USPS Blues. Undelivered package

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godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
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Mailed two knives to a gentleman in my state of GA. August 3rd was when I mailed it priority mail. He hasn’t received it. Tracking number, provided to him, shows “Out for delivery”. Has been in out for delivery status for over a month now. The recipient’s PO has a picture of it arriving, and documentation that it’s there. I would suppose that a camera records all incoming packages? Have no idea.

PO admitted to him this morning, basically they don’t have a clue where it is. Priority mail, documented it’s there….and it’s GONE? The box was non descript….didnt say a word about being from “XXX Knives”, etc. just from me to him. The guy is swearing out an arrest warrant for the postmaster and its value would mean a felony.

My first USPS snafu in 20+ years. Damn.

I told him I’d replace the blades because I feel it’s my responsibility to get the order to his door. And forget about collecting insurance….that’ll never happen.
 
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I'm sorry to hear about that. That just stinks.

You should at least try to collect the insurance if you purchased it. I have (surprisingly) had some luck getting insurance money from lost and damaged packages. Though I typically try to just be self insured cause I despise dealing with it. I only buy it for really high dollar packages.
 
Seedy Lot said:
Did you try to collect insurance? I often wonder if paying for insurance is a waste.
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I’ve had this happen before, as have others. Anything over the standard $50 (or whatever), the just flat out refuse to pay. Had a friend with a vintage Winchester rifle that was shipped off for restoration. $3800 value. Coming back, they snapped it in half. They won’t pay…for the same reason they won’t for a handmade knife….true value can’t be established according to them. My handmade knife (and yours) is different than a brand name knife, say a Benchmark that retails for $199.95….value can be ascertained there. Just because we say the knife is worth X amount doesn’t make it so in their eyes. For that reason, they’ll tell you to go pound sand.

Hope the sheriff’s department serves the postmaster with felony arrest papers. The USPS regional supervisor has been brought into the case now. We’ll see.

My PO told me it’s more than likely lost behind, or under, some sorting equipment and they figure it’ll show up some day..,
 
So, you only get what it currently retails for (if it's still being sold) in terms of provable value?
 
godogs57 said:
I’ve had this happen before, as have others. Anything over the standard $50 (or whatever), the just flat out refuse to pay. Had a friend with a vintage Winchester rifle that was shipped off for restoration. $3800 value. Coming back, they snapped it in half. They won’t pay…for the same reason they won’t for a handmade knife….true value can’t be established according to them. My handmade knife (and yours) is different than a brand name knife, say a Benchmark that retails for $199.95….value can be ascertained there. Just because we say the knife is worth X amount doesn’t make it so in their eyes. For that reason, they’ll tell you to go pound sand.

Hope the sheriff’s department serves the postmaster with felony arrest papers. The USPS regional supervisor has been brought into the case now. We’ll see.

My PO told me it’s more than likely lost behind, or under, some sorting equipment and they figure it’ll show up some day..,
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That is such BS that they can get away with that. I could be wrong but if you can present proof of what the customer paid you for the knives that should be worth something as far as establishing a value. That or advertise the knives as being available for such and such amount then they are still on the market with a current, set price. You are the manufacturer after all. I realize that's not the most feasible for some people.

I'm sure they'll still have more excuses to not pay up.
 
Contender Machine said:
That is such BS that they can get away with that. I could be wrong but if you can present proof of what the customer paid you for the knives that should be worth something as far as establishing a value. That or advertise the knives as being available for such and such amount then they are still on the market with a current, set price. You are the manufacturer after all. I realize that's not the most feasible for some people.

I'm sure they'll still have more excuses to not pay up.
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My lost knife 20 or so years ago was insured for $550. I had pics of the knife PLUS a copy of the check for $550. So what? Didn't matter. They went through their entire diatribe again that there was no way to establish the value. I said "Excuse me? We have documentation of a willing seller and a willing buyer! We HAVE established value in this transaction ". At that point they just refused to even respond to me. I was friends with one of our US Senators in GA. Called him. He inquired about it. They still ignored us.
 
Well this has been enlightening.

I'm assuming if it's a knife model on a sellers website that they are still offering, you might stand a better chance
 
Contender Machine said:
Yeah that's all a bunch of BS. Insurance in general is a scam most of the time.

It's good for people here to be aware of this.
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They wouldn't offer insurance if they couldn't make good money on it.

About the only thing insurance manages to do is keep some of the involved handlers honest who fear an investigation if USPS actually has to pay a claim. They see the insurance tag and take a little extra care. Sometimes. Maybe...
 
fitzo said:
They wouldn't offer insurance if they couldn't make good money on it.

About the only thing insurance manages to do is keep some of the involved handlers honest who fear an investigation if USPS actually has to pay a claim. They see the insurance tag and take a little extra care. Sometimes. Maybe...
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On my $550 lost knife the USPS flat out stated, in early conversations, that one of their own more than likely stole it. Then they added salt to the wound saying “insuring a small package for $550 is asking for it to be stolen”. I about dropped dead whe they had the audacity to tell me that…..inferring it was my fault for tempting a less than honest USPS employee. Holy crap.
 
godogs57 said:
On my $550 lost knife the USPS flat out stated, in early conversations, that one of their own more than likely stole it. Then they added salt to the wound saying “insuring a small package for $550 is asking for it to be stolen”. I about dropped dead whe they had the audacity to tell me that…..inferring it was my fault for tempting a less than honest USPS employee. Holy crap.
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Yeah, that's why I said "sometimes, maybe," you might deter the almost honest man. Seems they've accepted the fact that, like most all government everywhere, corruption is to be expected to some extent great or small.

Sad about your loss, Hank. Sucks. :(
 
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fitzo said:
Seems they've accepted the fact that, like most all government everywhere, corruption is to be expected to some extent great or small.
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I'd agree, but as a govt employee myself, I'd say it's more indicative of human corruption rather than just govt... Govt workers are a pretty representative example of the society they come from.
 
A.McPherson said:
I'd agree, but as a govt employee myself, I'd say it's more indicative of human corruption rather than just govt... Govt workers are a pretty representative example of the society they come from.
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You’re right, of course. Big corporations wouldn’t have “Corporate Loss Prevention” if that sector wasn’t subject to the same variations in honor and decency.
I just happened to be watching the news and yet another corrupt Chicago politician is taking some time off at a state facility, so that probably affected my comment a bit. 🙂
 
godogs57 said:
Mailed two knives to a gentleman in my state of GA. August 3rd was when I mailed it priority mail. He hasn’t received it. Tracking number, provided to him, shows “Out for delivery”. Has been in out for delivery status for over a month now. The recipient’s PO has a picture of it arriving, and documentation that it’s there. I would suppose that a camera records all incoming packages? Have no idea.

PO admitted to him this morning, basically they don’t have a clue where it is. Priority mail, documented it’s there….and it’s GONE? The box was non descript….didnt say a word about being from “XXX Knives”, etc. just from me to him. The guy is swearing out an arrest warrant for the postmaster and its value would mean a felony.

My first USPS snafu in 20+ years. Damn.

I told him I’d replace the blades because I feel it’s my responsibility to get the order to his door. And forget about collecting insurance….that’ll never happen.
Click to expand...
I had one missing for three months a couple years ago ,I filed a claim on it and when they finally reviewed it they denied my claim .The next day the package arrived to my buyer ,I went from fury to huge relief.I hope yours shows up 👊🏻
 
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