Running Bear's April 2023 Coffee Shop

[wombat457]

Mike, these are 100% feral and outdoor cats; although we do have two of them that like to come on in and take a look around - much to the concern of my Parrot and our Canary (Parakeet).

All in all, including these two new additions, we have accrued 8 or 9 feral cats, all of which have brought along their family and friends. I'm not particular fond of cats, mainly because I am very allergic to their fur, BUT I wont see an animal starve or go cold. Heck, I/we have "mothered" a baby skunk (very carefully) a baby Canadian Goose numerous Chipmunks and one baby Woodchuck. We also have a very friendly Racoon who pays us a visit a few times a week and will sit in the glider seat next to where my wife sits - that's hilarious especially if my wife doesn't realize he is there

 

[TLOC]

Often, the shipper determines the option. You pay a fixed charge for S&H, and they putz around with the product, sending it the cheapest way, which very often is the slowest way. Some vendors allow you to select your preferred level of shipping, others do not. Anything involving the USPS sucks.

I disagree on the USPS. I probably average 6 outbound shipments a week using USPS which has been great for me unless it needs to go east of Wisconsin and ends up at the Chicago distribution center. Instead of 2-3 days if it goes through Chicago add 2/days. None of my clients though have complained. I will not purposely use FedEx.

Obviously YMMV

 

[wombat457]

Hate to admit this but USPS is the most reliable mob where we are. I'd use them over anyone else at the moment. As Tom said though - anything that winds up in Chicago seems to get lost there for a few days.

 

[Boris]

Good evening. 47° currently. Today was sunny but breezy, which made it feel colder than it was. It was rehab day, and I was able to exceed my previous efforts. Not bad for someone who has trouble sleeping and can't get out of bed in the morning due to back and hip pain. Don't know if it's the bed or me. Problem only bothers me, when I get into bed. The longer I'm in bed, or the more relaxed I get, the harder it is to straighten out, let along walk. Once I get moving, everything is better, and normal.

Wife's birthday went off well. Both Boys and the Grand Children called/conferenced. We had prepared dinner from Shoprite. Chicken Marcella, mashed potatoes and Asparagus. The Strawberry Short cake was delicious. Also loaded with stuff we are supposed to avoid. WTF ! Wife is immune compromised, so we avoid restaurants, and I didn't want her to cook. She wisely doesn't want me to cook, unless it's scrapple and scrambled,or my version of a cheese steak.

Apparently, Verizon screwed up our plan upgrade at some level of their food chain. I will try to resolve this by phone tomorrow. Wife reminded me that they do this all the time, a similar occurrence occurred last time we changed phones/accounts. Worst case, they don't honor the deal, I move the account elsewhere. I just buy out the phone. Just another example of corporate greed and/or incompetence.

Yo Tony. Good move squashing that thread before it got out of hand. While the OP had a point, this isn't the place to discuss it.

Mike, have you lined up names for the kittens yet?

I did not have to file a state tax return...the personal exemptions and the 65+ exemptions were greater than our taxable income, so I filed the short form property tax credit, and mailed it yesterday. $50 isn't much, but I'll take it. Got to work on the Senior Freeze application. Maybe, we will finally qualify.

Mets are on the West Coast, and I missed the Yankees game on Prime, so...this just proves to me that I was wise, not wasting the annual cost of MLB TV, for out of town games.

Copied this from Facebook:

The Westbound Acela Express moving on #3 Track at Levittown - Tullytown Station on 04/18/23.

 

[migalyto]

I have also had great luck with USPS. Even though I'm in Northern Illinois, most of my stuff goes to ST. Louis distribution center, and once it lands there, I have it like clockwork next day. I haven't had much that goes through Chicago. It must be what zone your located in maybe?

 

[wombat457]

It must be what zone your located in maybe?

That would make sense

 

[migalyto]

Mike, have you lined up names for the kittens yet?

Boris,

Those are Tonys new Kittens.

 

[wombat457]

@Boris

Really, they are Mikes - all Mikes, each and every one of the little blighters ......... in fact I am thinking about calling one of them Mike - um I mean, Mike is thinking about calling HIS kittens Mike

 

[TLOC]

I have also had great luck with USPS. Even though I'm in Northern Illinois, most of my stuff goes to ST. Louis distribution center, and once it lands there, I have it like clockwork next day. I haven't had much that goes through Chicago. It must be what zone your located in maybe?

