USPS----MAYBE NOT THE BEST CHOICE

[tjweeks]

I have had 2 knives disappear after being shipped using USPS. I mean two different disappearances. I shipped a two year old Benchmade CLA back to benchmade just for sharpening and it just was gone. I tried for several weeks to track it calling different postal sites all with no luck. I thought "Man I am glad I paid for extra insurance" I had bumped it up to $400. I sent the post office the original 2 year old receipt for the knife of $237.99. Two weeks later I get a check from USPS for $91. They just randomly depreciated my perfect knife to $91. I filed half a dozen appeals but they would not budge and it really pisses me off. I guess shipping a knife size box addressed to Benchmade Knives is like a red flashing light to any less than honest employees they might have at USPS. It is an enigma because if you choose to cover all your bases and ship thru UPS and buy extra insurance (I know because I had to do this last week) it will cost around $45--whereas if you use USPS with extra insurance it will only be around $16 but then even it you are covered for $600 they very well may decide it's only worth $75. What a pack of crooks.

 

[annr]

Yup. I've said it many times. The people I know who send precious packages (small things worth the value of 1-2 new cars, or more) worldwide don't use USPS under any circumstances. They pay more, but nothing goes missing or uncompensated. They are also more flexible about deliveries.

Example: customer has 2 addresses in Japan. Wrong one was used. No problem. After immediate notification, shipping company held the package until the customer could pick it up. (Customer happened to be in the area.)

Versus USPS: vendor ships something from France, USPS claims they tried to deliver (no notification left). After months of looking for the package, it turns out to be a few miles down the street in some warehouse. (No idea when/if they were going to attempt re-delivery or what they would have done with the item if we didn't beat the bushes looking for it.)

Friend ships electronics with non USPS carrier. Item goes missing. Gets reimbursed for full value, not some arbitrary depreciated value. (I'd check with some other carriers and see how they would handle your scenario. Has to be better.)

Sorry you got screwed.

ETA: I don't think you can over-insure something, just replacement cost, and you might need proof of that. Worth asking.

 

[panella]

Ouch. That "depreciation" assessment is ridiculous. If you paid for insurance it should be for replacement value - period - not an arbitrary low ball estimate. On the other hand, I've had a lot of packages arrive severely damaged, or lost, by UPS. Many have looked like they were loaded on the trucks by gorillas. FedEx and USPS have been guilty of this too. USPS has been the most reliable for me, BUT I've never had to file a claim for a lost package.

The only way I've been able, so far, to insure delivery intact and undamaged is to pay for overnight shipping no matter which carrier I'm using. It's expensive, but the less time in transit, the less chance of anything happening along the way.

In your case over-nighting seems excessive. At the very least I always use Priority Mail which you must have done to assign insurance. In any case, what USPS did is BS. Sorry to hear of it, but thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Peter Hartwig]

They don't understand collectable knives and you only chance was to explain it to them and show current market value.
? was it worth $400, if not you were just wasting money.
If you send it registered mail it will likely get there. PO employees seem to fear that.

 

[Norcaldude]

I love the US Postal Service and use them all the time. The few times I have had problems the post office took care of them to my satisfaction.

Individual delivery people have annoyed me sometimes over the years, but that's going to happen with any large group of people.

 

[tjweeks]

I love the US Postal Service and use them all the time. The few times I have had problems the post office took care of them to my satisfaction.

Individual delivery people have annoyed me sometimes over the years, but that's going to happen with any large group of people.

I guess I had not really given it the thought that it deserves. I have 4 times USPS lost something-I guess I'm whining because this was the first one I kind of had a personal attachment to. They REALLY did not take care of me with this knife. I was amazed that they took it on themselves to depreciate an item that I don't think they had any idea what it was worth. I went at them maybe a half dozen times with "proof" but they just blew me off with it. I hope your streak of luck holds up, you may be growling like I am if they give you a big screwing.

 

[SharpByCoop]

I guess I'm the luckiest person in the USPS world. 14 years, and NOT ONE lost or missing delivery and I must use them 100 times a year.

T tjweeks I hear you. I'd be pissed too!

I also learned and utilize LARGER USPS boxes with lightweight bubble wrap packing to take up the space. Larger boxes tend not to disappear.

I never, ever, EVER ship via a padded anything, unless it's Express Mail.

 

[tjweeks]

I guess I'm the luckiest person in the USPS world. 14 years, and NOT ONE lost or missing delivery and I must use them 100 times a year.

T tjweeks I hear you. I'd be pissed too!

