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Fri July 23 2021 21:15:30

USPS Mailing Tubes Are Becoming a Box Office Bomb

By: Ina Steiner

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Move posters sent USPS are a flop, say sellers. Bruce Hershenson, proprietor of a million-dollar business eMoviePoster.com, said he has seen a dramatic rise in damage to the mailing tubes sent Priority Mail. 

Hershenson told EcommerceBytes he sends 15,000 to 25,000 packages every year in the strongest custom-made mailing tubes and boxes, but pointed to increasing problems over the past year.

In a post on Facebook, he included an image of a mailing tube and wrote about the problem of delayed and damaged packages. "Packages sent Priority Mail now routinely take a week or more to arrive in the U.S., as opposed to 2 to 5 days a couple of years ago," he wrote.

Until last year, the business experienced 2 - 3 damaged packages each year, but Hershenson said in the past year, it has increased ten times that number. 

"It still is a VERY tiny percentage of the total we send (around one tenth of one percent), which is a tribute to how strong our tubes and boxes are), but when the rate goes up ten times after 30 years of no change, you KNOW they are doing something VERY wrong in how they handle tubes and packages."

Yesterday, EcommerceBytes published a letter from another seller who described the same problem. "This probably points to a change in the USPS sorting processes and needs to be called put and fixed."

The seller said, "eBay has not adjusted shipping time expectations (for tubes) with buyers."

"This probably points to a change in the USPS sorting processes and needs to be called put and fixed," he added. The problem conjures up images of tubes rolling into the corners of USPS warehouses and delivery trucks.



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by: terry55 This user has validated their user name.

Sat Jul 24 09:17:08 2021

Its a huge problem, use to be 1 package in 1000, last year it was 1 in 100, this year its up to 1 in 10, these are USPS triangle boxes, their boxes. I sell fishing rods, most are crushed and broke in half, not just dented. Worse thing is they request my buyer take the broken rod to the PO for inspection(after they supplied pictures in claim) and USPS keep's the shipping charge. That's if you can get them to even approve the claim which can take weeks but ebay requires refund in a week whether they take up to PO or not.

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by: Plain1 This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 00:13:42 2021

If you buy the extra thick tubes you will never have a problem, I have a whole box of them. Never an issue.

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by: ByeByeEbay This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 00:16:37 2021

The process to get a damaged claim through the usps is arduous at best and you feel "lucky" if you get reimbursed. Also, i have noticed first class parcels taking longer than first class mail.  Where a letter might take 4-5 usps days I have seen where a first class parcel can be double that.  Also, the usps will not attempt to call any phone number that is on the package if there is an address issue, they will just send it back and forth until it goes back to the sender

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by: Chicago48 This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 00:38:37 2021

Stop shipping USPS.  UPS/Fedex charge about the same as USPS, maybe a few pennies more, but it's worth it.  And I hope they have insurance when they ship.  If they file enough claims and report missing & damaged mail, the message will be heard.

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by: Eagle This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 01:35:46 2021

Pricing varies on what your shipping. Same package for us costs $8 to $10 cheaper at USPS than FedEx. We ship jewelry and UPS is too rough on packages for us to use. The main problem we're having is USPS sends our packages on the scenic route and takes up to a week longer to be delivered.

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by: boardwalk This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 07:29:06 2021

I use plastic tubing meant for central vacuums system.  Cut them to size,  You can stand on them and they will not bend or damage the poster inside.  Have been doing that for years with no problems.

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by: ZZ This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 07:46:33 2021

Recently I filed an insurance claim for a golf club and was told to take the club,box and letter they sent me to the Post office for inspection. The customer is in Oregon; I'm on the East Coast. The customer has been paidback by me. Why would he take that junk to the post office? Why would I send him that letter when I understand he has no incentive to take that junk to the post office? I had to wait 30 days before I could respond (appeal) and then was told to wait until I got a letter from them with 'more information' before I appealed. That letter arrived 12 days after the date on the letterhead.  This idea of having the customer run around town after they have been paid is so illogical, I can only assume the insurance is disingenuous.

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by: terry55 This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 26 09:07:36 2021

Yep, got one customer said refund him and maybe he'll do me a favor and take it in for inspection. UPS won't pick up at my house unless I have a minimum amount of packages, Fedex has too many over charge stories on the board, I'm rural so taking packages into either place is a hour and half trip. I've told my customer that they need to take packages in for inspection, not for the refund but to let USPS know their doing a terrible job or its not gonna stop

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by: fusgeyer This user has validated their user name.

Tue Jul 27 09:36:33 2021

I gave up using USPS for delivery of posters and plans. UPS is very close in price. I was using the USPS medium triangles to ship posters, but I literally had a 50% destruction rate. For some reason, postal carriers think those 38: triangles can be folded and shoved into a mailbox.

I tried using heavy duty tubes and it helped a little, but not enough to make up for the time and expense it takes to resend an order to a customer. Yes, insurance claims are paid, but it is time consuming and they do not pay for the time it takes to reprocess an order and for the time it takes to file a claim.

I have switched my shipping to UPS. They are faster, more reliable, and they do not destroy packages. If USPS does not get its act together with shipping tubes, they are going to lose a lot of business.

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by: Jax8888 This user has validated their user name.

Thu Jun 23 08:52:16 2022

For this very reason, we usually recommend that our customers use our ''heavy duty'' option for shipping tubes going USPS. So far, we haven't heard any complaints about damaged goods using our tubes. We have a regular customer who uses the tubes to ship chrome trim for classic cars. If that sort of item gets even slightly bent, it is instantly ruined.  

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by: fusgeyer This user has validated their user name.

Thu Jun 23 17:15:44 2022

@Jax8888
USPS raised their rates for shipping tubes over 21 inches long. There is now a surcharge on those tubes. Our tubes are 37" long for most of our customers who are purchasing large artwork, sewing patterns and architectural plans. It must go Priority mail or Post. There is a $15 surcharge on top of the postage. Post cannot be insured - for that it must go Priority Mail. That only includes up to $50 in free insurance. The average purchase from my customers exceeds $50. This makes shipping via USPS the most expensive choice. On average they are 3x more than what UPS charges for the same tube for the same service. We were using heavy duty tubes after USPS started trashing most of the triangle Priority Tubes. I have photos of where the carrier's footprint is where they bent the tube to fix into the box. No, we only ship letters and flats through USPS now.

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by: Jax8888 This user has validated their user name.

Tue Aug 9 06:45:46 2022

@fusgeyer "I have photos of where the carrier's footprint is where they bent the tube to fix into the box." That's absolutely appalling behavior.
Shipping tubes have had a difficult couple of years. A lot of the shipping hubs are having trouble scanning tubes because of the new automated systems. I know at the company I work for, we have a new patent for an endcap that prevents the tubes from rolling on the conveyor belts. However, it feels like shipping companies, especially USPS, are trying to dissuade people from using shipping tubes.

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by: fusgeyer This user has validated their user name.

Wed Aug 10 17:53:37 2022

@Jax8888
If I cannot roll artwork, blueprints, or posters into a tube, then how do I ship? Anything 11 x 14 or smaller goes in a photo mailer. But what do I do with a 42 x 56 wall print? I cannot fold it - you cannot take creases out of art prints. I do not know where I would find an appropriate flat box that size - which btw would cost a small fortune to ship. So, I have to roll it and ship it in a tube or cube.

I completely have given up on USPS for anything other than letters and flats.  UPS is way less expensive for packages and they don't destroy the packages.  



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