I honestly don’t know. I have sent lots of packages to Indiana , Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania at one time was my #1 destination. Everything leaves Verona to Milwaukee. Some then go down to St Louis and then east during the 2-3 day delivery window. Always delivered within the window. Sometimes they go to Chicago to those same addresses and just add 2 days. Anything going west will go to Milwaukee, then either Minneapolis or St. Louis but either place gets them there in the on-time window.

Covid caused no differences for me. It’s been this way for years.

 

[chadbag]

Not for nothing, I have never had a problem with FEDEX or UPS. When something is delayed, it's usually the fault of the Vendor.
USPS, well that's another topic for another time. DHL? I rarely get anything from DHL, so I cannot comment on their service.

Just notes on these so people know the different services and service levels of the various shippers (in the US).

UPS: UPS uses a single combined delivery model. One last-mile driver can handle ground, express (air), etc. They have, basically, one network of hubs, that handle all the types of packages. (Of course they may have special express stations at air ports etc. but in general they have one network of hubs and all the traffic goes through them -- at least for final mile delivery). UPS grew through their ground services,

Fedex: A much younger company, it started as an air express company only. They didn't have ground services. Fedex Ground is a separate division and runs the ground delivery services (in general, Fedex Ground for business/commercial and Fedex Home for residential). Fedex Ground came about when Fedex bought a company called RPS, which was a "small" ground delivery service that specialized in commercial only ground transportation and delivery. (Actually the company was called Caliber and the service RPS). This was in 1998, though the service was not renamed until 2000. Fedex Ground runs its own set of hubs and delivery trucks. And in most places the Fedex Home is run separately from Fedex Ground though over-the-road the Fedex Ground carries both. Some areas have separate Fedex Home hubs that handle the last mile for residential deliveries. So the express and ground (and in some places) home services are all separate hubs, and have their own sets of trucks and drivers. If you get 2 packages in one day from Fedex and one is an overnight, and one a ground package, expect 2 trucks/drivers to come to your home or business, which is unlike UPS. There are reasons for this: Fedex is largely non-union while UPS is unionized. Fedex Express falls under a more stringent government oversight than UPS (RLA vs NLRA) which makes it harder to unionize. UPS and Fedex Ground fall under NRLA. (Railway Labor Act and National Labor Relations Act). Fedex Express drivers are company employees driving company owned trucks. Fedex Ground and Home drivers are independent contractors who own their "route" and their truck(s).

Both UPS and Fedex offer a service together with the post office (USPS). UPS calls theirs UPS SurePost and Fedex calls theirs Fedex Ground Economy -- formerly Fedex SmartPost). These services are less expensive, usually take a day longer, and use UPS/Fedex to transport the package in their systems between cities, but uses USPS to deliver the "last mile" to the recipient. UPS and Fedex will drop off a boatload of packages at your local Post Office for them to deliver with the mail. This saves money as the delivery drivers don't have to go to each house and some of that savings is passed on to the customer. (UPS at least will deliver SurePost packages through their own drivers sometimes, if the driver is coming to your house anyway -- if their computer sees a SurePost package with your name on it and a regular UPS ground package it'll group them together -- I don't know if Fedex also does this). I believe DHL may have a USPS last mile delivery option as well but am not sure.

Fedex are still the air express company in people's minds, and the name was once Federal Express. Their plane fleet is larger than UPS, while UPS has more ground vehicles.

DHL was once an independent company started in rthe 60s as a courier business running stuff between airports in California and eventually Hawaii. They went international in the 70s (Fedex didn't until the 80s). Deutsche Post started buying shares in 1998 and got a controlling interest in DHL in 2001 and subsumed them as a division of Deutsche Post in 2002. Deutsche Post is the German post office. Once a state run postal system (Deutsche Bundespost or German Federal Postal Office/system) but was privatized in 1995 and became a fully independent company in 2000. It still is the mail carrier in Germany but also runs an international delivery and logistics business. DHL is part of that (and is probably much bigger in Europe). If something is shipped by DHL to you, whether domestic or international, the last mile delivery will be through the same system -- like UPS. DHL doesn't run separate domestic and international services when it comes to the actual delivery part. I don't know that much about how they run their domestic services in the US as they are a bit player compared to UPS and Fedex, but they are strong internationally. I know a lot of the model train stuff shipped from Japan to the US to buyers, including from Amazon and many other sellers, comes DHL. And it is very fast. I've had many Japan Amazon and other seller packages sent and arrive at my house 3 days later, by DHL.

