Usps

J

JNieporte

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I put up a Walt Davis Chopper for trade, and a fellow forum member traded me a titanium-framed JYD II second for it. The JYD arrived within a week, but the Walt Davis didn't reach him. Through a few E-mails, we determined over the course of two weeks that the Chopper had been lost and I asked how to proceed. I ordered him an NIB Spyderco Gayle Bradley to pay for the trade, which is en route to him now. Fast forward to today...

I received the box that I shipped the Walt Davis in. There was no knife, no smaller box that the Chopper was in (the Chopper was inside a smaller box within the shipping box, surrounded by packing peanuts). The box was stained and one of the corners was crushed, almost as if somebody had stepped on it. The side was sliced open and then re-taped. Anybody who has traded with me knows my "unusual" style of taping, and this makes it somewhat tamper-proof.
The address window had black Xs Sharpied over the name and address, with a small "RETURN" stamp on it. So, I get back a box with some of my original packing peanuts. Great; where's the Walt Davis?

I called the post office and explained the situation. In order to file for the insurance that I had on the package, I have to prove that the item was worth the value declared; I need a receipt. I don't have a receipt, as I had traded for the Walt Davis right here on the forums.
A simple "Sorry sir, but we can't investigate your insurance claim without proof of how much it was worth" is the most I got.

So now I'm out a very fine knife in the Walt Davis, and I'm stuck. The Gayle Bradley will reach its owner any time now and I feel great about that, but I'm very curious as to which USPS person has my Walt Davis. I'm even more curious as to why insurance is offered "if you don't want to lose the package" and then I'm told that I need PROOF of the item's worth to take advantage of that insurance that I paid for.

Photos of the box and insurance stub are going to be sent to the Postmaster here, but I don't think it will do any good.

Am I just stuck eating the cost of the Chopper here? No proof of how much the Chopper was worth, no information to go on other than a Return stamp on the box (somebody has my property).

EDITED: I left a link to my original For Trade post as well. Just in case... http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=707590
 
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Would Walter Davis be able to provide you with a receipt for the original purchase price? I know it would not represent the trade value, but would that work?
 
You just need a receipt for anything over the value to file a claim.
The item is gone they don't know what it was.
The way I look at it you paid the money to insure the item, they lost it. Requiring you to have a receipt is just giving you a hard time after THEY lost the item. So give them one for another knife if you have to. The post office has to know people don't have receipts for everything they ship insured and it's just a way to make it harder to collect.
 
Sorry,To here about your loss,I am from Ohio also and just completed a trade when my knife reached the member I was trading with he informed me that the package was open and had been marked so by the Post office.That made me very upset,I was lucky because the knife was still inside.Thank You for this post as I am mailing out a knife tomorrow and will get my information ready if this happens to me.
Tracker 2
 
Anytime you do a swap or sale, use the BF PM system and email.
Start you correspondence and reply/respond to each other in that same one until you seal the deal.
The full make, model with specs and the value/selling/purchase price of your blade should be in the messages. Your full names and addresses should also be included as well as who your using to ship.
After it ships, send the tracking info, time it shipped etc in the same original message.
Take a photo of shipping label and postage label before your send it off.
Keep your shipping receipt.

You have something to offer with your claim should something happen during transit.
 
I turned an invoice in for a Spyderco Military on a lost Benchmade. Got my money too.
How are they gonna know what they lost?
 
Hey J, remind me again what knife you ended up with? No matter what, I should be able to provide a receipt for you:)
 
WalterDavis said:
Hey J, remind me again what knife you ended up with? No matter what, I should be able to provide a receipt for you:)
Click to expand...

A lightly-used Kershaw JYD II in titanium, factory second. I'm not sure of the current price, but kershawguy sells them in new condition (although still as a second) for $75. I insured the Chopper for $160 I think, although we agreed on a fair trade for the Kershaw.
 
jill jackson said:
I paid my fee to insure the package. They lost it.
I got the amount back I paid to insure for.
Click to expand...

I was just yanking yer chain a little Jill, but technically submitting a receipt for an insurance claim, for an item that was not in the package is insurance fraud.

No real actual harm, because you weren't profiting from it, just being made whole in a case like this. :thumbup:
 
jill jackson said:
I turned an invoice in for a Spyderco Military on a lost Benchmade. Got my money too.
How are they gonna know what they lost?
Click to expand...

if it was me, i wouldnt admit to frauding the USPS ( a gov't agency FWIW) online.

and i dont mean to say i blame ya for doing it in this situation, or that i think ya were wrong to do it, or that ya shouldnt have gotten your money when they lost your knife, or i might not have done the same thing, hypothetically.

odds are no one says anything and it wont have any negative consequences for ya either.

but, i just dont like to tempt fate and i would think twice (maybe 3 times?) about posting something like that, on the internet.
 
SIFU1A said:
if it was me, i wouldnt admit to frauding the USPS ( a gov't agency FWIW) online.

and i dont mean to say i blame ya for doing it in this situation, or that i think ya were wrong to do it, or that ya shouldnt have gotten your money when they lost your knife, or i might not have done the same thing, hypothetically.

odds are no one says anything and it wont have any negative consequences for ya either.

but, i just dont like to tempt fate and i would think twice (maybe 3 times?) about posting something like that, on the internet.
Click to expand...

You are no doubt right and I didn't even know I had to have a invoice until they lost the knife. Now I'm very careful to have something on anything I ship. The value of the knife they lost was more than I had it insured for. I only had 100 dollars on it and the knife cost me more.
And now that I think about it, it wasn't a B/M at all they lost it was the Spyderco Military.:) I ship so many I got mixed up!
 
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I admit I am not familiar with US law, but here, things like that are considered like contracts - you insured the package and its contents to given value and paid them for i) delivery, ii) insurance. Even if you were sending smelly socks, they still have to give you the insurance value, because, obviously, you are out of what you were sending and they can't provide you the very exact item.
If I were you, I would demand to know the paragraph of such an obligation (to provide receipt on lost insured items) in their trade terms. Indeed, if there even IS such a thing...
Second, given that natural (not juristic) persons are not obliged to keep accounting books, I think they should also accept your written declaration on word of honour concerning the value.
And, of course, if they still refuse, demand them to give you such statement in writing including substantiation.

EDIT: here are the terms: http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/609.htm, section 3.2
 
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huugh said:
I admit I am not familiar with US law, but here, things like that are considered like contracts - you insured the package and its contents to given value and paid them for i) delivery, ii) insurance. Even if you were sending smelly socks, they still have to give you the insurance value, because, obviously, you are out of what you were sending and they can't provide you the very exact item.
If I were you, I would demand to know the paragraph of such an obligation (to provide receipt on lost insured items) in their trade terms. Indeed, if there even IS such a thing...
Second, given that natural (not juristic) persons are not obliged to keep accounting books, I think they should also accept your written declaration on word of honour concerning the value.
And, of course, if they still refuse, demand them to give you such statement in writing including substantiation.

EDIT: here are the terms: http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/609.htm, section 3.2
Click to expand...

Good homework there and nice to know. I appreciate that.
 
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