First time sending money order + first time using registered mail = BAD Experience

The Logical One

The Logical One

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I recently purchased a pistol off of gunbroker and seeing how paypal was not an option, the only two choices I had was money order or wire transfer. I opted to go with money order. Long story short, I decided to ship the money order through registered mail because that was supposedly the most secure method.

I sent it out on 10/14 and tracking indicated that it would be delivered by 10/17. The tracking status hasn't been updated since the original ship date 10/14 where it shows departed the post office.

I called USPS yesterday 10/20 to make a claim and nobody has called me back yet. I went to the post office today to see if there is any way they can cancel the money order and get a refund so I can do a wire transfer to the seller instead. They told me the only thing they could do at this point is to put a trace on it.

My question to you guys who has more experience with money orders and registered mail is..... is it fishy that the tracking hasn't updated at all since a week ago? I wrote down the seller's name and address on the money order so from my understanding, nobody else would be able to cash it. I have been told by everybody that registered mail is THE most secure way because it gets locked up and signed for by everybody who handles it.

So at this point I'm not too worried about it being lost or stolen, I'm just more concerned about whether or not it was forgotten or if it's one of those things where it takes a month to arrive. The package is going from California to Kentucky.

What should I do at this point? Worry? Not worry? Luckily the seller is very understanding and a super nice guy, I just want him to get his money.
 
My own experience is that everyone that handles that package as is moving it from one location to another and onto and off of trucks must sign their name as they have physically touched it. In the past I have sent important money orders such as tax payments via Priority Envelopes. Very similar to the Priority boxes in the way they are scanned and handled. If you are concerned, it might be worth a trip to speak with the manager of the post office which it was dropped off/picked up at. Sometimes the folks on the phone are not as helpful as they should be.
 
RevDevil said:
My own experience is that everyone that handles that package as is moving it from one location to another and onto and off of trucks must sign their name as they have physically touched it. In the past I have sent important money orders such as tax payments via Priority Envelopes. Very similar to the Priority boxes in the way they are scanned and handled. If you are concerned, it might be worth a trip to speak with the manager of the post office which it was dropped off/picked up at. Sometimes the folks on the phone are not as helpful as they should be.
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I've done that twice actually. They were actually a lot less helpful than the people over the phone.
 
They should know where it is, as Registered mail really is tracked all the way through, and all the mail people I've dealt with were much, much more careful dealing with it. I will say that it usually takes longer than the estimated time frame, the last two packages I got using that method averaged 5 - 7 days from ship date.

If you haven't done it, ask on the USPS site to email all the tracking info both before and after this date, I've noticed the emailed tracking is much more complete than just the standard USPS info you get just from typing in the number.
 
It will take a little longer because of the extra security. Don't panic, it is very hard for the Postal Service to lose a Reg.
 
Thanks for the reassurance, as I mentioned I'm not too worried about the package being stolen, I'm just worried that it'll take like a month to get there.
 
Yeah. I hate money orders for that reason - uncertain/slow to arrive. I've bought a few guns off GB, but I've never sent my MO's via registered mail. First class works just fine.

Would be great if the USPS offered digital money orders - pay in cash/debit/etc at the post office and the recipient gets a unique code/identifier which can be presented for collection.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
It will take a little longer because of the extra security. Don't panic, it is very hard for the Postal Service to lose a Reg.
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Copy that. With my experience, I'd say it takes 5-7 days (I even had a two day registered priority take a week!). Slow, but sure.
 
The USPO tracking system is terrible. They have lost so many items of mine, it's crazy. And god forbid if you want info, they treat you like crap. In my experience, the only way to send verifiable tracked items is through UPS or FedEx. Granted they are much more expensive, but their tracking system is much better.
 
bodam said:
The USPO tracking system is terrible. They have lost so many items of mine, it's crazy. And god forbid if you want info, they treat you like crap. In my experience, the only way to send verifiable tracked items is through UPS or FedEx. Granted they are much more expensive, but their tracking system is much better.
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Guess I've been lucky then.

A helluva lot of packages/envelopes and only a single loss. And that one went into a hurricane (literally)...
 
I've had items show delivered for days, started a huge fight with USPO and mysteriously it shows up days later.

Our local post office is terrible.
 
Can't say I've had much experience with registered mail, but delivery or signature confirmation etc. As far as tracking it is hit or miss I've had some packages get scanned once some several times through it's travels. In that respect UPS fedx is better
 
bodam said:
The USPO tracking system is terrible. They have lost so many items of mine, it's crazy. And god forbid if you want info, they treat you like crap. In my experience, the only way to send verifiable tracked items is through UPS or FedEx. Granted they are much more expensive, but their tracking system is much better.
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Can be argued either way - I have had FedEx screw up every time (they never managed to enter my premise when everyone else including ups, ontrac can). Their pickup in San Jose is terrible with huge queues and when they go hunt for your package they are gone for like 10-15 minutes in that warehouse, which explains the queue. Anyone sends me anything by fedex goes sent back to the recipient now. Simply not worth the hassle.

USPS has never lost my package, and our PO staff is very polite. Maybe just lucky.
 
The issue will be the MO. It is relatively secure in this case, but you will likely have to wait a month for an official acceptance of a claim (which you will have to initiate and pay a fee for might I add). So, if it lost - you should be ok in the end, but your money will be tied up for a bit.
 
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