Mystery of one lost coin shipment solved

Another wallet story. As a hobby we would go Geocaching on extended holidays and whilst in Australia discovered under a boardwalk a soggy thick padded wallet containing around $250 in banknotes plus CCs, ID cards, keys, etc. The owners phone number was there - we called him, got his address, and walked a further 3 miles to hand him his lost wallet. He was mighty pleased to get the cash and offered a reward which we declined.

In giving we receive

 

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If that .51% includes junk mail, please lose more.
As for my experience. In the 20 years or so I have been on eBay, I have sent and received several thousand packages. Exactly ONE was lost - and it was a $5 item coming from Eastern Europe. I doubt if it even made it to the US.
As to speed of delivery - well, once a package took three months to arrive, marked "Sent to Taiwan in error." [It was mailed from a town about 300 miles from me.] Sometimes mail arrives quicker than I expected, but recently, what with covid and the weather, more typical has been the package I received today - five days for the "Three Day" Priority Mail package to get here.

 

I'll give credit to the USPS where credit is due - for most of 2021 delivery was really good. I shipped a lot of coins and I went months without any problems. But in the last two months it seems like all I have is problems. I had three people contact me today about missing shipments, with two requesting a refund. Two were in the U.S. and one in Israel. I've already sent three refunds in recent weeks and have a few other orders where I asked the people to wait a little longer but I'll probably end up having to refund their money. I know the post office is hit hard with Covid so I understand mail being late, but I don't see how it just keeps getting lost like it is. And they all have tracking, so you can see many of them just seem to get to the first local distribution center and that's the last they're ever seen.

 

In my area they deliver mail to your roadside mailbox. We have high winds all the time. I could see this happening here to me. But it would likely never be found because it is a rural area.

 

I think that even urban houses or apartment buildings should all have a mailbox at the street. I have two homes and two addresses. My house in the city has a mailbox at the front door. Our country home has a mailbox at the street. However, I have to drive to it to get my mail. .9 miles to the mailbox.
Anyway, I think that the Postal Service could save money and time to have all of the mailboxes at the street. I also believe that they should discontinue delivery on Saturdays. The one thing that mailboxes at the street, are not large enough for the large packages. I get a note in my mailbox that my package is at the post office and my post office is about 7 miles from my country home and 3 miles from my city home. Any items that need Saturday delivery or need to be delivered to the porch, should be an additional charge.
Another problem that I found out about having a box at the post office is that many businesses will not deliver to a post office box.

 

Very nice of the finder to go out of their way like that.

I'll add two pertinent stories to the mix. (Roadside delivery and lost in transit. )

I've had mail removed from my roadside box two times that I know of.
Once, it was bills and they were returned to me by the USPS in a plastic bag with a "Sorry" letter.
Another time a neighbor showed me some coins his son found scattered in the street. They were 4 ancients a friend sent to me that failed to arrive. The 14-year-old wasn't the culprit, but probably some other teens walking by opened the mailbox and grabbed the coins. When the culprits realized they weren't spendable they chucked them as they walked along. (Even two weeks after they disappeared I found the envelope in the weeds across the street from the mailbox.)

My "Lost in transit" story has a great ending.
A package that was supposed to contain a roll of Lincoln's with a very fine 1878 SL dime on one end and a VDB on the other was delivered .... empty. The corner of the manila envelope with no tape had torn open from the machinery. After filing a claim and including a description and auction images I didn't have much hope. After a couple of weeks, I get a call from the lost mail center in Atlanta and the rep said she had a dime like that and asked me what other coins were in the roll. I was flustered because there was no way to know. She said they get coins from damaged packing on a regular basis and asked what kind of coins usually came in the rolls. I indicated this seller usually had multiple VDB's and a couple of silver dimes as well as other nice early wheats. She said OK and that was what came!

Yea USPS!! Thank you.

 

You should call you post office and tell them to hold all parcels, regardless of size. You’ll get a notice have to pick them up but it’s better than the alternative. Also call you local police department and report the problem. Get a case number.

 

Thanks but these experiences are why I opened a po box. I still get bills at home but hope they get stolen!

The police took reports but there was nothing they were going to do. They said to notify the USPS. It's frustrating but they really do have more serious crimes to put their resources into.

 

And the post office says call the police. You transfer all your mail to the P.O. Box. Don’t do a change of address, just notify the senders of your bills of your P.O. Box address. Then the only thing you should get at the street address is junk mail and if you order parcels from some companies just remember that not all companies send to P.O. Boxes. That way, you get your mail and the problem goes away. Even though you don’t want the bills a late charge will be added.

 

But how would you know if they did?

 

I must disagree. I know it seems that way but as a retired manager I could always finds junk mail that could be delivered in the recycle bin. If that was all you got for that day the carrier didn’t want to stop at your box so that one piece was disposed of in the offices.
The carriers problem was it was pulled out and the carrier delivered it the next day.

 

I just got a postcard this past week informing me the 2020 Indiana State Coin show has been cancelled.

 

2020? Hmmm. I guess delivery was just a little delayed. LOL