APOTOW - Another Post Office Tale of Woe
I've sent and received dozens of kites through the USPS over the years with no problems; always on time, no lost shipments, and no damage other than a creased box occasionally. Recently, I bought a Vendetta from the swap. Chris and I have done several deals together and he's a great guy so I knew we'd have a smooth transaction and I'd have a nice kite to add to the collection.
The box shipped from Ohio to Indiana in two days. Here is what I received:
The box had been broken in half and taped together. One half was crushed. Either this box suffered a bad accident or someone needs an anger management class.
As you can see, almost every frame tube was broken into two to four pieces. Only the upper spreader, two standoffs, and the spine extension survived. Amazingly the sail suffered only one tear where the spine punched through.
I promptly took the box to my local PO. They acknowledged something probably happened in shipment but since the box was not insured there was nothing they could or would do to help me. If the box HAD been insured the PO would have assumed responsibility and made it right. Sigh.
Moral of this story:
Always ship with insurance and delivery confirmation. The additional cost is low and just one lost kite will make you a believer.
Fortunately I have a box of spare tubes and experience reframing kites. An evening with the Dremel and some CA had Humpty back together again:
So the Vendetta lives and flies quite nicely - thanks Chris! I can no longer be accused of being a total Blue Moon and Aerostar bigot, just mostly
