My USPS paranoia

Bimmerboy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Messages
2,070
Location
Long Island, NY
Right after this past holiday season came to a close, I noticed quite a bit of mention regarding packages lost by USPS. I myself, have been lucky, and never had a package lost by any service, ever. But odds are it'll happen sooner or later, and according to Murphy's law, it'll happen to a rare/one-off modding part instead of something easily replaceable. A question struck me recently, and am wondering if anyone has had the same thought.

Ultimately, this may just be fairly stupid, Sunday morning rambling... But...

Has anyone had enough experience with lost deliveries to notice a difference in loss rate between insured, and un-insured packages? Does the fact of having insurance seem to, perhaps, draw attention to a package, and increase it's chance of being, ahem, "lost" somewhere along the line?

It's usually a good idea to get shipping insurance for expensive items, right? When purchasing an expensive, but easily replaceable item, I certainly agree. But, what about those rare, hard to get parts? Does anyone here (besides me) intentionally skip the insurance in order to make something appear as a less valuable item? As in... "Nope, ain't nothin' in here but cheap stuff you wouldn't be interested in".

This being said, I DO like delivery confirmation quite a bit, and use it often.

BTW, this post is in no way indicative of any suspicion regarding my mailman. He's a nice guy, and has been on the route for a good while. My question is basically odds related, for lack of a better phrase.
 

Marty Weiner

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
1,038
Location
Same Area Code As Death Valley
I'm not sure about the "Insured" aspect but I just mentioned this to my mailman yesterday when I inquired about a "late" Priority Mail package that I was expecting.

He told me that a lot of people have asked him about missing mail lately and said that it may be because of the holidays.

I sold an item on another forum a couple of days ago and the buyer insisted on UPS vs. USPS because of their track record. Unfortunately, UPS has raised their fees and it would have cost nearly 3 times that of USPS to mail, so I declined.
 

zigziggityzoo

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
184
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
I personally have had the greatest success with DHL and FexEx Express. I absolutely abhor FedEx Ground and USPS both. USPS for their lack of tracking abilities and FedEx Ground for their incompetence (local office is full of chimpanzees...no, worse).

UPS I've had good and bad. Mostly good, but I've had a few electronics and computer peripherals damaged by UPS smashing and puncturing packages.


I will say that I prefer insurance on all packages, even the worthless ones. Some companies let you claim up to $XXX free insurance, and I always claim the maximum, even if the shipment is merely a USB cable. I once had a package lost with a couple CDs inside (nothing too important), and ended up with $250 for my troubles.
 

swampgator

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
777
Location
Gatorville, Florida
zigziggityzoo said:
FedEx Ground for their incompetence (local office is full of chimpanzees...no, worse).

UPS I've had good and bad. Mostly good, but I've had a few electronics and computer peripherals damaged by UPS smashing and puncturing packages.

Do we live in the same town? My local FedEx office is exactly the same.

The only time I've ever had a package shipped to me via FedEx it got lost. Finally after a week of being unable to locate my house, even though they had directions and a strip map to my house. Anyway they just delivered it to someone in my area. Luckily we live in a small rural town and they called me.

My UPS guy is great. After the first delivery (I'm kinda hard to find) he now knows where to deliver it. Most packages can be left on my front deck. If it's raining it goes on the back porch.

USPS I've had great luck with. Both with shipping and receiving.
 

alaskawolf

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Messages
236
Location
fairbanks,North pole Alaska
i never lost a package when i was delivering but some times i just never got the package that was to be delivered, these things just happen. the usps ships more items in three days than ups and fed ex do in a year so its no surprised to have things lost or misdirected

as for the question i didnt really see a difference between the rate of delivery of insured and noninsured items





if you think you might have reason to think some thing is criminaly wrong with your mail contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service USPIS

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/
 

Sub_Umbra

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
4,748
Location
la bonne vie en Amérique
USPS has always been a mess here in New Orleans but their Priority Mail has been working VERY WELL here for 10 months or so.

One thing that is essential for delivery from anyone here is a good address. For years I've had everything shipped to a friend's business -- otherwise I swear nothing would ever be delivered.
 

WNG

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
714
Location
Arrid Zone-Ah, USA
I've had good service from UPS, the regular driver knows me now and I always pass him a beer or water when he looks like he can use one.

USPS has been consistent, but service is hit or miss. We have a new lazy-*** Postal worker for our route, and he doesn't drop off your package, just rings your bell and make you walk out to pick it up from him so that he doesn't have to lift it!!
Is this allowed? I want to report him, but I am getting my USPS deliveries, and the replacement may be worse, or he may decide to lose my packages.
But I've had deliveries left at the door by USPS as well....annoying!

