My Deardorff is going to be destroyed!

[BrianShaw]

The first package I ever received from an ebay seller in which neither the "packing" box, which wasn't a real shipping box, or the contents survived the journey was last month. I accepted the package (had no chioice really since it was left by the delivery person) but I immediately contacted the seller and discussed the matter. My solution (gentle demand) was that I get refunded the cost of item plus shipping and the seller pay the return postage. THEN, the seller could deal with USPS insurance on his own to get compensated for the damage. He agreed (reluctantly) but then decided to "abandon the package in place" rather than get it back... which, for an item with value less than $25 was probably a wise decision. If I'm not mistaken, the insurance is between the shipper (seller) and the shipping agent, not between the buyer and the shipping agent.

Good luck to the OP on whatever solution is pursued. If I had bought a Deardorff that got busted in shipping I'd be in the same quandry. For a cheap or easy-to-rebuy item I'd do what I did every time!

 

[RobertP]

I had a wet plate camera completely destroyed in shipping from Germany. It took 9 months to finally get the insurance money from the postal service and this is with the seller and I both working tirelessly to get reimbursed. I hope you have better luck and in a more timely fashion.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'd keep the 'dorff, no matter what. I know it's expensive to get it fixed, but in this case, I'd either bite the bullet and pay, or save your pennies until you can do it easily. I know you said you don't want to do it yourself, but this is pretty simple to fix, so I'd see if you can order the parts and make the repair yourself. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two. DO NOT let the USPS trash the camera!

 

[Larry Bullis]

With items that are not in production, the rarity factor becomes active. For every Deardorff that disappears, there is one less in the world, and so, with each disappearance, the price gets incrementally higher. So, if your camera is destroyed, you'd best hurry up and buy another before the market notices that it's gone. It's sort of like OPEC threatening to cut production; the less there is of a commodity, or an antique, etc. the more the price goes up.

I have decided to have confidence in you to make that right decision, which, to my mind, is to repair it whether the P.O. pays for it or not. I've been on the cusp of poverty all my life, but (maybe this is the reason I'm poor) I would never allow something like that, with real intrinsic value, to be destroyed. It would be unthinkable.

But my poverty shows that I was not endowed with an adequate sense of the value of money. As a former client of mine who successfully stole a bunch of my originals said "money is no problem unless you don't have it." I believe that bastard had gone from riches to rags and back more than once. What's for sure is that in that particular situation, avoiding the problem of not having money didn't work too well for me.

 

[Frank Szabo]

No,
They are people who go do a thankless job day after day after day, one we couldn't have built the country without. As far as the insurance setup, they have to deal with an immense amount of scams like putting the Deadorff label on a different camera...Evan Clarke

I'm sure there are scams, Evan. Scams like removing letters' contents and the like.

As far as the "thankless job" - Christmas-time and two lines almost out the door to the counters. One line gets closed because it's the postal "worker's" break time. Other employees in the building but "it's not their time to run the window". Yes - I know they're union.

I've been a union-represented tool/diemaker for the past 40+ years and would be quickly on the the street if I were to pull an equivalent stunt.

If they want "thanks" for their jobs, they'll have to do them first.

 

[michaelbsc]

take their offer, and immediately after they hand you a check turn around and offer to purchase that broken camera for pennies on the dollar

They can't do that. If they "buy" it, then they dispose of it, and not in any kind of sensible way. You're dealing with a quasi-government agency here, not a rational insurance company looking to save a buck on the claim payment.

(Herein lies all the more reason we need to elect more government official who want to rule our lives. Once the government completely controls every aspect of our life, we'll all be stupid and useless and can be controlled by television.)

Now, if they fail to collect it from you, it's a different story.

 

[michaelbsc]

Maybe you can quickly snap up some totally useless junker 8x10 in the meantime, put a deardorff engraved brass plate on it, and submit that to the post office to have it destroyed

I realize this is meant as a joke, but doing anything like this is likely to land one if a federal prison for mail fraud. The US Post Office may be only slightly better than useless, but that doesn't lessen the bite of the federal marshals. I think some of those guys still think they're riding the range in 1890.

 

[John Koehrer]

As far as the "thankless job" - Christmas-time and two lines almost out the door to the counters. One line gets closed because it's the postal "worker's" break time. Other employees in the building but "it's not their time to run the window". Yes - I know they're union.
If they want "thanks" for their jobs, they'll have to do them first.

And the scheduling and training is up to management! There also a limited number of clerk positions available in any particular office and the reluctance of the USPS to authorize overtime.
There may be a dozen clerks in an office with only three or four being available.
Each clerk has their own cash drawer and inventory of stamps that they're responsible for. Would you want to hand that over to the custodian so the window's covered when you go to lunch or take a bathroom break.
I've never worked as a clerk in the PO but some of the scenes I've seen make the "minilab" thread look like the sunny side of the street to me.

