FED EX Smartpost/Surepost: I can't TRUST it.
2My first order with meh was on Monday when I ordered the LG 10" Tablet. It shipped on Tuesday and as of 5:28pm cst. it is in St. Paul,Mn, which is about 75 miles away. I’ve got 2 questions,1st the delivery date was just changed from Mon. to Wed.(even though it seems to be ahead of schedule) and 2nd and this is a BIG concern, I don’t want my tablet to be delivered by the post office and have it sit outside my door with the possibility of it being ripped off. What do I do??? What do you guys do??
- 9 comments, 52 replies
- Comment
go to the post office and ask them to hold your mail
@communist yeah, good idea. You can do this for a temporary thing.
@communist I had a package in May come by smartpost and I called the post office and asked them to hold it. They said they would pull it and keep it at the P.O. It showed up at my door. I was surprised and pissed that the retailer used smartpost because usually Fed Ex or UPS was the only sole deliverer and I had the option of going online and having it be held.
I’ve never had a problem. Yes, the post office delivers it at the end, and they leave it outside my door. FedEx and ups also leave packages at my door. Unless you pay extra for signature… Which no one really does unless it’s super expensive.
If you get a PO box… Then you can pick up all your packages, I guess.
@RiotDemon Meh doesn’t ship to PO boxes
@0Wise1 sure they do, you just get one that is labelled as ‘suite’
@0Wise1
Your PO will tell you how to do your PO box address so that Fedex and UPS will deliver there.
@0Wise1 where does it say that? I read the FAQ and see no mention of it, only APO and FPO, which is different.
What was your first question again?
It is called “smart” because they try to ship your stuff along other already scheduled shipments. Sometimes it needs to wait an extra day, so the delivery date might change. And yeah, it will be delivered by the USPS…
@ELUNO The USPS is what I’m afraid of, with my (see above) past experience with them.
Why not wait until Thursday, August 25th before you panic?
(I only ever had 1 smartpost item go missing, and it showed up eventually.)
Delivery dates get changed all of the time – sometimes sooner, sometimes later. That’s the way it is.
How did you want your tablet to be delivered?
@Barney Dropped down from the heavens.
@growyoungagain Seriously, how did you expect your tablet was going to be delivered?
@Barney
@ELUNO But it’s not purple.
@ELUNO don’t let @matthew see that!
@Barney I knew that USPS would be doing it,but my panic is about my shady downstairs neighbor. He makes up his own rules for everything and can’t be trusted. I hate, hate, hate it!!!
@growyoungagain Well, the tracking info is pretty accurate. It will tell you the day it is to be delivered in advance. Do you have a friend who can house sit that day or a neighbor who can watch your place?
Really, I think the post office will hold your mail if you ask. I understand your concerns, I’d hate to lose my new tablet, too.
@Barney No neighbor or friend to watch for, I’ll try talking to my Post Office again and be more firm with them this time. Thanks for letting me know that the tracking is pretty accurate.
@growyoungagain
I use a commercial mailbox service. Nothing ever goes missing.
I think that currently, if you get a USPS PO Box from a post office location, you can now receive fedex and UPS shipments there by using special addressing. Ask your post office about this.
The downside is that you have go to get your mail. I don’t mind, since I never have to worry.
@growyoungagain Keep in mind, I live in podunk Kansas, so my tracking experience may vary from yours, but you should be able get a pretty close idea as to when it will arrive.
@Barney
My pretty purple one. Hmmm…,
@Barney Is this better?
@ELUNO Much better, thanks.
@f00l Confession time. I’ve never watched The Wizard of Oz all of the way through.
@f00l Wizard of Oz scared me as a child and still does. Am I the only one who feels this way?
@Barney SPOILER she stays trapped in oz and opens a shoe repair shop, oh, and her little dog too.
@Barney
A little bit of it, with Pink Floyd
@Barney here you go:
@growyoungagain
@Barney
My Mom had grown up on the OZ books, and she and Dad read all 17 of them (plus a few books about neighboring counties to Oz) repeatedly, at our insistence; so often that by the time we were 2-3 we had them pretty much memorized.
