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USPS/Ebay delivery
#1
S
SamB
S
SamB
A little tidbit of knowledge that may help someone from losing money buying on Ebay from offshore sellers. When a seller posts a tracking number for their countries shipping services,when the parcel gets to our country,it will be handed off to another carrier,usually USPS. It then gets another tracking number,different from the one given/posted to Ebay. The original tracking number will show Ebay that the parcel has been delivered,although it has NOT been delivered to you! If it then gets "Lost in the mail",you are out of luck trying to get a replacement or refund,BECAUSE Ebay says "The tracking number shows that the package has been delivered"! Best advice is buy from USA sellers. And better yet,avoid Ebay if at all possible,if you can.
#2
StarTech
StarTech
eBay is called RipBay for a reason.
#3
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
I have been saying it for years
Buy from Alli-Baba or Alli-Express
In both of these platforms the sender does not get paid till you have recieved the goods .
I know it is a very bitter pill for Americans to swallow that one of those evil nasty child eating grandmother raping communist from China could actually provide a better on line platform than a flag waving capitalist American,,,,, but they did .
Down here we call it Evil Pay
Buy from Alli-Baba or Alli-Express
In both of these platforms the sender does not get paid till you have recieved the goods .
I know it is a very bitter pill for Americans to swallow that one of those evil nasty child eating grandmother raping communist from China could actually provide a better on line platform than a flag waving capitalist American,,,,, but they did .
Down here we call it Evil Pay
#4
7394
7394
I refer to ebay as Fee-bay, or Flea-bay..
Selling there has become a fruitless endeavor, they jacked up the fees, want Bank Acc # & maybe my 1st born.. I quit selling there long ago.
Selling there has become a fruitless endeavor, they jacked up the fees, want Bank Acc # & maybe my 1st born.. I quit selling there long ago.
#5
StarTech
StarTech
I gave on selling on eBay back in 2015 but at that time it was my local PO that was the problem. They are open only a couple hours each day during the week when someone shows up. It a little better now the postmaster is working three post offices during the day so it hard her to be here all day. And now my problem is I got run my business too so timing is difficult to do now as I am the only one here.
And Bert I have been wondering how the service was from Alli-Express though I try to stay away from after market stuff. Lots of bad luck with the after market stuff here.
And Bert I have been wondering how the service was from Alli-Express though I try to stay away from after market stuff. Lots of bad luck with the after market stuff here.
#6
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
Alli-Express is the retail division so by & large you are dealing with retail & wholesale merchants.
I have had no problems but I use the same filter as ebay and check what else that vendor is selling and only purchase from those that sell nothing but mower / engine / motorcycle etc stuff.
I buy most from Alli-Baba because that is B to B so you are dealing directly with the manufacturer / distributors so no rubbish merchants with stock rescued from the scrap bin
Because it is set up as B to B all items have minimum order quantities but just about all of them will allow a "sample order" of 1 to 5 at a slightly higher price .
For me the biggie is they have no tie in with the tax office so do not add the 10% gst that Evil Pay does and will ship by what ever means I request .
Being you are dealing with factories , many will list their customers as an example of the quality of their products so I come across factories that claim they are making the goods I buy from my wholesalers which gives me a second supply source and I do buy some products direct where the wholesale mark up is a bit excessive , Vanguard & Kohler air filters & plastic fuel filters & taps .And of course some list B & S , Kohler, Honda , Kawakasi , MTD etc as their customers
A 50 pack of filters which end up just over $ 1 is a lot better than $ 3.50 - $ 4.75.
If I had the space then I would have ordered 1000 which would have been less than 50¢ delivered , but that is near 10 years worth .
So now I will stock & fit only 4 filters , a long & cone shaped universal filter, a steel cased one for EFI engines and an aluminium one with a washable sintered brass filter of fire pumps .
I have been temped to buy some B & S cams but a min order of 100 is a bit too big to swallow considering I only fit 1 or 2 a season & funds are tight right now but if this season keep on the way it is going I might have a shot next year.
the big problem with both of them is their search engines suck.
So do the searches after hours with a coffee / wine / beer in hand and be preparred to spend a long time because while the site is in English , all of the vendors are Asian so translations of descriptions can be a bit funny
Cam shaft = open valve mechanism from one factory in Vietnam
Overall I could not be happier with the service which seems to have been set up to exclude dishonest trade where as Ebay & Amazon seem to have been set up for the benefit of dishonest trading.
No screen names or Avitars on Alli so genuine factory / business names ( some times in the native language ) and you will be listed under your company name.
But dealing with "lucky one you 2" on Ebay / Amazon does not make one very confident about the vendor to start with .\
Made in China is even better as it is almost 100% factory or factory distributors .
MiC prices tend to be lower but qualtities tend to be larger and their search filters are almost useless so search for Brigs & Stratton Carburettor with bring up thousands of listings many of which will be the same company - different product + every other carburettor.
Searching with B & S part numbers again bring up some B & S carbs + 10,000 non related items.
But the best things about all of them is they only ist the stock they have on hand or can make in a given time ( lead times seem to be accurate ) .
So no more ordering & paying for parts then waiting the better part of a year for it to arrive .
I have had no problems but I use the same filter as ebay and check what else that vendor is selling and only purchase from those that sell nothing but mower / engine / motorcycle etc stuff.
I buy most from Alli-Baba because that is B to B so you are dealing directly with the manufacturer / distributors so no rubbish merchants with stock rescued from the scrap bin
Because it is set up as B to B all items have minimum order quantities but just about all of them will allow a "sample order" of 1 to 5 at a slightly higher price .
For me the biggie is they have no tie in with the tax office so do not add the 10% gst that Evil Pay does and will ship by what ever means I request .
Being you are dealing with factories , many will list their customers as an example of the quality of their products so I come across factories that claim they are making the goods I buy from my wholesalers which gives me a second supply source and I do buy some products direct where the wholesale mark up is a bit excessive , Vanguard & Kohler air filters & plastic fuel filters & taps .And of course some list B & S , Kohler, Honda , Kawakasi , MTD etc as their customers
A 50 pack of filters which end up just over $ 1 is a lot better than $ 3.50 - $ 4.75.
If I had the space then I would have ordered 1000 which would have been less than 50¢ delivered , but that is near 10 years worth .
So now I will stock & fit only 4 filters , a long & cone shaped universal filter, a steel cased one for EFI engines and an aluminium one with a washable sintered brass filter of fire pumps .
I have been temped to buy some B & S cams but a min order of 100 is a bit too big to swallow considering I only fit 1 or 2 a season & funds are tight right now but if this season keep on the way it is going I might have a shot next year.
the big problem with both of them is their search engines suck.
So do the searches after hours with a coffee / wine / beer in hand and be preparred to spend a long time because while the site is in English , all of the vendors are Asian so translations of descriptions can be a bit funny
Cam shaft = open valve mechanism from one factory in Vietnam
Overall I could not be happier with the service which seems to have been set up to exclude dishonest trade where as Ebay & Amazon seem to have been set up for the benefit of dishonest trading.
No screen names or Avitars on Alli so genuine factory / business names ( some times in the native language ) and you will be listed under your company name.
But dealing with "lucky one you 2" on Ebay / Amazon does not make one very confident about the vendor to start with .\
Made in China is even better as it is almost 100% factory or factory distributors .
MiC prices tend to be lower but qualtities tend to be larger and their search filters are almost useless so search for Brigs & Stratton Carburettor with bring up thousands of listings many of which will be the same company - different product + every other carburettor.
Searching with B & S part numbers again bring up some B & S carbs + 10,000 non related items.
But the best things about all of them is they only ist the stock they have on hand or can make in a given time ( lead times seem to be accurate ) .
So no more ordering & paying for parts then waiting the better part of a year for it to arrive .
#7
S
SamB
S
SamB
One thing to always check on Amazon is that the item is being sold and stocked by Amazon,NOT a 3rd party seller. Amazon,for some reason,allows scammers to sell on their site.Alli-Express is the retail division so by & large you are dealing with retail & wholesale merchants.
I have had no problems but I use the same filter as ebay and check what else that vendor is selling and only purchase from those that sell nothing but mower / engine / motorcycle etc stuff.
I buy most from Alli-Baba because that is B to B so you are dealing directly with the manufacturer / distributors so no rubbish merchants with stock rescued from the scrap bin
Because it is set up as B to B all items have minimum order quantities but just about all of them will allow a "sample order" of 1 to 5 at a slightly higher price .
For me the biggie is they have no tie in with the tax office so do not add the 10% gst that Evil Pay does and will ship by what ever means I request .
Being you are dealing with factories , many will list their customers as an example of the quality of their products so I come across factories that claim they are making the goods I buy from my wholesalers which gives me a second supply source and I do buy some products direct where the wholesale mark up is a bit excessive , Vanguard & Kohler air filters & plastic fuel filters & taps .And of course some list B & S , Kohler, Honda , Kawakasi , MTD etc as their customers
A 50 pack of filters which end up just over $ 1 is a lot better than $ 3.50 - $ 4.75.
If I had the space then I would have ordered 1000 which would have been less than 50¢ delivered , but that is near 10 years worth .
So now I will stock & fit only 4 filters , a long & cone shaped universal filter, a steel cased one for EFI engines and an aluminium one with a washable sintered brass filter of fire pumps .
I have been temped to buy some B & S cams but a min order of 100 is a bit too big to swallow considering I only fit 1 or 2 a season & funds are tight right now but if this season keep on the way it is going I might have a shot next year.
the big problem with both of them is their search engines suck.
So do the searches after hours with a coffee / wine / beer in hand and be preparred to spend a long time because while the site is in English , all of the vendors are Asian so translations of descriptions can be a bit funny
Cam shaft = open valve mechanism from one factory in Vietnam
Overall I could not be happier with the service which seems to have been set up to exclude dishonest trade where as Ebay & Amazon seem to have been set up for the benefit of dishonest trading.
No screen names or Avitars on Alli so genuine factory / business names ( some times in the native language ) and you will be listed under your company name.
But dealing with "lucky one you 2" on Ebay / Amazon does not make one very confident about the vendor to start with .\
Made in China is even better as it is almost 100% factory or factory distributors .
MiC prices tend to be lower but qualtities tend to be larger and their search filters are almost useless so search for Brigs & Stratton Carburettor with bring up thousands of listings many of which will be the same company - different product + every other carburettor.
Searching with B & S part numbers again bring up some B & S carbs + 10,000 non related items.
But the best things about all of them is they only ist the stock they have on hand or can make in a given time ( lead times seem to be accurate ) .
So no more ordering & paying for parts then waiting the better part of a year for it to arrive .
#8
B
bertsmobile1
FWIW I was at a warehouse that was despatching goods sold via Amazon & Ebay often on behalf of the same importer but sold under different invoices for different prices.
Some also required us to print out product labels to stick on unbranded goods to change their name .
B
bertsmobile1
I would propose that take out books around 1/3 of what is offered on Amazon is a con, defective goods or plain scammers with nothing to sell.One thing to always check on Amazon is that the item is being sold and stocked by Amazon,NOT a 3rd party seller. Amazon,for some reason,allows scammers to sell on their site.
FWIW I was at a warehouse that was despatching goods sold via Amazon & Ebay often on behalf of the same importer but sold under different invoices for different prices.
Some also required us to print out product labels to stick on unbranded goods to change their name .
#9
StarTech
StarTech
Well I did have one bad experience with Amazon vendor. I had ordered what was a MTD OEM spindle for a Cub Cadet. When it arrived it in a unmarked package. It was defective as it had a lot end play even through it had tapered bearings. I return it as defective and got sock for both the return shipping plus a 30% restocking fee. I have ordered anything else like that; unless, I know the vendor is actually selling the product I am trying to buy. They got pissed for the bad review I wrote and demanded me to remove it; I didn't.
