Post Office is at fault for pkg going missing in shipping

[bunchick]

I sent a pkg to Michigan on Feb. 18 and last track was in New Jersey Feb. 23

Since Feb 23 - the pkg has been "in Transit to Next Facility" I did contact & fill out

the USPS form for assistance after 14 days of no delivery (or tracking update)

The pkg is worth $69 - sent Media Mail due to it being DVD's.

Question is - buyer is now demanding his money back, which is understandable

but is this going to come out of my pocket or will the Ebay product guarantee cover me?

(Been 3 days on the USPS form & did get a "we'll help you till a solution is found" )

Bummed that I paid $79 for DVD's brand new and sold for $69 - looking at possible

loss of $148? (Insert VERY sad face here)

[emerald_door]

Sorry this happened.  

In the future you might want to use a Priority Mail Regional Rate A box, which you can order from USPS.  This ships at slightly more than the 2 lb. Priority rate, and includes insurance.   When you set up your listing, you'll notice that it's not included in the shipping options on the Sell form, but it is an option when you print your label.  

I doubt if your buyer will return the package to you if it ends up being delivered to him, but you could ask him to mark it Refused, without opening it, so it will come back to you without additional postage expense.  

By the way, some posters here use posting IDs.  You won't be able to see their feedback or listings, but it doesn't mean that they're lying.  

[muttlymob]

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@oldwestgold wrote:

I love how people will comment stating they have shipped thousands of packages and then you check their profile of no items for sale and 11 feedback. LOL, Funny stuff bro.

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eBay members are allowed to have more than one account.

[greatmidwestcoin]

It has worked for me for over 20 years and over 20,000 packages. You have fun now by continuing to mail items that get damaged or lost. I prefer what has proven to work. FYI - packages sometimes get stuck in the bottom of mail equipment when the clerks dump sacks, etc. Bright stickers bring your package to their attention in this instance. Tour a mail distributing facility. You might learn something. And there is no such thing as a $10.50 fragile sticker that you mention. You really should become more informed prior to typing.

[mo-232905]

i just sent a parcel to my sister in north carolina but now she is saying that she didnot get it can you please help me what should  do now.

[lja440]

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@buzzapparel wrote:

The post office has cost me thousands of dollars. Mostly due to not scanning mail as delivered going to freight forward companies. Which seems to happen at alarming rates. They are inept, useless and in most cases the lowest cases denominator in employees. Many of whom are unemployable in the “real world”. One of the biggest risks of selling is getting the item to the buyer. 

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I resent that comment. I have been carrying mail for USPS for 20 years. I am very careful with peoples mail and packages and have even moved UPS and FedEx packages to a safe place when delivering mine. 

Recently I took a FedEx package that was sat on the top of one of my mailboxes to the door when I delivered my package there. The drive is long about 1/3 mile. The mailbox is in a gang of 4 mailboxes around 150 feet from a US highway at the entrance to the parking lot of a small country market, the drive that branches off to the houses (and yes the house numbers are displayed at each branch) on the other side of the mailbox gang.  This particular address has a request with the PO that due to the location of the box that NO packages be left in the mailbox. If the weather is bad (steep concrete drive up a hill) and the drive is considered unsafe to just leave a notice. 

Last winter I was delivering a package to a older Amish home (couple in their 80's) . There had been heavy snow all morning. As I walked the package I had up to the porch my foot came down on a small package buried in the snow in the middle (about throwing distance) on the sidewalk. I went down pretty hard, smashing my chin on the package I had in my hands. Now I have just turned 60 and it was quite a fall, what if it was one of the customers in their 80s and old order to boot, no phone not even a phone shed close. Yes they have a community that more than likely would have someone come around at least every day or so to check on them and there are neighbors relatively close but still. This package was left, not even bagged during a snowstorm by FedEx. I picked up myself, my package and the FedEx one (a little worse for having been stepped on) to the porch.

Yes I deliver a lot of damaged packages, I have even delivered just a label. But remember WE (USPS) do not pack them and I see a heck of a lot of shoddily packed packages.  My favorites are manila envelopes that you can feel that there is no padding with huge FRAGILE markings all over them.

[lja440]

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@bunchick wrote:
He said his Postmaster (or woman) said the packaging must not have been a "good job"
True about Priority would have been better - but this was 12 DVD's and weighed over 5 lbs.
Yeah....live and learn

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How did you pack it?