Fed Ex Ground is a joke pretending to pass itself off as UPS.
But companies use them because they are cheaper and have this stupid no signature required delivery.
They've left more packages at the door, on the curb, or delivered to someone else, than any other carrier I've experienced. I've losted or had stolen so many packages, I no longer shop from retailers that ship by them.
Examples:
A PC power supply was delivered to a guy who signed, "Bob", no idea to what address or unit. Therefore, Fed Ex is free of all liabilities. Customer service tells me to go search under some bushes for it.

Another time, I get a delivery, please sign....
I looked at the box, it listed Apt. 1, name is Mary xxxxxxxxx.
I said to Fed Ex guy (who spoked like he was mentally challenged), "Do I look like a Mary? She lives down the hall, this is for apt #1."
He was completely clueless, had I not mentioned the mistake, Mary wouldn't have gotten her new cell phone. He didn't even take the package back, just noted that he dropped it off at my address! And asked me to complete the delivery if I don't mind.
?!?!?!?!?!
Lucky I'm a good neighbor. Most aren't.

More and more companies are doing no signature required deliveries to save money.
We as consumers must stand up and reject this and threaten to take our business elsewhere.
 

Eugene

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 29, 2003
Messages
1,190
I have two lost packages now somewhere in the USPS system. One is over a year old and they still keep promising to call me back in 48 hours when I call to ask about it and haven't yet.
UPS falsely advertises that they will ship anywhere in the world, apparently my parents house in WV isn't in the world because they have not delivered a package twice, rather they drop it off at the city hall. I'm going to report it as lost next time they pull that crap.
 

carbine15

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
1,986
Location
Slaughter, WA
My biggest USPS problem is that they drop off packages on my porch after they KNOW that there are mail theives about. Snowman thieves lurk about as well.
 

Bimmerboy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Messages
2,070
Location
Long Island, NY
As an unintended ramification of this thread, I see a lot of general complaints regarding lost packages, USPS, other services, etc. But, only one direct answer to my original question... which was kind of half baked to begin with.
 

Lightmeup

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
747
Location
Chicago
You do realize that USPS delivery confirmation does not actually confirm your package was delivered to the recipient? It only confirms that it was "delivered" somewhere. The mailman could have delivered it to the wrong house, or left it in front of the door. So, basically it is meaningless. Signature confirmation is the only way to determine if your recipient actually received anything.

Bimmerboy said:
This being said, I DO like delivery confirmation quite a bit, and use it often.
 

Bimmerboy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Messages
2,070
Location
Long Island, NY
I do realize that, and agree that signature confirmation is better in that respect. Delivery confirmation only may increase the odds a carrier will remember (hopefully) where it was delivered, and it's a somewhat cheap service. However, wouldn't signature conf. be an issue when sending to a residential address, if most people won't be home during work hours to sign for it?
 

zigziggityzoo

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
184
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
Bimmerboy said:
I do realize that, and agree that signature confirmation is better in that respect. Delivery confirmation only may increase the odds a carrier will remember (hopefully) where it was delivered, and it's a somewhat cheap service. However, wouldn't signature conf. be an issue when sending to a residential address, if most people won't be home during work hours to sign for it?

this is true. Often, I end up driving to my post office, UPS, FedEx, or whathaveyou to pickup a package I missed. However, I would rather have to drive over and pick it up than leave something work ~$500 or more sitting in front of my house waiting to be stolen. (Especially when it has some brand name announced on the package!)
 

Lightmeup

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
747
Location
Chicago
Bimmerboy said:
However, wouldn't signature conf. be an issue when sending to a residential address, if most people won't be home during work hours to sign for it?
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Convenience or safety/security, pick one.
 

Sub_Umbra

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
4,748
Location
la bonne vie en Amérique
Bimmerboy said:
As an unintended ramification of this thread, I see a lot of general complaints regarding lost packages, USPS, other services, etc. But, only one direct answer to my original question... which was kind of half baked to begin with.
I don't even think you're being paranoid. While I have no data to prove it -- it makes perfect sense to me to avoid anything (like insurance stickers) that may scream "Steal Me!!" to a carrier.

When I mentioned that I have had all of my packages delivered to a friend's store for years I should have also mentioned that it is a book store. Books are not a very sexy thing to steal.

This approach has served me very well for several reasons besides the fact that books aren't very sexy:

• The owner has a deeper relationship with all delivery men: USPS, FedEx, etc.
• The store has dependable hours. If he IS closed for some odd reason on a given day the carrier wouldn't even think of leaving one of those yellow 'Couldn't Deliver' messages -- he'd just come back the next day. He knows he'll connect.

I don't think it's at all paranoid to kick around ideas about ways to inhance the security of things sent to you.
 

highorder

Enlightened
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
540
Location
Michigan
we have a tough situation: small packages worth big money!

my postal carrier will at least put those bubble envelopes in between my doors, instead of in my mailbox on the street.
 

Bimmerboy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Messages
2,070
Location
Long Island, NY
Haha... I'm guessing I know why you responded to this, Highorder. If I'm right, that did cross my mind as I was starting this thread, but wasn't the initial motivation for it.
 
Top