The spindle turned out to be the same Rotary spindles that got from my normal distributor which were also defective. At least I got them returned at no cost to ship back and a full refund on the five I had ordered. I went ahead and rebuilt the customer spindles with new taper bearings which solved the problem with the deck. That is when I found a local bearing supplier that have fair prices on bearings. I got about $161 order for them right now just waiting closer to Spring before ordering in case I need some other bearings.
The spindle turned out to be the same Rotary spindles that got from my normal distributor which were also defective. At least I got them returned at no cost to ship back and a full refund on the five I had ordered. I went ahead and rebuilt the customer spindles with new taper bearings which solved the problem with the deck. That is when I found a local bearing supplier that have fair prices on bearings. I got about $161 order for them right now just waiting closer to Spring before ordering in case I need some other bearings.
#10
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
I stopped selling on Ebay a long time ago. Just too much of a PITA. I have literally tossed stuff in the dumpster vs. Doing the Ebay or craigslist thing.
#11
StarTech
StarTech
I have been tossing in the garbage can all of last year. As I got to order $200+ in parts to get free shipping and it is just cheaper to order a junk item instead paying up to $45 in shipping charges.
Matter the current order which was a little over $200 has over $45 shipping that the vendor is having to write off due their free shipping policy. And I got two items I just thrown in the garbage.
Matter the current order which was a little over $200 has over $45 shipping that the vendor is having to write off due their free shipping policy. And I got two items I just thrown in the garbage.
#13
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
I usually add a case of oil or a shop pack of spark plugs or some air filters to bring up my Stens orders to get free shipping.
#14
StarTech
StarTech
Here Stens shipping is reasonable enough to work with. I got an order for a Max Torque clutch and 10 ft of chain to replace today. The chain is $4 more from them but it would more than that in shipping from another vendor. But now what am I to do the 7 feet left over; use it later I reckon. At least Spring is around the corner where I can start placing larger orders. This off season ordering is harder to do. During the off season I pass the shipping charges to the customer.
#15
J
Joed756
J
Joed756
You seem to take a lot of shots at America/Americans without any return fire. Why?I have been saying it for years
Buy from Alli-Baba or Alli-Express
In both of these platforms the sender does not get paid till you have recieved the goods .
I know it is a very bitter pill for Americans to swallow that one of those evil nasty child eating grandmother raping communist from China could actually provide a better on line platform than a flag waving capitalist American,,,,, but they did .
Down here we call it Evil Pay
#16
D
deminin
D
deminin
I've been buying and selling on EBAY for over 20 years....well over 800 transactions. I have only had One issue, and EBAY/seller quickly refunded my money.
#17
P
pquada
P
pquada
I don’t think you need to avoid eBay as it can be of benefit. Try and be aware of each e-commerce site best practices… For instance when I want to purchase an item from eBay I communicate with the seller before hand. I verify if they have a good amount of positive feedback. If they don’t, move on. As with any e-commerce or in person… if it’s too good to be true, its probably is a scam. I’ve had trouble buying and selling outside of the United States. However, all you can do is provide the site with the evidence that you have and go from there. Just because one person says no, it doesn’t mean that’s an official stance as “NO”... The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Call back and be an annoyance. After all remember who you’re dealing with. Humans. They’re just like the people at the parts store ,,, some of them have all their marbles together some of them do not. After all we’re all just trying to find a good deal or a fair price and for that, takes some personal legwork. The part store guy already did it,, that’s why it costs more money. Unfortunately,,,some of their prices are elevated 7x over,,, but then again, that’s how they run the business…
#18
R
rustycat
R
rustycat
I've purchased allot of parts off of eBay without any problems. I always buy from USA suppliers.
#19
T
TT398
T
TT398
One other thing buying from ebay Chinese seller is that shipping takes forever, even before the logistical problems we now have. The listed shipping is often more than 60 days, which is beyond the time credit card companies allow you to dispute the charges. I had 2 instances of no show and Capital One declined chargeback. Fortunately I paid through Paypal, using Capital One as payment method, which allows 180 days to dispute. I got my money back. Paypal absorbed the loss, refunded immediately, as each payment is less than $25.
I do not use ebay any more: not only because of offshore sellers but I found ebay USA sellers' prices are often higher than Amazon.
I do not use ebay any more: not only because of offshore sellers but I found ebay USA sellers' prices are often higher than Amazon.
#20
B
bertsmobile1
However from outside a country where your perceptions are not coloured by jingoism you get a clearer view.
I am just as critical of Australians & the Australian government except they are just not as topical on a forum that would be some where around 90% American .
If you read the entire thread yo would see I am quite sympathetic to the USPS because I know just how difficult a job they face & the critism of their management was the same as the critism of Aust Post management .
Ebay was a wonderful idea till it got hy-jacked by crooks & thieves then overwhelmed by major retailers masquerading as small time vendors.
You will also see I critised the Aust Governments failure to regulate Evil Pay properly allowing them to sell shoody , illegal goods because they pretend to be an auction platform where as in reality they have become a strait retail platform & should be covered by the same retail laws as I am
If I sell a new 25:1 chain saw I am open to a $ 10,000 fine yet ebay vendors sell hundreds a week .
As for the collective mind sets the two countries are at opposite ends of the spectrum
Australians would rather die than buy anything locally made with the overall perception that everything made locally is inferiour to what gets imported , which to be fair is not uncommon and the direct result of bad government policy.
Americians seem to be the polar opposite and will buy what is USA made regardless of the quality because they believe that everything made in the USA has to be the best on the planet for no reason other than it is USA made .
When it comes to politics it is so obvious just how deeply the cold war propaganda has infiltrated the collective mind set of the US population .
B
bertsmobile1
If you think that then your stars & stripes sun glasses are obstructing your vision.You seem to take a lot of shots at America/Americans without any return fire. Why?
However from outside a country where your perceptions are not coloured by jingoism you get a clearer view.
I am just as critical of Australians & the Australian government except they are just not as topical on a forum that would be some where around 90% American .
If you read the entire thread yo would see I am quite sympathetic to the USPS because I know just how difficult a job they face & the critism of their management was the same as the critism of Aust Post management .
Ebay was a wonderful idea till it got hy-jacked by crooks & thieves then overwhelmed by major retailers masquerading as small time vendors.
You will also see I critised the Aust Governments failure to regulate Evil Pay properly allowing them to sell shoody , illegal goods because they pretend to be an auction platform where as in reality they have become a strait retail platform & should be covered by the same retail laws as I am
If I sell a new 25:1 chain saw I am open to a $ 10,000 fine yet ebay vendors sell hundreds a week .
As for the collective mind sets the two countries are at opposite ends of the spectrum
Australians would rather die than buy anything locally made with the overall perception that everything made locally is inferiour to what gets imported , which to be fair is not uncommon and the direct result of bad government policy.
Americians seem to be the polar opposite and will buy what is USA made regardless of the quality because they believe that everything made in the USA has to be the best on the planet for no reason other than it is USA made .
When it comes to politics it is so obvious just how deeply the cold war propaganda has infiltrated the collective mind set of the US population .
#21
StarTech
StarTech
There is both good and bad products out there. This why when I try a new after market part I only order one to begin with so I can check the quality. There is a lot companies that buy an item, slap their label on it, and pretend they made it. I caught a few at it.
We I would prefer to support my country's factories but some just produce crap too so I must buy outside the county to get a quality product.
We I would prefer to support my country's factories but some just produce crap too so I must buy outside the county to get a quality product.
#22
S
SamB
S
SamB
Perhaps,the sellers in question deserve the shots. My wife bought some cat food on Amazon,at what she thought was a reasonable price,not great,but reasonable. Turned out,it was for ONE can,NOT one case,as the listing led her to believe. Talk about my wife getting what I reserve for me alone! No one bad mouths vendors they are pleased with. I got socked with $35 in lost merchandise,because according to the tracking number, the item was "delivered". To be fair to the seller,the "lost" purchases did show up 10 days AFTER they were ,according to Ebay,confirmed to have been delivered. Happy with Ebay's "Money Back Guarantee"? NO,I am NOT. It's worthless. When something I buy has been listed as "Delivered" and a week goes by,I get a bit uneasy. You?You seem to take a lot of shots at America/Americans without any return fire. Why?
#23
B
bertsmobile1
OTOH if you want massive holes in the ground, we have plenty of them to spare .
Believe it or not we were seriously approached by some US city / state garbage disposal authorities as being a potential garbage tip because those iron ore & coal open cut mine holes are big enough to take NY city's garbage for over 100 years and still have space to spare.
B
bertsmobile1
Not a problem down here where greed & short term returns are so rampant that manufacturing is near impossible .There is both good and bad products out there. This why when I try a new after market part I only order one to begin with so I can check the quality. There is a lot companies that buy an item, slap their label on it, and pretend they made it. I caught a few at it.
We I would prefer to support my country's factories but some just produce crap too so I must buy outside the county to get a quality product.
OTOH if you want massive holes in the ground, we have plenty of them to spare .
Believe it or not we were seriously approached by some US city / state garbage disposal authorities as being a potential garbage tip because those iron ore & coal open cut mine holes are big enough to take NY city's garbage for over 100 years and still have space to spare.
#24
B
bertsmobile1
The Chinese sites make it very clear the qualtities they are selling in .
In theory your wife should have left negative feed back and ebay should have looked at the listing.
Way too many people seem to be afraid of calling out crooks.
I regularly leave neutral & negative feed back where it is deserved, particularly if they show what looks like an OEM part and the aftermarket part looks nothing like it & is obviously a very poor quality copy .
Another little trick they use down here is to ship via ebays own e-delivery system
I bought some stuff from Melbourne, ebay showed it as having been shipped ( that is triggered by printing the address lable ) the next day . The goods sat in Melbourne for 11 weeks before it was finally shipped & I feel that only happened because I sent a refund request to Paypal .
Amazon is just as bad.
Could not count the number of times the item image is a B & S box.
In many cases the size of the box would not fit the part that is supposed to be in there
So either they are ordering the parts from B & S after they have your money or are drop shipping and have no idea about what they are selling .
Neither of these practices would be legal for Walmart or HF to do yet the governments ( ours is just as bad ) are happy to ignore the problem.
It is even illegal under the rules of auctions as then good are supposed to be the property of the vendor
B
bertsmobile1
Which only goes to strengthen what I was sayingPerhaps,the sellers in question deserve the shots. My wife bought some cat food on Amazon,at what she thought was a reasonable price,not great,but reasonable. Turned out,it was for ONE can,NOT one case,as the listing led her to believe. Talk about my wife getting what I reserve for me alone! No one bad mouths vendors they are pleased with. I got socked with $35 in lost merchandise,because according to the tracking number, the item was "delivered". To be fair to the seller,the "lost" purchases did show up 10 days AFTER they were ,according to Ebay,confirmed to have been delivered. Happy with Ebay's "Money Back Guarantee"? NO,I am NOT. It's worthless. When something I buy has been listed as "Delivered" and a week goes by,I get a bit uneasy. You?
The Chinese sites make it very clear the qualtities they are selling in .
In theory your wife should have left negative feed back and ebay should have looked at the listing.
Way too many people seem to be afraid of calling out crooks.
I regularly leave neutral & negative feed back where it is deserved, particularly if they show what looks like an OEM part and the aftermarket part looks nothing like it & is obviously a very poor quality copy .
Another little trick they use down here is to ship via ebays own e-delivery system
I bought some stuff from Melbourne, ebay showed it as having been shipped ( that is triggered by printing the address lable ) the next day . The goods sat in Melbourne for 11 weeks before it was finally shipped & I feel that only happened because I sent a refund request to Paypal .
Amazon is just as bad.
