So much for the USPS (long read, but it ends well)

[Erin]

I bought my first lava lamp off eBay last week. I worked with the seller to make sure she packaged it properly. I had found this really awesome "letter to the seller" note here on Oozing Goo and the seller did everything right. It was her first eBay sale, too. :)

This was my lamp as it was in NY:

And despite $13 worth of postage, insurance, FRAGILE written all over the box, "This end up" and arrows everywhere, this is what I received today, lying on its SIDE on my doorstep:

I winced when I saw it and then did a double-wince when I read the "The item was received damaged at the Bettendorf Post Office" label affixed to the package.

However, all items are intact due to a *very* diligent seller. I have a very cloudy lamp though. :(

What is the point of going through all these hoops of the USPS is just going to sabotage your package anyway? I am so mad at the USPS right now!! Their motto should be "Well, we'll try. Maybe". Grrrr...

I just hope my lamps clears up.

[Autumn]

People dont seem to know that USPS does NOT I repeat NOT care if it says fragile, glass, liquid, this end up, or anything like that. They treat all packages the same. It also may have clouded up due to the heat, not anything USPS did. No matter how well its packed sometimes you still get busted lamps because of USPS. Luckily for me I have only received a few dented bases but that was the shippers fault for poor packing and I have been able to fix all of the bases. Better luck next time.

[Erin]

Gah, that's horrible to hear. :( The guys is my warehouse tell me stuff like that, too.

So disheartening.

[Erin]

I wish I had a way to get some insurance money from this ill-handled package. I don't suppose a cloudy lamp would be a good enough of an excuse though. LOL

[Chris Lea]

Hi Fellas,
I know I'm a bit late coming to this, but I've only just noticed this thread......

I'm in the UK and I send out quite a few lava lamps - often to far-flung places in Europe.
I send them via DHL, Royal Mail and other couriers and so far, not one has arrived cloudy.
Ok - they all get shaken around and tipped over but they all work fine on arrival.
We've also bought quite a few and never had problems (apart from some arriving broken due to inadequate packing).

Sometimes they take a day or two to settle down, but to find one that's turned cloudy after transit leaves me wondering if there wasn't some problem (unseen) in the lamp before it was sent.
Was that why there wasn't a photo of the lamp in action?

By way of experiment, I've picked up a lava lamp bottle - shaken it thoroughly - and then let it settle. After some hours it will begin to resemble a lava lamp again - and once fired up, it's been just a matter of running it for a few hours to sort any cloudiness out.

Were you sold a lemon and didn't know it?

[Charles]

as long as its a pre-2003 USA lamp it'll probably clear up in a couple of weeks.

[Erin]

Yes, that's entirely possible. I think this lamp hadn't been run in a loooooong time. I've got it going now, but the cloudy part is MY fault as I nudged it quite a bit trying to get the two parts to join back together.

It's flowing great now, but still cloudy. It needs to be topped off and then it should be fine. I think I had an honest seller that just didn't fire the lamp up and didn't know anything about them.

[Charles]

I *dropped* a hot red and yellow when I first started collecting (wayyyy back in April), and it looked like a strawberry daquiri for a couple of weeks, then it settled down.