If my parents “accidentally” made an error as a test, we would catch it and make the parent-reader start the page over. She was never sure whether we memorized the books thru nightly readings, or just started reading along ourselves (prob a bit of both), but always believed we learned to read on thesebooks.
So by the time I saw the film, I knew the story cold. FWIW, from by 3 year old critic’s judgment, the movie is amazing, and the books are way better than that.
If you happen to be around youngish people, or just want s little childhood enchantment for yourself, highly recommended.
If you get copies of these, get the modern versions that use the original illustrations. All the books are lovely; the books illustrated by John R Neill are breathtaking.
@jbartus
A drone.horse of a different color!
And Barney, this one’s for you.
@f00l 17 books, I never knew about the books, or I forgot. The flying monkeys and the witch were terrifying.
@growyoungagain
I remembered badly. 14 books by L Frank Baum, plus a few related-universe books with characters that finally show up in the Oz books.
Plus a ton of other books, other writers have continued the series since the 1920’s, notably Ruth Plumly Thompson. There may be something approaching 100 books now, dunno. I do love these.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oz_books
@f00l I love the Pink Floyd.
@thismyusername I guess I don’t have to watch it now.
@Barney
Naw. Ya gotta watchit.
@f00l Nope, don’t wanna.
@Barney You’re missing out. It’s like never otherwise encountering a lovely shade of purple
@compunaut Nope, not gonna.
@growyoungagain
@compunaut
@Barney
Here are a few sample John R Neill illustrations from the Oz book series
(I don’t think he ever illustrated the original book, The Wizard Of Oz)
These samples do NOT begin to do him justice.
@f00l Last one reminds me of work by
Charles Dana Gibson
@compunaut
Same era in illustration and design. A number of gilded-era and post-gilded era books have this look, here and in Europe. I don’t know who is indebted to whom in the illustration-history space.
@growyoungagain I don’t have this issue at my current residence, but I have in the past. I was able to go to my post office and request that they never leave any packages at my house. My packages were not to ever even go out on the mail truck for the day. All of my letter mail was delivered normally, but I was able to go in and get my packages from the PO. This may be a bit extreme if you’re only concerned about high-value items, but it’s something to consider.
@PurplePawprints That’s exactly the scenario that I want to happen. The USPS gets revenue by smartpost and it’s helping them stay in business. We should be able to have are packages held.
@growyoungagain
Much depends on the atmosphere at your local PO. If you have probs, talk to the local Postmaster/manager at that office. If you still have probs, call or visit the regional or County Consumer Affairs office and complain. Demand a return call from your local PO manager. If you are persistent with them, you can fix most probs, sometimes it takes a while.
In the short run for getting the tablet, perhaps just tell them you’re out of town for a few days and will they hold your mail until your “return”.
Some prev threads - sometimes good info hidden in these:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/when-did-amazon-prime-resort-to-ups-surepost
https://meh.com/forum/topics/smartpost
https://meh.com/forum/topics/what-is-your-experience-with-smartpost
https://meh.com/forum/topics/shipping-question
https://meh.com/forum/topics/please-please-get-a-mediocre-shipping-service
@growyoungagain the only thing I have to say on this topic is that you seem to have had a one-off experience wherein your package was not held when you asked them to hold it and have used that one time experience to declare a pattern of behavior.
I’ve never had any issues getting a package held, did you call the same day or anything like that? If so, it was probably already on the truck and too late to recall it.
Are there other instances outside of the one you mentioned from back in May?
@jbartus I’ve been having some serious problems with my USPS besides Smartpost. In Feb. I never received my bank statement, last Dec. I never got a xmas card with a check inside that was sent by my Aunt in Chicago. In the spring of 2013 my rent check was lost and 2 yrs.ago when I had home health care a check for over $300.00 was also lost in the mail. For reals,so my concerns are prettty legit. There’s been bumbling all over the place. This concludes my Therapy session.
@growyoungagain ah, that sucks then.
I have a camera that emails me when someone comes to the door. I leave work to get the package when it’s important.
My front step (a single one) steps down onto the sidewalk (no front yard at all) so I have almost all deliveries made to my job. (You asked for my solution.)