I also learned and utilize LARGER USPS boxes with lightweight bubble wrap packing to take up the space. Larger boxes tend not to disappear.

I never, ever, EVER ship via a padded anything, unless it's Express Mail.

I am sitting here right now trying to keep control of myself. I sent (last week) my brand new Spydiechef (got it that day) to St. Nicks knives in Alabama for anodizing (I sent it UPS with $400 insurance). Okay, St Nicks mailed me they had got it done and it was headed back to me (by USPS). I used the tracking on USPS and it said the knife would be here Yesterday-Guess what-it's not here. I got on the USPS and tracked it again and they sent me some message about my package was late but it is inside the USPS system. Now what the fuck does that mean? Plus St Nicks used the cheapest shipping pkg. with no insurance (or maybe $100). But for now I don't have any idea where my knife is. I have found in the past that whenever you get a cryptic message like that from USPS they have absolutely no idea where it is. I don't want to accuse the postal crew of being crooked but if it does not show what do I have-maybe $100. This just totally sucks.

 

[panella]

I have had two USPS packages get caught in a loop. Bouncing back and forth between a distribution center and several post offices. I’ve also had them shipped to the wrong distribution center traveling over a thousand miles for a short 200 mile trip.

I ended up finding a customer support office where they contacted the problem post office and got my package back on track. S#!t happens.

 

[Peter Hartwig]

I am sitting here right now trying to keep control of myself. I sent (last week) my brand new Spydiechef (got it that day) to St. Nicks knives in Alabama for anodizing (I sent it UPS with $400 insurance). Okay, St Nicks mailed me they had got it done and it was headed back to me (by USPS). I used the tracking on USPS and it said the knife would be here Yesterday-Guess what-it's not here. I got on the USPS and tracked it again and they sent me some message about my package was late but it is inside the USPS system. Now what the fuck does that mean? Plus St Nicks used the cheapest shipping pkg. with no insurance (or maybe $100). But for now I don't have any idea where my knife is. I have found in the past that whenever you get a cryptic message like that from USPS they have absolutely no idea where it is. I don't want to accuse the postal crew of being crooked but if it does not show what do I have-maybe $100. This just totally sucks.

It sounds like it is just late. The newer UPS tracking system does not give precise location like they used to. It will likely show up today or maybe tomorrow. I wouldn't worry yet, even with your bad luck.
If it becomes a real problem, see the post master. They have a load of info not available to us.
I haven't lost anything domestic yet, but some have certainly taken weird trips.
I fully agree that the way they depreciate is BS. I understand them not being played by someone that over-insures, but it shouldn't require a whole lot to prove value IMO. They take the money quick enough.

 

[Airborne 1]

Karma can be a B#!ch, can't she. Mr.weeks

 

[tjweeks]

I have had two USPS packages get caught in a loop. Bouncing back and forth between a distribution center and several post offices. I’ve also had them shipped to the wrong distribution center traveling over a thousand miles for a short 200 mile trip.

I ended up finding a customer support office where they contacted the problem post office and got my package back on track. S#!t happens.

I bought a titanium bead for a lanyard. Trouble was it had to come from some place in Eastern Europe. I was watching it every couple days (just $30-no big deal) and it almost got down here to Ga and disappeared. About 2 months later it showed up in Hong Kong. They must have some really smart people working for them.

 

[mrfields]

heh, i had a knife coming in friday. get off from work, by the time i got hom it’s showing that it was delivered “in or around the mail box”. but no knife. decided to go in saturday and see what i could find out. the supervisor looked up the delivery scan the googled the gps coordinates from the scan location. turns out the knife got delivered to a house with the same address # on the next street over. they called the delivery person on his route & had him pick it up & drop it off at my house. fortunately it was still unopened. this is the same house that we regularly get their mail from. first time i know of that it went the other way

 

[BuckleBuilder]

Over 2500 packages shipped in many years not one hiccup with USPS.
Australia, Germany, France multiple times. I don’t think having trouble with the Postal Service is the norm. It does seem to be brought up here more than any other carrier though.

 

[Peter Hartwig]

It does seem to be brought up here more than any other carrier though.

I think that is due to most using it, so if they have a problem it will be with USPS. All carriers have problems. I have not had to make a claim on a package, but have read enough threads to know that I don't like the way they pay claims- they make people jump through too many hoops, and many may just give up(too time consuming). As noted here they also like to pay less than fair.
I will still use them and I continue to buy the insurance and just hope to be paid if there is a problem. I do wish I had never started with the insurance and just self insured, but could of, should of, would of.

