What Is and What Shall Never Be

brentona · Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:07 pm

USPS Rant.

The following is in no way, shape, or form, defamatory of the mailing party: Person "X"

Person X and I agreed to a trade between to collectible, and valuable, guitars. I shipped X my end of the bargain. Which I now know is NO way to ship a guitar worth several thousand dollars, lesson learned. But, Hey! It got there in one piece, in the condition that it left my residence, and in three days. Person X is very happy with his new guit.

Now X shipped their instrument to me, crossed every T, dotted every I. Shipped it the proper manner for an instrument of its particular value. This was Wednesday, 08JUL2020. ETA of new axe from X to me was 11JUL2020. Rock on! Come 12JUL2020 my guitar was "scanned" in a Hub 60 miles or so from where it should have been. One day, two day, three day, no movement from this particular Hub. Ok, what in the Sammy Davis Junior is going on here. Cannot under ANY circumstances, get information out of this Hub in Monroe, NC. The silence is deafening. My local Hub however has been of great assistance and very willing to work with me through this. My wife was able to FINALLY get Monroe on the phone while I was at work and the manager informed her:
"Oh yes, that particular parcel came in with a shipping label that was peeling off. We stuck it back on and shipped it to the Charlotte Hub (side note, that is 40 miles from where it should be) on 11JUL2020. They have it."

Person X happens to be in a very good relationship with his Postmistress. Call it a daughter this individual never had. She says that is total malarkey and does NOT sound legit, one bit. So here I sit, just filled out a missing item form with USPS. Axe-less and beyond bitter.

The instrument coming to me is the first, not first batch, THE first Left Handed instrument of it kind made in this spec list that the Factory has produced.
Worst case scenario is I redeem insurance value from the lost parcel, and put together an instrument, not its rival, but one that will do.

So that's the title, What is and What Shall Never Be, the Guitar that never was and (maybe) what should never have been.

Let's hope that the friendly Government Service can get its head removed from its hind quarters and get this right.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Take away? Do NOT entrust your valuable or irreplaceable items with USPS. Hard pass from me for now on.

fullonshred · Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:15 pm

So sorry this went badly. I hope a recovery of said guitar is still possible. I never thought X would or sell trade that guitar. Best wishes to all involved.

brentona · Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:16 pm

fullonshred wrote:So sorry this went badly. I hope a recovery of said guitar is still possible. I never thought X would or sell trade that guitar. Best wishes to all involved.

Thanks brother! Yeah I’m super pumped to receive it! I see X made a public post, I didn’t want to use his handle because this is in no way his fault. But forreal!!! That guitar would sure be terrific to have!

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Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:25 pm

I feel really awful about it even tho it was neither of our faults.
And yes, that was the first lefty 6122-1959 Gretsch shipped.
Perhaps TJ will turn up correct and as soon as the insurance claim Gets to North Carolina
the guitar might mysteriously reappear.

The reason I feel so bad about this is the I've fallen love with the guitar I got from him.
And the one I sent to him is still somewhere in never-never land.

Or perhaps it is because we've been having heavy duty thunder storms rolling thru
the kind that come with water spouts & tornadoes! So I've been in batten down the hatches mode much of the day since 11ish.

tonebender · Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:50 pm

it will come through, just need to keep communicating.

BatUtilityBelt · Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:51 pm

I would suggest a police report in the city it was last known to exist (Monroe?) Pictures, serial number, and any other uniquely identifying marks should be in the report. It sounds likely someone stole it in transit, which absolutely happens. It is also more than likely that it will end up pawned, being lefty.

brentona · Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:13 pm

mickey wrote:I feel really awful about it even tho it was neither of our faults.
And yes, that was the first lefty 6122-1959 Gretsch shipped.
Perhaps TJ will turn up correct and as soon as the insurance claim Gets to North Carolina
the guitar might mysteriously reappear.

The reason I feel so bad about this is the I've fallen love with the guitar I got from him.
And the one I sent to him is still somewhere in never-never land.
Or perhaps it is because we've been having heavy duty thunder storms rolling thru
the kind that come with water spouts & tornadoes! So I've been in batten down the hatches mode much of the day since 11ish.

I’m glad you enjoy that 000-28 so much! I just had two and that one didn’t get picked up once I refurbed my old one!!

