gold and silver going up! and slow shipping at usps

[rockriver]

I haven't followed pm prices for a while...

a short story that's still unwinding.

I became aware of the following activity... two associates who've known each other for a bunch of decades talk pm on occasion and trust each other.
characters...
collector who suddenly decides to sell
novice who decides to buy.
usps who promised to deliver!

collector wrote novice saying "i'm going to sell xx pieces of gold. it is 1320/ounce spot. and you can have it for 1300/ounce."
collector was making a tidy profit at this price and knows that what goes up, must come down. collector was also buying a retreat cabin
and spending like crazy on his new project...
novice was surprised to hear this from collector, who had always been a buy and hold collector.
novice wants gold but can't justify as he has other purchases in mind, that are more important. but novice loves a bargain.
novice starts doing "research" and calls some associates.. he is told "gold is going down. it has had a huge runup in 2016. you better wait."
novice checks apmex and sure enough, gold has dropped to 1312 spot and novice sees a note that apmex will pay 1325!
novice does the appropriate discussions with his wife, suggesting that they should make an offer.
novice wrote collector who lives on the other side of conus and asks what and how do you ship?
collector wrote back saying usps, and included a link that bragged on the security and speed of their process. collector commented that he'd pay the shipping and insurance.
novice wasn't sure how many of collectors associates were being made the offer to buy, so he arranged financing and made a 1250 offer.
the 1250 offer was accepted immediately.

the next day collector put product in the usps 3 day priority. seller put payment in regular usps.

gold went down... collector was proud that he unloaded.
then gold started going up.. !! collector was pouting. and novice was smiling.

collector got his check timely...
novice wondered why package hadn't arrived. on Monday the usps posted "your shipment has been delayed. it will not be there on july 2

as a bystander to this story... and knowing both sides of the deal..
all I can say is something interesting is happening in the pm market!

and be careful shipping with usps... they need to hire ld3 to do their shipping.

[Lowdown3]

If you paid for tracking and insurance the package WILL get there. Will it get there in "two days" - probably not.

USPS Priority mail is a great bargain IMO and what we use for most orders that are not high dollar items like NV and Thermal. 95% of the time we have no problems with the Priority mail service.

Now the USPS tracking website SUCKS and has engendered more questions and freaking out by customers than the service themselves. Examples-

"The package came back to you, I didn't get it!!!!."
(Me) No it didn't sir, it literally just left here this morning. There is no way it could have.
"But it shows on their website ACCEPTED at West Green, GA today."
(me) ACCEPTED is the word they use for them accepting to ship it.


"My package went to the wrong address, it shows it's in Florida now and I'm in Kansas."
(Me) That's perfectly normal, it just left yesterday and our little PO sends it to Jacksonville FL and then it moves on from there.
"Why the hell would it go SOUTH before it comes NORTH, and why does it show "acceptance" in Jacksonville Florida then?"
(Me) Once again, this is perfectly normal, it just left yesterday, calm down it does take a few days to get there and yes it goes to Jacksonville first because that's the biggest hub and nearest airport."

The crappy VERBAGE used on the USPS tracking site has caused more than a few freak outs by customers towards me. I guess I'm supposed to control their website or how they do business??

Also, I can't tell you how many times I've shipped something GROUND, that has shown up on their USPS tracking website as "2nd day"- so of course the customer who paid for GROUND shipping starts expecting the package to get there in TWO DAYS. Then about day 3 I get the "you should contact them and get a refund on the shipping costs since it took more than two days" email from the customer. That of course is a further course in futility as no one gets shipping costs refunded from USPS or UPS.....

So great service for the most part, just don't get too analytical about their tracking website- it sucks big time.

[protus]

FedEx is about the same.
Remember my muster box run around.

Well have residents show up. FedEx says my package is here. I got the email.
Nope..not here. They haven't been here.

Are you sure.
My email says...
Can you check. Again..


Four hours later FedEx shows up.


Due to my location. I have packages go to Jacksonville...to Orlando..to xyz on the coast for delivery. Then transferred to usps for the final drop.
Talk about tracking head aches lol

[Lowdown3]

Yeah I do remember- was it really for you?

Back to the OP re: gold and silver. Last purchases for me were early in the year. I'm not at 1/10 of what I purchased last year yet in that regard. And that trend will likely continue. Bought a lot of metal this year, but most of it has been iron based :)

The Avino mining stock the boy bought first of the year at $.72 a share has done well, and we have sold more than 3/4 of it already at gains. He sold a little more of it at $2.78 the other day and I told him let's hold out on the last bit of it. That was one of those rare deals where we hit it literally right near the bottom- $.71 was the 52 week low. Their principal thing is mining gold and silver, so I had a feeling it would be a good contrarian buy at a good price.

Physical gold and silver- depending on the extent of the bank problems/Brexit/Italy/US Election year issues- we MAY be close to the ceiling on silver $20-22. for the short term (six months) window. I know, the PM dealers like to say "it could run to $100." Well hell, Unicorns COULD fall from the sky and crap snowflakes out also. Any new purchases I'd try to keep under $20. for silver in the SHORT TERM if you could. Keep in mind less than a year ago spot on silver had touched under $12. at one point- that's close to a $10. run in mainly a few months.