 

[Horsewright]

We had a claim denied (another knife maker had sent me four knives to make pancake sheaths for), when it had the Postal Inspectors report attached saying that our missing knives were stolen by USPS employees. They paid on appeal but still. Right about the hoops to jump threw. When it was all said and done the stack of paper was pushing an inch thick and we had hours and hours on the phone. Little later the knives and sheaths showed up on Ebay. They were being sold as knives I had made because the sheaths were marked with my makers mark, the knives were unmarked. Notified the Postal Inspector...................crickets. We have had several packages go missing from USPS and all were theft by postal employees. Arrests were made, front page of our local newspaper, pic of em handcuffed and being hauled off in the squad car. Never got our stuff back. We have shipped thousands of packages USPS, UPS and FedEx. UPS lost a couple and we had a check literally within the week. FedEx has lost one, check in two weeks. The only theft has been USPS and its happened several times. Interestingly the only one they've ever misplaced was sent to Italy. Just never got there. We replaced the product for the customer at $60 worth. He'd also added a knife to the order to make paying the more expensive shipping via UPS worthwhile. It shipped Friday and he was emailing me Monday telling me how much he loved everything. Four months later our original package showed back up here covered in Italian writing and looking like a 747 had landed on it. Our in house policy has been for some years now, package under $100 value we'll use USPS (customers choice), over $100 FedEx or UPS. FedEx just damaged the first one, cracked a knife handle, we'll see how that goes. Waiting for it to get back from the customer.

 

[annr]

Horsewright
I agree with those values/shippers, unless the the item has value for some other reason, e.g., medication, one-of-a-kind, MUST have to conduct business at specific time/date. And I thought mail fraud was a crime, or they didn't consider it that the case of the stolen knives being resold on eBay? But no response.

On the topic in general, in another thread USPS just lost someone's knife for a month. If that were an item integral to someone's living (e.g., a surgeon's scalpel, getting in 1 month would be a little late for the patient.)

 

[annr]

I also learned and utilize LARGER USPS boxes with lightweight bubble wrap packing to take up the space. Larger boxes tend not to disappear.

I tend to agree that the larger boxes do not vanish as readily. But the parcel from France that wound up in a USPS warehouse for weeks-months was almost 3 feet long...hard to miss. Required a lot of detective work and an in-person trip to this satellite postal station. Oddly, the man at the counter knew IMMEDIATELY what we were looking for...duh...why not deliver it? Or notify us?

 

[Hale Storm]

I've used USPS for all of my shipping for the past 7 years and never had a package NOT delivered. I've had a few come late by a day or so.
ONE time I had a knife that I got the alert on my phone that it was delivered and when I checked, it was not in my mailbox. I chased down the mailman a few streets over and they came and unlocked the cluster box to find my package in the wrong mailbox.
We recently had a small issue here where the USPS was allegedly scanning Amazon packages as "delivered" when they really weren't (and bringing them back for delivery the next day) so they could stay within the binds of their delivery contract with Amazon.
I will point out that the United States Postal Service delivered over 6.8 BILLION packages in 2018. That's 6,800,000,000.
WOW. There is not any delivery service on the planet that has the success rate they do at that high a volume of deliveries. At 6.8 billion packages per year, it's inevitable that some will get misplaced, lost etc. and that there will be some dishonest employees among the almost 500,000 that work there.
And, we have the lowest postal rates of any industrialized nation in the world.
I realize none of that matters when it's MY knife or YOUR knife but maybe we should look at the overall picture and see that we have multiple well run organizations for shipping options, including the USPS, compared to anyone else in the world.
My $0.02. YMMV.

 

[tjweeks]

Horsewright
I agree with those values/shippers, unless the the item has value for some other reason, e.g., medication, one-of-a-kind, MUST have to conduct business at specific time/date. And I thought mail fraud was a crime, or they didn't consider it that the case of the stolen knives being resold on eBay? But no response.

On the topic in general, in another thread USPS just lost someone's knife for a month. If that were an item integral to someone's living (e.g., a surgeon's scalpel, getting in 1 month would be a little late for the patient.)

For someone hanging out in a knife forum I would think you would be a little more empathic. Many knife collectors consider their knives a personal treasure. There are many knives that are immediately put in a safe (safequeen) to help them maintain their value. Although mine was not a safequeen, I had a receipt showing two years earlier I had paid $237 for that knife and some turkey sitting in a office randomly decides that it is only worth $91.