Stolen Carmeli Cue...

Bamacues

Bamacues

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This cue was sold and shipped to Penryn, CA...zipcode 95663 California. The customer received an empty box with a sticker stating box damaged in shipping, etc, and it was cut open. The cue was gone. Somewhere between Maryland and California, someone in the USPS system took this cue. It will be difficult to track or find, as it is not a 1 of 1, but keep your eyes open.

The points have 4 veneers (natural, green, orange, black) into beautifully figured curly maple. There is an ebony and curly maple split butt to balance the forearm. The cue is completed with a black with white irish linen wrap.

Specifications:
Butt: 15.2oz (adjustable)
Shaft 1: 4.1oz 13.04mm
Shaft 2: 4.1oz 12.95mm
Wood-to-wood radial pin joint
Irish linen wrap
Signed "Ariel Carmeli 3-16" in forearm

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I had a shaft disappear just like that a few months ago...it was shipped to me. Same box....looked much the same when it got to me. But no damage notice on it.


I really advocate hard shipping tubes inside a box.


I hope this one turns up and the thief is caught.


If sufficiently insured every person who handled that package should be known. That can help an investigation, of course.
 
So wrong, so flipping wrong, I can only imagine the anticipation of waiting for such a beautiful cue to come to my door, to open it, own it, play with it, only to open an empty package, my condolences to the customer/victim. It truly gives me a unnerving feeling in my stomache and bad taste in my mouth thinking about the person who stole this is supposed to be trusted, but is a thief who stole someone else's belongings because they can't afford their own? How can anyone feel good about that?

Two quotes come to mind

"This is why we can't have nice things"

"Some people's kids"
 
Never let the gorillas at the Post Office handle anything of value. Collecting on insurance you bought when you shipped it will be a 3 month journey, with more paperwork than was used designing the atomic bomb.
 
Those triangle boxes are very obvious. I use tube inside 4x4. Sorry to hear what happened.
 
Wow, that's sad as hell. Hope you had it insured. I ship almost exclusively with usps and have not had that problem yet. Really unfortunate about the inside theft.
 
The postal service contracts out nearly all of its transportation of packages to private carriers and contractors who are paid by the usps but not employees of it. Not to say there aren't any bad apples in the usps but Fedex is the major carrier who transports priority mail.
Read below
http://www.dmnews.com/direct-mail/fedex-usps-partnership-off-to-flying-start/article/74431/
This contract has been renewed every time it comes up.
So the thief or mishap most likely took place outside there control,but still there problem. When people come into the post office they are assuming that it is in the control of usps but that is as far away from the truth as possible

For those who perfer not to follow the link:

FedEx, USPS Partnership Off to Flying Start
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Everything went smoothly this week in the launch of the U.S. Postal Service-FedEx Express air transportation agreement.


"The planes are taking off and landing on time. Everything is coming in smoothly, and the few bugs we've seen are virtually insignificant," said Paul Vogel, vice president for network operations management for the USPS.


Announced Jan. 12, the air transportation agreement gives the USPS shared access to FedEx Express, the world's largest air cargo airline. Under the contract, FedEx Express, Memphis, TN, will carry -- and sometimes sort -- Express, Priority and First-Class mail.


The USPS will pay about $6.3 billion over seven years for shared access to the FedEx Express national air transportation network, saving about $1 billion in air transportation costs while extending the delivery area for its next-day Express Mail and two-day Priority Mail services.


Given the range of transportation options available to the USPS -- rail, surface, commercial passenger airlines and the new air cargo contract -- more communities will be able to get Express Mail overnight guaranteed service. They also are likely to get more consistent Priority Mail two- to three-day service.


Up to 3.3 million pounds of mail will be carried on FedEx planes daily. Most of the mail will come through the company's hub at Memphis International Airport. FedEx has hired nearly 500 pilots, 250 aircraft mechanics and 1,200 cargo handlers to deal with the air-transport phase of the contract.
 
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My condolences to both buyer and seller in this transaction. As Cracktherack rightly stated this will be a long drawn out process. Undoubtedly the USPS will do everything in their power to deny the claim and make the issue they caused be someone else's responsibility. So sad that the USPS has so many unethical employees. This behavior was unheard of 40 years ago, but times have changed and for the worse in so many ways. I hope the seller has all his documents in order that will be very important. What a mess....
 
I would like to know how this turns out, if i was home at time of delivery i would of not accepted the package like that. That really sucks, I hope you some how get compensated for that.
 
Quesports said:
My condolences to both buyer and seller in this transaction. As Cracktherack rightly stated this will be a long drawn out process. Undoubtedly the USPS will do everything in their power to deny the claim and make the issue they caused be someone else's responsibility. So sad that the USPS has so many unethical employees. This behavior was unheard of 40 years ago, but times have changed and for the worse in so many ways. I hope the seller has all his documents in order that will be very important. What a mess....
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There were thieves back then when I worked at the PO. One guy I worked with was walking the belts at night with a knife and cutting out stamps for his collection. One night, the Inspection Service popped out of their hiding places and he went to jail.

