I sent a coin submission to PCGS on Monday (It is now Friday) via USPS insured registered mail. The expected delivery date was Thursday (yesterday.) The package has been "in transit to the destination" for 3 days and nothing has changed on the tracking since Tuesday. The last time I submitted to pcgs was sent quickly on time within a few days with no problems. I am starting to get nervous.... I am hoping it's just running a little late and was not lost or stolen. I was told registered mail is secure and only certain personnel can handle the package, it travels under lock and key, and there is a chain of custody and all that.... Am I freaking out for no reason or is this common? Anybody else have any similar experiences? Thanks!
Don't get nervous redleg (I too was artillery)...... Here of late I have had numerous registered coin packages both sent and received. About half of them deliver lickety-split and the other half get caught in that 2-3 day black hole you mentioned. Eventually all arrived safe and sound.... Honestly, I believe USPS is struggling with help like everybody else in this day and age. If it gets lost for more than 5-6 days, then I would begin to worry.
Innn no order to protect the package will not be scanned until it’s delivered. With Registered Mail you’ll never see them tracking but the package is moving and it’s safe.
In the late 50s, Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond, one of the world’s most valuable, to the Smithsonian Institution. How did he send it to them? … registered mail! I’ve had registered mail hang for more than a week in one location. I’ve also had it complete a cross-country trip in 3 days. It moves at its own pace because of the security measures. I’m guessing delays have to do with qualified personnel or trucks not being available at some locations continually. Or the available qualified truck or container is filled and departs, and the extra packages have to wait for the next to arrive which might not be for days. When submitting registered packages at the PO, clerks will often offer to send it priority mail. You’ll pay more, and it won’t move a bit faster. Cal
Yes, I've explained in another thread, where it got shipped (literally), in a vehicle that got stalled, and the Postmaster quit her job over the incident, before the "shipment" arrived! A 5 figure value coin was not to be found, until final delivery! I learned more than I wanted, in that episode! However, the package is secure! JMHO
Seems like it has finally moved... I really feel a lot better! I knew I was most likely just being nervous and impatient.... Almost as equal to the value.... is the time and work spent looking for these coins the past year! Now I can just hope to get some decent grades and that they make it back to me safely!
Register mail can be (but isn't always) very slow, but it is also very secure. It used to be the post office wouldn't even let you make a claim on a registered mail package until it had been missing for over 30 days simply because it could be slow. RM in transit for 30 days or even more used to be not that unusual. But the number of pieces of RM that go missing annually (out of the hundreds of thousands if not millions of pieces) can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. RM may tak awhile, but it WILL get there.
Registered Mail is slow because every time the mail piece changed hands, it’s registered in a book and signed for. Your post office to the truck driver. The truck driver to the processing plant. The processing plant to the next person. That is three logs in 3 different books and 3 different people signing for it. It’s also scanned as it has a tracking number but you can’t see the scans until it’s delivered and signed for.
