USPS- my first theft

[MSCantrell]

Well, I've had a pretty good track record with the US Postal Service up till today.
I made arrangements with another BFC member, Jeff, to modify his knife- replacing a rubber handle with some nice wood.
Got an email from him Monday saying the knife was going in the mail.
Today, I go down to the Post Office and check my box, and there's a Priority Mail envelope there. So far, so good.
But when I pull it out, it's too light to have a knife in it, and sure, enough, there's a sticker on it that says "Received without contents". Damn.

Not a cheap knife to have stolen, and you know what's even better? The thief got the postal money order that was stuck in the envelope with the knife.

The pictures are below, I edited out his address on the envelope (not polite to go posting someone's address out in public).

So Jeff and I talked, and it looks like he can go cancel or stop-pay the Money order. That's good. But the package wasn't insured, so about the only thing available is a form to check in the lost mail.

I guess there's a slim chance maybe the envelope was torn when it went through some machine, and maybe the knife fell out and was put in the lost mail bin by an honest postal worker... but that seems like a stretch.

I wish there was more I could do on my end! This really put a cloud over my day (and I'm not even the one who got burned).

In the future, I'm definitely going to stick with the Priority Video boxes (the small corrugated cardboard ones), which they give you free if you ask for them. Ok, not free, but included in the price of Priority shipping.
And maybe from here on out I'll be adding insurance to my packages- this is going to worry me from now on.

Again, I wish there was more I could do, but the best I can may be just to warn everybody else here.

Mike

 

[OldPhysics]

Agreed. A hard way to learn a lesson -- but thankfully, you've got it now.

Only use boxes and always, always insure.

Give no indication of the contents -- nothing on the item should indicate that anything of real value is inside.

There are NO trustworthy shippers. Trust this old fellow -- NONE.

 

[Tyrkon Lawson]

Agreed. I have always insured my knives from fear of this very thing. I've never needed it but just in case.

Sorry to hear about your missing knife. Is there a number you can call to report it just incase an honest employee finds it?

Best of luck.

 

[wayne37]

I always request a box and that the item be packed securely with newspaper
or foam peanuts, It's always a good bet.

 

[zcostilla]

Is it me, or is that tear too square to be from a knife sliding inside the envelope?

Zac

 

[El_Toro]

I always request a box and that the item be packed securely with newspaper
or foam peanuts, It's always a good bet.

+1 on that. I tend to overpack items myself, not only to protect the contents from damage, but to make it more secure. Dishonest postal employees will most likely go for those easier to open packages. Sorry to hear about the loss, hopefully things will get straightened out.

 

[whippersnapper]

My Mayberry size post offices don't always have the priority boxes, so I ordered some from the usps website in the cd and larger size. Took about 3 days and my mail person brought them right to my door....Free.

 

[StretchNM]

Is it me, or is that tear too square to be from a knife sliding inside the envelope? Zac

I was wondering the same thing...... Is it possible the knife blade became somewhat exposed, slid in the envelope, and sliced its way out? And along with it the MO?

 

[DaveinNY]

Sorry about the loss of the knife. But I must defend the USPS here. The knife was not properly packaged and more than likely the envelope was eaten by a piece of equipment due to the bulge that the knife would have made. Theft is almost non-existent, with everything being totally automated, human hands never touched that package until it jammed in the conveyor sorting system. Even though not insured, the owner should file a claim of missing merchandise with the distribution center nearest your local post office. It probably went through the Philadelphia hub and is sitting in the lost items rack. The people working there are average Joe's and will go out of there way to help. No I,m not an employee of the post office, but have had lots of experence with the system.
Dave

 

[MSCantrell]

Sorry about the loss of the knife. But I must defend the USPS here.
... Even though not insured, the owner should file a claim of missing merchandise with the distribution center nearest your local post office....
Dave

Good points, Dave. Jeff is doing exactly that, filling out the Lost Mail form. Again, hopefully it will turn up.
Got our fingers crossed.
Mike

 

[DaveinNY]

If he can, avoid the bureaucracy, salaried employees won't do much for him. Have his local clerk contact someone at the distribution center, they all know someone on the inside that can help.

 

[Mike G]

There is a sticky at the top of this forum titled How you should package your knife for shipping.

I highly recommend reading it. :thumbup:

 

[j.h]

Envelope?

Why not use a box? And tape the hell out of it. And secure the item inside it. Securely. No rattles. Some things are worthy of double packing, with name and address also securely on the item INSIDE the box.

Packing is important and this is another sad reminder.
Sorry to hear this, it costs you both on this one.

Edited to add: That envelope looks like it was cut open to me...

 

[Slatts]

Never never never ship a knife in an envelope. I made that mistake once. Wrap it well, pack it tight, and put it in a box. Tape the shit out of every crack, seam, and fold.

 

[speed647]

Never never never ship a knife in an envelope. I made that mistake once. Wrap it well, pack it tight, and put it in a box. Tape the shit out of every crack, seam, and fold.

And always insure it.

USPS stole an uninsured knife from me too, and I'm pretty sure it was the carrier. The package was 'scanned' by the carrier but somehow never made it into my box. I called the local P.O. and was told it was my word against his and that they believed him.

 

[collins]

. I called the local P.O. and was told it was my word against his and that they believed him.

I'm sorry to hear that...that is totally unprofessional.

Just curious, did you talk to the Postmaster/management or was it a Postal Inspector?

My Dad has worked for the USPS for years and has known a few people who stole medication and the like from people's mail. They were all caught, but were never harshly reprimanded or fired. Kind of ridiculous.

