34C, or, USPS!

Well I must be the last person on B&B to have never tried a Merkur 34HD. Yep, I started out with Superspeeds, I've tried almost all of the vintage Gilettes, as well as the 11C, 39C, and EJ DE89L.

So after searching the BST for a 34C and not finding one, I finally decide to sell or trade my 11c for a 34c. Sold it and a few other items and ordered myself a late birthday present from thesuperiorshave.com.

Sure, the razor was like a buck-fifty more than amazon (and I have prime shipping), but USPS First Class is pretty fast, right? I mean I ordered a computer part that came from CA to SC in two days, first class.

Here's my current confirmation info from USPS.com:
Detailed Results:

Processed through Sort Facility, August 10, 2011, 6:34 pm, OPA LOCKA, FL 33054
Processed through Sort Facility, August 09, 2011, 10:40 pm, WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33416
Processed through Sort Facility, August 08, 2011, 11:15 pm, JACKSONVILLE, FL 32099
Electronic Shipping Info Received, August 08, 2011
Acceptance, August 08, 2011, 12:38 pm, JACKSONVILLE, FL 32224

I placed the order Monday morning, Superior Shave shipped my order THAT DAY. I mean, that's awesome. So it should arrive from Jacksonville in SC by Wednesday.

NOPE. It takes 12 hours to leave Jacksonville, 24 to make it to and leave West Palm Beach 284 miles THE WRONG WAY. Then ANOTHER day to travel just 60 miles FURTHER away, to Opa Locka, FL.

So, to put that in perspective, my new razor has traveled 350 miles the wrong way.
It's only 360 from Jacksonville to my home.



Feel free to vent your bad shipping experiences here.

You are not last one I have not purchased a Merkur 34HD or any new razors.

I've had a couple of packages take longer than they should to arrive when shipped USPS but never a mis-route. The good news is that USPS has never lost any of my packages. I have heard of others who have had to deal with mis-routes. The end result was always the same. The package eventually arrived safe and sound. It's frustrating to wait on delayed shave gear, I know.

First class shipping is hit or miss for me. I've gotten items in 2 days across the whole CONUS but last week I waited 6 days for a new laptop power cord that was only a few hundred miles away.

Welcome to USPS in Florida! I can order from out of state and get it in two days. Order from instate and to quote Everett in O Brother Where Art Thou, "Well ain't this place a geographical oddity! Two weeks from everywhere! Forget it!"

Makes the wait just that much better. I only have a 34C HD- love it.

At least USPS is cheap. In Canada I've had razors shipped to me by USPS for around $4.50. I shipped a razor and blades in a smaller package and less weight to a guy in Maine, cost was $16.58

I've got a case of this currently in progress. Ordered my first straight from our lovely BST, and USPS has completely **** the bed. No sign of it after a month.

In my experience, USPS first class is the slowest way to mail a parcel. I think that only Media Rate is slower, and razors aren't media.

Amazon Prime means free 2-day shipping, I'm surprised you would go with anything else unless you were saving a bundle.

Mostly they travel too and from sorting depots, and are updated BADLY, I had a brush come in a few weeks back that the tracking number said "expected delivery date blah blah such a date" and 8 days after the delivery date it arrived??

Maybe the Older folk that retire down to Florida are driving the delivery trucks too.

I don't think they sent it to the wrong place. Maybe they are optimizing the logistics process?
Sorry for being a geek.

I have had that happen a few times but most of the time I have great luck with USPS much better than with UPS! You are not the only one yet to try the Merkur, I have not used anything but Gillettes.

superbadger said:

Maybe they are optimizing the logistics process?

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KM-instructor said:

Mostly they travel too and from sorting depots, and are updated BADLY,

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You can't really tell anything from the routing of packages ... neither USPS nor any of the other package carriers move stuff in a straight line or anything that would appear to make sense to outsiders.

Did you know that every single package that FedEx handles is routed through their central hub in Memphis, TN? Even if a package goes from one building to another across the street in the same town, it goes through Memphis in between. It may not make sense, but that's how their system is designed to work and that's what they've found is most efficient.

My experience with USPS is that their Priority Mail is pretty quick, but other classes of mail take their own sweet time. Tracking a package is meaningless, because you often don't get confirmation of delivery until several days after the item is delivered. And if a package goes astray ... well, all the Post Office clerk will tell you is that "Our records show it has been delivered."