However, for the various things that use some carrier to get a package to the local PO and then USPS delivers it afterwards, it is very clear when the hand off from the carrier to USPS has happened (check the tracking) and I can just go to the PO and get it myself. I have to wait on line, then explain and ask to speak to a supervisor and get to the PO at least an hour before closing, but it is dead easy.
I learned of this option when I called once to ask if I could do it. USPS always takes at least one extra day after the hand-off to deliver these items and it was a Friday morning with a Monday holiday and I wanted the package before Tuesday or Wednesday, so I called and asked and they said sure, it was no problem, just come down and ask for a supervisor before 4PM (closing at 5PM that day). When I got there, I asked about doing the same thing later, if I should always call or what, and they said not a problem, no need to even call as long as I was there more than an hour before closing.
This, I do not get.
USPS will put something in my mailbox.
UPS/FedEx/Everyone else will leave something on my doorstep in plain sight.
USPS seems like the more secure option to me just because if it can fit in my mailbox, it will go in my mailbox.
@Collin1000 what happens if it can’t fit? I’ve had USPS do everything from hanging it off of the mailbox flag in a bag to balance a box on top of the mailbox. We live in a suburban area so I’ve never really been fussed about it, except when it’s due to rain (USPS comes to the porch round here when that happens so that’s fine too) and nothing’s ever been stolen so…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@jbartus We had the same problem. Solved it (more or less) by purchasing an enormous mailbox. Picked it up at Home Depot for about $30. Not pretty, but it does its mission.
It’s roughly 25"x15"x12"-- big enough to hold two shoe boxes, or a large cat (don’t ask). My mailman appreciates the fact he doesn’t have to haul himself out of the truck to drop off the meh & amazon boxes.
Of course, if you have a fussy HOA or one of those fancy brick mailboxes, then you’re SOL.
@Collin1000 With regular Fed Ex/UPS you have the option of having it held at an access point. With USPS it’s iffy whether they will hold it at the post office. My apt.mailbox is tiny and is for paper mail, not parcels.
@LaVikinga I’ll just keep trusting my mailman and neighbors, 13 years at this address and not a single stolen package.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@jbartus You know, I was commenting to my Dad about living in a community where there’s a lot of trust. I’m currently in PA near PennState. Drove past a yard with a sign in from of a big yard cart full of corn: $2 a dozen.
Of course we stopped. (The corn last year from them was the absolutely sweetest flavorful corn I’ve ever had in my life and I grew up spending my summers where we’d get the water boiling, go pick, shuck and eat for lunch, so I’ve been lucky to eat good corn.)
No one around. Just a card table with a Maxwell House coffee tin and a note on the table saying “$2 a dozen. Put the money in the can. Thank you & have a wonderful day.” It was a wonderful thing to open the lid and see it pretty stuffed with cash & change. I’m glad there are places in my world which still operate like this.
BTW–Best damned corned ever! So SWEEEET and not starchy !!! Because Dad & I are irresponsible adults, dinner consisted of sliced garden tomatoes and flash boiled/steamed corn (and BUTTER!)
@LaVikinga that kind of stuff is awesome when I still find it. Around here, as far as I’ve heard anyhow, we’ve only ever had one instance of theft. It happened about 9 years ago, a robbery ring from a neighboring city hit the entire neighborhood in one night, even stole a guy’s Lexus right out of his open garage. Other than that fluke, nothing. Most people around here don’t even lock their doors.
@jbartus I’ve never understood the concept of" don’t even lock their doors" Why not? Why take risky chances.
@growyoungagain because you don’t consider it a risk because you know and trust your neighbors to not do anything and to call the cops if you see anyone doing anything at their place?
@growyoungagain
It depends on the community. It you are in a community where leaving doors unlocked is obviously risky, as with most communities, you lock doors.
If you live in a community where there is rarely a reason to look doors, that community has achieved a distinct level of honor, caring, responsibility, and shared trust; which creates a very different “feel” to daily life.
Perhaps most of these places will eventually become places where most people should, and do, lock their doors. Just like every other place on the planet. And when that happens, something very important about that place will have been lost.