[rockriver]

update from buyer..
website says shipment left texas 7-5 in the a.m. (after sitting in dallas for 2 days and in Coppell (suburb of dallas ) for a day.
no shipment rec'd today. so...
buyer called usps 800 number late morning today.
and relayed the story... bottom line. 3 day priority and it's been 8 days and website doesn't show anticipated arrival date.
lady advises she'll check into it, but it will take 2 to 3 days! lol.
buyer asked for a call back at the end of today... she agreed to, but didn't. buyer asked... was it put on a truck, plane, what?
buyer advised their wife drives that in one long day.
usps lady advised that buyer should call their congressman and maybe congressman could locate package, (with an attitude!)

so... buyer called federal congressman's office. assistant was astounded when she heard that the usps had told buyer to call them.
cong. office said call Washington dc usps and gave him the number. lol... not really funny.

so buyer called d.c. usps. lady there popped attiude until she was told that buyer had been told to call there by congressman's office.
she's checking into it, she said. d.c. lady said package would be there today... nope!

buyer said he's saying calm .... just repeating what others are telling him..

a face to face would have been so nice!

[Lowdown3]

Par for the course sometimes. As long as it IS INSURED, you will be fine.

But FORGET about any "it WILL be there in 2-3 days cause it's Priority mail" - USUALLY yes, all the time NAAAAH.

The "status" on the tracking website- IGNORE IT ALTOGETHER. It will either A. Arrive back at the shipper's location or B. arrive at your location if it is insured. Outside of that, packages don't get "lost" in the mail -as in NEVER FOUND- any more, not if they have tracking and insurance. But yeah they can take a wrong turn in Albuquerque really darn easy....

[tech]

Outside of that, packages don't get "lost" in the mail -as in NEVER FOUND- any more, not if they have tracking and insurance.

No, they just disappear...especially if it gets routed through certain facilities. Certain...factions...don't care if it's tracked or not. :(

[rockriver]

the registered package drama...
last night (Saturday) buyer reported that package had taken 3 days to go from dallas texas area to his states capital city.
it got to capital at 12:30 Friday morning.

this was a surprise because there are 2 sorting facilities that work buyers geographical area.... and capital ain't one of them.

but, at this point, to no surprise... it has sat in capital city for 2 full work days and not left!

Wednesday will be 2 weeks... that's buyers guess at this point. post office 1-800 staff will not make a prediction on this 3-day priority... it's obvious, they know and are used to registered packages taking a lot longer than "3" days!

buyer was laughing.."i could hook my 16' trailer to my little JD compact tractor, leave early sunday, use the utility tractor for a flat surface to sleep on, and could get there in 18 hours. I would be there and be rested when they open Monday morning.. the other purpose for the trailer is to have a large sign... RURAL MAIL DELIVERY... on both sides.

he's wanting to get some horses.. and reminded me that a horse could outdo the usps...
lol... he's right i'm sure... but I wonder what the reasonable range for a horse would be in one day?

this little story does bring up the question.. what if, you seriously needed a certain part, or food, or ammo.
and the trucking industry had stopped or slowed because some dammed hate filled racists were sniping truck drivers as they drove by....
(see story about dallas texas) and every day that went by more and more haters were taking up arms against the trucking business. last year that would have been a ridiculous thing to discuss around the campfire... no one would have given your "what if" a serious response...
maybe it's time for me to get some more of those Crossman bb's and a few of those expensive pellets, and extra fuel and oil filters,
and a couple of cans of fuel, and some more stouffers frozen food packages, and a couple of cases of pure spring water, hmm...
where's that list I made up of things I needed?.... oh yeah. I need to plant some grape vines, figs, blueberries, apples, pears, and other stuff. i wonder if i planted this stuff in the common ground at the condo, if my neighbors would pick my pears?

[1Admin]

this little story does bring up the question.. what if, you seriously needed a certain part, or food, or ammo.

Absolutely positively be sure you have it now, that's the only way to be sure. Preferably two or three of critical parts.

Stock answer, I know, but it's the truth.

Outside of that- AVOID SENDING THINGS VIA REGISTERED MAIL.

About once a year I have someone want to mail in a payment for an order that uses registered mail. They NEVER TELL ME THAT UPFRONT or I would say- "put it in a flat priority mail for $5.85 with tracking and save us BOTH some hassle. What's funny to me is that it's never a high dollar amount either- pretty much always under $300. Yet they spend easily $10. or more to send it Registered and YES it will take longer as it has to be logged everywhere it goes. Then it doesn't just go in our box, so that when I happen to be by the mail at 8pm I can pick it up. No, it's gotta be signed for, DNA presented, etc. That means a special trip during the short time period the gal at our little PO has the window open. Meanwhile, the customer usually calls about a day after they mail it asking where the order is (I'm serious), and of course, we haven't even gotten the payment yet!

Apmex uses postal service, but for an ounce of gold they send certified. No matter the order size I've never seen registered mail from them. Heck some other Ebay sellers of gold have shipped 1 ounce coins with normal tracking and that's it.