The Inspection Service MAY have changed, I don't know, but 40 years ago they put more fear in USPS employees than did any other cops anywhere. Maybe they've powered down a bit? If you know someone who know someone who works for the IS, contact them. That might speed up the process.

Jeff Livingston
 
We are the seller and we will take the hit on this. The product purchased was not delivered. No way the buyer should take the hit on it.
 
Always 100%

Great answer! Bamacues is always 100%, one of the best reps on this site! maybe he might be interested in one of your other incredible cues.
 
Bamacues said:
We are the seller and we will take the hit on this. The product purchased was not delivered. No way the buyer should take the hit on it.
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Bama -

I always insure the cues, did you insure it? I dont understand the loss.

Only issue I have had was I sent a Tad to get refinished and a shaft made. Tad did the work and shipped it, but I never recieved it. He offered me a new cue with 2 shafts as a replacement which was fine.

Ken
 
:thumbup:




I love the free USPS boxes.

I fix my free boxes so they can not rip or tear.


I also cut them down to around 33 inches.

Packing tape is real cheap and should be used on the inside and the outside of these boxes.

I reinforce all the inside walls of the box on the inside.

Of course I always mark Fragile on the outside so the good post office workers know to handle with care.:thumbup:




:lovies:
 
chefjeff said:
There were thieves back then when I worked at the PO. One guy I worked with was walking the belts at night with a knife and cutting out stamps for his collection. One night, the Inspection Service popped out of their hiding places and he went to jail.

The Inspection Service MAY have changed, I don't know, but 40 years ago they put more fear in USPS employees than did any other cops anywhere. Maybe they've powered down a bit? If you know someone who know someone who works for the IS, contact them. That might speed up the process.

Jeff Livingston
Click to expand...

The PO takes stealing VERY seriously-They used to have guys on invisible cat walks and when i worked there for only a few months-2 guys were caught stealing small amounts of cash from charity envelopes. I imagine now it is all cameras but trust me they do look at them closely for weeks after a theft is reported.

In the case at hand, ill bet the box just got torn up but moved along w/o the stick and somebody probably found the stick hours later and put it in their room for such orphaned items.
 
Nostroke said:
The PO takes stealing VERY seriously-They used to have guys on invisible cat walks and when i worked there for only a few months-2 guys were caught stealing small amounts of cash from charity envelopes. I imagine now it is all cameras but trust me they do look at them closely for weeks after a theft is reported.

In the case at hand, ill bet the box just got torn up but moved along w/o the stick and somebody probably found the stick hours later and put it in their room for such orphaned items.
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Could be...One of my jobs was called Mail Search, if I remember correctly. After the belts shut off, we'd go look for destroyed packages and take what we found to a place called "Re-wrap," where clerks would attempt to put together what was left into what they thought was the original package and try to send it to the recipient, if they knew. It was a locked, caged room in the center of the building. It would be hard to steal anything from there.

My guess, if it was stolen, would be the carrier, but that's just a guess.


Jeff Livingston
 
Nostroke said:
The PO takes stealing VERY seriously-They used to have guys on invisible cat walks and when i worked there for only a few months-2 guys were caught stealing small amounts of cash from charity envelopes. I imagine now it is all cameras but trust me they do look at them closely for weeks after a theft is reported.

In the case at hand, ill bet the box just got torn up but moved along w/o the stick and somebody probably found the stick hours later and put it in their room for such orphaned items.
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That would be a good explanation, and even a good thought, were it not for the bubble wrap packaging inside the triangle.

Each part of the cue was wrapped and taped individually...2 shafts and the butt. Those 3 pieces were then rolled and wrapped inside a bigger piece of bubble wrap, and the "bundle" was taped thoroughly.

The packaged cue was removed from the box, the overwrap cut away, and each piece of the cue, 2 shafts and the butt, cut open and removed from the triangle. The bubblewrap was put back inside the box.

I have shipped well over 2000 cues to all over the world. This is the first time anything like this has happened. The box and the case is now in the hands of the Postal Inspectors in California.
 
Ken_4fun said:
Bama -

I always insure the cues, did you insure it? I dont understand the loss.

Only issue I have had was I sent a Tad to get refinished and a shaft made. Tad did the work and shipped it, but I never recieved it. He offered me a new cue with 2 shafts as a replacement which was fine.

Ken
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Ken,
Yes, we insured the cue, but that is not the issue. I know that we will recover at least a portion of the loss, but it will be eventually. Last time USPS destroyed a Barnhart cue that I had shipped, it took over 6 months and a complaint to the Inspector General to get payment from USPS Insurance, St Louis.

Even though we will be reimbursed eventually, it does not change the fact that it was stolen. The Postal Inspectors in California have the box and are investigating.

I have been around doing this for a long time...done it a lot. Over the years, this is only the 3rd incident, but it is the first time ever that was a blatant theft by someone associated with the delivery services.
 
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