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SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

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Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#71

Post by martinald »

byuu wrote: post #34
rewrew wrote: post #9

I'm confused -- has it been verified that this package cleared customs? Because if not that could be the delay here.

Yes, after sitting for 21 days in US customs, it's now stuck in Jersey City, NJ: http://i.imgur.com/XYB1lZS.png Note the "in transit to destination" is a fake event automatically added 24 hours after no scans. Assuming it wasn't stolen, it's still in NJ. Sitting in a pile for 10+ days for no apparent reason despite being priority mail.

21 days seems pretty excessive to be stuck in customs. I've sent a fair bit of stuff between UK and US and I've never had it take so long to clear customs. Plus they usually explicitly say that it's cleared customs.

It seems very odd that it would take that long.

Did you pay the right duties and tax on this? It may be that it's still with customs and they have absolutely no idea what a giant box of old SNES games is worth?

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#72

Post by ac29 »

walrus01 wrote: post #6
anonymous_iam wrote: post #3

I suppose that you have now learned to not trust the United States Postal Service with your $10,000 package. FedEx or UPS do cost a little more, but in this case I think you would agree that it would have been worth it.

If you read, it was sent by DHL from Germany. Within Germany, DHL is the defacto choice for courier. The problem is where DHL hands it off to USPS for US delivery, since DHL has pretty much pulled back from trying to compete directly with Fedex and UPS in the US48 market.

I get packages from Europe via DHL every week at work. They are never handed off to USPS, they come in a DHL van. However, they certainly might use USPS for some residential deliveries.

What DHL doesnt do anymore is US->US (domestic) shipments. International delivery is still definitely handled in the US by DHL themselves.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#73

Post by justin66 »

brink wrote: post #46
legohead wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? They deliver more mail than all the other US carriers combined, and deal with almost half of the worlds mail traffic. For the truly massive amount of traffic they deal with, they are incredibly accurate and fast. If you have lived in another country like I have, you will quickly learn to appreciate the USPS.

I'm sure it could be worse, but out of the 3 main providers we have in the US here, they're the most unreliable. I'm not trying to just rip on them, but from my experience, they don't think much of delivering packages a day or more late as it happens fairly consistently.

> I'm sure it could be worse, but out of the 3 main providers we have in the US here, they're the most unreliable

Yeah, I don't know. Fedex Ground seems to be focusing their efforts on package delivery via t-shirt cannon or something, lately.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#74

Post by syntheticnature »

Larrikin wrote: post #61

>First, because I don't speak any German, and feel very uncomfortable traveling to a foreign country on my own. I know most Germans speak English, but that doesn't ease my concerns all that much. It's scary to me to travel alone, sorry. Found this odd. What is scary about traveling to a presumably a big city in one of the richest countries in the world?

As an extrovert who had experience travelling solo, I once found myself travelling to Germany at the last minute due to being the only person on the project with a passport (and, I'll note, German not a language I'd had any acquaintance with at the time). It provoked significant worry from me, especially given that my directions to the site involved public transit and directions of the "know it when you see it" sort.

So I can understand the concerns. Heck, I ran into issues later when I left my phrasebook behind. I couldn't remember the word "Geldautomat" and was out of cash. Fortunately I did find someone who spoke enough English to help.

That said, I found the Germans I met along my journey to be far friendlier than the typical American stereotype of them, and the trip went just fine (and many more like it, later) -- but I was already a seasoned traveler who was used to all the aspects of long-distance air travel.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#75

Post by voltagex_ »

cr0sh wrote: post #63
Animats wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have two missing packages in USPS right now, both from China. One is a laptop power supply, which tracking shows as delivered, although it didn't show up. The second is some surface mount soldering practice boards, which made it to "out for delivery" near me back in early January. Then somehow the packet went to Los Angeles, where it's stuck with no delivery date. This is all cheap stuff from eBay and Amazon, and I…

Be patient - it might just arrive! I ordered a bunch of stuff via Ali Express back in mid-December. Most of the items arrived "fairly quickly" (with 2-3 weeks). A couple of the items didn't show up until last week! Fortunately, they weren't anything expensive (I had already "written it off". I've had a similar experience with Amazon from a Chinese supplier. One time, I was sent something, could see it tracked and sup…

I swear we need to crowdsource data about AliExpress delivery times. I'm going to make a note of my next packages, but the last few got to me via Cambodia and Tonga of all places.