Could not count the number of times the item image is a B & S box.
In many cases the size of the box would not fit the part that is supposed to be in there
So either they are ordering the parts from B & S after they have your money or are drop shipping and have no idea about what they are selling .
Neither of these practices would be legal for Walmart or HF to do yet the governments ( ours is just as bad ) are happy to ignore the problem.
It is even illegal under the rules of auctions as then good are supposed to be the property of the vendor
#25
StarTech
StarTech
I have learned to be very cautious buyer on any website especially those like eBay and Amazon. You must pay very close attention to the details. Even then as said some will use images that are not actual images of the parts being sold.
It does make very challenging to weeds the fakes. I have been lucky enough to get a few OEM approved distributors which buying parts much more reliable.
One problem with Amazon is that they have grown too big to manage to vendors in my opinion as many fraudsters are now on there. It is same with eBay. Both were good companies at one time but these guys have ruin it for all of us as trust is going out the door.
I once dealt with DC Spares out Hong Kong but they simply still have the website up but no one is servicing the customers. Plus with me running a JIT business it is hard to deal with the Chinese sites as they are so far away shipping times wise.
It does make very challenging to weeds the fakes. I have been lucky enough to get a few OEM approved distributors which buying parts much more reliable.
One problem with Amazon is that they have grown too big to manage to vendors in my opinion as many fraudsters are now on there. It is same with eBay. Both were good companies at one time but these guys have ruin it for all of us as trust is going out the door.
I once dealt with DC Spares out Hong Kong but they simply still have the website up but no one is servicing the customers. Plus with me running a JIT business it is hard to deal with the Chinese sites as they are so far away shipping times wise.
#26
J
Joed756
J
Joed756
I didn't base that on one post, but many, such as this one.If you think that then your stars & stripes sun glasses are obstructing your vision.
However from outside a country where your perceptions are not coloured by jingoism you get a clearer view.
I am just as critical of Australians & the Australian government except they are just not as topical on a forum that would be some where around 90% American .
If you read the entire thread yo would see I am quite sympathetic to the USPS because I know just how difficult a job they face & the critism of their management was the same as the critism of Aust Post management .
Ebay was a wonderful idea till it got hy-jacked by crooks & thieves then overwhelmed by major retailers masquerading as small time vendors.
You will also see I critised the Aust Governments failure to regulate Evil Pay properly allowing them to sell shoody , illegal goods because they pretend to be an auction platform where as in reality they have become a strait retail platform & should be covered by the same retail laws as I am
If I sell a new 25:1 chain saw I am open to a $ 10,000 fine yet ebay vendors sell hundreds a week .
As for the collective mind sets the two countries are at opposite ends of the spectrum
Australians would rather die than buy anything locally made with the overall perception that everything made locally is inferiour to what gets imported , which to be fair is not uncommon and the direct result of bad government policy.
Americians seem to be the polar opposite and will buy what is USA made regardless of the quality because they believe that everything made in the USA has to be the best on the planet for no reason other than it is USA made .
When it comes to politics it is so obvious just how deeply the cold war propaganda has infiltrated the collective mind set of the US population .
#27
S
SamB
S
SamB
Oh,she did post a blistering reply via feedback! Even complained to the seller direct,both to no avail. We looked up the seller from the address on the box and it was for an apartment building! Amazon should,indeed,be called out when this is being done with their enablement!Which only goes to strengthen what I was saying
The Chinese sites make it very clear the qualtities they are selling in .
In theory your wife should have left negative feed back and ebay should have looked at the listing.
Way too many people seem to be afraid of calling out crooks.
I regularly leave neutral & negative feed back where it is deserved, particularly if they show what looks like an OEM part and the aftermarket part looks nothing like it & is obviously a very poor quality copy .
Another little trick they use down here is to ship via ebays own e-delivery system
I bought some stuff from Melbourne, ebay showed it as having been shipped ( that is triggered by printing the address lable ) the next day . The goods sat in Melbourne for 11 weeks before it was finally shipped & I feel that only happened because I sent a refund request to Paypal .
Amazon is just as bad.
Could not count the number of times the item image is a B & S box.
In many cases the size of the box would not fit the part that is supposed to be in there
So either they are ordering the parts from B & S after they have your money or are drop shipping and have no idea about what they are selling .
Neither of these practices would be legal for Walmart or HF to do yet the governments ( ours is just as bad ) are happy to ignore the problem.
It is even illegal under the rules of auctions as then good are supposed to be the property of the vendor
#28
S
SamB
S
SamB
Agreed. Due diligence about the seller is always the best protection. I'm not about to write eBay off as a shopping site. I'm just pointing out how they,eBay, treat Tracking Numbers. btw,my feedback score is 3000+ all positive,and I've been a member since in the 1990's,so not a newbie. All with very,very few bad transactions. Again, the transaction in this post thread did go well,actually. BUT, the item's tracking number was posted as "Delivered" 2 full weeks BEFORE actual delivery! This was the total cause of my uneasiness, being told the item was delivered when it clearly was not. Both the seller and Ebay declared it "Delivered" and that was the end of the dispute as far as the "Non-Delivery" case went.I don’t think you need to avoid eBay as it can be of benefit. Try and be aware of each e-commerce site best practices… For instance when I want to purchase an item from eBay I communicate with the seller before hand. I verify if they have a good amount of positive feedback. If they don’t, move on. As with any e-commerce or in person… if it’s too good to be true, its probably is a scam. I’ve had trouble buying and selling outside of the United States. However, all you can do is provide the site with the evidence that you have and go from there. Just because one person says no, it doesn’t mean that’s an official stance as “NO”... The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Call back and be an annoyance. After all remember who you’re dealing with. Humans. They’re just like the people at the parts store ,,, some of them have all their marbles together some of them do not. After all we’re all just trying to find a good deal or a fair price and for that, takes some personal legwork. The part store guy already did it,, that’s why it costs more money. Unfortunately,,,some of their prices are elevated 7x over,,, but then again, that’s how they run the business…
#29
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bertsmobile1
If I start telling lies about the USA then you would be quite right to call me out
If you expect me to put my hand over my heart & sing the Star Spangled Banner then that will never happen .
And I won't do the same singing Advance Australia Fair either.
Problems never get fixed if they are not called out so people can pretend they do not exist.
If anyone can not see the short comings of their own country , state, town, company right down to themselves then they are part of the problem .
If you feel anything I say is wrong then PROVE ME WRONG
My education was in science & engineering thus I am extatic when proven to be wrong because I can change my mind and from that date on I will be right .( till again proven wrong )
A lecturer very early on in my education said some thing along the lines of ....
"Science is an accumulation of knowledge organized in such a mannar as to be able under stand what has happened & predict what will happen , all of which will be considered fact till modified by proving it wrong .
Between then & now a massive amount of what I was taught to be fact I now know was not fact but the best guess at the time .
Starlin did not make he USSR better by killing every one he thought was not 200% patriotic to the cause
McCarthy did not make the USA great by destroying every one he considered to be un-American .
Jingoism stars wars & justifies attrocities .
B
bertsmobile1
JoeI didn't base that on one post, but many, such as this one.
If I start telling lies about the USA then you would be quite right to call me out
If you expect me to put my hand over my heart & sing the Star Spangled Banner then that will never happen .
And I won't do the same singing Advance Australia Fair either.
Problems never get fixed if they are not called out so people can pretend they do not exist.
If anyone can not see the short comings of their own country , state, town, company right down to themselves then they are part of the problem .
If you feel anything I say is wrong then PROVE ME WRONG
My education was in science & engineering thus I am extatic when proven to be wrong because I can change my mind and from that date on I will be right .( till again proven wrong )
A lecturer very early on in my education said some thing along the lines of ....
"Science is an accumulation of knowledge organized in such a mannar as to be able under stand what has happened & predict what will happen , all of which will be considered fact till modified by proving it wrong .
Between then & now a massive amount of what I was taught to be fact I now know was not fact but the best guess at the time .
Starlin did not make he USSR better by killing every one he thought was not 200% patriotic to the cause
McCarthy did not make the USA great by destroying every one he considered to be un-American .
Jingoism stars wars & justifies attrocities .
#30
J
Joed756
J
Joed756
It isn't a matter of right or wrong, I simply asked "why"? This is a lawnmower forum yet you seem tho bring comments about the US into quite a few of your comments. Again, why?
#31
StarTech
StarTech
Our side is in a mess for sure. Today for example I tried getting things straighten out with the Idiot Ran Service (IRS). I fought with the phone computer agent for nearly 30 minutes then got placed on hold for 30 minutes. I finally got a real person on the phone. She proceeded to send me right back to the computer agent which hung up on me. At least I might get their attention as I filed this years taxes and didn't include the $546 payment.
I am also dealing with another idiot group, it is my doctor's office. I have been on blood pressure med for two years and was doing fine. I went for the yearly check-up and he changes my med without even telling me. Now instead of running 130/90 I am running 170/110. They want me to wait for 4 weeks at this minimum readings saying it takes 4 weeks for the med to work. It actually peak today at 225/115. All they could do was to act like I didn't know what was working for me. Now my headaches are starting back too.
I am beginning to think the doctor just wants me back in the ICU like when my BP hit 250/120.
I am also dealing with another idiot group, it is my doctor's office. I have been on blood pressure med for two years and was doing fine. I went for the yearly check-up and he changes my med without even telling me. Now instead of running 130/90 I am running 170/110. They want me to wait for 4 weeks at this minimum readings saying it takes 4 weeks for the med to work. It actually peak today at 225/115. All they could do was to act like I didn't know what was working for me. Now my headaches are starting back too.
I am beginning to think the doctor just wants me back in the ICU like when my BP hit 250/120.
#32
B
bertsmobile1
If this was a forum that was 90% Australian then there would more comments about bad things down here .
However it is US based so most of the mowers are USA mowers and most of the problems are with USA based mower businesses .
I might suggest that you are allowing jingoism to colour your persecption of what has been posted
If it makes you feel better by calling me unAmerican , a communist or what ever then go ahead.
On the other hand I don't call a spade a rake just because it was made in OZ and they want to sell spades .
People need to see & appreciate all sides of a debate regardless of weather they like or even agree with it .
It is a weird thing and shows a massive shortcoming in the Australian media that we get more news ( or what gets called news ) from the USA than we do from Australia
The USA elections got a better coverage by the Australian media than most Americans did.
When the previous election was happening ( the one that president Trump actually won ) I was saying in a cabin with 4 Americans ( motorcycle rally ) .
All 4 of them were amazed that 1/2 of every news broadcast was devoted to the US election and they all noted that we got more & better coverage than they did at home. Even more amazing was the magazine stories after the main news were all 100% the USA elections .
What I am is anti B S & hypocrisy and if a government sets themselves to be the bastions of free trade then use every means other than an actual import tax to prevent free trade then that will be called out.
I doubt if many of the examples that were quoted would have ever been heard of by the general US population.
There was a survey last year when President Biden forgot the name of Prime Minister Morrison .
Apparently more than 1/2 of the Americans surveyed though that Pauline Hanson was the leader of Australia .
Now if you want to hear me rubbish out mob, ask me about inflated house prices , white elephant airports or the handeling of the covid pandemic .
You will find them on the Australian based forums I subscribe to .
No good telling you lot that that Andrew Constance was totally negligent in his job so directly was responsible for Delta entering Australia so should be on trial right now for criminal negligence resulting in 1492 deaths , but no one on this forum would know who Andrew Constance is or what his job was .
B
bertsmobile1
Because it is relevant .It isn't a matter of right or wrong, I simply asked "why"? This is a lawnmower forum yet you seem tho bring comments about the US into quite a few of your comments. Again, why?
If this was a forum that was 90% Australian then there would more comments about bad things down here .
