Lost small flat rate boxes

[Pablo]

So, do ALL or just most USPS employees at regional centers steal small flat rate priority boxes? I'm not talking about Joe Lam or Jane Smith at your local PO. Been shipping stuff for the business now, 4 plus years and there is no package that is lost/stolen more than the small Priority FRB.

Do a net search. It happens. Worse is international, and the USPS will NOT insure them!

 

[The motor guy]

Use UPS and just send it in the usps flat rate box. Alteast then you'll get insurance.

 

[Pablo]

UPS is just too darn expensive.

 

[TooManyWheels]

One which was in route to me was stolen by the mailman. The tracking system says it made it to the mailbox. As luck would have it, I witnessed the mail delivery on the day in question, and know that the package was never put in the box.

Filed a complaint with the inspector and never heard a thing.

 

[JHZR2]

You can't buy insurance on priority mail packages???!?

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
UPS is just too darn expensive.
You get what you pay for!

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/US-Postal-Service-on-Brink-of-Default-129368168.html

 

[PandaBear]

You should have factored in your calculated risk to see if it is worth using insurance or insured carrier like UPS/FedEx or not.

I've purchased stuff and they got stolen here frequently (mostly by the FedEx Ground drivers) and they were always promptly refunded. If you try to save a few bucks using USPS, and not pay for insurance, then you have to calculate and see if the risk is worth the gain as well as the damage to your reputation when your customer has to deal with it.

So far UPS seems to get stolen less than FedEx and USPS is the safest here.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
You can't buy insurance on priority mail packages???!?


You can't insure SMALL flat rate Priority International packages. I wonder why? VERY high disappearance rate. Most occur before hitting customs of other countries, but I'm sure customs folks nab them as well. They are seen as little surprise boxes.

 

[The_Jeff]

I've charged back my credit card on a missing package that was scanned "delivered". And it worked. Feel bad for the (small time) vendor, she thought I was up to some scam.

Can you even track a USPS package? All I get is "in system" then "delivered".

 

[bigmike]

UPS is the only service that has delivered a box missing the contents! All that showed up was the packing material and you could tell the box had been opened and retaped.

As it turns out, I knew a guy that got busted at the local UPS plant for stealing stuff out of boxes. He ratted out a few others to avoid any consequences, other than being fired. One of the guys he ratted out was taking boxes out to the edge of the property and throwing them over the fence into the woods, only to retrieve them later with his 4 wheeler.

Hot items were things like watches, sunglasses, and small items that could fit into their pants - but only nonmetallic items. Apparently, there was a metal detector to screen employees to make sure they aren't steeling stuff.

My biggest complaint isn't missing packages, but rather the launching them onto my concrete driveway from 15 feet out, like a 3 point shot in the NBA.

 

[Hokiefyd]

We ship stuff with small flat rate boxes all the time and have never had one come up missing. I imagine the temptation to steal this kind of thing is high, but I certainly would say that "all" postal service employees steal them. None of ours have ever been stolen. We ship stuff out not daily, but certainly a few times a week.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
So, do ALL or just most USPS employees at regional centers steal small flat rate priority boxes?


This is a very serious accusation.

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I've charged back my credit card on a missing package that was scanned "delivered". And it worked. Feel bad for the (small time) vendor, she thought I was up to some scam.

Can you even track a USPS package? All I get is "in system" then "delivered".


If you use UPS / FedEx the seller will just ask the sender to pay for the lost.

 

[CivicFan]

It's because "they care".

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
So, do ALL or just most USPS employees at regional centers steal small flat rate priority boxes?


I think you're overreacting. I sell usually 50 - 100 items per month and ship all of them by USPS. I've never had a single package stolen.

Also, international shipping problems could be issues with the other nation's shipping service and their employees.

One of my friends sells auto parts online. He won't ship to Mexico anymore because the packages never arrive at their destination.

 

[JustinH]

You can order bundles of any sized box right from a post office website, the post man will drop it on your doorstep a day or two later.

 

[mechanicx]

I'm not sure what is going on but I highly doubt employees of the USPS are stealing the packages. I'm not going to say it never happens but the USPS is more selective of who they hire and have Postal Inspectors working internally who are federal law enforcement officers. Stealing or tampering with the mail is a pretty serious federal offense. I doubt many postal employees would risk it to steal gadgets out the boxes.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear

This is a very serious accusation.



If USPS can’t absolutely, positively, seriously tell me where my
package is, you bet it is a serious accusation. You can’t tell me, on
average 5 SFRB ‘s per 100 SFR boxes over years are just lost to never
been seen again are pure accidents. This, when USPS have NEVER lost a
roughly equivalent size plain Priority/First class/Book rate box (NOT
flat rate). It’s NOT accidental. People are harvesting the boxes –
it’s not ALWAYS USPS employees, but the boxes will enter the Kent, WA
USPS hub and never be seen again.

Overreacting? USPS actually acknowledged the problem. They know it’s
an issue, but seem powerless to do anything. We ship around 30-40
packages. Per day. We try to avoid the flat rate small boxes, but
sometimes we have to for shape/weight/size matches.

I will agree, percentagewise more thefts are international. We pretty
much won’t use SFRB’s for international shipments. Our insured MFRB’s
do absolutely great domestically and internationally.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

I guess ive been lucky, ive never had anything come up missing through any of these services.

 

[PandaBear]

Why don't you use something more traceable? and most importantly pay up for it?

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Why don't you use something more traceable? and most importantly pay up for it?


The customers already constantly complain about shipping costs, but yes as I stated we really try to minimize SFRB's.