The Perils of Shipping

[Bushmiller]

Some of you would be aware that I maintain a shipping facility at Hawthorne, California in America. It allows me to collect a number of purchases there over a period of three months and then ship all at one go. There are some strange restrictions at times. Of course you cannot ship weapons, explosives, chemicals etc.. Some liquids are forbidden as are more than a couple of Li-Ion batteries at a time, but one of the strange prohibited products with one carrier, the cheapest of course, is timber.

Now this is one where I come hugely unstuck on as probably three quarters of my purchases are hand saws of some description. With the timber handles of most self-respecting saws, it normally means using a more expensive carrier. Consequently I divide up the purchases and try to have a shipment that comprises purchases without any timber component. Just before the weekend I consolidated a number of purchases that were mainly metallic, some paper such as catalogues, some saw files, a few miscellaneous items and four handsaws. However the handsaws had either plastic or metal handles (Some Disston D-95s and a Docking saw.)

Prior to this there had been some problems during consolidation when I realised they had made the package larger than necessary and also missed one package. It turned out that they had temporarily lost it, but all was resolved when it was found and the parcel was reduced in size.

I selected the preferred carrier which is primarily Australia Post, After some inquiries I found out a while back that Australia Post has no restriction on timber products. However, the carrier used in conjunction with Aussie Post stateside apparently does not carry timber.

I then received a notification that the shipment was cancelled because it contained timber. I was away from home and without thinking selected the next carrier which was US$78 dearer. When I got home I woke up with a start this morning and thought, "@#*! " I had deliberately chosen no timber products. I got on to the company and asked them to cancel the shipment explaining the problem and pointing out that the saws did not have timber handles. Then I contacted them through their Live Chat facility and again explained the issue.

They checked and I waited and they finally supplied me with this picture.

The culprit.jpg

There it is. A file handle made in timber. Immediately I realised what had happened. There is an Ebay seller from whom I have bought files and saws in the past. Most times he throws in a small gift. A "freebee" if you like. This along with the files he had thrown in a timber handle.

If I had known I would have placed it in another shipment later on or I could have asked for it to be discarded.

It has turned out to be a a $78 file handle . That's US dollars.

Regards
Paul

[Simplicity]

Paul
Um that's going to be one expensive file.
That really is dumb luck.
Cheers Matt

[ian]

bummer

[doug3030]

And that's what you get for being such a good customer, Paul.

I'm sure it was done with the best intentions and he still has a warm fuzzy feeling from his generosity.

[FenceFurniture]

Yeah, this is a pain in the butt, and you have my sympathy Paul. What is an even bigger pain though is that firstly, Fedex have acquired TNT, and secondly with new importation rules here, they are refusing to allow consolidated packages to be shipped by Fedex.

I think that now means that if you want to bring in a package from multiple suppliers, and they contain timber - you're out of luck.

Maybe DHL will still allow consolidated packages with timber? Hell expensive though.

[Bushmiller]

Doug

It is indeed ironic. He is a very ethical seller, although I expect the verbosity in his listings irritate the proverbial out of some people.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Brett

DHL take timber, but as you say expensive. probably half as much again or more compared to TNT Express when that was available.

Regards
Paul

[woodPixel]

ComGateway do consolidation and have no problems with timber. I've used them often for veneers.

A new service I've just used is ShopAndShip, which is cheap beyond belief. They don't do consolidation, "yet". They also have no problem with timber.

Its a bummer when OS deliveries go heywire.

[rob streeper]

I suppose then if I sent you a bag of sawdust they'd charge $78 per particle? Of course they'd need to count them all to ensure proper invoicing.

[old1955]

Paul l can see the handle in a beautiful display case hanging on the wall.

Ross

[Bushmiller]

Ross

I did consider offering the handle up at cost price .

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Woodpixel

I will be looking into alternatives.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Another small tribulation that is current revolves around a mix up of parcels. I was contacted by a seller to say he had sent me the wrong parcel. Another bloke was sent my parcel. So he asked me to send on to an address I was given. I organised with the shipping company to forward it and explained to the seller what it would cost. He said OK and do it. I did this, ut the situation now is that I have sent on the wrongly addressed parcel to the correct address and it has been delivered. I have not received payment for the shipping cost. Neither have I received my parcel and have had no further advice of it's whereabouts.

There is a distinct lack of communication from the seller despite several messages.

I have had no further contact from the Ebay seller and do not hold out for a good result other than to escalate it to Ebay for them to wade in on my behalf. This is the first time I have encountered such slack correspondence with anybody though the Ebay system.

Regards
Paul

[FenceFurniture]

PayPal is your friend for lodging a dispute/claim......

[doug3030]

PayPal is your friend for lodging a dispute/claim......

Not sure that paypal would be able to do anything about postage costs for forwarding a parcel by a third party.