Damaged No Die Cut Press Sheets? How Many Returned To USPS?

Want to capture an estimate of how many DAMAGED "no die cut" press sheets (recent issues post 2011) have people received and if so did you keep, or return them to USPS for credit or replacement?

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Modern Art. 4 defective sheets. Returned for replacement.

I did return 4 defective sheets today to be replaced that were damaged by jostling in the shipping tube. Only one sheet arrived ok. If we receive enough replies we can get a glimpse of the defect and a better understanding if certain issues may be even more scarce than the small print runs suggest.

I ordered 20, 5 were shipped individually and the remaining 15 as sets of 5. I only openened the sets of 5 and ALL are bent around one corner. I'm tired of USPS as they seem to be incapable of shipping out these press sheets in an acceptable manner. I'm probably not going to buy anymore of these now...

The Ladybird imperf sheet I purchased last year came through in perfect condition. Have to admit I was concerned, as I'd heard some folks that had bought the MLB All-Stars imperfs complain about damage during shipment. The tube my sheet was sent in was well packaged with plenty of protective cushioning. The sheet could not jostle back and forth in the mailing tube.

The Major League all stars was bent on the side that was towards the bottom of the tube. Since I sliced it up into se-tenants, I didn't care.

FWIW, it sounds like the typical standard in every line of business where everyone does their job differently and no one had any standard classroom training. Every time I order stamps they are packaged and sent in different methods, sometimes first class, sometimes priority, packed differently, sometimes tracking(that I never see) sometimes not, sometimes do not bend, sometimes not, all up to the clerk. All my orders are always roughly the same, just a few panes.

From my experience and reading this thread, looks like the type of facility where you learn from whoever takes the time to train you if much than any formal policies. Then of course, if one never receives a tube, like me, you never really know what fails during shipment to do it differently without good knowledge passed down to you.

Usually, but not every time, the press sheets shipped in tubes are damaged. When they are shipped flat, I have never had a problem. Prior to the advent of imperf press sheets, I would purchase die-cut (or perfed) sheets that only had some special significance such as tete-beche printing being one of the special styles I like to collect.

If the die-cut press sheet arrived damaged, I kept it, separated it into combinations I collect and the leftovers sold for postage. Nonetheless, I still ordered another press sheet to keep intact. If the second press sheet arrived damaged, it was returned for replacement. There were occasions where it took three shipments to find a collectible press sheet.

Unfortunately, my outlet for selling leftover postage has shrunk. Many folks have retired or will retire from my office, my parents passed away and they were big users of postage, one of my office customers switched to e-mail for nearly every "mailing," and even my own stamp usage has declined even though I still pay bills with checks and mail them. The result is I stopped collecting the imperf press sheets at the end of 2012. The cost of collecting them is way too high.

So I sent 4 damaged sheets back two weeks ago. Tonite I received the replacements back, and 2 of 4 sheets are crinkled edge damaged. USPS said the replacements would be carefully packaged but still, even with a complaint registered, they could not deliver.

Rather than gripe again, I will cut the sheets into panes and use the damaged panes as postage. Of course if these are $100 panes 10 years from now I will probably still be disappointed my property was damaged through careless shipping practices. What is sad is that just by folding the paper overlays over the edges of the sheets before putting in the tubes, the sheets would likely be protected. No extra cost, and simple training is all it would take to please customers and cut wasted money with this cash strapped enterprise.

It's been 7 years and the modern art NDC sheets are $60-70 retail ebay.

I believe the Modern Art NDC sheets sold out quickly. On the other hand, I recently listed a set of 4 War of 1812, and a set of 5 Baseball All-Stars NDC panes on ebay at less than half of catalog value and got no bids.