 

[shappa]

If you decide to use usps they will deliver to you, free of charge, all the priority boxes, labels and tape that you ask for. It's all free so don't SKIMP on the tape. When I'm done wrapping a box you'll need a saws-all to get into it.

I've lost a knife and almost lost another. Both were mailed to me and both boxes were popped open in the same manner. I took the last box and fit a leatherman handle EXACTLY into the imprint that was left.

 

[Razzierb]

Sorry about your loss. It's never fun.

Somehow got to the airport security line with one of my knives by mistake and attempted to mail it home ... In an envelope .. It was all I could get at the airport. Envelope got there ... with a hole .. and no knife ..

Well packed boxes are the only way to go for knife shipments. Even the small ones.

 

[pbubsy]

It's pretty obvious that there were 2 mistakes.
1-The item was improperly packaged
2-The item was of value and not insured

A lot of people have misconceptions about how mail is handles within postal processing plants, so I'll lay it out for you guys. Mail is transported by air and ground in various kinds of containers and sacks. Picture a big aluminum container that's bigger on the outside than some european cars, and filled with mail. Now picture that same container with your parcel at the bottom with about 6 feet of mail on top of it, some of which is heavy. Loaded to the max, these containers can be up to 1500 lbs.

Not only is mail transported in these containers (among smaller ones), but it is now largely being processed on a large machine where the mail is dumped out of these containers onto a belt in large dumpers along with thousands of other parcels where it's sorted by a computer that can read addresses with 35 different cameras (I believe) and then run the mail out onto one of over a hundred separate conveyor belts to a slide with a sack at the end ready to receive the parcel after about a 3 foot drop.

That sack containing your parcel among others, once full, is tied off and labeled before being placed in a container along with other sacks that are going to be sorted in yet another machine. The mail is then sorted on belts again and placed in a big container with other mail being sent to the same hub and then driven to the airport for transport once ready for dispatch.

After arrival at the closest hub (to the delivery point), the mail is then dumped out of the sack and sorted on another machine like the first and sent off to your carrier station in large containers where it is then taken out by your carrier and delivered.

The machines the mail go through aren't exactly rough, but if improperly packaged, your parcel has a good chance of being damaged with all the drops, tumbling, and dumping (let alone having other, sometimes heavy parcels often dropped on top of it by the machine when in a container).

There are many moving belts that carry the mail around the machine and sometimes, unfortunately the mail can get caught on something and be torn open. Mail can also be torn open by other parcels with sharp corners and such when being transported in the containers I mentioned above.

When mail is damaged, it come is all different states. Sometimes the box or packaging is simply torn a little or crushed and just needs to be taped up to insure it's delivered safely and sometimes we get empty boxes and/or contents that were separated from their boxes/packaging. Other times the addresses on the mail aren't ledgible due to tearing, water or fluids from other parcels, among other things that can render mail undeliverable.

When we have mail in these different conditions we do our best to return loose items back to their packaging, repair damaged packaging and try to doctor up all packages so they may be delivered. Sometimes when packages are torn open by machines or other packages the contents are separated from their boxes and might even end up in different states (and are impossible to reunite). It's simply impossible to tell what contents come from which packages when you get containers of damaged mail sometimes (Damaged mail is grouped together for employees to repair in a set area). Sadly, this is what probably happened to your parcel.

I'm unsure as to where EXACTLY the contents of damaged packages go if they're unable to be reunited with their packages as that's not my Job in the Post Office, but I know that all possible steps are taken to fix these occurances and they're probably stored for a period of time before being destroyed.

With all that said, my best advice to everyone on packaging is to use good boxes (free ones are provided at Post Offices when you ship Priority or Express) and package the contents securely inside with newspaper or other padding. Use a good amount of tape on the outside of the box to insure that it won't come open. It's also a good idea to tape an address on the item being shipped just in case it's ever separated from it's box so it can either be reunited with it's original packaging or shipped to the address if the box is nowhere to be found.

I've always packed my packages safely and used liberal amounts of padding and tape when shipping. On top of that, I insure valuble packages and request that packages being sent to me are insured. Delivery confirmation/Tracking is under a buck and always a plus.

I've yet to have any problems with the Post Office either with the many packages that I've shipped OR the many packages that I've received. Damaged mail is pretty rare in comparison to the volumes of mail being worked but it DOES turn up. Especially if many thousands of packages are being sorted.

Please pack accordingly and unassumingly (so just in case there are thieves, the package doesn't attract them). We all HATE hearing stories like yours.

I hope this helps!

-Paul

BTW: The possibility of thieves is always there. There are over 700,000 people that work for the Postal Service. Like a city with a like population you get all sorts of people. Some dishonest. I'd like to think that there aren't any, but with that many people, you're bound to have some rotten ones so the possibility of theft is always there

 

[AR fan]

This is Jeff, the dumbass who lost his knife. I thought it would be packed adequatley, since it was only going down the road a little ways. Mike and I live fairly close here in MI. I packed the knife in its original box with MO then put it into the priority envelope, which didn't make much of a bulge since the box is just over 1/2" thick. Then we added extra tape on the top flap. This was all done by the instructions from the Postmaster, he even thought it was good to go. And the size of that tear looks to be exactly the size of the box which was 2 1/2" X5". When I look at the top left corner of the tear I think I see a small cut and the cardboard from it is bent back away slightly, I think this is were the thief entered using a small sharp blade. then stuck he/she/its fingers through to rip the rest of the way. Sounds like I'm pissed, yeah, I'm not a millionare who can order another. I'm a totally disabled vet, it took me 2 months of saving just to get this one. One good thing, I keep my knives extremely sharp so I hope my knife gives it's new owner a nice introduction (one that needs stitches).