I've never had an AliExpress package take less than a month to get to me in Australia, BangGood and Gearbest are slightly faster for some reason.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#76

Post by quickoats »

i have difficulty imagining what kind of creature would ask all of us kind and well-meaning folk for help with this kind of elaborate "it was not me!" scheme. must have been for a girl. was it worth it? a lot of us actually love SFC and pulling our heartstrings like this and so transparently is turning my stomach. does it really take 13 years to develop an emulator? and these days, with actual cartridge hardware? there are many dumpers and many PAL carts all over the world. it is slightly impressive for you to have considered and thought out and written such deliberately organized FAQ-like introduction to your immediate world of paranoid guilt process almost as if one were wrought with some kind of self-illuminating regret. i am so sorry.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#77

Post by teslabox »

ssully wrote: post #44
mkarr wrote: post #5

As a hopeful note of optimism: I recently sent a large, expensive package (worth around $1500) cross-country via USPS. The package was sent out mid-December. According to the tracking it made it all the way to the destination Post Office. After that...nothing. It just never progressed. I filed both a mail search requests, and an insurance claim. I received nothing but radio silence on those as well. Fast forward to a…

I am in this exact scenario right now. The last entry on my tracking was my package arriving at my USPS facility 14 days ago and nothing has happened since. I just don't understand how something like this happens.

I had a package 'fall off the truck' a few scans after it entered the USPS system. A month later it scanned at a Chicago sorting center, and was delivered a few days later.

Another recent package was said to have been delivered, but wasn't actually in my mailbox until the following day. Maybe my neighbor redelivered it for me.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#78

Post by walrus01 »

ac29 wrote: post #72
walrus01 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read, it was sent by DHL from Germany. Within Germany, DHL is the defacto choice for courier. The problem is where DHL hands it off to USPS for US delivery, since DHL has pretty much pulled back from trying to compete directly with Fedex and UPS in the US48 market.

I get packages from Europe via DHL every week at work. They are never handed off to USPS, they come in a DHL van. However, they certainly might use USPS for some residential deliveries. What DHL doesnt do anymore is US->US (domestic) shipments. International delivery is still definitely handled in the US by DHL themselves.

I think this might depend on what city you're in. DHL has definitely pulled back from the US:

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20131125-five-years-on-dh...

http://www.economist.com/node/12607051

There is still a direct DHL presense in larger areas/markets like Seattle, San Francisco or Dallas. But not so much in other parts of the country.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#79

Post by eco »

niij wrote: post #57
eco wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hope a "particularly bad location" wouldn't encompass the entire Salt Lake metro area (+1M pop) but my experience has been the same throughout the many places I've lived in the valley. You'd think a bad location would be isolated to a particular post office. By the stats on this page I'm in one of the better locations though (SLC). I agree shipping in the US is awesome. I'm still amazed how well it works. USP…

What you're throwing in the recycle bin is what's called "bulk mail" and its what helps keep postal rates low for first class parcels.

Not if you ask USPS. They aren't supposed to cross-subsidize using services they have a monopoly on (first class and standard mail which includes bulk advertising). Awhile back UPS, FedEx, and others asked the Postal Regulatory Commission to look into whether or not they are doing that. I'm not sure if anything ever came of it.

Re: SNES preservation project on hold due to missing $10,000 package

#80

Post by brokenmachine »

Larrikin wrote: post #61

>First, because I don't speak any German, and feel very uncomfortable traveling to a foreign country on my own. I know most Germans speak English, but that doesn't ease my concerns all that much. It's scary to me to travel alone, sorry. Found this odd. What is scary about traveling to a presumably a big city in one of the richest countries in the world?

Yeah, I'm Australian and can speak a tiny bit of German but hardly needed it when I went to Berlin.

I reckon the German education system must be great because the average person over there seems to have very good English.

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