However it is US based so most of the mowers are USA mowers and most of the problems are with USA based mower businesses .
I might suggest that you are allowing jingoism to colour your persecption of what has been posted
If it makes you feel better by calling me unAmerican , a communist or what ever then go ahead.
On the other hand I don't call a spade a rake just because it was made in OZ and they want to sell spades .
People need to see & appreciate all sides of a debate regardless of weather they like or even agree with it .
It is a weird thing and shows a massive shortcoming in the Australian media that we get more news ( or what gets called news ) from the USA than we do from Australia
The USA elections got a better coverage by the Australian media than most Americans did.
When the previous election was happening ( the one that president Trump actually won ) I was saying in a cabin with 4 Americans ( motorcycle rally ) .
All 4 of them were amazed that 1/2 of every news broadcast was devoted to the US election and they all noted that we got more & better coverage than they did at home. Even more amazing was the magazine stories after the main news were all 100% the USA elections .
What I am is anti B S & hypocrisy and if a government sets themselves to be the bastions of free trade then use every means other than an actual import tax to prevent free trade then that will be called out.
I doubt if many of the examples that were quoted would have ever been heard of by the general US population.
There was a survey last year when President Biden forgot the name of Prime Minister Morrison .
Apparently more than 1/2 of the Americans surveyed though that Pauline Hanson was the leader of Australia .
Now if you want to hear me rubbish out mob, ask me about inflated house prices , white elephant airports or the handeling of the covid pandemic .
You will find them on the Australian based forums I subscribe to .
No good telling you lot that that Andrew Constance was totally negligent in his job so directly was responsible for Delta entering Australia so should be on trial right now for criminal negligence resulting in 1492 deaths , but no one on this forum would know who Andrew Constance is or what his job was .
#33
StarTech
StarTech
Bert honestly I don't who is Andrew Constance nor do I know my congressmen names as if it would do any good. They simply don't care about their voters just the votes. Once in office they usually do what ever they please.
I tried to get somethings straighten out with our Idiot Ran Service (IRS) today. All they did was to hang up on me. Oh well I reckon me not paying my taxes is not important.
I tried to get somethings straighten out with our Idiot Ran Service (IRS) today. All they did was to hang up on me. Oh well I reckon me not paying my taxes is not important.
#34
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SamB
S
SamB
Yes as a whole, this is Lawnmower Forum.com. However, this thread is NOT on a lawnmower forum posting about lawnmowers, engines, etc. This thread is on "The Front Porch" where off-topics may be discussed.It isn't a matter of right or wrong, I simply asked "why"? This is a lawnmower forum yet you seem tho bring comments about the US into quite a few of your comments. Again, why?
#35
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bertsmobile1
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bertsmobile1
Joed756 is obviously a very proud patriotic American which is fine and to be applauded.
What he does not understand is a robust strong, country, economy, religious faith, political idology etc should be able to withstand intelligent robust debate. And in the long term it is the robust debate that makes it stronger not blind faith.
Attempts to censor anything which is not favourable does not protect or strengthen , it weakens & undermines .
The exception to this is when the unfavourable is not true or emotively skewed like most of the anti-vax campaign .
Even worse it allows what ever is not allowed to be critisied to be perverted and evolve into a monstrosity that in no way resembles the ideal behind the original institution , and the most obvious of these are the religious cults that end up either committing mass murder or suicide .
Freedom of expression is a foundation part of the constitution of the United States of America , I know I have read the entire document , read the Australian one as well plus a few others .
So if Joed756 wants to engage in a counter argument to anything I have posted then I welcome it & encourage him to do so .
If he just wants me to shut up & have my post muzzled then he is demonstrating the tyrannical behaviour typical of dictatorships that the USA is continually reproaching for just that offense .
What he does not understand is a robust strong, country, economy, religious faith, political idology etc should be able to withstand intelligent robust debate. And in the long term it is the robust debate that makes it stronger not blind faith.
Attempts to censor anything which is not favourable does not protect or strengthen , it weakens & undermines .
The exception to this is when the unfavourable is not true or emotively skewed like most of the anti-vax campaign .
Even worse it allows what ever is not allowed to be critisied to be perverted and evolve into a monstrosity that in no way resembles the ideal behind the original institution , and the most obvious of these are the religious cults that end up either committing mass murder or suicide .
Freedom of expression is a foundation part of the constitution of the United States of America , I know I have read the entire document , read the Australian one as well plus a few others .
So if Joed756 wants to engage in a counter argument to anything I have posted then I welcome it & encourage him to do so .
If he just wants me to shut up & have my post muzzled then he is demonstrating the tyrannical behaviour typical of dictatorships that the USA is continually reproaching for just that offense .
#36
J
Joed756
J
Joed756
I think he has simply asked why you have this compulsion. You apparently don't want to answer.Joed756 is obviously a very proud patriotic American which is fine and to be applauded.
What he does not understand is a robust strong, country, economy, religious faith, political idology etc should be able to withstand intelligent robust debate. And in the long term it is the robust debate that makes it stronger not blind faith.
Attempts to censor anything which is not favourable does not protect or strengthen , it weakens & undermines .
The exception to this is when the unfavourable is not true or emotively skewed like most of the anti-vax campaign .
Even worse it allows what ever is not allowed to be critisied to be perverted and evolve into a monstrosity that in no way resembles the ideal behind the original institution , and the most obvious of these are the religious cults that end up either committing mass murder or suicide .
Freedom of expression is a foundation part of the constitution of the United States of America , I know I have read the entire document , read the Australian one as well plus a few others .
So if Joed756 wants to engage in a counter argument to anything I have posted then I welcome it & encourage him to do so .
If he just wants me to shut up & have my post muzzled then he is demonstrating the tyrannical behaviour typical of dictatorships that the USA is continually reproaching for just that offense .
#37
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
You see it as a compulsion because it strikes a raw nerve
I see it as adding to the impact of the response & hopefuly encouraging people to have a think about their own persecption of themselves & the place of the USA in the world .
In near 20,000 posts there would be lucky to be more than 100 or so that would question US culture or popular beliefs
And probably 1/2 that that question Australian culture & persection of our place in the world
About 1/2 again that are not flattering to the UK .
We should always be questioning our morals, ethics & the morals & ethics of governments .
Once upon a time, this was the job of art but now days art just seems to be there to offend & make large amounts of money .
And again if you feel there is a problem or am misrepresenting or being disrespectful then call me out and we can have a discussion / debate / arguement about it . My mind is open to reasoning but ( hopefully ) close to brainwashing .
And to be specific to the ( off ) topic of evil pay / Ammozone vs Alli -Express / Alli - Baba.
In my thousands of purchases from all of these platforms I have never been bombarded by spam warning me of the evil outcomes from purchases made from Evil Pay or Ammo Zone or even Gum Tree.
However when I do a big session on Made in China or one of the Alli's it is not uncommon to be bombarded with spam warning me about the evils of communist China & suggesting that my purchases were directly funding autrosities in China .
While I know just how easy it is to Ghost email & spoof email addresses, all of them have .com domains and I doubt they originated in China ( perhaps Korea or HK ) .
Brains are like muscles, unless they are regularly challenged they atrophy
I see it as adding to the impact of the response & hopefuly encouraging people to have a think about their own persecption of themselves & the place of the USA in the world .
In near 20,000 posts there would be lucky to be more than 100 or so that would question US culture or popular beliefs
And probably 1/2 that that question Australian culture & persection of our place in the world
About 1/2 again that are not flattering to the UK .
We should always be questioning our morals, ethics & the morals & ethics of governments .
Once upon a time, this was the job of art but now days art just seems to be there to offend & make large amounts of money .
And again if you feel there is a problem or am misrepresenting or being disrespectful then call me out and we can have a discussion / debate / arguement about it . My mind is open to reasoning but ( hopefully ) close to brainwashing .
And to be specific to the ( off ) topic of evil pay / Ammozone vs Alli -Express / Alli - Baba.
In my thousands of purchases from all of these platforms I have never been bombarded by spam warning me of the evil outcomes from purchases made from Evil Pay or Ammo Zone or even Gum Tree.
However when I do a big session on Made in China or one of the Alli's it is not uncommon to be bombarded with spam warning me about the evils of communist China & suggesting that my purchases were directly funding autrosities in China .
While I know just how easy it is to Ghost email & spoof email addresses, all of them have .com domains and I doubt they originated in China ( perhaps Korea or HK ) .
Brains are like muscles, unless they are regularly challenged they atrophy
#38
StarTech
StarTech
Bert is right one sense as we cant not blindly follow anyone. Mr Heel Spurs would not risk his own life to serve but wants all his followers to do so. The only one I trust to look out for myself is myself. I am current dealing with the Idiot Ran Service here for the last two years and I can't get anyone there to resolve the problems I have. So my solution now is to just quit paying my taxes and that might get them interested in actually talking at me. Yes I said talking at me as they still probably will not listen. And I spent 30 minutes getting past the computer to just wait 30 minutes for an agent that simply hung up on me.
Now I I did not serve myself in the Military but I still did my part to support them by repairing their equipment that they needed me to repair. I did it for eight years until we lost the contract to a company that said they could repair each machine for $1.
And when it comes to religion most of them are just brainwashing people too as you got to blindly follow them without question.
As for the suppliers I have use eBay and Amazon. There are a lot crooks on both but there are also some good honest vendors on there too, just got to weed out the bad ones. And you can't trust the reviews if they all are good. I even had one Amazon willing to pay me to remove my bad review as Amazon would not allow them to remove it. I did not accept it as the product was that bad.
And Yes Bert we must use what few brains we have (Pun intended here) as I sometimes refer to myself as to have a poppy seed sized one. I was reading an article the other day that kinda explain why some older people are slower at coming up answers to question. It is because we have so information stored that it takes to work through the clutter to get to information we looking for. I know it must be true as it took sleeping on a problem that I knew I had seen about 20 yrs ago. Boy was it back in the cobwebs of my mind.
Now I I did not serve myself in the Military but I still did my part to support them by repairing their equipment that they needed me to repair. I did it for eight years until we lost the contract to a company that said they could repair each machine for $1.
And when it comes to religion most of them are just brainwashing people too as you got to blindly follow them without question.
As for the suppliers I have use eBay and Amazon. There are a lot crooks on both but there are also some good honest vendors on there too, just got to weed out the bad ones. And you can't trust the reviews if they all are good. I even had one Amazon willing to pay me to remove my bad review as Amazon would not allow them to remove it. I did not accept it as the product was that bad.
And Yes Bert we must use what few brains we have (Pun intended here) as I sometimes refer to myself as to have a poppy seed sized one. I was reading an article the other day that kinda explain why some older people are slower at coming up answers to question. It is because we have so information stored that it takes to work through the clutter to get to information we looking for. I know it must be true as it took sleeping on a problem that I knew I had seen about 20 yrs ago. Boy was it back in the cobwebs of my mind.
#39
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
The brain people found that "Sleeping on a problem" actually works if you ponder hard on it then do almost directly to bed.
History is full of examples of this where answers to problems came to people in their dreams .
Crambing for exams works best if you read till you can not hold your eyes open any more then go to sleep
The old trick of recording vital information then replaying it to your self while you sleep also works .
Brains need to be challenged as do ideas , cultures etc
If this was not the case we would still be burning women that we decided were witches.
We would still be steralizing women who had a child with intellectual problems ( Eugenics )
Popularism is rarely the correct road to take and challenging the accepted truth is the only way to do it.
Like most Aussies , I was brought up on mostly US TV ( only after dinner ) .
It is only in latter life that one realizes just how much propaganda was included in the "wholesome " shows like "My 3 Sons" , " Leave it Beaver " , " Andy Griffiths " , " Patty Duke ".
