And... USPS has lost yet another package.

[yssie]

Mailed to Germany. Accepted at the local PO April 29th. Made it to Jamaica, NY (last stop before customs) May 2. Then... silence.

They can't track it. It's not insured for the basic $50 like the PO rep. told me it was. They won't let me file a claim or inquiry - apparently those are "extra services" that you pay for... and they sure aren't cheap!!

Let me clarify that: You pay handsomely for the privilege of having them actually DO something about finding the sh*t they lose.

That's three of my packages they've lost in the last couple of years, and I've only mailed perhaps twenty total in that time! I will never, ever use USPS again

 

[kenny]

Sorry.
That sucks!

If everything was automatically insured then prices would be higher for all the things of low value we wouldn't bother insuring today.

I prefer their existing system of choice.
It keeps postage prices lower for things we don't think are worth insuring.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Shoot Yssie!!

We use FedEx for international shipments....
It used to be that USPS registered mail was the ABSOLUTE safest manner of shipping ( domestic at least)
I think the prevalence of FedEx and UPS has really put the USPS in a weak position.
I sure hope they find your package!

 

[VRBeauty]

Yssie - That's awful! I hope it turns up!

I ship things via USPS a lot - usually in-state (California) and have only had a problem once - and I suspect that might have involved some dishonesty on the receiver's end. Were all of your lost packages international shipments?

 

[yssie]

I'm with you Kenny - I only want to insure what I want to insure... but don't tell me it's insured if it isn't! How difficult can it possibly be to provide accurate information about the services you sell - or look it up if you don't know?

David - yeah, I use FedEx for anything that matters. In this case I was only mailing $80 worth of stuff, though, so I went with the cheapest possible option thinking worst case I could at least get $50 back. Of course the rep. was mistaken on that. The infuriating part is that they simply WILL NOT do anything at ALL to find the dratted thing!! Including permit me to file a claim. They've just washed their hands of it entirely

VR - Ugh. Thank you, I hope so too! I'm mostly just venting. Hopefully the recipient will call the Germany main office and they'll find it sitting on a shelf somewhere... The other two were domestic, but nothing I particularly cared about - obviously I was too slow to spot a damning trend!

 

[momhappy]

Oh no! That's terrible It sucks when something like this happens and you feel like you have no control over the situation. I really do hope it turns up at some point. I had a lost package once that arrived randomly several weeks later, so I will cross my fingers that yours is found too!

 

[kenny]

I'm with you Kenny - I only want to insure what I want to insure... but don't tell me it's insured if it isn't! How difficult can it possibly be to provide accurate information about the services you sell - or look it up if you don't know?

Opps, sorry. I didn't notice that part of your description.

Yes, the USPS clerks do give out some garbage info.

When shipping something regisgtered they always try to upgrade me to a supposedly-faster service like priority or express, but being registered it does not travel any faster.
I'd be paying more for nothing.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Yssie, I'm sorry to hear this!!!

About filing the claim, I'm not sure I'm understanding... so they want you to pay to file the form? If that's the case, and if it's too expensive to do so in relation to the cost of the items, maybe you can write a letter to the postmaster for that district and copy of the manager of the facility you send the item from and also someone above the district postmaster? Maybe (if you want to go to this length as a matter of principal) get the local news or TV involved? They LOVE to do stories on stuff like this (in Chicago anyway).

 

[yssie]

momhappy - It really is!!

Every time I mail something valuable I think to myself "well, USPS registered is supposed to be faster..." and every time I choose FedEx, and every time I wonder if I've made the right choice. On the bright side I can stop wondering now, right?


Kenny - That's interesting... the last time I mailed packages via USPS registered was years ago, in San Francisco, and they never tried to upsell me - in fact they routinely told me that using my priority boxes didn't mean it'd travel faster. Perhaps the training is just better in some locations?


