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Comment by acollins1331 | Hacker News Reader

The biggest downside to large corporations is the feeling of powerlessness you have. Good thing this guy was only shipping some paper. I've been screwed by corporations before and there will literally be no possible recourse for someone like us to fix the scenario if the corporation decides not to help. The amount is always too little to sue, but enough to make us homeless or unable to pay our bills. It's fucking disgusting. It's sad we rely and enjoy so many services that would be difficult to do without these large unmoving and immoral beuracracies, but this is the world our overlords have chosen for us.

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Let's not forget this happened: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/02/usps_recovers_lost_...

Their initial response? A mere shrug and halfhearted condolences.

I've had a package lost through eBay's Global Shipping program. It was a very hard-to-find add-on for my car stereo and I found one in America. A few days after it shipped, tracking data ended just outside NY. A few days later, I pinged them, asking where my package was - after all, the tracking data was scanned at each location, it gave a reasonable pinpoint for the last known location. Instead, overnight, I was refunded and the case was closed. I didn't ask for that, I asked them to find my package, but they washed their hands of it; I wanted the thing I bought, not the money back, but it mattered not. What's the point in tracking packages if they can't even use it when it's needed most!

It was also infuriatingly difficult finding the right place to ask a question now that companies are running their own shipping segments. They're neatly hidden in amongst the massive company logistics.

I can't imagine shipping $10k worth of nigh-irreplaceable items through the mail. I wonder how much it cost, and if it wouldn't have made more sense to just pay for an airline ticket from Germany to the US and back.

The only way to do that is registered mail, which is expensive and slow, but provides a documented chain of custody for every human who touches the package.

What is your proposal for an alternative to FedEx, UPS, USPS, Royal Post, etc? Thousands of small independently-owned shipping companies? How would that work when you need to ship a package from/to arbitrary locations in the entire US/world?

What is your proposal for an alternative to Facebook, Twitter, etc? Thousands of small independently-owned networks? How would that work when you need to send data from/to arbitrary locations in the entire US/world?

No idea what you mean other than that you just want to mock someone. acollins1331 is the person looking for alternatives, not me.

>What is your proposal for an alternative to FedEx, UPS, USPS, Royal Post, etc?

No need to build alternatives, properly funding and authorizing the regulation agencies and courts so that they can do their jobs should be more than enough.

It's how banks and ISPs work. The networks are centralized and used by multiple institutions.

IMO, shipping networks would be better off shared across all the delivery companies and services. Then there would be an increased need for transparency and accountability for all packages.

I've mentioned this more often, but at least in my part of the EU legal insurance is both common and affordable. My insurance helps me out with events over € 250 for about € 200 a year. That's perhaps still unwise in the grand scheme, but I'm easily affronted by corporations and they've helped me out in consumer claims more than once, even picked up the tab for a new home appliance once without going to court. If I ever have a big legal battle European jurisprudence stipulates I can get a specialized lawyer and about € 15k in legal fees to burn.

I’m dealing with a government agency that feels the same.

(They legally have to provide a particular service, but chose to provide it over a very limited number of hours, despite receiving full funding for providing it).

Now I spend a lot of time filing FOI requests (only $5!) and bringing forward embarrassing scenarios to the public’s attention.

It’s a big erosion of whatever monies they’re saving.

Going through this with my bank: their « updated » app now says that scheduling payments is a feature coming soon.

The old one could do it.

I literally can’t pay my bills on time unless I login on Desktop.

My course of action: email investor relations (I’m a shareholder... for now) and their president’s office.

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