 

[chadbag]

House update. I've been meaning to do this for a while but have been busy and didn't get to it.

Two weeks ago tomorrow (Thursday) we did the pour of the main house level outer walls and garage walls. It had snowed about 12"-18" the Monday prior but had warmed up some and melted a lot. We had blocked off the tops of the walls to avoid them filling up with snow before the storm came.

This is the house the day before the pour:



Here is the day of the pour:



I don't have shots from right after the pour showing all the mess etc

These are the day or three after the pour. The weather had gotten warmer steadily and the snow was pretty much gone. Most of the bracing is up but you can see by the last pic the bracing and stuff had started to come down. This was because the framers were aiming to come in the following Tuesday and get started on the bonus space and structural framing inside the house.

We actually ran out of concrete at the end of the pour and an approx 10' long section of the garage wall didn't get enough to cover the joist hanger inserts, and also a bunch of the space inside the entry way room (which is concrete on 4 sides at the main level) didn't get enough to cover joist hangers etc and one corner didn't get that much as it looked fragile so they were waiting for the initial lift to set before doing more and then ran out. Part of running out was due to under estimating, but there were also two blow outs and a window that was unplugged that spewed forth concrete before a guy jumped down to plug it, so there was waste there.



They put about 50-55 bags worth of concrete into the entry way walls to get the corner filled and the joist hangers covered as we need that floor to support the bracing for the higher wall. The part along the garage will be filled when we fill the final upper walls and for now they just put a ledger board on the foam to support the joists.

The framers did indeed show up the following Tuesday (yesterday a week ago) and start marking and measuring and chalking lines everywhere and their wood finally showed up Tuesday afternoon and they started to cut and lay out some parts of the mud room and pantry room on the back of the garage. Nothing vertical, just floor plates. That will be in the next post.

 

[chadbag]

Last Wednesday they started putting up the walls for the mud room and the pantry that are on the back of the garage. I had noticed that what they had laid out and cut was not long enough on both ends and so made an effort Wednesday to get up there early to tell them before they had started nailing stuff. I was too late but they'd only nailed the plates down (3 layers of plates in my case due to the way the floor will be finished with 1" foam insulation and then 1.5" approx of Gypcrete). They were happy though to pull the end pieces up and put longer pieces in. These walls will also support the joists overhanging from the garage bonus space so they are structural. Wednesday they got this done and also one wall of the front of the house from the main door. Also structural as the bonus space is also over these couple small rooms in the front.

Here are the mud and pantry space walls after the first real day of work...



Thursday they did not come as it was bad weather (spurts of snow and rain etc all day). They didn't come Friday as they had to finish up something elsewhere that they had let sit to get started on my place. So the one wall off the main entry that was standing, and another they had done but left lying, had to be alone until yesterday (Tuesday). They work Tuesday -- Friday, 4x10. Yesterday they came and finished the front rooms that will be under the bonus space, and started to put in joists over the skinny garage. Today they put two big beams in and did a lot more joists over the skinny garage, finishing that area. Not shown but they also put all the hangers on the one beam that shows naked here.

The joists overhanging from skinny garage into the house will be cut back to a uniform length about 2.5 or 3 feet past the pantry wall. They put them in long and will drop a chalk line and then use that to cut them uniform in length. They'll block them (put wooden blocks on the wall between the joists for support) and then put a sill board across the front.

One of the small rooms in the front of the house is too narrow (they were off by 3" from the printed plans and will probably end up moving stuff 7" as the architect had actually provided updated dimensioned plans but I never printed them as they did not get city stamps and on those he had moved that wall a few more inches. The small room is a toilet room). They will be moving that wall and the doorway to the neighboring closet in the next few days.

Here the front rooms -- this will be covered by bonus space floor joists, hence why they are doing it now.



