount on shipping labels though. Not sure it applies to every seller or if you get more or less of a discount depending on your eBay seller type/status.

 

Believe it or not,back in the late 50's early 60's the ANA used to publish a directory of all their members, with addresses. They stopped when it was learned that burglers were getting copies of the directory and using it as a guide book of who to rob.

 

Wow

 

Why in the world would they do that? What was the purpose; so a fellow ana neighbor can come borrow a cup of sugar an talk.coin?

 

People would actually use mail to send orders, invoices and checks. There was no eBay or PayPal. It was probably good for business until people started getting robbed.

 

I barely remember the pre-Internet era. LOL or should I say AOL

 

Yet it made it though....

Perhaps it doesn't make much sense looking at it through modern eyes, but was a different world back then, and still was not terribly long ago.

 

As a rural letter carrier for the USPS, I can tell you that many sellers are not worried about proper package preparation but are looking to send the item as cheaply as possible. And no, if you look at the postage that is attached to the parcel, you will notice that most of the time, it is no where near the price the buyer paid for "postage and handling." Handling is very expensive I suppose. Furthermore, as of May 2016, the cost of First Class Postage dropped from $.49 to $.47 for the 1st ounce and there is no longer any guaranteed overnight mail due to the dropping of standards by the USPS management. But I will tell you that as an employee of the USPS for over 25 years, most carriers want their customers to get what they pay for and will go out of their way to make sure a package is delivered even with the address un-deliverable or cant be read be read . Also, remember that in past days, people actually read and sorted all mail pieces. Today, machines and computers do most of this, some sorting as many as 60,000 pieces/hr. I personally inquire of buyers I deal with as to how they will be packing my coins etc and do not want then sent in plain letter envelopes.

 

Cool. Always good to hear from USPS employees on here. @Collecting Nut is a USPS employee also.

 

I received a token today... The seller had taped the piece to an index card and put it in a stamped envelope.

Thank goodness he used crummy tape...

 

Man I wish I took pictures. About a year ago I ordered a No motto Double eagle from someone on Ebay,nice big reputable company it looked like. It was coming from California and it so happened to be when everyone was going on strike at the airports etc,so a few day journey took almost two weeks. When I finally did get the coin it was put into a NORMAL LETTER ENVELOPE. Taped up and sent through registered mail. I mean cmon 1400 dollars and couldn't even use a bubbler smh.

 

Whut? I would have eviscerated the seller in my Feedback. A gold coin in a business envelope? The mechanical sorter could have wrecked it. I'm furious just thinking about it, and it wasn't even my coin.

 

It let people know of other collectors in their area. You could contact and talk, if you wanted to try and start a coin club you had a list of other interested parties you could try to get to join. Running a coin show you could use it to make up a mailing list to send postcards to to advertise the show etc. There were reasons for doing it.

He did say it went by registered mail. It probably never saw a mechanical sorter. And since it went registered, a two week trip would not be considered to be unusual.