DeeJay - Y'know, I'm not actually sure, now that I think about it. She told me (by phone) that I basically have zero recourse - I can't file a claim on a First Class International shipment because there's no point, as they just don't store any tracking information or anything to look up, and because the package wasn't insured there's no liability. My understanding could be wrong, though, half my attention was on biting my tongue to not say what I was thinking by the end of that conversation

 

[missy]

Ugh sorry about this Yssie. I have had quite a number of packages temporarily "lost" with USPS but usually I get them (or the recipient gets them) eventually. What a pain. I too thought USPS was the safest way to ship many items but now I agree with you. No more USPS for anything over $50 for me. Though I have had issues with UPS not shipping in the time frame paid for and some of their excuses are stupid but I have had nothing lost (yet) with them.

Hoping your package gets delivered!

 

[MissGotRocks]

I had a package that was being mailed to me seemingly lost for well over a year. The sender didn't insure it as it wasn't that valuable but had some sentimental value. Anyway, well over a year later the package showed up. I was told that it was found in a mail truck that had been parked in a lot for that whole length of time. It was almost like a miracle to me that it showed up but I vowed to never again mail something without some tracking info - even if I had to pay double. Just not worth the aggravation and frustration to me!

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm with you Kenny - I only want to insure what I want to insure... but don't tell me it's insured if it isn't! How difficult can it possibly be to provide accurate information about the services you sell - or look it up if you don't know?

Opps, sorry. I didn't notice that part of your description.

Yes, the USPS clerks do give out some garbage info.

When shipping something regisgtered they always try to upgrade me to a supposedly-faster service like priority or express, but being registered it does not travel any faster.
I'd be paying more for nothing.

Registered is usually actually slower, since it's signature required and locked up if it stays at any location for any length of time. Plus the "registered" cost doesn't include the shipping - only the special handling! You still pay for shipping. But you do get to insure for a higher dollar amount if you use registered mail. I've only used registered mail once (shipping diamond earrings for re-setting) and it was pretty painless.

I usually ship priority mail, which includes $50 of insurance.

Yssie - I once sent a package to a wrong address - I think I had put the wrong zip code on it (used PO zip code for the recipient's street address, or vice versa). Because I know from experience that having the wrong zip code on anything puts it into postal purgatory, I went to great lengths to try to intercept the package before it was sent off to some "dead letter" warehouse. I found some sympathetic people when I went to either the post office I mailed it off to, or the regional postal hub (fortunately fairly nearby) and got phone numbers for both the wrong and correct recipient post offices - and then talked to people there. The package was eventually intercepted and shipped back to me. So - don't give up hope yet!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Yssie... oh now I see. Maybe if you can't file a claim you can certainly write a letter of complaint!

 

[jordyonbass]

I hate this. I usually get all my fishing gear and bass guitar paraphenalia mailed out to me, I too had an experience where Australia's government-regulated postal service just couldn't deliver my package. I had ordered from the supplier previously and received goods successfully, it was just this one package that couldn't make it. He sent it 6 times and it got returned to sender each time, one of those the package had clearly been opened. When he went to complain, the post office manager literally told him 'Go F*** yourself, I have more important things to be doing'. And that manager is STILL there...

Eventually I got the package when he used a private postal service that was the only other option in his area and very costly. Unfortunately, the useless government postal service have since bought out that private courier!! He is thinking of selling his home and moving to get to a better area for postage, it's affected him THAT much.

I hope your stuff arrives at it's destination or you can have some kind of resolve Yssie, losing stuff in the mail really sucks.

 

[Calliecake]

Yssie, Please don't give up. I've had this happen a few times and in the end I recevied the packages. They usually arrived a few weeks late.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I have had a similar experience recently. The uninsured pkg got lost and was never to be found because they don't look for it. There is supposed to be a claim that you can file to have them look for it in their lost and found, as in their machines may have damaged the address section. I could not even find anyone to find that claim form for me to fill out. I gave up. I believe it was stolen, as it wasn't insured and employees certainly know, there is no way to check on the pkg. This was sent thru reg. mail, which I have done all my life unless the item is more expensive. This was 2 gemstones worth about 80.00. Never happened to me before. They want you to insure your pkgs.

Sorry Yissie, I with you on this. It is still possible it will turn up.


Annette

 

[April20]

Question. Did you include two invoices (assuming this was a sale) on the exterior of the package? Germany is one country where this is imperative. If you don't put the invoices on the outside it sits in German customs and often the recipient has to drive there and pick it up. So if it was something you sold and didn't have the invoices, it might not actually be lost. At least not yet.