Floor joists from the skinny garage out into the kitchen -- will be cut back to a uniform length about 2.5-3 feet from the framed wall.



My hired help for the foam walls have also been busy and have gotten the front and back walls up a bunch as well... Tomorrow they are working in their shop to build all the window roughins for this new wall...



Garage beams. One is a 24" x 6.x" beam and one a 19.5" by 5.25" beam.



Good progress is being made.

The framer wants his crew to start immediately laying out the rest of the main floor non-structural walls and putting them up, including the roof beams (with wood supports until the foam walls get that high and the concrete poured) as he has another job waiting for them he needs to get started. Currently the other job location is under a ton of snow but he doesn't know how long it will take for that to melt or whatever and wants to have his crew ready. I'm all for it so that there are no delays... We were a week or two late with our concrete pour so he got started late on mine which would potentially put his other job behind, which is why he wants to get this done.

 

[chadbag]

Reality can be another story. I can't tell you how many times I have met another Amazon employee/contractor at an address we each had deliveries to.

I once had something like 3 Amazon trucks on our street at the same time. Two delivered packages to me (as well as all the neighbors getting theirs).

 

[chadbag]

@Smudge617, you have no recourse at all? What about negligence and them leaving your parcel in secure? They (the Royal Mail) must have some form of a duty of care when it comes to property, surely? Secondly, just because they have a picture of the package - that does not mean that it was delivered to the correct address, just that it was delivered to an Address.

They don't have proof of delivery. A photo of a package on the doorstep is not proof that it was delivered to the recipient.

It is not delivered until someone from your address has it in their hands. The package is not addressed to a house but to a person at a house. At least in the US, credit card companies will side with the consumer if a package is left on a door step and disappears unless they get a signature from the recipient. I'd pursuit it with the sender -- they took your money and need to deliver your goods. Leaving it on your or someone's doorstep is not delivered.

 

[wombat457]

they took your money and need to deliver your goods.

Ah not quite. the sender/retailer or whoever is only responsible for providing the item/s, not for delivering them - that is the responsibility of the shipper. Once the item is handed to the shipper, the retailer/seller is no longer responsible for it. Yes, they may have a moral obligation to do the right thing by the customer; however, that is purely up to the discretion of the seller/retailer.

@Smudge has a difficult situation - the Post Office will say they delivered the item and Smudge can't prove otherwise. Then there is the responsibility of the Post Office - how far does their Duty of Care extend? Do they even have one? Etc etc etc. The only thing Smudge might be able to argue against the RM is if he lives in a Secures Apartment complex, or a Gated Community. In those situations all and any shipper/delivery person is responsible for ensuring what they deliver is secured.

Yep, Smudge has been Royally screwed by the Royal Mail - no doubt about that. Yes, ethically, the Royal Mail (and any shipper any where) has a moral and ethical obligation to ensure the security of the items they deliver, but that can only go so far ad has to be tempered with rationale and common sense. Unfortunately @Smudge617 is out of pocket and out of his item/s unless the seller does the moral thing or the Royal Mail does the ethical thing, and I wont be putting my money on either

 

[chadbag]

Ah not quite. the sender/retailer or whoever is only responsible for providing the item/s, not for delivering them - that is the responsibility of the shipper.

No. The seller is responsible for it until it is in your hands. Trust me, I used to run an online store and I was responsible to prove it was delivered and I could be forced to refund (through the chargeback process) unless I could prove it had been delivered to the recipient.

The carriers' sole liability is set out in their terms of carriage contract and usually limited to no insurance or a basic insurance unless insurance is purchased. Theya re not responsible that the buyer gets his package. The seller has farmed that duty out to the carrier, but the seller is still responsible for the sale and transport of it until the buyer has it. The fact that the seller has sub contracted that duty out to UPS or whomever does not relieve them of that. The buyer did NOT make any deal/contract with the carrier and indeed, the carriers usually will only deal with the person who sent the item -- not with the recipient.

I am not versed in UK law, but financially the seller should be responsible for it. They may have recourse through the RM to get reimbursed depending on their contract with RM but that is between the seller and RM, and does not concern the buyer. If the seller took out insurance the buyer could not make a claim against it. Only the seller could. As an example that shows the different relationships and the lack of a relationship of the buyer to the carrier.