Overall this is a very weird situation all around. The guy in Monroe is a huge contradiction. He really tried to speak fast and run over anything my wife said, avoided questions, etc. Didn’t answer any four of my calls or six emails today. So I’m going to continue to be a pain in absolute a** to him. When all is said and done all the unanswered, very polite, emails are going to be compiled and sent to the head of NC USPS. My local Postmaster has been terrific. She’s really gone above and beyond and I met her in person yesterday.

Let’s just hope it turns up in a timely manner. It would be a gigantic shame for that instrument to no longer exist.

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brentona · Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:14 pm

tonebender wrote:it will come through, just need to keep communicating.

Oh trust me, people are hearing me. Now I’m lacing all of my conversations in honey because I want something from these people. I have two women who have been tremendous, and the lone man who has been a total douche bag.

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dearlpitts · Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:11 am

Hope it works, out

Thu Jul 16, 2020 4:15 am

As of now, USPS tracking shows:

Your item departed our MID CAROLINA-CHARLOTTE NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER destination facility on July 15, 2020 at 9:10 pm.
The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Since last Sunday morning it has been reporting that it had arrived in Monroe NC.

brentona · Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:44 am

mickey wrote:As of now, USPS tracking shows:

Your item departed our MID CAROLINA-CHARLOTTE NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER destination facility on July 15, 2020 at 9:10 pm.
The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Since last Sunday morning it has been reporting that it had arrived in Monroe NC.

This is fantastic news!

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Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:54 am

Will someone be at your house today? After all this it would be a shame to lose it to "porch pirates" now!
Or might your Postmistress hold it for you to pick up?

brentona · Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:55 am

mickey wrote:Will someone be at your house today? After all this it would be a shame to lose it to "porch pirates" now!
Or might your Postmistress hold it for you to pick up?

My wife is working from home these days! I also live in a tremendously quiet suburb. She does have to run a dog about 2 minutes up the road to the vet around 1pm today

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Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:04 am

Pity if it shows up today. You might need to call in sick to work tomorrow? "My fingers are sore!"
Just kidding, that guitar would never make your fingers sore, you just think about it and it frets itself!

In case you've forgotten, it is the one on the right.

brentona · Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:20 am

mickey wrote:Pity if it shows up today. You might need to call in sick to work tomorrow? "My fingers are sore!"
Just kidding, that guitar would never make your fingers sore, you just think about it and it frets itself!

In case you've forgotten, it is the one on the right.

6120-3.JPG

Ha! If I wasn’t taking care of the largest grossing client our branch has tomorrow I’d drop out!!
And you better bet your behind the image of that instrument is FIRMLY burned in my minds eye

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Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:22 am

It is prettier in person than in pics.

brentona · Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:24 am

mickey wrote:It is prettier in person than in pics.

They always are. I’ll bust the camera out once I put the instrument down and have a moment. I can capture some pretty close to naked eye images.

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jtcnj · Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:04 am

Hope it all works out.
Maybe someone local can swing by and give Monroe a quick kick in the nuts after this blows over.

brentona · Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:22 am

jtcnj wrote:Hope it all works out.
Maybe someone local can swing by and give Monroe a quick kick in the nuts after this blows over.

I wear steel toes for work, some states consider it a deadly weapon in an assault...I might be able to get temporary insanity in this case though.

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Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:02 am

Just got a call from my postmistress who was asking IF the label fell off,
how the hell did they scan it in Charlotte last night?

uwmcscott · Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:07 am

mickey wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:02 am Just got a call from my postmistress who was asking IF the label fell off,
how the hell did they scan it in Charlotte last night?

To me at least that would be a shred of good news - and hope that it is indeed just misrouted and not completely lost/stolen.

brentona · Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:07 am

mickey wrote:Just got a call from my postmistress who was asking IF the label fell off,
how the hell did they scan it in Charlotte last night?

Well it totally fell off. Why on earth would our friendly government employee lie to us? He has nothing to hide of course!

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jtcnj · Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:09 am

mickey wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:02 am Just got a call from my postmistress who was asking IF the label fell off,
how the hell did they scan it in Charlotte last night?

I think the OP said he was told it was peeling, and they stuck it back on.

Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:11 pm

According to the lady @ my local post office the entry in Charlotte was from an actual scan of the package.

This afternoon USPS tracking shows:
Your package is moving within the USPS network and is on track to be delivered to its final destination. It is currently in transit to the next facility.

Which she says was a system generated message because of the time since the last scan.
Wonder where the guitar is?

jtcnj · Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:13 pm

Man this thing plays great!!

Sorry......