All of them were strait out pro nuclear families ( grand parents were always depicted as a problem ) pro capitalism and anti-communist .
Weather this was accidential or deliberate only the script writers would know .
Just about every movie that Micky Rooney featured in was anti-communism pro organised religion .
And despite the fact that we all consider ourselves immune to suggestion we are not .
The amount of money spent on advertising annually prooves we are .
UK TV was similar but not as overt in the anti communism subtext and carried a strong anti class descrimination message
Both UK & US TV ( and movies ) were also highly sexist and the theme of the unmarried career woman failing till she was wedded & bedded ran strongly through all of them.
The womans place was always in the kitchen and she derrived great joy by being a domestic slave
Stepford Wives being just about the sole exception .
Mothers were always cleaning up after their sons ( smiling all the time ) while dads told their sons clean up after themselves and daughters rarely shown making any mess or getting up to any mischief.
History is full of examples of this where answers to problems came to people in their dreams .
Crambing for exams works best if you read till you can not hold your eyes open any more then go to sleep
The old trick of recording vital information then replaying it to your self while you sleep also works .
Brains need to be challenged as do ideas , cultures etc
If this was not the case we would still be burning women that we decided were witches.
We would still be steralizing women who had a child with intellectual problems ( Eugenics )
Popularism is rarely the correct road to take and challenging the accepted truth is the only way to do it.
Like most Aussies , I was brought up on mostly US TV ( only after dinner ) .
It is only in latter life that one realizes just how much propaganda was included in the "wholesome " shows like "My 3 Sons" , " Leave it Beaver " , " Andy Griffiths " , " Patty Duke ".
All of them were strait out pro nuclear families ( grand parents were always depicted as a problem ) pro capitalism and anti-communist .
Weather this was accidential or deliberate only the script writers would know .
Just about every movie that Micky Rooney featured in was anti-communism pro organised religion .
And despite the fact that we all consider ourselves immune to suggestion we are not .
The amount of money spent on advertising annually prooves we are .
UK TV was similar but not as overt in the anti communism subtext and carried a strong anti class descrimination message
Both UK & US TV ( and movies ) were also highly sexist and the theme of the unmarried career woman failing till she was wedded & bedded ran strongly through all of them.
The womans place was always in the kitchen and she derrived great joy by being a domestic slave
Stepford Wives being just about the sole exception .
Mothers were always cleaning up after their sons ( smiling all the time ) while dads told their sons clean up after themselves and daughters rarely shown making any mess or getting up to any mischief.
#40
StarTech
StarTech
Oh I love it when I was in high school to dream of the next day pending test and when it came up I usually scored 90+ out of a possible 100. Answers still come to me in the middle of the night like tonight which is why I am up now writing down the solution to a problem.
Now of course I am a lefty so I am in my right mind or they say I am. The men in the white coats haven't manage to catch me yet. They came up the driveway yesterday and I was gone before they even got of the car thanks to the driveway alarm.
Now of course I am a lefty so I am in my right mind or they say I am. The men in the white coats haven't manage to catch me yet. They came up the driveway yesterday and I was gone before they even got of the car thanks to the driveway alarm.
#41
D
davisjt1977
D
davisjt1977
Must be the difference in WHAT we buy. I generally do not find Amazon to be cheaper (or preferred by my purchasing criteria) than Ebay. But I do search Amazon on most purchases. So I do buy from Amazon and Ebay and not always them!One other thing buying from ebay Chinese seller is that shipping takes forever, even before the logistical problems we now have. The listed shipping is often more than 60 days, which is beyond the time credit card companies allow you to dispute the charges. I had 2 instances of no show and Capital One declined chargeback. Fortunately I paid through Paypal, using Capital One as payment method, which allows 180 days to dispute. I got my money back. Paypal absorbed the loss, refunded immediately, as each payment is less than $25.
I do not use ebay any more: not only because of offshore sellers but I found ebay USA sellers' prices are often higher than Amazon.
#42
D
davisjt1977
D
davisjt1977
A reasonable generalization of the public, but does not fit me. I was trained in critical thinking and make actual decisions based on fact. Ocassionally I am wrong.If you think that then your stars & stripes sun glasses are obstructing your vision.
However from outside a country where your perceptions are not coloured by jingoism you get a clearer view.
I am just as critical of Australians & the Australian government except they are just not as topical on a forum that would be some where around 90% American .
If you read the entire thread yo would see I am quite sympathetic to the USPS because I know just how difficult a job they face & the critism of their management was the same as the critism of Aust Post management .
Ebay was a wonderful idea till it got hy-jacked by crooks & thieves then overwhelmed by major retailers masquerading as small time vendors.
You will also see I critised the Aust Governments failure to regulate Evil Pay properly allowing them to sell shoody , illegal goods because they pretend to be an auction platform where as in reality they have become a strait retail platform & should be covered by the same retail laws as I am
If I sell a new 25:1 chain saw I am open to a $ 10,000 fine yet ebay vendors sell hundreds a week .
As for the collective mind sets the two countries are at opposite ends of the spectrum
Australians would rather die than buy anything locally made with the overall perception that everything made locally is inferiour to what gets imported , which to be fair is not uncommon and the direct result of bad government policy.
Americians seem to be the polar opposite and will buy what is USA made regardless of the quality because they believe that everything made in the USA has to be the best on the planet for no reason other than it is USA made .
When it comes to politics it is so obvious just how deeply the cold war propaganda has infiltrated the collective mind set of the US population .
#43
B
bertsmobile1
Ammozone & evilpay make people lazy
If it isn't on Ammozone then it can't be bought
Could not count the number of times people have come here looking for used parts because the part the want is NLA.
They have searched everywhere and you can not get it because it is not listed on Evilpay, Ammozne or Feaces Book.
Their drop out of their heads when they see I have them in stock often in 2 or 3 different grades & prices
I rarely use evilpay or ammozone, they are usually a last resort.
But I shop for quality, getting some thing for 1¢ less than my neighbour is not a thing for me .
When customers complain abut my prices I give them the oppertunity to buy the parts themselves & I will remove my known good quality ones and fit their parts of unknown quality, most understand what they are being told, but unless you make them think about it you get branded as a rip off merchant , which gets back to what I am trying to get Joed to understand, you have to make people think or they will just follow the rest of the herd .
What I find both frustrating & dissapointing is I can find things made in China faster & easier than I can find the same thing made by a factory in my own community .
Since the swing away from landlines and the partial selling off of the once excellent phone company ( Telstra ) the printed yellow pages is no longer made.What trade ministers fail to understand is the printed yellow pages was a default trade index which allowed anyone to find anything almost anywhere.
The electronic Yellow pages do not do that but of course direct you to the business that pay the highest price most of which are not either local nor produce the goods you need.
The Chinese government set up "Made in China" to allow Chinese factories to sell their produce to the entire planet .
Every one listed are genuine factories or distributors so no rip offs
Despite making several representations to the State & Federal Governments down here apparently "made in Australia" or " Made in NSW " is too expensive for the government to undertake or too onerous a task.
Apparently the various states in the USA & the US government itself are also of the same opinion .
So it appears that both of our countries want all of the factories to close down so we will become totally dependent upon importing land fill from third world countries .
I suppose their idea of a strong economy is every one sitting in front of a screen day trading shares.
B
bertsmobile1
What we buy & how we buy it.Must be the difference in WHAT we buy. I generally do not find Amazon to be cheaper (or preferred by my purchasing criteria) than Ebay. But I do search Amazon on most purchases. So I do buy from Amazon and Ebay and not always them!
Ammozone & evilpay make people lazy
If it isn't on Ammozone then it can't be bought
Could not count the number of times people have come here looking for used parts because the part the want is NLA.
They have searched everywhere and you can not get it because it is not listed on Evilpay, Ammozne or Feaces Book.
Their drop out of their heads when they see I have them in stock often in 2 or 3 different grades & prices
I rarely use evilpay or ammozone, they are usually a last resort.
But I shop for quality, getting some thing for 1¢ less than my neighbour is not a thing for me .
When customers complain abut my prices I give them the oppertunity to buy the parts themselves & I will remove my known good quality ones and fit their parts of unknown quality, most understand what they are being told, but unless you make them think about it you get branded as a rip off merchant , which gets back to what I am trying to get Joed to understand, you have to make people think or they will just follow the rest of the herd .
What I find both frustrating & dissapointing is I can find things made in China faster & easier than I can find the same thing made by a factory in my own community .
Since the swing away from landlines and the partial selling off of the once excellent phone company ( Telstra ) the printed yellow pages is no longer made.What trade ministers fail to understand is the printed yellow pages was a default trade index which allowed anyone to find anything almost anywhere.
The electronic Yellow pages do not do that but of course direct you to the business that pay the highest price most of which are not either local nor produce the goods you need.
The Chinese government set up "Made in China" to allow Chinese factories to sell their produce to the entire planet .
Every one listed are genuine factories or distributors so no rip offs
Despite making several representations to the State & Federal Governments down here apparently "made in Australia" or " Made in NSW " is too expensive for the government to undertake or too onerous a task.
Apparently the various states in the USA & the US government itself are also of the same opinion .
So it appears that both of our countries want all of the factories to close down so we will become totally dependent upon importing land fill from third world countries .
I suppose their idea of a strong economy is every one sitting in front of a screen day trading shares.
#44
B
bertsmobile1
That makes 2 of us only 3 billion left to train.
B
bertsmobile1
Excellent.A reasonable generalization of the public, but does not fit me. I was trained in critical thinking and make actual decisions based on fact. Ocassionally I am wrong.
That makes 2 of us only 3 billion left to train.
#45
StarTech
StarTech
Personally as a purchasing agent for my own company I do my homework on things. I got several vendors that have their websites that also sell on eBay and Amazon. Depending on the item that we need here I might buy from Amazon , eBay, or their website depending on overall cost and delivery times that is needed. One is a JD dealer for the local dealer took away all my discounts so they lost the sales. And DB Electrical is based in my current home state but I can buy their products thru their Amazon site for less than the direct website.
And mentioning that US government pushes us to buy locally even they don't do the same is really embarrassing. I imagine the same goes on in Australia too. Just covered up very well.
Who can blame us when like today I found that Polaris parts distributor is wanting $50 a piece for 6006-ZZ bearings when I can get them from my bearing supplier for $3 each. $9 each if I get the Koyo version.
And mentioning that US government pushes us to buy locally even they don't do the same is really embarrassing. I imagine the same goes on in Australia too. Just covered up very well.
Who can blame us when like today I found that Polaris parts distributor is wanting $50 a piece for 6006-ZZ bearings when I can get them from my bearing supplier for $3 each. $9 each if I get the Koyo version.
#46
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
Don't get me started on government spending
The army bought combat boots & parade boots from a Chinese maker which of course sent the local factory broke & they closed down
Then soles on these boots fall off when exposed to heat so a few years back there was a shocking photo of troops on parade at an Anzac day march ( our veterans day ) with their boots flopping around and the socks clearly visible where the soles of the boots should be .
They all deserved to get medals for standing on the rough bitumen road that even in April can get to 60 deg C in their socks .
The spectacles I am wearing right now were made locally by a company called Engleheart.
Not only wre they Australian made, but done in a regional center where employment is scarce .
They are 40 years old and just about falling apart.
Engleheart closed down because they were the suppliers of pensioner spectacle frames
The new contract went to a Korean company so 200 people lost their jobs directly and another 20 indirectly.
The mill that made the nickel channel also closed down taking another dozen businesses with it .
For the last 20 or so years, GMH had been making a very good executive vehicle called the Statesman hers , & marketed as Pontiacs overseas but the government decided to buy BMW's for the politicans because they could sell them on 4 years latter for a higher price than they paid for them .
I could go on & on & on but I imagine the US government is some what the same .
