My first USPS insurance claim for lost coin as the seller

I'm in my 4th year as a full time dealer and I have this type of problem about every 6 months. I use the post office sparingly and when I do use it, the value must be under $10k via USPS Priority mail. The $10k per package limit is a stipulation set forth by my private shipping insurance. My average value per USPS shipment is probably $5-$6k. 95% of all of my business is done via telephone and shipping service.

Here is my story, last month I sold a guy 200 Morgan Dollars and shipped them USPS priority signature confirmation from my place of business in Los Angeles to a client of mine in Hollywood, CA. I checked the tracking and it said notice left and it remained this way for several days. I called my client to let him know that he needed to go to the post office and pick up his package. When he answered he said he was in Las Vegas and would pick it up the following week. He decided to head to Vegas on a whim. When he arrived home a week later, the USPS Priority Mail medium flat rate box was just sitting on his porch. It was sitting there unattended for about 10 days. It seems that the USPS driver had scanned it as notice left knowing full well that they had just left it on the porch.

The guys in the post office here in LA are terrible. Some of them are actually hard workers but due to cutbacks they often work until 8pm at night.

There is one instance where the package actually came back to me after being missing for 2 months. My private shipping insurance covered it and thats the only product that I've ever lost.

The list goes on and on...

 

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This is a good idea.

 

WOW. This is very disturbing indeed. Did you see the sale price also? That would really be terrible. At first I was wondering why you WERE TYPING IN ALL CAPS, but now I see it is justified!

I have a question... when one purchases insurance, does the carrier see that it is insured? For me that would also be a hint that the package is of some value.

 

You would think this would be a firing offense.

 

Sorry for the caps. But I think we agree this is justified. And YES, ahhhhh! They can see the price I paid for it. The whole thing made me nauseous as I take my privacy very seriously. I recently changed my PayPal registered address to a UPS store box I have and take delivery there. No more leading the dirty mail carriers to my stash.

 

Wow, this is shocking. Sort of defeats the purpose of asking if you are shipping anything perishable, hazardous, lithium batteries, etc.

 

Well, sort of. You could sell a coin on ebay, print the label, amd then mail some toxic dog poo to someone instead of the coin, and when they pull up the screen like I saw at the post office it would show the ebay listing coin, not poo. Asking is still pointless though because I doubt many domestic terrorists would admit what they had done just because a clerk asked. Dont get me wrong, I despise the postal system now more than ever. I still cannot believe what I saw. I feel like PayPal, Ebay and the USPS should have disclosed that, or, I guess its buried in the agreement you sign when you open an account....so dirty.

 

You mean they are not trained in advanced behavioral analysis like the TSA...lol

 

Update!
After 4 months, one denial, and one appeal later, my claim for $765 was finally approved. GEEZ!
Claim opened 4/08, claim denied 5/26, appeal made 6/18, claim approved 8/18.

 

Great to hear!

 

Glad you got your money back.

It is also kind of funny that they won't cover "Radioactive injury".

 

Just curious, why was it initially denied?

 

It was initially denied because they simply looked at the tracking info and it said, "Notice Left." So they denied my claim and told me to pick it up in Knoxville. But the delivery person broke procedure and scanned it at the office instead of at the residence (to save herself time), then she either lost, mis-delivered, or stole the coin. They denied it because they didn't read any of the info I sent them and just checked the tracking info.

 

When I made my appeal, I threw the kitchen sink at them. I got letters from my postmaster, an email from the postmaster in Knoxville stating the delivery person had "performed her job improperly and against procedures," and I even obtained a copy of the Letter of Demand that the USPS issued the delivery person stating that she was responsible for paying the $765 or she would face termination. CRAZY!

 

Another issue here is that the USPS has been hiring part time carriers that have little regard for anyones mail. i`m sure you`ve see video on the news of mail carriers throwing flats of mail in dumpsters/grabage cans.
they can just scan a package as "delivered" and put it in their pocket and pass the buck.

 

This is a shocking story and has certainly changed my perspective on eBay and insurance policy. I cannot believe the first claim was denied.

 

I would be way more concerned that someone would share my name and address with people who are into the home invasion thing

 

I went to the local Post Office and had the clerk key in my tracking number for a label generated via the eBay/PayPal/USPS interface.
With certain specifics redacted, here is what was shown:






Note that there is no reference to eBay or even PayPal.
There are some clickable links but since the office was technically closed and Anne was simply being courteous, I did not bother to ask her to click the links.
I will when they are open on Friday or the following Monday.