Another postal theft . . .

Thank you everyone! I am new and sure I will make a lot of mistakes. I have been watching for awhile and trying to learn. Thanks a bunch.

 

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I understand now what went on. In my case it wasn't incorrect.

 

Welcome and thanks for posts. Enjoy your time here and learn as much as you can.

 

I hope you have lots of fun on the forum!

 

I used to buy stuff from western and central Europe all the time; nowadays, much more cautiously. I routinely let the dealers know that my worry is what happens once the coins arrive in the US. You get the pretty distinct impression that, compared to European postal systems, ours is in the Third World.
...But Please, it's like public education (prevailing conditions notwithstanding). Don't junk it, Fix it!

 

Unfortunately, some of these coin dealers practically hand it over to the thieves by using their business name. Sometimes their names contain "gold coins", in their name style, or "bullion" it don't take much to give a hint, what's in the package!! I don't know if that was the case but many dealers have been ripped off by USPS!!

 

There was a dealer in UK I used to buy from frequently. I forget what exact services they have, but I've received his packages all the way from there to Oregon in 4-5 business days and has tracking. It was not expensive either.

 

The UK is one conspicuous exception, from my experience, too. But the last couple of times I got anything from there, the rates had gone up stratospherically.

 

...That happened within the past couple of months.

 

Germany has excellent mail/parcel services, both public and private. It’s not expensive to send registered letters or parcels to other EU countries or to the US/Canada.

 

i remember when i used to insure or register valuable coins i sold, the p.o. used to stamp all 4 corners and any seams of the tape?? does this not hold true anymore???

 

Our local PO is very good with not just delivery but services available and resources to locate and find overdue mail. better than any private service around here.

 

Some would hate to admit it but the USPS outclasses private service, if they get defunded or disappear we would see a lot more human error in my opinion.

 

But that was sent Registered mail. This latest theft wasn't sent Registered. (Which also means that unless they also had private insurance on the package the maximum liability for the PO is $10,000.)

They do for Registered mail, not priority or regular insured mail.

Priority or Registered? You can send it fast and expensive but not real safe, or you can send it safe and cheaper but not real fast. Most people sending high value items tend to go with fast and not real safe. Then whine when they get ripped off. i'd rather send safe and cheap and KNOW it WILL get there eventually.

 

Very likely the dealer had private insurance. However, my private insurer requires double boxing, and there can be nothing on the outside that indicates valuables within. I regularly use registered mail for coins because my insurer charges the least for registered mail. Nice thing about private insurance is that you put a value of ZERO on the registration form ... the theft-minded won't give it a second look. The zero-value also gets the lowest shipping rate. Problem for dealers using registered mail is that it can be very slow. It's essentially an entirely different service from other mail and moves at its own speed. Postal clerks are happy to take your money for priority service for registered mail, but it won't move a bit faster.

Cal

 

Seems like a scam to me and trying to get paid for coins that were never shipped. if the package was damage and taped, it would be indicated, which likely means they received it looking like that and nothing has changed.

With anything you'd have to use due care at a minimum insure it for what it's worth, wich will then trigger UPS to double check the package is packed appropriately for it's value to accept the liability.

Looks like insurance fraud to me in my personal opinion and the two missing coins were never in there in the first place.

seems fishy the package was damaged and not notated there was a problem with it, seems fishy someone would be mailing almost $100K in gold 45 oz., almost 3 pounds, in a bubble mailer or a box when it could be driven in an hour personally, or sent by an armored carrier for a "reasonable" rate.

Seems to me like they can report it as a theft, make an insurance claim, and melt the two coins (if they even actually existed) and come out ahead by whatever the coverage limit is, but what do I know.

 

Private insurance would have been used not USPS and UPS has nothing to do with anything. Coins and packages like that are sent DAILY and no people don't jump in their cars or hire armored cars for those including things much more expensive. If the buyer wanted to go get it they could but dealers send these things all the time to each other.

Things stolen out of a box dont get marked and yes things do get stolen especially in the NY area. There is absolutely nothing fishy about the story at this point.

 

They have weight information on each package. When I pay for postage at the counter, my receipts tell me the weight of a priority mail box. If the weight at delivery does not match when postage was paid for, they can put two and two together.

And the package in original post was a bit hefty. Not like shipping a paper note in a bubble mailer and then slipping it out, then it would be tough to tell.

 

baseball, "UPS" was a typo. Meant USPS.

I'm glad you feel strongly about your opinion, However, I feel strongly about mine and we aren't going to see it each others ways.

in the end the coins aren't going to turn up, insurance is going to pay out whatever he had it covered for, and the world continues to turn. someone made $50K somewhere off of the stupidity here. Good for them whether it's the dealer or the thief if there was one. That's what insurance is for at the end of the day for every one shipment that goes wrong, there's another thousand that have no claims on them.

Why not steal all 3 though, the thief just left 20 oz of gold sitting on the table (so to speak), being a nice guy? the whole package could have disappeared, leaving $40K behind trying to be slick makes no sense. In for a penny, in for a pound, in my opinion.
Seems highly unlikely. Why not take the two 20 ozers and leave the 5oz. behind if that's the case?
I've got no skin in this game that's for sure!

 

The whole thing disappearing triggers a much bigger response and is the dumbest way to try and steal it considering it's tracked. That does still happen though but usually when that happens the package is just more lost than anything.

Empty box draws more attention when there's no weight in it.

I've actually had half of my orders stolen before, it absolutely does happen and isn't fishy at all unless something shows up that says it is. As also pointed out there are weights taken of the package and only an complete idiot would try and claim it when they never put it in