The army bought combat boots & parade boots from a Chinese maker which of course sent the local factory broke & they closed down
Then soles on these boots fall off when exposed to heat so a few years back there was a shocking photo of troops on parade at an Anzac day march ( our veterans day ) with their boots flopping around and the socks clearly visible where the soles of the boots should be .
They all deserved to get medals for standing on the rough bitumen road that even in April can get to 60 deg C in their socks .
The spectacles I am wearing right now were made locally by a company called Engleheart.
Not only wre they Australian made, but done in a regional center where employment is scarce .
They are 40 years old and just about falling apart.
Engleheart closed down because they were the suppliers of pensioner spectacle frames
The new contract went to a Korean company so 200 people lost their jobs directly and another 20 indirectly.
The mill that made the nickel channel also closed down taking another dozen businesses with it .
For the last 20 or so years, GMH had been making a very good executive vehicle called the Statesman hers , & marketed as Pontiacs overseas but the government decided to buy BMW's for the politicans because they could sell them on 4 years latter for a higher price than they paid for them .
I could go on & on & on but I imagine the US government is some what the same .
#47
StarTech
StarTech
Sounds about right.
#48
D
davisjt1977
D
davisjt1977
I was searching a long time ago for an alarm clock using Google search. I was looking for features, not price. I then decided to do the same search on DuckDuckgo and the Emerson brand showed up. Guess what? That brand was not listed on Google search at all. That was about 6 to 8 years ago & that when I began moving away from the tech oligarchs. Probably why you can find Made in Chyna and not the others. Now I read that the alternative search engines like to use Bing to search in the background & then bring you those results. And supposedly the Russian search engine is decent but I have not tried it. When searches bring up other sources besides the 3 big evil sources, I go check then out because you find a lot of good stuff. Looks like we are pretty much on the same wavelength. And I bought an Emerson clock from a non-evil provider.What we buy & how we buy it.
Ammozone & evilpay make people lazy
If it isn't on Ammozone then it can't be bought
Could not count the number of times people have come here looking for used parts because the part the want is NLA.
They have searched everywhere and you can not get it because it is not listed on Evilpay, Ammozne or Feaces Book.
Their drop out of their heads when they see I have them in stock often in 2 or 3 different grades & prices
I rarely use evilpay or ammozone, they are usually a last resort.
But I shop for quality, getting some thing for 1¢ less than my neighbour is not a thing for me .
When customers complain abut my prices I give them the oppertunity to buy the parts themselves & I will remove my known good quality ones and fit their parts of unknown quality, most understand what they are being told, but unless you make them think about it you get branded as a rip off merchant , which gets back to what I am trying to get Joed to understand, you have to make people think or they will just follow the rest of the herd .
What I find both frustrating & dissapointing is I can find things made in China faster & easier than I can find the same thing made by a factory in my own community .
Since the swing away from landlines and the partial selling off of the once excellent phone company ( Telstra ) the printed yellow pages is no longer made.What trade ministers fail to understand is the printed yellow pages was a default trade index which allowed anyone to find anything almost anywhere.
The electronic Yellow pages do not do that but of course direct you to the business that pay the highest price most of which are not either local nor produce the goods you need.
The Chinese government set up "Made in China" to allow Chinese factories to sell their produce to the entire planet .
Every one listed are genuine factories or distributors so no rip offs
Despite making several representations to the State & Federal Governments down here apparently "made in Australia" or " Made in NSW " is too expensive for the government to undertake or too onerous a task.
Apparently the various states in the USA & the US government itself are also of the same opinion .
So it appears that both of our countries want all of the factories to close down so we will become totally dependent upon importing land fill from third world countries .
I suppose their idea of a strong economy is every one sitting in front of a screen day trading shares.
#49
B
bertsmobile1
When I Google search, I go strait to page 2 because page 1 will all be listings , some times even for what I wanted that have expired on Evilpay or Ammozone pages where the item is "not currently available" then there are all the index sites which usually do not have the product at all but have so many meta tags that no matter what you search for they come up high on the list .
I really miss the old printed Yellow Pages which was about the only honest index of suppliers .
B
bertsmobile1
Yes sounds like you have it sortedI was searching a long time ago for an alarm clock using Google search. I was looking for features, not price. I then decided to do the same search on DuckDuckgo and the Emerson brand showed up. Guess what? That brand was not listed on Google search at all. That was about 6 to 8 years ago & that when I began moving away from the tech oligarchs. Probably why you can find Made in Chyna and not the others. Now I read that the alternative search engines like to use Bing to search in the background & then bring you those results. And supposedly the Russian search engine is decent but I have not tried it. When searches bring up other sources besides the 3 big evil sources, I go check then out because you find a lot of good stuff. Looks like we are pretty much on the same wavelength. And I bought an Emerson clock from a non-evil provider.
When I Google search, I go strait to page 2 because page 1 will all be listings , some times even for what I wanted that have expired on Evilpay or Ammozone pages where the item is "not currently available" then there are all the index sites which usually do not have the product at all but have so many meta tags that no matter what you search for they come up high on the list .
I really miss the old printed Yellow Pages which was about the only honest index of suppliers .
#50
S
SamB
S
SamB
GMH= The late lamented General Motors Holden. The revival of the non-retro Pontiac GTO was a rebadged Holden,as was the Pontiac G8 GXP. They were both beyond excellent high performance cars and well built.Don't get me started on government spending
The army bought combat boots & parade boots from a Chinese maker which of course sent the local factory broke & they closed down
Then soles on these boots fall off when exposed to heat so a few years back there was a shocking photo of troops on parade at an Anzac day march ( our veterans day ) with their boots flopping around and the socks clearly visible where the soles of the boots should be .
They all deserved to get medals for standing on the rough bitumen road that even in April can get to 60 deg C in their socks .
The spectacles I am wearing right now were made locally by a company called Engleheart.
Not only wre they Australian made, but done in a regional center where employment is scarce .
They are 40 years old and just about falling apart.
Engleheart closed down because they were the suppliers of pensioner spectacle frames
The new contract went to a Korean company so 200 people lost their jobs directly and another 20 indirectly.
The mill that made the nickel channel also closed down taking another dozen businesses with it .
For the last 20 or so years, GMH had been making a very good executive vehicle called the Statesman hers , & marketed as Pontiacs overseas but the government decided to buy BMW's for the politicans because they could sell them on 4 years latter for a higher price than they paid for them .
I could go on & on & on but I imagine the US government is some what the same .
#51
PTmowerMech
I bought some 2 cycle rings from them. The product was fine. But it took forever to get them.
PTmowerMech
I have been saying it for years
Buy from Alli-Baba or Alli-Express
In both of these platforms the sender does not get paid till you have recieved the goods .
I know it is a very bitter pill for Americans to swallow that one of those evil nasty child eating grandmother raping communist from China could actually provide a better on line platform than a flag waving capitalist American,,,,, but they did .
Down here we call it Evil Pay
I bought some 2 cycle rings from them. The product was fine. But it took forever to get them.
#52
PTmowerMech
PTmowerMech
UPS in my area. ANYTHING that goes through UPS has to go to Little Rock to be put on a truck that goes to Pine Bluff (AR). Which is only about 45 miles. From there it get's off loaded and put on delivery trucks. Some items coming from Dallas, stop in Malvern AR, which is only about 45 miles from me. Put on another truck, then taken to Little Rock, then Pine Bluff, then to me. Which take an extra 2 days.
#53
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
I suppose it just depends upon the delivery path.
Way back in the 70's. Gordon & Thomas Barton set up Ipec transport & took it to Europe & the US
Their system of hubs & spokes meant that every hub despatched to every other hub every day .
It revolutionised internal delivery and made them millions
The cruxt of it was that high volume routes subsidised low volume routes.
All went well for a short while till competitors realised they could mimmick the system but if they ignored all of the low volume routes they could either make a massive profit or drop the costs
Ipec got packages anywhere in Europe , the US or OZ in 24 hours .
however once undercut the system broke down .
Times have changed & now days the most expensive thing to ship is empty space so an Ipec system where the truck did the run regardless of how much freight it has on board no longer works as well as it used to .
The shinny suited shinny bums took over management and for them productivity is one of the criteria that determines their bonuses.
having every truck with a full load ( or even overload ) will trigger a healthy bonus payment
No one seems to notice that often this means that an item of freight will actually travel 200 miles where the door to door distance is only 10 miles .
Way back in the 70's. Gordon & Thomas Barton set up Ipec transport & took it to Europe & the US
Their system of hubs & spokes meant that every hub despatched to every other hub every day .
It revolutionised internal delivery and made them millions
The cruxt of it was that high volume routes subsidised low volume routes.
All went well for a short while till competitors realised they could mimmick the system but if they ignored all of the low volume routes they could either make a massive profit or drop the costs
Ipec got packages anywhere in Europe , the US or OZ in 24 hours .
however once undercut the system broke down .
Times have changed & now days the most expensive thing to ship is empty space so an Ipec system where the truck did the run regardless of how much freight it has on board no longer works as well as it used to .
The shinny suited shinny bums took over management and for them productivity is one of the criteria that determines their bonuses.
having every truck with a full load ( or even overload ) will trigger a healthy bonus payment
No one seems to notice that often this means that an item of freight will actually travel 200 miles where the door to door distance is only 10 miles .
#54
D
davisjt1977
D
davisjt1977
Really like the "Page 2" approach! Yes, The Yellow Pages are missed muchly.Yes sounds like you have it sorted
When I Google search, I go strait to page 2 because page 1 will all be listings , some times even for what I wanted that have expired on Evilpay or Ammozone pages where the item is "not currently available" then there are all the index sites which usually do not have the product at all but have so many meta tags that no matter what you search for they come up high on the list .
I really miss the old printed Yellow Pages which was about the only honest index of suppliers .
#55
StarTech
StarTech
I reckon the USPS is still trying figure out if the want to accept the package of bearings I ordered. Shipping by Priority Mail means nothing.
#56
Scrubcadet10
HeHeHeHe.......
Scrubcadet10
they need to get their bearings straight..I reckon the USPS is still trying figure out if the want to accept the package of bearings I ordered. Shipping by Priority Mail means nothing.
View attachment 59728
HeHeHeHe.......
#57
StarTech
StarTech
Oh I was thinking they were lost in the big city of Memphis. The last it took three day to get out Memphis and two days each to get out Nashville and Chattanooga for a total of two weeks delivery time. I wasn't needing these right away or I would insisted on UPS which is one day.they need to get their bearings straight..
HeHeHeHe.......
#58
tggenamho
tggenamho
Wow, it sounds like the Ipec transport system revolutionized the delivery industry back in the day! I can definitely see how the hub and spoke system would be efficient for high volume routes, but it seems like once competitors caught on and began cutting costs by ignoring low volume routes, the system wasn't as successful. It's interesting to see how times have changed and how now, the most expensive thing to ship is empty space. I can imagine how the focus on productivity and bonuses for management can also play a role in the current delivery systems. Speaking of which, have you ever had any experience with freight to Austria? I want to work with these guys so maybe someone here head about them.
#59
B
bertsmobile1
Gordon Barton who kicked off Ipec revolutionized the transport industry with their "overnight everynight " transport model
Should I tell you he was an Aussie ?
Down here he started off by smuggeling produce overnight as we had regional trade restrictions and mandated quotas .
This was very profitable and he quickly realised that there was a lot of freight that could ( and should ) be moved overnight and no body doing it.
So he set up Interstate Parcel Express Company shortly after graduating from Sydney University much to the annoyance of the Transport Workers Union , all of the established transport companies who only drove during daylight hours and only despatched a truck if it was full ( usually over full ) plus the Australian Post Office and all of the east coast State owned railways so he made a lot of enemies as well as lots of money .