 

[Frank Szabo]

I am sooooo depressed. I recently got an 8 x 10 Deardorff on the auction site. When the package arrived, there was damage to the camera done by the postal service that prevents the rear bed from sliding backwards. However, the damage is easily repairable (for about $350). Since the package was insured, the seller and I have been dealing with the post office for the last couple of weeks. Here is the situtation I'm in.

When you insure something with the postal service and it gets damaged, you have only two options - (1) live with the damage and get on with your life, and (2) give them the item, they pay you the value you declared on the insurance, and then THEY DESTROY THE ITEM! You don't have an option on getting the item repaired. The damage that was done is easily repairable for a lot less than the value of the camera, but they don't want to offer that option to you.

Now I'm depressed that my beautiful Deardorff that I've only owned for a month is potentially going to the scrap heap. In the time that I've been waiting for the post office, I've used the camera twice and have grown attached to it. There is a voice in the back of my head that is refusing to let the post office destroy it, but the repair cost is holding me back. It's not like there aren't other Deardorff's out there, but this is my first one.

Alaas - poor Deardorff #3211 - your days may be numbered.

(I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do)

Dan:

You might take a few photos detailing the damage and contact SK Grimes in Rhode Island about the metal parts to repair if they aren't available from another - they have the capability to make them and just about anything else you can dream up that could be fit to a camera.

Don't get rid of the camera - it's fixable, and don't forget to demand fully insured UPS shipping in the future.

No - I don't work for them.

 

[Dan Dozer]

The point has been made by several people that even though I can work with the post office and eventually get my money back, that could be many months in getting it. I'm not likely to get it from the seller until he gets paid by the post office, and that coupled with this being the holiday season only makes things worse.

The parts are easilly replaceable and Ken Hough has all of them. I'm thinking that I may just buy the parts from him and do the fix myself.

This camera isn't all that modern for a Deardorff - I suspect that the serial numbers puts around early 60's manufacture. However, it does have front swings and doesn't appear to be suffering from some of the things I've read about old Deardorffs with cracking wood and loosening up of joints. It's been fairly well treated in the past and I really don't want to let the post office have at it.

Looks like I've made my mind up to keep it and fix it myself.

Thanks to all for your advice.

Dan

 

[Larry Bullis]

Looks like I've made my mind up to keep it and fix it myself.
Dan

Thank YOU! I really appreciate your commitment. I know it's been a tough one.

 

[Frank Szabo]

Dan:

If you need any help in the repair, there are many on here that are very able to give CORRECT advice. Good decision, sir.

 

[panoramic]

How about posting a pic of the damage. I've repaired a lot of cirkut cameras that were "totaled". Fixing it might be easier than you think. I've worked on a few Deardorffs and it is not difficult to make parts for them.
Shoot some photos and describe the damage better, I'm sure we can get this one to work like new and probably better, I've made better tightening knobs for the front rise and fall for example. Those little flat wing nuts suck.

Ron Klein
Juneau, Alaska

 

[Dan Dozer]

Here is the damage that the post office did. The bent rod eventually broke as I was carefully trying to bend it back into shape. The fix should be pretty simple which makes it even more aggregating in dealing with the Post Office. Ken Hough said that he also needs to look at the gears and gear racks to make sure that there was no damage that isn't visible without taking things apart.

 

[JHannon]

How was this packed?? Plenty of bubble pack all round 3-4 inches? Or just thrown in a thin box like some of the stuff I have seen shipped.

 

[Dan Dozer]

It was wrapped in bubble pack, but the box could/should have been larger. There was at most an inch extra space around the camera. If the seller would have done that, this damage might have been avoided.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

That sucks.

I remember shipping a Commodore SX-64 computer to someone, from MA. to OH. I believe.

I double-boxed it, bubble wrapped it.. I've never packaged anything to that extreme before. The item weighed a lot (it was the first mass-produced and available 'portable' computer') an it arrived with a broken floppy drive.
Sadly. I should have kept that (I love C64s).

That pain, of having something you love.. only to be destroyed by the post office.. makes my pain seem meaningless.

ps- I thought that they were making Deardorffs again? In very small numbers? Am I crazy?

 

[Larry Bullis]

I remember shipping a Commodore SX-64 computer to someone, from MA. to OH. I believe.
I double-boxed it, bubble wrapped it.. I've never packaged anything to that extreme before.

I packed a Mac Plus and sent it to my daughter. Packed it with the precursor to bubble wrap... Popcorn. I had a course in design from Jay Baldwin, the author of a recently published book on Bucky Fuller (his teacher). He had us package three eggs with a brick. The test was to toss it to the ground from the second story balcony. The guy who used popcorn in a shoebox was the only one in the class who had no broken eggs. He did it twice, just to show that it was no accident. I embedded the eggs in a can of Crisco (vegetable oil shortening). One of my eggs broke. Don't ever pack a Deardorff in Crisco!