missing from the mail, Lansing MI, presumed stolen

Obviously. A seller sends and is marked delivered. That one is a no brainer. Buyer pays, Seller has proof of delivery. Contract fulfilled and end of story. Not sure what your point was in quoting my comment.

Well, I don't mean literally hand it over to you in person . That's why we have the USPS, UPS, FedEx, and whatever. BUT, if I sell you something, then I have to make sure it gets to YOU. Not some intermediary that happens to be making my life easier by doing the transportation.

The whole basis of mail order requires a contract that involves actual delivery. Think about it. eBay requires proof of 'delivery'. Not proof of 'I handed it over to the USPS'. If the seller can prove they handed it to the postal service and it is not delivered, then the seller makes a claim with the USPS. Not the buyer.

I can assure you if I pay Amazon in Washington State for a product I am not paying them to hand it over to a delivery service. I am paying them to get it to me. Amazon understands this and on the very few times things have gone astray they have re-sent the package or item.

So, no it's not 'unreasonable' to say I expect the seller to give the buyer the product for which they paid. That is the whole implied contract. Buyer gives Seller money. Seller gives Buyer what they paid for. That's it.

So yes. If I sell you a coin from Virginia then yes, I have to get it to you in Pennsylvania. By whatever means I chose.

 

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During the holidays, USPS hires part time delivery people to handle the extra load and while I'm sure they go through security checks, some bad ones slip through. Anyone remember that USPS carried that was caught throwing mail and packages into a ravine? Or the one that had his house full of undelivered mail?
On another thought, do you know how big the package was? I had sent a gun to Florida to be repaired and UPS never returned it. The company sent me a replacement weapon and I found the original package months later in a flower bed in my back yard, where the delivery people threw it over the fence. The weapon was rusted and useless at that point and I was told to destroy it, which I did.

 

Because you said:

I can’t guarantee that the carrier won’t screw up the delivery. That’s up to the buyer to work out.

 

Let us know if you get the coin.

 

I will

 

That's because the ZIPCODE is the primary thing they use to determine where to deliver the mail. Zipcode first, then the address, the name really doesn't matter.

 

Postal machines read from the bottom up. Zip first, then state and city, followed by the address. Only the carrier should know the name.

 

Yep. That was what put the brakes on my eBay selling back in 2008 or so (I'd been a Power Seller for several years before that). I listed, sold, and shipped an expensive camera for a friend, following regulations to a T, including shipping (via UPS) to the verified eBay/PayPal address. It got to the destination office, then there was an exception raised, as I remember "recipient no longer at this address" -- and the shipment was redirected to a new address that wasn't verified, with no input from me.

This buyer had been squirrelly from the get-go, so I called eBay and PayPal immediately. The consensus was that, even though I'd shipped to a verified address, and hadn't given permission for the shipment to be redirected, I had NO protection if the buyer decided to claim non-receipt/empty package/whatever. We ended up recalling the shipment, at considerable expense.

And when I went to leave feedback warning other sellers about this buyer, well, that's when I learned that eBay no longer allowed sellers to leave negative or neutral feedback on buyers. Forget that, to paraphrase CeeLo Green (and borrow his radio edit).

I've cautiously dipped my toes back into selling over the last few years, but much more cautiously than before, and at nowhere near previous levels.

 

It could have been stolen off the porch but it's almost more likely that it was delivered to wrong address. Postal carriers are in a hurry. If their route is supposed to take 9 hrs and they can get done in 8.5, they get paid for 9. If it takes them 11 hrs, they get paid for 9. So there's incentive to blow through the route as quickly as possible. Add in regular carriers taking a day off and having temps fill in.....mistakes end up happening. Usually a similar address number close to yours in the same town. It might still show up.

I'm thankful it's been a long time since I've had any issues.

 

Your description of carriers, hours and pay is nearly correct. What you have described only applies to a rural route. City carriers get paid for every click of the clock. Postal regulations require that all routes be an 8 hour route. Postal unions hold management to this. Routes are evaluated on a regular basis and anything can happen after the route inspection that can cause them to go over 8 hours.

Every effort is made to have the same sub on the same route to reduce errors. The smaller the office the more likely this will happen.

 

The zipcode actually gives them the state and city, if you use all nine digits (zip+4) it will quite frequently narrow it down to the specific address.

 

All machines are old and programmed to read from the bottom up. Sorting machines for parcels are different from letters and flats. The 9 digit zip is not readily used. Remember, I retired from these guys.

 

Well, I'll add my 2 pennies, er, 2 cents! I have been totally impressed with the USPS over the past several years, & especially recently. My son moved from Seattle to North Carolina about 2 months ago. On Fri., Dec. 7 I went to the P.O. to mail 2 large packages to his new address, which my wife had written down for me. After waiting in line for awhile, went it was my turn, the postal clerk would not accept it because the address was not valid for that zip code! Instead of sending me away, he had me move to the side to call to confirm the address - sure enough, instead of 3332, my wife (yes, I put it on her ) had written 3232 - 100 off! 3 days later, on Monday, they were delivered!

Kudos to the USPS for getting to this point! Also, although the wait in line can be time consuming, I appreciate that when it is my turn, I feel I have there undivided attention to conduct my business when at the counter.

Can there be glitches?...absolutely, but all the delivery services have them, yes, even Amazon (but Amazon is incredible in their focus on delivery. Also Academy - last yr I ordered a bicycle on-line, which they shipped from Houston - can't remember the carrier - it arrived less than 24 hrs after I ordered it!...from Houston! I think it was UPS.)

 

Reminds me of how one "aw shucks" cancels out 100 "attaboys".

 

No luck today?

 

Update on mine: I called PayPal and they told me that unless I can PROVE that the USPS elected to send it to the guy's P.O. Box instead of his home address, then I'd have to pay the $190.45 refund out of my account. Tracking does not say, "Rerouted" or anything of the sort that I can see, so tomorrow I go talk to my postmaster and find out if I can get documentation that the coin was redirected to the guy's secondary address. Otherwise, I'm screwed.

 

I hate people.

 

nope

 

I just got off the phone with the delivery supervisor at my local post office, he said they are unable to locate the package, but that they will cover at least some of the cost of the coin. I've filed a police report, reporting it stolen so that if it surfaces somewhere, somebody can be held accountable.

 

Sorry to hear that but it's the correct course of action. Don't forget to file a report with Postal Inspectors. They will need the police report number.