Once the item is handed to the shipper, the retailer/seller is no longer responsible for it. Yes, they may have a moral obligation to do the right thing by the customer; however, that is purely up to the discretion of the seller/retailer.

@Smudge has a difficult situation - the Post Office will say they delivered the item and Smudge can't prove otherwise. Then there is the responsibility of the Post Office - how far does their Duty of Care extend? Do they even have one? Etc etc etc. The only thing Smudge might be able to argue against the RM is if he lives in a Secures Apartment complex, or a Gated Community. In those situations all and any shipper/delivery person is responsible for ensuring what they deliver is secured.

Yep, Smudge has been Royally screwed by the Royal Mail - no doubt about that. Yes, ethically, the Royal Mail (and any shipper any where) has a moral and ethical obligation to ensure the security of the items they deliver, but that can only go so far ad has to be tempered with rationale and common sense. Unfortunately @Smudge617 is out of pocket and out of his item/s unless the seller does the moral thing or the Royal Mail does the ethical thing, and I wont be putting my money on either

 

[Chrιstιαη]

The other guys have to move at the speed of "Is the boss looking at me?"

 

[westtexjohn]

Worse than losing your driving privilege is then she has to drive,
Mike CGW

Many years ago I dated a woman..............she drove me to drink.

 

[Bruette]

Good morning Everybody!

The Orioles won again! They are now 11-7 and tied with the Yankees for second in the AL east.

 

[Smudge617]

Ah not quite. the sender/retailer or whoever is only responsible for providing the item/s, not for delivering them - that is the responsibility of the shipper. Once the item is handed to the shipper, the retailer/seller is no longer responsible for it. Yes, they may have a moral obligation to do the right thing by the customer; however, that is purely up to the discretion of the seller/retailer.

@Smudge has a difficult situation - the Post Office will say they delivered the item and Smudge can't prove otherwise. Then there is the responsibility of the Post Office - how far does their Duty of Care extend? Do they even have one? Etc etc etc. The only thing Smudge might be able to argue against the RM is if he lives in a Secures Apartment complex, or a Gated Community. In those situations all and any shipper/delivery person is responsible for ensuring what they deliver is secured.

Yep, Smudge has been Royally screwed by the Royal Mail - no doubt about that. Yes, ethically, the Royal Mail (and any shipper any where) has a moral and ethical obligation to ensure the security of the items they deliver, but that can only go so far ad has to be tempered with rationale and common sense. Unfortunately @Smudge617 is out of pocket and out of his item/s unless the seller does the moral thing or the Royal Mail does the ethical thing, and I wont be putting my money on either

No. The seller is responsible for it until it is in your hands. Trust me, I used to run an online store and I was responsible to prove it was delivered and I could be forced to refund (through the chargeback process) unless I could prove it had been delivered to the recipient.

The carriers' sole liability is set out in their terms of carriage contract and usually limited to no insurance or a basic insurance unless insurance is purchased. Theya re not responsible that the buyer gets his package. The seller has farmed that duty out to the carrier, but the seller is still responsible for the sale and transport of it until the buyer has it. The fact that the seller has sub contracted that duty out to UPS or whomever does not relieve them of that. The buyer did NOT make any deal/contract with the carrier and indeed, the carriers usually will only deal with the person who sent the item -- not with the recipient.

I am not versed in UK law, but financially the seller should be responsible for it. They may have recourse through the RM to get reimbursed depending on their contract with RM but that is between the seller and RM, and does not concern the buyer. If the seller took out insurance the buyer could not make a claim against it. Only the seller could. As an example that shows the different relationships and the lack of a relationship of the buyer to the carrier.

Ok, the package was tracked, the RM proof of delivery is a foto of the package and a GPS marker which is linked to the package, so a GPS "foto" is taken at the same time as the postie scans the package to say delivered, that's all RM need, so RM say it's been delivered, that's it.
If someone takes the package out the letter box after it's been delivered, (and I can't prove it either way) it's not RM's responsibility.
I'm going down the delivery office to find out if we had a temp postie, if so he wouldn't know the door code so stuck it in my letterbox, the regular posties if it won't drop into the box open the door and drop it in the hallway.