He was a slightly left of centre conservative , co-founded a split off of our Liberal party ( Republicans to the USA readers ) so made lots more political enemies .
His mantra was Capitalism with a Conscious which became the slogan for the Australia Party which the splinter party morphed into earning him even more enemies.
He was staunchly anti Vietnam War which made him more enemies in both Australia & the USA and used his money to fund a couple of newspapers where the journalist were free to persue any matter provided it was truthful and encouraged to do what the opposition party was supposed to do by critising & holding the governments to account.
Thus even more enemies .
President Johnson held him personally responsible for the egging during his Australian tour thus he probably had the most comprehensive CIA file of any Australian.
It is said the LBJ put a lot of pressure on the Australian Government to shut him down so yes more enemies again as our mantra at the time was "all the way with LBJ"
Thus he spent more days in court than in his office and finally gave up on Oz and took IPEC to Europe where it was a massive success but made little profits .
In OZ Ipec was being challenged by Comet , Main Nicholas & TNT who also adopted the overnight every night business model so income was being reduced and he was still regularly fronting the courts most of which was for trivial offences as he was not one to comply with very stupid regulations.
Eventually he gave up all together selling Ipec to Toll who destroyed the business in less than a year after his period of consultation was over .
So he went to Spain where he died a short while back .
All very dissapointing particularly the demise of the Australia Party which was the only actual unencumbered political party and had a very good portfolio of legislative reform but when you have both the major parties colluding to cause your demise it was never going to come into power although I did vote for them in every election.
Big business was never going to allow legislation that restricted the amount of money the executives & directors could stuff into their greedy pockets . Governments were never going to allow any body independent of them to investigate their malpractices although we did get ICAC on a state level some time latter and just now are getting a federal ICAC
B
bertsmobile1
YesWow, it sounds like the Ipec transport system revolutionized the delivery industry back in the day!
Gordon Barton who kicked off Ipec revolutionized the transport industry with their "overnight everynight " transport model
Should I tell you he was an Aussie ?
Down here he started off by smuggeling produce overnight as we had regional trade restrictions and mandated quotas .
This was very profitable and he quickly realised that there was a lot of freight that could ( and should ) be moved overnight and no body doing it.
So he set up Interstate Parcel Express Company shortly after graduating from Sydney University much to the annoyance of the Transport Workers Union , all of the established transport companies who only drove during daylight hours and only despatched a truck if it was full ( usually over full ) plus the Australian Post Office and all of the east coast State owned railways so he made a lot of enemies as well as lots of money .
He was a slightly left of centre conservative , co-founded a split off of our Liberal party ( Republicans to the USA readers ) so made lots more political enemies .
His mantra was Capitalism with a Conscious which became the slogan for the Australia Party which the splinter party morphed into earning him even more enemies.
He was staunchly anti Vietnam War which made him more enemies in both Australia & the USA and used his money to fund a couple of newspapers where the journalist were free to persue any matter provided it was truthful and encouraged to do what the opposition party was supposed to do by critising & holding the governments to account.
Thus even more enemies .
President Johnson held him personally responsible for the egging during his Australian tour thus he probably had the most comprehensive CIA file of any Australian.
It is said the LBJ put a lot of pressure on the Australian Government to shut him down so yes more enemies again as our mantra at the time was "all the way with LBJ"
Thus he spent more days in court than in his office and finally gave up on Oz and took IPEC to Europe where it was a massive success but made little profits .
In OZ Ipec was being challenged by Comet , Main Nicholas & TNT who also adopted the overnight every night business model so income was being reduced and he was still regularly fronting the courts most of which was for trivial offences as he was not one to comply with very stupid regulations.
Eventually he gave up all together selling Ipec to Toll who destroyed the business in less than a year after his period of consultation was over .
So he went to Spain where he died a short while back .
All very dissapointing particularly the demise of the Australia Party which was the only actual unencumbered political party and had a very good portfolio of legislative reform but when you have both the major parties colluding to cause your demise it was never going to come into power although I did vote for them in every election.
Big business was never going to allow legislation that restricted the amount of money the executives & directors could stuff into their greedy pockets . Governments were never going to allow any body independent of them to investigate their malpractices although we did get ICAC on a state level some time latter and just now are getting a federal ICAC
#60
Scrubcadet10
Scrubcadet10
i currently have a package that a friend shipped from North Carolina, in the USPS system. it's been 13 days and it has not left the carolina's apparently, or just now has.
#61
7394
7394
Scrub- That bites..
#62
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
Every big transport company used the hub & spoke distribution system as it is the most efficient ( read least cost ).
In theory it goes from a spoke to a hub to another hub to the spoke to your door.
However modern computer manifesting can have it bouncing around hubs for ages utilizing vacant space so every truck is full every trip.
The pallet shortage has not helped this one little bit and the massive increase in online shopping has made it even worse.
The failure of the international mail conference ( which was the USA & UK's fault ) has made things even worse as it has become impossible to predict freight volumes and a console from ebay could contain 10 or 10,000 deliveries which will be done by the USPS for the depot to door bit because that is the most expensive sector .
In theory it goes from a spoke to a hub to another hub to the spoke to your door.
However modern computer manifesting can have it bouncing around hubs for ages utilizing vacant space so every truck is full every trip.
The pallet shortage has not helped this one little bit and the massive increase in online shopping has made it even worse.
The failure of the international mail conference ( which was the USA & UK's fault ) has made things even worse as it has become impossible to predict freight volumes and a console from ebay could contain 10 or 10,000 deliveries which will be done by the USPS for the depot to door bit because that is the most expensive sector .
#63
7394
7394
Yep, agreed.
#64
StarTech
StarTech
Been fighting to get my refunds from the IRS for over two years. I finally got a check Saturday. Guess what it was in an USPS envelop, ripped in half, and non cash-able. Can you hear me screaming at the top my lungs? Boy the IRS or like what I now calling them The Idiot Ran Service is really on the ball when it comes to collecting but can't do a simple refund. At least this time I didn't let it drive my BP thru the roof.
As for packages I still seeing some USPS package taking long vacations that I should be on. Other than that vendors are now stretching out parts deliveries to months instead a few days. I supposedly getting some chainsaw parts this coming week that I ordered three months ago.
And I ordered a couple starters from DB and they showed up across the street from my shop. Large sign next to road so obvious that the house across the street was not the right delivery point. UPS did this one. Is their drivers going blind? Or paid to deliver but not think.
As for packages I still seeing some USPS package taking long vacations that I should be on. Other than that vendors are now stretching out parts deliveries to months instead a few days. I supposedly getting some chainsaw parts this coming week that I ordered three months ago.
And I ordered a couple starters from DB and they showed up across the street from my shop. Large sign next to road so obvious that the house across the street was not the right delivery point. UPS did this one. Is their drivers going blind? Or paid to deliver but not think.
#65
B
bertsmobile1
Drivers are simply taught how to scan items into their PDA's after which the PDA does all of the thinking.
Good chance the driver could not understand or even read English
There are only 4 or 5 base mapping systems that can be fed into a PDA and a lot of times my deliveries that are all marked ATL get delivered to a vacant lot 1/2 mile up the road regardless of the fact my street numbers are on the gate in 10" tall numbers.
But the particular ( probably very cheap ) map has me 40 numbers away.
Then the Google maps one has the far gate on the side street ( also 1/2 mile away ) as the property enterance so they toss the packages over the fence there .
The transport companies will not pay for quality staff who know to locations and the drivers who do know don't want to work for a company that treats them as brain dead & pays accordingly .
B
bertsmobile1
They are not really paid full stop so thinking is an optional extraBeen fighting to get my refunds from the IRS for over two years. I finally got a check Saturday. Guess what it was in an USPS envelop, ripped in half, and non cash-able. Can you hear me screaming at the top my lungs? Boy the IRS or like what I now calling them The Idiot Ran Service is really on the ball when it comes to collecting but can't do a simple refund. At least this time I didn't let it drive my BP thru the roof.
As for packages I still seeing some USPS package taking long vacations that I should be on. Other than that vendors are now stretching out parts deliveries to months instead a few days. I supposedly getting some chainsaw parts this coming week that I ordered three months ago.
And I ordered a couple starters from DB and they showed up across the street from my shop. Large sign next to road so obvious that the house across the street was not the right delivery point. UPS did this one. Is their drivers going blind? Or paid to deliver but not think.
Drivers are simply taught how to scan items into their PDA's after which the PDA does all of the thinking.
Good chance the driver could not understand or even read English
There are only 4 or 5 base mapping systems that can be fed into a PDA and a lot of times my deliveries that are all marked ATL get delivered to a vacant lot 1/2 mile up the road regardless of the fact my street numbers are on the gate in 10" tall numbers.
But the particular ( probably very cheap ) map has me 40 numbers away.
Then the Google maps one has the far gate on the side street ( also 1/2 mile away ) as the property enterance so they toss the packages over the fence there .
The transport companies will not pay for quality staff who know to locations and the drivers who do know don't want to work for a company that treats them as brain dead & pays accordingly .
#66
StarTech
StarTech
The UPS drivers are well paid, even the new hires. And no excuse for using their brains; except, when they have no brains. It is very possible UPS hired a brainless guy.
I know when I first start delivering packages I was trained how street addresses were laid out. I still use that system today along with road maps. Even using a PDA a user should still use their brain as no map is 100%. There is no real excuse for laziness.
Since my package was not delivered to my place maybe I should just claim it wasn't delivered properly and let their insurance handle the claim. A couple free $100 starters would be nice.
Anyway I be here Tuesday to complain to my driver(s). Never know if I get my assigned driver or some funky.
I know when I first start delivering packages I was trained how street addresses were laid out. I still use that system today along with road maps. Even using a PDA a user should still use their brain as no map is 100%. There is no real excuse for laziness.
Since my package was not delivered to my place maybe I should just claim it wasn't delivered properly and let their insurance handle the claim. A couple free $100 starters would be nice.
Anyway I be here Tuesday to complain to my driver(s). Never know if I get my assigned driver or some funky.
#67
7394
7394
I have gotten a few packages (UPS) left out in my driveway. Couldn't even throw it on the porch.
#68
B
bertsmobile1
If he can't find them then he will pay for the replacement
Well that is how it works down here.
Basically some tech had sells the transport companies some "fool proof" system ( at massive costs ) based on the premise that they can then employ substantially lower grade drivers and in some cases the companies have actually gone to court to get a ruling that because the technology makes the drivers job easier and in the case of freight, removes the time taken to hand write a manifest then the pay rate can be reduced & to my horror the courts agreed so every time new tech gets introduced the rate drops .
Back in 1978 I was party to "the NSW Transport Drivers Contract Rate Determination" which for the first time set a minimum pay rate which was $ 700/ week for motorcyclist , $ 820 for 1 ton drivers & $ 850 for 2 toners , and these were owner driver rates.
In 2010 the rate on offer for my 1.5 ton van was $ 750 / week.
Note that this is a minimum, you can get paid more because nearly all delivery drivers here are owner driver sub contractors & are on a piece rate .
My actual running costs were over $ 500 / week ( just fuel & insurance ) so I gave up the idea of driving and went into management as a driver / manager on a salary .
B
bertsmobile1
Naw, UPS will send the driver back to pick them up from across the road & drop them off to you.The UPS drivers are well paid, even the new hires. And no excuse for using their brains; except, when they have no brains. It is very possible UPS hired a brainless guy.
I know when I first start delivering packages I was trained how street addresses were laid out. I still use that system today along with road maps. Even using a PDA a user should still use their brain as no map is 100%. There is no real excuse for laziness.
Since my package was not delivered to my place maybe I should just claim it wasn't delivered properly and let their insurance handle the claim. A couple free $100 starters would be nice.
