So....your coin was lost in the mail ?

This is most likely where it's at. Living in the Atlanta Suburbs I'm fortunate to have the USPS Recovery Center about 30 minutes away. Though the auctions used to be live, they now conduct them online. I do miss going in person and winning some great lots. Here's whats currently on the auction block.

http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=10912&acctid=4703

and....

http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=10914&acctid=4703


What do you think a max bid on the Morgan's would be?

 

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So let me see if I get this straight. The USPS screws up people's mail deliveries, and then they sell them for a big profit?

 

Is this associated with the U.S. Government or did they buy them from the U.S. government and use the name they have to re-sell? They do not have a government address (.gov) they have a (.com) address.

 

It's not "the USPS screws up" if stuff fell out of a package ("loose-in-mail"), or the label fell off, or it's undeliverable and there's no return address.

 

This IS the U.S. Postal Service. Everything that gets lost in the mail or is undeliverable(address is wrong or label may have come off) goes to this center. It's a huge post office/sorting center. When they have enough of a similar item to make a good size lot, it goes for auction. I have made living for years going to auctions at this recovery center and reselling on eBay. You can find just about anything there. If it's mailed, it's there.

 

When you log on to Govdeals.com, it list many surplus auctions. To get to this auction, you must click on "recovered items" under the R section. It will bring you to all the available lots at the Postal Recovery Center in Atlanta.

 

Really? It's never their screw up? Never? I've had packages delivered to me that were very reasonably packaged and by the time the USPS got finished with them, items were falling out all over the place because it looked like the package had been a test subject in explosives trials.

 

And people wonder how an uncirculated coin could have marks on it.

 

Having been there in person and seeing what comes in, it's easy to see why they have so much product. Most of the issues are due to poorly packaged items. People send a package and think a piece of scotch tape is sufficient to secure a address label. I would fault the customers more than the post office.

 

...and someone lost a vending machine in the U.S. Mail system... shocker...

http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=1&acctid=7404

 

I'm not saying the shippers are not to blame, but if the post office is going to advertise that you can ship up to 70 lbs in a flimsy box that's barely big enough(or strong enough) to put a pair of shoes in, then they should treat those boxes with extreme care. Their logic defies even duct tape.

 

That's a surplus item, not a mail item. The only mail items will be in the recovered items sections. Govdeals.com covers anything and (almost) everything the govt is trying to sell.

 

They have a lot of stuff there. I honestly can't believe how much is in those lots.

One of the coins was slabbed. It's a 1951 Franklin Half PCGS MS63FBL ... I could barely make out the cert# but it's still in the database here ... I wonder what happens when a coin is lost like that. Would PCGS retire that cert eventually or would they think that it'll turn up somewhere?

Interesting to say the least.

 

The government has a good thing going here. No cost associated with the actual merchandise, 5% add-on for a buyer's fee, they don't provide assistance with shipping or packaging (at any price) even though they were the originally carrier, and if you don't get it off their property in the allotted time, they charge you a daily storage fee. It sounds like this part of the postal services isn't loosing money.

 

I don't think this is an official government operation. It is a Liquidity Service which buys surplus items and equipment from various entities, including the USPS and other government agencies. That's why they have vending machines, construction equipment and military surplus in addition to cars, pianos and coins. As in all of these types of operations you can bid by phone, mail, electronically or in person but in any case if you win you must pick up the item in person, or pay someone to do that for you. Either way greatly increasing you final cost. They're also known as Liquidation.com, Network International, TruckCenter.com GoIndustryDoveBid, Liquidity Services Inc and Government Liquidation.

Caveat Emptor.

 

Certainly no disrespect, but you couldn't be more wrong. As I have stated, I have been going to THIS USPS Postal Recovery/Post Office for years. The website is nothing more than a tool to direct you to various auctions, nothing more. Google USPS Recovery Center and you can get all the information you need.

 

Perhaps this will help.

http://about.usps.com/doing-business/auctions/welcome.htm

There's a link provided in the link I provided.

 

I would think that it is just as much an insurance recovery auction as anything else. I wonder how much insurance was paid out on most all of the coins.

 

The link shows that the USPS auctions are no longer done. They have been farmed out to the non-governmental recovery company. You may have been going to the USPS location for years, but they aren't there any more for auctions.

 

I've studied and studied what I originally wrote, and I can't for the life of me understand what makes you think that I said that.

I gave a list of examples of problems that would not be the USPS' fault. I made no claim that it was never their fault.

Even in cases where it is the USPS' fault, what would you suggest they do? Throw the stuff in the trash, just to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest? I'd rather see government agencies behave more responsibly than that.

Or perhaps you're suggesting that they intentionally damage packages just so they can profit from the contents, somehow telepathically divining which packages contain valuables. I... guess I don't have much of a response to that.