USPS tracking # = worthless?

Just for the record, when I mail something out, usually w/ a value over $100, I send it insured and w/ a del conf #. Recently, a new clerk at USPS told me that I was being redundant with both extra services. She said that when vendors send out products, lets say LL Bean or Rei for example, it's insured on their end. If you don't get the item, you call them up and tell them you didn't get it. You ought to get a replacement or a refund on your credit card. But let's say you want to return the item: The USPS said best bet would be to return it w/ a Del conf #.

As for knives, I'm planning on using Priority shipping. Insurance can be purchased by the buyer if the person wants it. Otherwise it's going out w/a Del Conf#

Knock on wood, I have a great PO branch. Never have lost anything.

Barry H
 
I have found that it is easier to claim insurance for an item that the USPS lost in transit after 30 days if you have DC and it was never marked as delivered.

Otherwise, insurance is EXTREMELY difficult to claim on loss (instead of damage), as there is no paperwork showing whether it was delivered.

I always pay for DC and insurance. If it is of high value, I usually send it registered, Express, or FedEx.

-j
 
A note on Priority Mail...
You guys might want to know that anything over @1lb> ends up in the Priority rate classification - ie; anything costing more than $3.95 ($3.85 being the break point to qualify as "Priority" for something under @1 lb..) is automatically now classified as Priority... All this used to be known as First Class. However, several years ago the PO got the ide from it's marketing dept that if you take a .37 cent envelope, which is known as First Class, and you offer the public the chance to pay an extra $3.50+, you can put a sticker on it and now call it Priority... It goes out and comes back in the same truck as the .37 cent envelope, in the same amount of time... and the gullible pay extra for the service you'd still get at the traditional 1st Class rate...
And since most knives and packaging results in weights of, on average, over one pound... you are probably already paying Priority Rates...
The only way to really get value from the PO is to send things Certified w/Return Postcard.. that's $2.30 for Certified and $1.75 for the Return Postcard, plus postage and/or insurance... That gives you all the legal protection you need (it's what Courts require in Legal proceedings) and claims can be carried out relatively quickly and painlessly...
Or if your knife is worth more than a thousand, I'd send it Registered (for around $7) and Return Postcard... that happens to be safer than Fed Ex or UPS in that it is always transported in a locked container and is signed for at each exchange of possession... It is often used to send extremely expensive documents, like checks and bearer bonds... so the system is pretty well established and functional...
 
I sent documents to the state on two different occasions last year using Certified Mail w/ Signed Receipt Requested.

The first......I never have heard anything about it. As far as I know, it's still in a mail truck....somewhere.

The second.......60 days after I mailed it I found an innocuous little sticker in my p o box w/ a hand written note on it saying: "No record".

When I asked the postmaster what had happened to my two Certified letters she offered to give me my money back. I told her to keep it because it seems the USPS needs it more than I do! :mad:

Next time it will be FedEx overnight!
 
Paladin... that's about the wierdest I've heard re:Certified... we send thousands of Certified mailings every year ... yes, they can get lost, the return reciept may, or may not, be removed by the Postman and a sig obtained and then returned, the return reciept can get lost... all those things...
I'm not trying to defend the USPS... heck, I won't use them unless you have a PO Box (as they are the only ones that can legally deliver to a POBox)... I use FedEx exclusivley whenever I can... and they lose shipments, too, so one must simply learn to use the appropriate shipper for the circumstances, cover one's fanny as best as possible... and then trust unto faith... it either works or it doesn't...
 
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