# shipping orchids Priority Mail



## Ron-NY (Jul 17, 2008)

I am awaiting one box that has been processed in the same post office 6 days in a row...it is 4 hours away  It made it from Florida to NY in one day but is currently in limbo. They are searching for it. 

I am glad this box was marked fragile handle with care.


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## Scooby5757 (Jul 17, 2008)

Jesus. I havent had one that bad yet....yet.


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## rdlsreno (Jul 17, 2008)

OMG!!!!


Ramon


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## paphioland (Jul 17, 2008)

The government does such a great job running stuff, maybe we should let them take over more aspects of our lives. 

You can't even complain to the USPS, I have tried. That sucks, sorry.


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## tocarmar (Jul 17, 2008)

Rob,
How was the plants?? Did they make it??
Sorry about that! It sucks, I had 1 come in banged up, but it wasn't that bad, I had lost a few buds on 1 plant.


Tom


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## practicallyostensible (Jul 17, 2008)

How timely, I had a one gallon passion vine sent to me priority mail 16 days ago now. The post office is "currently unable to locate it". Last year they failed to deliver a box of tropical fish that was shipped via overnight due to an "unexpectedly high volume" that day, the shipment suffered many fatalities. Lesson learned.


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## swamprad (Jul 17, 2008)

Ron, I feel your pain. I have experienced many similar problems. In fact, I met with my local postmaster this week to formally complain about my mailman. I suppose he'll retailiate by strewing my mail hither and yon, I should have just suffered in silence.


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## NYEric (Jul 17, 2008)

After a friend told me he was told by a delivery service worker that if it's marked 'Fragile' he deliberately kicks it, I never mark my boxes.


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## Corbin (Jul 17, 2008)

Isn't this why UPS, FedX, and others have bee so successful? 

We all know the goverment can not run anything (Including itself) properly.


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## SlipperFan (Jul 17, 2008)

That is really disgusting. Did they pay damages? (Ha ha!)


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## rdhed (Jul 17, 2008)

Now that looks like it was sat on....maybe to eat their lunch.:rollhappy:
Hope the 'chids' inside didn't suffer to much. 

----Allen----


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## goldenrose (Jul 17, 2008)

:sob: OMG :sob: that's [email protected]! @!
I guess I've been lucky. Good Luck!
I've always found it amazing that living in the midwest, I could get plants from either coast & (even Hawaii) in the same amount of time (or less) that it takes to get a shipment from Ernie who's 2-2 1/2 hours away!


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## Ron-NY (Jul 17, 2008)

There were 3 plants in the box...I lost a few buds and I have a few creased leaves and one crushed plastic pot but when I saw the box, my heart sank but I was surprised they were not a total waste. The three plants were fairly rare species and I would have been pretty upset if they were not salvageable. 

Other good news is that the customer service person in Rochester traced down my other box. She made quite a few long distance calls including 2 to me on mt cell. It was special delivered to me this evening. The Bulbo, which was shipped a week ago, Monday was a bit dessicated but it will survive :clap: The box also contained a small Cypress knee that will be added to my future "orchid spa"


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## littlefrog (Jul 17, 2008)

I never mark anything on a box... Seems to work better for me. Although I must say, I've probably shipped out 70 boxes of plants (mostly non-orchids, bare-root) through USPS in the last month, and all of them have made it safely as far as I know (no complaints). I've taken to using the 'click-n-ship' software, which gives you a nice bar-coded label, which I'm sure helps with sorting.

A few boxes to the left coast have taken 4 days instead of three... But that is about as bad as it gets. I pack assuming a week anyway. Always prepare for the worst and hope for the best!


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## MoreWater (Jul 17, 2008)

seems like regardless of carrier, such things happen. Glad to hear you didn't lose all the contents - that would have been awful!


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## paphioland (Jul 17, 2008)

MoreWater said:


> seems like regardless of carrier, such things happen. Glad to hear you didn't lose all the contents - that would have been awful!



Not true. FedEx and UPS have much better customer satisfaction and can be held accountable unlike USPS. No business that I know of that ships truly valuable material uses the USPS even though they are cheaper.


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## streetmorrisart (Jul 18, 2008)

That box is really sad-looking, and I know I’d have been angry had anything shown up to me in said condition, but Priority is a great service overall and a good deal for both buyer and seller. I’ve been using it almost exclusively for years, and have had only two minor issues with it, neither of which resulted in any damage to my original art. There are many reputable proprietors like me who will ship that way.


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## Hien (Jul 18, 2008)

paphioland said:


> Not true. FedEx and UPS have much better customer satisfaction and can be held accountable unlike USPS. No business that I know of that ships truly valuable material uses the USPS even though they are cheaper.


 However, UPS will have you waste the whole day waiting to sign for the package.
(they always say 10 AM to 7 PM)


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## NYEric (Jul 18, 2008)

NYEric said:


> After a friend told me he was told by a delivery service worker that if it's marked 'Fragile' he deliberately kicks it, I never mark my boxes.



Notice I said delivery service not USPS!


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## paphioland (Jul 18, 2008)

Hien said:


> However, UPS will have you waste the whole day waiting to sign for the package.
> (they always say 10 AM to 7 PM)




So will the USPS if you instruct them to hold for delivery with out signature.


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## cnycharles (Jul 19, 2008)

wow, that box was literally put through the mill! I'm surprised, I've had many boxes sent priority mail that went from coast to coast in two days, very rarely three. I often mark them as fragile or perishable and haven't had any in bad shape. maybe the kicker is that you had mail sent through rochester? I know my brother who lives in brooklyn says it often can take a whole week for a letter or package to go from one part of brooklyn to another, so maybe city service is 'less reliable' than rural?
i was going to send a three pound package via fedex recently next-day, and eeked when I saw that it would cost from $85 to $115 to send it! The box went next week priority mail cost $8 and heard no complaints from the other end.


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## Ernie (Jul 19, 2008)

We use USPS a lot and have had no boxes arrived damaged that I recall (but yeah plants get jumbled sometimes). They are easy to use and usually have the best rates, and, Priority Mail is advertised at 2-3 days. Yeah, we'd hope that an intra-Illinois package would arrive in 1-2 days, but they almost always hit the 2-3 day mark regardless of where they're headed. We give our customers the option of choosing the carrier if they know they get better service from one over another, and always charge shipping at cost. FedEx gives the next best rates usually, but you don't always know what they charge until the box is well on the way. We've had our share of less than desirabele experiences with FedEx. UPS just seem to have a fee for everything, and their prices are usually crazy. We highly recommend using signature confirmation when shipping or buying plants. One would hope that the Post Office/FedEx/UPS/DHL would be less likely to mishandle a box if they know someone will need to see it and sign to claim it. Shoot, with hot temps and blazing sun (or cold temps and snow in winter), not worth leaving a box to bake until you get home from work anyway! 

-Ernie


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## paphreek (Jul 20, 2008)

I use Priority Mail with delivery confirmation and have had good experience for the most part.


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