I need to vent!

[UltraMarginal]

Man a package came today and it was half ripped open !! Lucky it wasnt anything of value , card holder only but was missing 2 screws only . I had alot of this lately where a package was open on the top but was made to look like it has been squashed from the handling ,so they can take a look what inside ....but usually its cheap stuff so they dont take anything , was missing a decorative dish once when the box came emptied!
And it happen again today a padded envelop rip open on the top ,half ways ! the person must of read collectible card on the envelop open it then just saw the holders and just passed it thru ... the F****
Sorry just had to get that out ..

That sounds like a problem at your local post office or sorting centre, I've never had that, ever.
I highly recommend reporting directly to Australia post. if it's happening to you, it is probably also happening to others.

[5FDP]

My worst incident with a postie was a few years back when I bought a 20-year-old-extremely-rare-vintage-book (A3 size) which was folded in half to fit in the letterbox. I was mortified... still am Have never found another to replace it and had to sell mine off as I was sick in the stomach every time I looked at it. It happens.

[Ultra Mackness]

My wife collects vintage sewing books, and if the item is small enough and/or thin enough to be folded our regular postie will fold it and force it into our letterbox, even if it says fragile or do not bend. On one occasion there was corrugated cardboard in the envelope - still got folded! We have a steepish driveway and our package delivery guy is pretty good, he brings items up the driveway , but it's just sheer laziness on behalf of the regular postie.

[1AZRAEL1]

My wife collects vintage sewing books, and if the item is small enough and/or thin enough to be folded our regular postie will fold it and force it into our letterbox, even if it says fragile or do not bend. On one occasion there was corrugated cardboard in the envelope - still got folded! We have a steepish driveway and our package delivery guy is pretty good, he brings items up the driveway , but it's just sheer laziness on behalf of the regular postie.

Honestly, I'd report that. It says do not bend.

[Megatron]

While we're on this topic, it's not just the local postie or sorting center that don't know how to handle precious items... I recently bought a rare vintage Transformers artefact from the US, but the seller was using eBay's Global Shipping Program for his auctions. They charged me more on P&H for starters (an import fee really?) than if it'd just been posted via the regular USPS. But that I could deal with because I really wanted this item. Anyways... I received the item, opened the package and... part of it was broken.. . Now the seller and I both knew that it had left his hands intact, and the ONLY place it could have been mishandled was at eBay's actual sorting center.

It upset me to look at the item after that, even though I could have glued part of it back together it just wasn't good enough for me any more. So, I ended up selling it 'as is'.

As a side note, I did get a refund from Paypal, but ONLY for the actual item cost, NOT for the postage (which was half the actual price I paid for the item anyway). The seller will not use eBay's Global Shipping Program again, and based on my experience, I highly recommend that you avoid it if you can.

As far as local posties go, I've never had an issue... lucky, I guess. It's just not good enough, and if I found that my parcels were being opened and generally mishandled on a regular basis, I'd be very .

[GoktimusPrime]

*shudder* These stories make me feel even less inspired to try online shopping.
But even as a die-hard brick and mortar shopper, I've not been immune to having stuff damaged in transit... most of you have already heard this story, but for those who haven't, when I moved from Japan to Australia I had to ship all my stuff back here, including my toys -- and one box got intercepted by Customs who just really roughly chucked everything back in the box. A lot of my previously pristine TF packaging suffered minor damages like scratched corners etc., but the worst was my Machine Wars Megatron card which they BENT IN HALF to force it to fit! Man... that was 15 years ago and I'm still ticked off about it! Probably because to this day there's this permanent crease mark that still bisects the card.

[Ultra Mackness]

While we're on this topic, it's not just the local postie or sorting center that don't know how to handle precious items... I recently bought a rare vintage Transformers artefact from the US, but the seller was using eBay's Global Shipping Program for his auctions.

That item wouldn't happen to be a Megatron gumball machine would it?

[Megatron]

*shudder* These stories make me feel even less inspired to try online shopping.
But even as a die-hard brick and mortar shopper, I've not been immune to having stuff damaged in transit... most of you have already heard this story, but for those who haven't, when I moved from Japan to Australia I had to ship all my stuff back here, including my toys -- and one box got intercepted by Customs who just really roughly chucked everything back in the box. A lot of my previously pristine TF packaging suffered minor damages like scratched corners etc., but the worst was my Machine Wars Megatron card which they BENT IN HALF to force it to fit! Man... that was 15 years ago and I'm still ticked off about it! Probably because to this day there's this permanent crease mark that still bisects the card.

Online shopping really isn't that bad - there are many more benefits than there are drawbacks. It just sounds really bad when all the mishaps are pointed out all at once. Paypal does cover you most of the time anyway, on eBay at least.

Sorry to hear about your MW Megs card... they should have bought you a replacement one. I wonder if shipping insurance would cover things like this?

That item wouldn't happen to be a Megatron gumball machine would it?

Yes, it would.

[Ultra Mackness]

I have a feeling I may have bought mine from you then In keeping with the current topic though, it got delivered safely by the good postie!

[UltraMarginal]

I've very rarely ever had a problem with handling of items I've received in the post, from Canada, US, UK, Hong Kong, Japan...

the worst was the Drift Trade paperback, I bought it through the book depository and it was just in a bubble wrap envelope, which has no stiffness at all. The damage though, did look like someone had thrown the package against a wall. I got a full refund from the book depository, and they have drastically improved the envelope choice since then.

I shop online all the time, it's cheaper and often at least as reliable as a retail purchase.