I bought a '79 Z1 from the BST on a Friday night and received the razor on Wednesday morning.
Louisiana to Dublin, Ireland in about 5 days via USPS. Quicker than an order I placed from a UK vendor!
I ordered early last week and I'm still waiting.

Oh man, I know the feeling! Delta lost my baggage on a flight from Atlanta to Portland, OR. I was staying 2 1/2 hours away. The assured me to Fed Ex as soon as it arrived. I thought no problem, should arrive later today and I'll see it tomorrow or the next day. I had just about everything in that bag except my laptop and Ipod! Well, it did arrive in Portland 4 hours later and the Fed Ex'd the sucker as advertised. Then Fed Ex flew it all the way back to Memphis. Two days of sorting and a long flight back to Portland. Long story short, my bag made it cross country twice and I finally was rejoined with my belongings 6 days later!

hi

We've mailed ~6000 small USPS 1st class mail parcels like this one. 98% of the time they deliver in 4 or fewer mailing days; slightly more than half that 98% is delivered in 2 or 1 days. The remaining 2%? Well, it varies...all the way up to 15 mailing days once, and 7+ a good nearly 1% of the time.

So in 49 of 50 cases, USPS 1st class mail is faster than UPS or FedEx. Do we hear about the 49th of 49 customers making small orders w/ USPS 1st class mail when delivery exceeds 4 days? Every single time; sometimes on day 3...we serve an eager lot. Sure wish we heard of the 'surprise' of the 1-or-2 day deliveries as often

In 50 of 50 cases, USPS 1st class mail's cheaper than UPS or FedEx for small/light orders. I can't speak for the big river guys (whom use USPS all the time, btw, so if their awesome buying power doesn't facilitate UPS' efficiency w/ lil' orders what vendor's does?), but I was aware of the rates at a $1B/yr retailer's UPS account. We're paying far less for USPS postage on these little orders than their minimum costs using UPS.

Distance doesn't have any reliability to delivery time in our ~6000-attempt sampling. If you're in the immediate Portland, Oregon area, for example, you'll get your stuff from us in 2 or 1 days via plain 'ole first class mail about 90% of the time. Here within Florida (where the parcels are always moving over land instead of in an airplane) it is routinely longer; a handful of customers 2 counties south-southwest of us always take ~4 days and straight down I-95 is never as quick as you'd hope, either. None of this changes the 95% in 3 mailing days and 98% in four mailing days odds, and those odds, for now anyway, count Saturday as a day, too.

We've had exactly 1 barcoded parcel fail to deliver. It said "out for delivery" but never got anywhere further; somebody got a 'free' $80 razor on me. So while barcoding's been incredibly reliable for assuring delivery for us, what the customer's going to read on the USPS site is often late, incorrect, or just plain useless. I can sympathize with the normal thrill of watching your parcel move about; I wish there was a way to get ya'll the goods as quickly and cheaply, but you know the old saying: "Good, fast, and cheap...pick any two."

I had an order ship from California to Honolulu to come to Louisville, KY. I am pretty sure that is the wrong direction.

First off, I have never used or owned a Merkur 34C. Had a couple of 38's but no 34C.

Secondly, the USPS uses a computer to route all packages. It's the computer that determines how a package is routed. If the system was fully automated, a mis-routing would not be possible, as the computer would always calculate what it would consider to be the most efficient routing. But since human hands touch the package along it's way, it is possible for a package to be put on the wrong truck, which can't be corrected until the package undergoes it's next sorting.

Bizarre routing that doesn't appear to make any sense to us will only get worse in the coming years, as the USPS closes many of it's smaller town branches in order to try to save money. UPS (or FedEx can't remember which one) is already handling a portion of the package delivery responsibility for the postal service.

By the way, not sure you have noticed but UPS now puts tracking on every package (for their own purposes) even if you don't pay for tracking. Should make it far more difficult for a package to get lost.

My experience with USPS tracking is it is nothing but pure ****e. I can't believe you even found the detail that you did. 99% of my USPS tracking gives me only that it left the sort facitlity. In fact, 9 times out of 10 the tracking doesn't even update to show the package delivered - either to my city or my house. BTW, I've never used a 34C, or any other Merkur product.

I concur. CP rates suck in comparison...................

Dalejr said:

At least USPS is cheap. In Canada I've had razors shipped to me by USPS for around $4.50. I shipped a razor and blades in a smaller package and less weight to a guy in Maine, cost was $16.58

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