Worst reshipper screwup ever? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 01:50:44 pm
content: Like every far-gone test equipment addict, I collect Hewlett Packard & Tektronix catalogs. Aka CRACKalogs.Here's my HP current set. (4 digits = have. * = in post)Code:HP 60 1 2 1963 4 5 6 7 8 19691970 x 1972 3* x 1975 1976 1977 1978 19791980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 91990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999Ag 2000 2001 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9HP catalogs from the 1960s are very rare. I've been hunting them on and off for perhaps 20 years, with not much luck. None available, or very expensive. Recently I had the good fortune to find a 1960 catalog, for just US$16. Grabbed it!It arrived at my reshipper in a protective stiff brown cardboard mailer. Good! I didn't have the reshipper open and photograph it, as it's so precious to me that I didn't want their unbeliever fingers to ever touch this holy relic.Once enough other items accumulated in my mailbox there, I initiated a consolidation and mailout.Here's the reshipper's photo of all 9 packages, at the beginning of the packing. The 1960 catalog is item QF, with the red arrow I added. (They give packages two-letter codes on arrival, and label them with that code.)And that's the last time it was ever seen.After the consolidation, when I logged back in parcel QF was still listed in my inbox. The sole item. WTF? There should be nothing there. I thought maybe somehow it hadn't fitted in the consolidation. But why, it's small and thin!I immediately selected and paid for it to be mailed out separately.Next time I logged in, I got a notification saying "Mailout Cancelled ... QF has been cancelled by our admin for the following reason: consolidated into QJ"Hmm... Doubting this, I checked all their photos associated with this mailout. As they process items they take a photo of the package code label. All the other items have photos of the label, but no QF.Of course _they_ didn't bother to check the photos.I still hoped that was just some data entry goof.The package arrived. There is no QF. The 1960 catalog is not there.Notice the big package QJ is brown cardboard, and (as usual) has been cut down to be a good fit of contents.You see what probably happened?The packer is so used to having bits of cut-off brown cardboard on the bench, that during the repacking of other items he started seeing the 1960 catalog mailer as a bit of scrap cardboard. Then threw it out with the rubbish.Now, after I raised a complaint, they are trying to decide whether to compensate me for the loss. I'm sure they will at most offer to pay the $16.The seller was a general 'old books' shop, and knew it was 'vintage' but possibly didn't know how rare. I see on ebay now a 1969 for $150, and a 1963 for $37. Nothing else from the 1960s.They threw it out with the garbage.Bah. Where are the giant space laser targetting codes when you need them?That thing was 61 years old. I wonder if I'll ever find another one?

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 03:24:00 am
content: I should have asked a more specific question. Or is everyone just too shocked and sad to comment?Has anyone else ever seen a HP 1960 catalog? If a few do exist, at least I can hope to find another eventually.(Nope, not interested in a PDF copy.)Also, in what other years during the 1960s (and earlier) did HP produce catalogs (or not)?I've read somewhere that they skipped producing a 1971 and 1974.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 04:14:44 am
content: You did open QJ and check that it wasn't actually put inside, right?

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 04:51:30 am
content: Of course! Everything else expected was there. Mostly books and other manuals. I only took one more photo of the box opened, instead of my usual habit of lots of photos. Was excited, expecting to find the 1960 cat down the bottom. Nope.

author: WattsThat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 05:08:09 am
content: I’m of multiple minds here.#1 says that’s really sucks. Why is it the really special stuff that gets screwed up?#2 try not to obsess over it, it was only paper and ink.#3 I think you need professional help.Which leads me back around full circle where I ask myself, is this what I have to look forward to early next year when I retire? Really?Pardon me while I go check my box of vintage HP instrument knobs that I harvested at age 15 at the local dump (tip) where all the gear from the long ago closed HP Avondale facility went to be scrapped. It was heaven on earth for a kid interested in electronics, to harvest whatever you wanted and pay by the pound.There was something hypnotic about gold plated circuit boards and transistors. If I had only known then what I know now... sigh. Good luck on finding that which interests you.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 08:02:33 am
content: Quote from: WattsThat on November 13, 2021, 05:08:09 amYes. That. Anything else in that stack could have been lost, and I'd be ho hum, find another one. When buying on ebay, items going through US mail, then the reshipper, then international freight, then local post, it's not at all unusual to have things broken or go missing. I could make a list and it would be long, but best not to dwell on it.QuotePaper and ink. Precisely. I happen to have a bit of a personal quest to preserve 'old paper and ink'. It's complicated. Anyway part of the pain is that _due_to_my_involvement_ a really rare old HP catalog was destroyed. Rage, frustration, and guilt. Emotions are not always rational. I'll feel a lot better if I can find that some other copies do exist. The thought 'destroyed the last one' is unbearable. Maybe there is one in here:http://everist.org/dm/but I won't know that for months. Years actually since it will take that long to sort it. (That page will be updated tomorrow. Now with MORE manuals, and extended lease.)QuoteOr venting on eevblog, where at least some will understand. Probably not many, but a few.Update: The reshipper company apologised profusely, refunded the _entire_ $15.99 + $3 package fee (rolls eyes), and... promised a 40% discount on my next mailout cost. Hmm... And I know what that will be, so now feeling _slightly_ better. But I still need to see if other copies exist. And no it's not a case of 'of course they do'. Could easily be down in the two or single digits count, and zero is not impossible.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 10:01:46 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on November 13, 2021, 08:02:33 amThis scan must have come from somewhere -- I doubt they destroyed the origina after scanning:http://hparchive.com/Catalogs/HP-Catalog-1960.pdf(That site has a most impressive collection of scanned documents. So dating early HP equipment etc. should not pose a problem. I can still relate to the desire to collect the original hardcopies though...)

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2021, 11:44:58 am
content: Quote from: ebastler on November 13, 2021, 10:01:46 amMore likely they destroyed the original in order to scan it. Very common practice to guilotine spines off, in order to run the pages through an auto-feed scanner. Even if they didn't it would probably be a glue-binding, in which the aged glue falls apart if the pages are spread flat.The spine-cutting is one reason old tech docs are becoming very rare. So many people find a copy, think "I must scan that!" and cut the spine off to do so. Because getting it digitized is their first prority, with preserving the original way lower. Or they even want to bin it to save space.Edge scanners are still pretty rare and costly. Plus few people want to put in thr time to manualy scan page by page.Thanks for reminding me of the HP Archive site. I knew of it, use it often, but am distracted by other stuff atm and didn't think to look there for a list of what years HP produced catalogs.http://hparchive.com/hp_catalogs

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2021, 12:30:35 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on November 13, 2021, 10:01:46 amThe 21GHz signal generator advertised cost about 1/3 of the price of a house in 1960. The circuit diagram would be so interesting, considering its vintage. Ah yes, in the days when HP was a highly respected instruments company.By the way, I have a rare Bruel and Kjaer Type 2120 Frequency Analyser and a Cambridge Instruments Potentiometer Type 44228, if anyone is interested.