Open disdain and hate for the USPS, let's celebrate Festivus

Time for the airing of grieviances.

I've had 3 coins get lost (or worse, stolen) in the USPS system in the past 6 months alone. The issue has been pinpointed to my local city's distribution center. Has anyone else here had these issues? Buying over the internet has many challenges, this is a much unnecessary one.

 

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Unfortunately, yes. I have had one gold coin "get lost" that I purchased (Indian $10) and two packages that I sold through eBay. One was a large tote of K'nex blocks weighing over forty pounds. How do you "lose" something that big?!

 

That is terrible. For the seller, how does that work? Does eBay make you eat the transaction, ie, if you don't have insurance, you are out of luck? One day I'm going to be a seller, I should learn how to deal with this. Thanks

 

Never happened to me before but I’ve had 2 sports cards disappear at the distribution center since October.

 

A word for the wise! Watch what is that for which you wish!!

 

Not sure what you mean. eBay looks out for the buyer, the seller, not so much. eBay guarantees money back if a buyer gets the shaft. I'm not sure what happens when the USPS hoses the seller, if the item is not insured.
That is the question.

 

Without naming the distribution center I'm talking about, I've seen their Google reviews. Everyone in that building needs to be fired. It's that bad.

 

Mine had an organized employee theft ring that the feds broke up: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ri/pr/seven-individuals-charged-postal-employee-theft-ring

 

You said "One day I'm going to be a seller"

Is that a Wish?

 

No. It's a dreaded liability. Just need to know the pitfalls. At some point I will want to unload lesser inventory to upgrade my collection. Trading up, if you will.

 

I went to school with a Barney McRae in Indiana.

 

As a buyer, eBay has always covered me - so far. You simply get a refund from the seller.
As a seller: I mailed my two packages under USPS Ground Advantage, which comes with up to $100 insurance. Supposedly, they sent me a check. I am headed back to Maine today for winter break, and I'll see if they did.
If a package goes missing with USPS, you have to file a lost item claim. You state what you sent and some proof of value (in my case, what they sold for), along with the tracking number. They decide how much to give you. In my case, they honored what they items sold for. They also reimburse shipping - or are supposed to.

 

I've had an increase in less-than-good experiences with USPS the past several months. Packages take weirdly illogical routes, play ping-pong back and forth between distribution points, and show motionless on tracking for extended periods.

BUT... my worst postal experience recently was a coin sent to Canada a month ago which has been motionless in Canada Post's hands for over 25 days. :-( As less-than-good as USPS service is, at least they have NOT been on a nation-wide strike for 28 straight days!!!! (Yes, really!)

So... my old grandad's saying proves right again: "No matter how bad off ya' are, there's always someone much worse off."

 

I read a lot of horror stories about the post office. I have shipped out and received over 1,000 packages in the last 10 years and have not had an issue with a single one, other than a few that took unreasonably long times to arrive.
I had one that was sent using eBay's budget mailer that bounced all over the country before I finally received it.

 

My USPS issues come down to the locals. They are constantly putting mail in the wrong mailboxes. I switched to using a PO Box for coins as a result. One of the first times I used it, status showed delivered, so I rushed down there to get my $300 coin. My box was empty. I showed the clerk the status on my phone and he started looking all over the floor for it. I said, how about checking the boxes near mine. Yup, it was in someone else's PO box. If that person had gotten there first, they could have kept it and USPS would claim it was delivered. This stuff has been going on for years, so it's not recent. The latest was a box via Amazon that USPS does last mile delivery for, which was jammed in my mailbox so tightly I had to cut the box apart in order to get it out of there. I've left a bad review and kept updating it with each new event. I've gotten a ton of likes on that review, so it's not just me.

PS - bah humbug.

 

Well, checks are here! USPS took good care of me.

 

Had a horrible experience with the USPS this week.

Wednesday I had a package coming. I live in a manufactured housing division where all the mailboxes are in a central building. I drove by my house on the way to the mailbox building and I noticed something lying on the wall of my house below the front door doesn't have steps as I have a deck on the side of the house so I enter the house that way. I get over there to see and it was the package and a notice for a registered lettee. In the mailbox building there are lockers with keys and if you have a package that doesn't fit it goes in there and the key goes in your mailbox. Four of the lockers were empty. According to my USPS Informed Delivery it was 4:57 when the package was delivered and I got there about 15 minutes later.

I was so irate it wasn't funny. I filed a complaint with the USPS online.

Thursday morning on my way to work I stop at the PO and talk to the supervisor. Never apologized and was bull me. Said it must have got put in the wrong locker and someone must have laid it there. I said that's impossible as that door has no steps so it's not an entryway. Also I had a notice for a registered letter and that was stuck on the door and only the letter carrier would have stuck it there. The ironic thing is I have a mailbox next to the side door on the deck. Why couldn't they have put it there or leave a note in my mailbox to pick it up at the PO.

I said to her if I have packages that don't fit in my box and no lockers are available leave a note in my box and I'll come get it at the PO . I told her it better never happen again.

Thurs night I ran into a couple I'm friends with who live in the same park and they said that's not protocol. If there aren't enough lockers they are supposed to put a note in your box to come pick it up. They actually have an agreement with park management to do that. They said that was a total FUBAR on the carrier's part.

Friday I went to the PO again, spoke to the supervisor and reminded her of that. She said she did talk to the carrier about it. Thankfully my Coin Talk Secret Santa package arrived safe and sound. And my Amazon gift cards from my employer.

This was just plain laziness on the carrier's part. And USPS doesn't care. Last year at this time I was living in an apartment building and had the same issues with theft. And one time the carrier didn't even bother putting my mail in my box just left it out in the open. Landlord's response was to give me a camera and tell me to hook it up myself. Which is why I decided to move.

 

Tack that onto my complaint above. They put the key for someone else's package in my box. I wasn't expecting a package, so I thought what's this? Opened the locker and sure enough, it was addressed to a neighboring PO box. I could have walked off with it, and a lot of people would have. Putting stuff in the right box is Job One.

 

My neighborhood also has two mail cluster kiosks for my street. Those mail delivery employees/contractors will try and take a shoe horn to fit boxes and packages into a small mailbox designed only for letters. They'll also shove advertising as thick as the old New York City phonebook into that box as well. Angers me to no end the amount of ad garbage they pack into my box.

I have one neighbor that gets so mad, he just leaves the advertising trash on top of the mailbox cluster.