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Post by lloyd on Apr 18, 2017 22:39:39 GMT -5
Today I got some seeds in an ordinary envelope. I opened them up to plant them and discovered they had been crushed to powder. The amount of force required to do this shows that someone had taken a hammer and smashed the envelope. Thanks a lot, Post Office. This has never happened before and was not an accident.
So from now on, send all SASE as bubble envelopes. Not fool proof but it will help.
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Post by chamelea on Apr 19, 2017 0:09:54 GMT -5
I've had this happen before too. That's too bad about your seeds. I've had some experience with post office workers giving a strange vibe when I send seed mail sometimes. It's like they resent the use of normal letter mail because in the past I've been made to send seeds domestically through shipping rather than letter mail, so that it cost something like $5-6 (somewhere inbetween that I don't remember off the top of my head). I don't really get their attitude, because I'm not sending it to the US. I've had them physically pressing into the envelope with their fingertips and asking what's inside and being all weird and suspicious like that. So now I just buy the stamps rather than go to the post office directly. I can only guess why.
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Post by WillyCKH on Apr 19, 2017 0:28:43 GMT -5
Same here... I got my Roridula seeds, and they are pretty much crushed
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Post by labine on Apr 19, 2017 4:55:09 GMT -5
I think its their sorting machines. The same happened to Jeff. The roridula seeds seems alot more fragile than others. Lloyd Willy I have more seeds if you like. I sent some in a piece of card board. Hopefully it goes better. Sorry about that, i should have known
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Post by LAKJP on Apr 19, 2017 6:07:42 GMT -5
I've had this happen before too. That's too bad about your seeds. I've had some experience with post office workers giving a strange vibe when I send seed mail sometimes. It's like they resent the use of normal letter mail because in the past I've been made to send seeds domestically through shipping rather than letter mail, so that it cost something like $5-6 (somewhere inbetween that I don't remember off the top of my head). I don't really get their attitude, because I'm not sending it to the US. I've had them physically pressing into the envelope with their fingertips and asking what's inside and being all weird and suspicious like that. So now I just buy the stamps rather than go to the post office directly. I can only guess why. Seriously? It's not as if they HAVE to know what you sent unless it's really suspicious... And I would hate it if they press on the envelope, more so in front of me. I never send an envelope through the post office, and maybe that's safer?
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Post by lloyd on Apr 19, 2017 7:32:02 GMT -5
I think its their sorting machines. The same happened to Jeff. The roridula seeds seems alot more fragile than others. Lloyd Willy I have more seeds if you like. I sent some in a piece of card board. Hopefully it goes better. Sorry about that, i should have known Don't feel bad, this was the post office's fault. This was a very generous offer and we all appreciate it.
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Post by RuBisCO on Apr 19, 2017 7:55:51 GMT -5
My roridula seeds were squashed too - didn't want to mention it as I felt bad for the loss.
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Post by shoggoths on Apr 19, 2017 8:04:58 GMT -5
I put a small sheet of bubble wrap in my SASE (standard enveloppe) and the Roridula came home in perfect condition. In the past, I didn't have any problem with seeds because they usually were Drosera or other tiny seeds. But Labine is right, there's sorting machines at the poste office use to crush enveloppe content ... if I remember well, they are mainly there to grind weed seeds. It is not always a problem because sometime many enveloppe pass at the same time but sometime, it can be desastrous. Sorry for your seeds Lloyd
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Post by ep31 on Apr 19, 2017 8:13:03 GMT -5
That sucks! I've never had a problem with seeds in the mail before but I tend to try to avoid going to the Post Office unless I know I have an over-sized package...
But if everyone's roridula seeds are getting crushed is it possible that something else is going on?
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Post by nimbulan on Apr 19, 2017 10:07:18 GMT -5
I'm surprised that Roridula seeds could ever make it through safely in a regular envelope given their size and fragility. I know here in the US I've had Sarr seeds crushed even with a thin sheet of foam in the envelope.
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Post by lloyd on Apr 19, 2017 12:48:16 GMT -5
I've never had seeds damaged before. Why design a sorting machine that crushes envelopes?
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Post by Apoplast on Apr 19, 2017 15:47:23 GMT -5
Hi lloyd - Very sorry to hear about the loss of those seeds! Roridula seeds are surprisingly fragile, and sorting machines for letters are designed to run envelopes through at high speeds with little concern to the idea that the intended paper might get crushed. It's a bad combination. They can make it in the mail as letters unscathed for sure, but it's a risk. I suppose the wheels that run the letters through are not full length rollers, creating "crush zones" and "spared zones" across the height of the envelope. Then it's up to where the seeds are in contrast to the wheels. Cold comfort I realize. When I send seeds to folks I do try to take some precautions, but even then it's not always successful. Again, I am sorry to hear your seeds were crushed - yours too Willy and Rubisco.
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Post by chamelea on Apr 19, 2017 21:04:47 GMT -5
I've had this happen before too. That's too bad about your seeds. I've had some experience with post office workers giving a strange vibe when I send seed mail sometimes. It's like they resent the use of normal letter mail because in the past I've been made to send seeds domestically through shipping rather than letter mail, so that it cost something like $5-6 (somewhere inbetween that I don't remember off the top of my head). I don't really get their attitude, because I'm not sending it to the US. I've had them physically pressing into the envelope with their fingertips and asking what's inside and being all weird and suspicious like that. So now I just buy the stamps rather than go to the post office directly. I can only guess why. Seriously? It's not as if they HAVE to know what you sent unless it's really suspicious... And I would hate it if they press on the envelope, more so in front of me. I never send an envelope through the post office, and maybe that's safer? Yeah, it was so awkward every time I went to the post office. -_- Some people were worse than others. I tried to aim for the easy going ones after getting to know the workers. I suppose they might have had issues with people sending illegal things perhaps. Or maybe when I said seeds they thought it was marijuana? lol
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Post by LAKJP on Apr 19, 2017 21:45:26 GMT -5
Seriously? It's not as if they HAVE to know what you sent unless it's really suspicious... And I would hate it if they press on the envelope, more so in front of me. I never send an envelope through the post office, and maybe that's safer? Yeah, it was so awkward every time I went to the post office. -_- Some people were worse than others. I tried to aim for the easy going ones after getting to know the workers. I suppose they might have had issues with people sending illegal things perhaps. Or maybe when I said seeds they thought it was marijuana? lol Do they actually have the right to open any packages? If not, then they should just stop such behavior and try to guess what's inside. It'd be very understandable if it were for security and legal reasons like you guessed though... Still, it's a good thing members here pointed it out, so that the rest of us can be more careful when we ship something next time!
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Post by chamelea on Apr 19, 2017 23:11:06 GMT -5
Yeah, it was so awkward every time I went to the post office. -_- Some people were worse than others. I tried to aim for the easy going ones after getting to know the workers. I suppose they might have had issues with people sending illegal things perhaps. Or maybe when I said seeds they thought it was marijuana? lol Do they actually have the right to open any packages? If not, then they should just stop such behavior and try to guess what's inside. It'd be very understandable if it were for security and legal reasons like you guessed though... Still, it's a good thing members here pointed it out, so that the rest of us can be more careful when we ship something next time! They don't open them, they just press and squish them. Lol likely is the sorters, but yes we all definitely need to be careful!
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