Anyway I be here Tuesday to complain to my driver(s). Never know if I get my assigned driver or some funky.
If he can't find them then he will pay for the replacement
Well that is how it works down here.
Basically some tech had sells the transport companies some "fool proof" system ( at massive costs ) based on the premise that they can then employ substantially lower grade drivers and in some cases the companies have actually gone to court to get a ruling that because the technology makes the drivers job easier and in the case of freight, removes the time taken to hand write a manifest then the pay rate can be reduced & to my horror the courts agreed so every time new tech gets introduced the rate drops .
Back in 1978 I was party to "the NSW Transport Drivers Contract Rate Determination" which for the first time set a minimum pay rate which was $ 700/ week for motorcyclist , $ 820 for 1 ton drivers & $ 850 for 2 toners , and these were owner driver rates.
In 2010 the rate on offer for my 1.5 ton van was $ 750 / week.
Note that this is a minimum, you can get paid more because nearly all delivery drivers here are owner driver sub contractors & are on a piece rate .
My actual running costs were over $ 500 / week ( just fuel & insurance ) so I gave up the idea of driving and went into management as a driver / manager on a salary .
#69
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
My regular UPS driver is a pretty cool guy. He delivers to the back patio and puts packages under the cover out of any rain. Fedex and Amazon can't read a sign.
#70
7394
7394
Ur lucky..My regular UPS driver is a pretty cool guy. He delivers to the back patio and puts packages under the cover out of any rain.
#71
StarTech
StarTech
If you have a regular delivery driver things can a setup for package placement but I never seems to have a regular delivery person. They even knew where I keep the keys to the lock box. IE you can train them but not the stray ones.
Before I move to my current location I had regular drivers so they knew where to put the packages when I was out of pocket. Big difference between Alabama and Tennessee deliveries. I wish I was back in Alabama, just too many lost packages now. January isn't even over yet and I done had one lost package.
Before I move to my current location I had regular drivers so they knew where to put the packages when I was out of pocket. Big difference between Alabama and Tennessee deliveries. I wish I was back in Alabama, just too many lost packages now. January isn't even over yet and I done had one lost package.
#72
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
The lady who delivers US mail is cool and likes me because i put up a large mailbox. You would be suprised what will fit in it. If she does need to bring a package to the house she puts it on the patio and texts me.Ur lucky..
#73
StarTech
But of course I tend to use UPS over USPS for heavy packages. For smaller packages the USPS does have better rates currently when I can wait a few extra days. Either way tracking usually the way I find a package delivery at times.
StarTech
Yes large mailbox can accept fairly good packages, I just worry about the weight at times. Mine is plastic mounted. The neighbor has already broken it off with his mower but the epoxy I used seems to holding very well.The lady who delivers US mail is cool and likes me because i put up a large mailbox. You would be suprised what will fit in it. If she does need to bring a package to the house she puts it on the patio and texts me.
But of course I tend to use UPS over USPS for heavy packages. For smaller packages the USPS does have better rates currently when I can wait a few extra days. Either way tracking usually the way I find a package delivery at times.
#74
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
You want to try to be on the border of the metropolitan & regional delivery zones like I am.
The river is 400 yards away from the gate
East of the river is Sydney & west of the river is regional .
And for some idiot reason the authorities moved the suburb border from the river to the top of the hill adding 300 houses into the "city " suburb.
Then PDAs came along so the metropolitan driver gets to the river but when he crosses it the PDA goes "out of zone:" so won't allow the driver to scan in the package let alone deliver it .
BAck on the other side the PDA's won't allow them to scan the packages because the address is wrong
Ain't technology grand
Very common for a delivery to take several months because transport companies employ brain dead dock hands who are hard pressed to read the post codes and get them in the right bins let alone know this post code straddles the zone border .
So my delivery gets tossed into customer service, who checks the address against one of the computer files, OK's it puts it back on the dock, the dock hand puts it back in the 2745 bin, the driver takes it out, their PDA won't allow him to deriver it so it goes back to customer service.
I actually have had some delivery services send my deliveries back marked "no such address ".
The river is 400 yards away from the gate
East of the river is Sydney & west of the river is regional .
And for some idiot reason the authorities moved the suburb border from the river to the top of the hill adding 300 houses into the "city " suburb.
Then PDAs came along so the metropolitan driver gets to the river but when he crosses it the PDA goes "out of zone:" so won't allow the driver to scan in the package let alone deliver it .
BAck on the other side the PDA's won't allow them to scan the packages because the address is wrong
Ain't technology grand
Very common for a delivery to take several months because transport companies employ brain dead dock hands who are hard pressed to read the post codes and get them in the right bins let alone know this post code straddles the zone border .
So my delivery gets tossed into customer service, who checks the address against one of the computer files, OK's it puts it back on the dock, the dock hand puts it back in the 2745 bin, the driver takes it out, their PDA won't allow him to deriver it so it goes back to customer service.
I actually have had some delivery services send my deliveries back marked "no such address ".
#75
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
Before i retired from the day job we had a major customer who wrote us a check for about a million a month for leases and supplies on 7 of our printers. Fedex used to deliver overnight by 10:30 the next day. Then they "partnered" with UPS and they delivered packages to UPS after the trucks had left for deliveries for the day so it was hopefully the second day after a part was ordered it finally arrived. The account was assigned to me and it was my job to kiss ass and keep them happy. Nothing like standing in front of the plant manager the production manager and the comptroller and telling them a machine would be down for a couple days for a part and they let you know they were losing $50k every shift the machine was down. They ran 24/7. Just another reason i retired. Best thing was that the clowns left to service the machines had them down so much because they couldn't fix the machines and didn't know how to kiss corperate ass the customer canceled all the equipment. Sales rep called me and asked WTF was going on? I just laughed my ass off.
#76
7394
7394
My rural mailman is new & pretty creative, he had a box for me that wouldn't fit in my regular size mailbox. So he just mashed the package (re-sized) & crammed it in my box. WTF ? my mrs couldn't pull it out the mailbox, I had to get it.
Called & raised heck about it.. He has been much nicer lately.
Called & raised heck about it.. He has been much nicer lately.
#77
B
bertsmobile1
There are much better delivery services like Midnight Express where the delivery driver looses money the longer it take for the delivery to happen .
I was one of their delivery agents in Sydney.
It was worth $ 100 if the package was signed for within 30 minutes of the plane landing and the rate went down by 25¢ / minute there after till the base $ 5 was gotten to.
Used a lot by music & movie industry
There are a couple of other similar service providers.
TNT do a "direct car" service where the nearest vacant car get the job & nothing else till it is delivered .
Rate is about 10 times of the standard fee.
IBM & HP used them a lot up to 100 miles.
All of the local airlines do "speed bags " where if you can get to the terminal before the last inflight staff leaves the building they take it onboard with them .
Again not cheap but megga quick as you do not have to wait for baggage handlers
Did hundreds of them over the years .
B
bertsmobile1
Well that serves your company rightBefore i retired from the day job we had a major customer who wrote us a check for about a million a month for leases and supplies on 7 of our printers. Fedex used to deliver overnight by 10:30 the next day. Then they "partnered" with UPS and they delivered packages to UPS after the trucks had left for deliveries for the day so it was hopefully the second day after a part was ordered it finally arrived. The account was assigned to me and it was my job to kiss ass and keep them happy. Nothing like standing in front of the plant manager the production manager and the comptroller and telling them a machine would be down for a couple days for a part and they let you know they were losing $50k every shift the machine was down. They ran 24/7. Just another reason i retired. Best thing was that the clowns left to service the machines had them down so much because they couldn't fix the machines and didn't know how to kiss corperate ass the customer canceled all the equipment. Sales rep called me and asked WTF was going on? I just laughed my ass off.
There are much better delivery services like Midnight Express where the delivery driver looses money the longer it take for the delivery to happen .
I was one of their delivery agents in Sydney.
It was worth $ 100 if the package was signed for within 30 minutes of the plane landing and the rate went down by 25¢ / minute there after till the base $ 5 was gotten to.
Used a lot by music & movie industry
There are a couple of other similar service providers.
TNT do a "direct car" service where the nearest vacant car get the job & nothing else till it is delivered .
Rate is about 10 times of the standard fee.
IBM & HP used them a lot up to 100 miles.
All of the local airlines do "speed bags " where if you can get to the terminal before the last inflight staff leaves the building they take it onboard with them .
Again not cheap but megga quick as you do not have to wait for baggage handlers
Did hundreds of them over the years .
#78
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
Got called out once on a sunday to one of the aerospace contractors, Computer Sciences Corp, because the printer went down. When i got there they were in a panic. I fixed it in 10 minutes. The guy in charge asked if i would stay there until the job was done in a few hours. He said i could wait with the FedEx guy. The FedEx guy said they had jet on standby at the Dayton airport and a truck and driver waiting at national airport in DC to take what they were printing to the pentagon.They were printing a revised bid for a 100 million dollar contract and the deadline to submit the bid was midnight that night. I got paid time and a half to sit and eat pizza for a few hours. FedEx guy said they were paying huge $$$ to charter a jet, trucks and drivers on a Sunday.
#79
PTmowerMech
PTmowerMech
I ordered a set of grommets and the tool from Walmart+ the other day. Walmart+ usually has fast shipping. Like Amazon used to be. So I ventured into buying from them and have had great success. Plus their items are usually a little cheaper than Amazon.
Well, checking the tracking, shipping label was created in Illinois. It showed package being picked up in CA, shipped to IL, then back to IL. And waited and waited. Then a few days later showed it was in IL on the day it was supposed to be delivered.
To heck with all that. I contacted Walmart and they refunded the money within 24hours.
The next day, it showed it was delivered. But of course it wasn't. Checked my bank account and the money was refunded.
Since it said it was refunded.
They need to stop allowing shippers to claim something has been shipped just by providing a tracking number. When the package has been pick up by the carrier, then it should be labeled as shipped.
Well, checking the tracking, shipping label was created in Illinois. It showed package being picked up in CA, shipped to IL, then back to IL. And waited and waited. Then a few days later showed it was in IL on the day it was supposed to be delivered.
To heck with all that. I contacted Walmart and they refunded the money within 24hours.
The next day, it showed it was delivered. But of course it wasn't. Checked my bank account and the money was refunded.
Since it said it was refunded.
They need to stop allowing shippers to claim something has been shipped just by providing a tracking number. When the package has been pick up by the carrier, then it should be labeled as shipped.
#80
Hammermechanicman
Hammermechanicman
I ordered some stuff from a network suppy company and got stuff in 2 days. Ordered some cooking knives from a smsll company and got them in 3 days. Ordered some networking stuff from amazon with 2 day shipping and got it over a week later.
#81
StarTech
StarTech
It called procurement PT. You do your leg work first then buy.
And Hammer you got pay close attention to the ads on Amazon, for the that fact any place online. It all depends if in stock and where it being shipped from. My main vendors when items are in stock are usually just 1-2 out by UPS.
USPS is all over the place on shipping times. They are getting a little better at delivery a three day priority package within a week. That is if don't go through Memphis,TN. It is a black hole of sorts. Packages can sit there for weeks. And I got a bearing supplier in Memphis so I have to use UPS if I need any bearing quick as they deliver the next day. Twice the cost but worth at times.
And Hammer you got pay close attention to the ads on Amazon, for the that fact any place online. It all depends if in stock and where it being shipped from. My main vendors when items are in stock are usually just 1-2 out by UPS.
USPS is all over the place on shipping times. They are getting a little better at delivery a three day priority package within a week. That is if don't go through Memphis,TN. It is a black hole of sorts. Packages can sit there for weeks. And I got a bearing supplier in Memphis so I have to use UPS if I need any bearing quick as they deliver the next day. Twice the cost but worth at times.