[lja440]

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@oldwestgold wrote:

I love how people will comment stating they have shipped thousands of packages and then you check their profile of no items for sale and 11 feedback. LOL, Funny stuff bro.

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Most of us that frequent the boards use a buying or posting ID to post. We have learned to do this as some people have come here in search of validation on some thing or other that they have done that was not on the up and up. They don't get validation and instead they get told that what they did was wrong. 

Some have then turned around and messed with our listings, bidding and not paying or buying something just to give us bad feedback.  Myself I have a few selling ID's (for different types of items) I NEVER post with any of them. I'm not a huge seller most are in the 300 to 800 feedback range and a couple negs could do quite a bit of harm.

[lja440]

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@annadryl wrote:

All the loud flashy stickers in the world will not impress the automated machinery that processes the mail for most of the trip. And most of the humans just don't have the time to coddle that package out of millions. One however might add on the $10.50(ish) official USPS fragile sticker or stamp. I believe the recipient receives that as postage due...

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No it doesn't impress on the machinery. But I'm a mail carrier, when I ship using Signature Tracking I use a pink highlighter where it states Signature Tracking (our old signature tracking labels were pink). Our clerks have literally only a couple minutes to break down a pallet of parcels, scan them arrived at unit and sort them to the routes. This draws the eye and they or the carrier will notice it before leaving the office without a prepared 3849 in case no one answers our knock.

I do agree that marking it fragile really doesn't do anything other than give a false sense of security. By the time we (clerks and carriers) see it, it has already been dumped on a conveyer and pushed along to be dropped into a bin from around 6 feet. If it isn't packed well the damage has already occurred. 

[lja440]

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@bunchick wrote:
Product was in a sturdy box - securely taped...used ebay shipping label
How in the world is this my fault???

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Some problems I have seen. 

Box taped securely on top but the bottom of a heavy box had one strip of tape barely hanging on. 

    I always secure both top and bottom with tape in a capitol H, this keeps the box from twisting and popping open, it also doesn't allow the edges of the flaps to get caught on anything.

Labels buckling and becoming impossible to scan when the information on the label is placed directly over top of the junction of the flaps.

    I always put the label on so if I have to cross it over the flap junction there is only blank paper in that area.

Inkjet labels unprotected from the elements. One drop of rain or even a few melted snow flakes can damage inkjet printed labels 

     I always run packing tape over the entire label. 

Not filling the box. Any empty space inside a box allows the box to be crushed. It also allows the items in the box to beat themselves on the inside of the box or each other. This will over time either reduce the items to rubble or have them beat themselves free of the box entirely.

   If the item is not going to be damaged I snug down the box. If it can be damaged I fill the box with quality packing materials so when closed a good shake tells me that the item can not shift within the box.

[lja440]

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@bunchick wrote:
Its the post office's fault due to they LOST the package in transit - package was NOT delivered.
Not everyone can afford to offer free shipping AND put insurance on their pkgs.
Ebay/Paypal fees and free shipping costs eats up most of the profit to be made. (Most times.)

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Then you are making mistakes in your listing.

I use a basic formula when listing.

What I have in the item + all my fees including projected FVF's based on trending prices of the item + a minimum profit (I use 30% over the item cost and fees), and 3- 5% to put in my self insurance risk fund.  This is my starting price if I am using calculated shipping. If I am using free shipping I add the shipping to zone 8 or whatever flat rate mailer cost that it will be shipped in.  This is my Starting Price with Free Shipping. 

If I am listing a BIN then I add 30% to the profit in the formula making it 60%.

[lja440]

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@greatmidwestcoin wrote:

It has worked for me for over 20 years and over 20,000 packages. You have fun now by continuing to mail items that get damaged or lost. I prefer what has proven to work. FYI - packages sometimes get stuck in the bottom of mail equipment when the clerks dump sacks, etc. Bright stickers bring your package to their attention in this instance. Tour a mail distributing facility. You might learn something. And there is no such thing as a $10.50 fragile sticker that you mention. You really should become more informed prior to typing.

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Actually there is. It shouldn't be used willy nilly because it does cost. We only have one customer that ships with them regularly. He has a shop that repairs clocks and watches and he uses them with clocks that should not be tipped over like anniversary clocks and coocoo clocks 

//www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=t0O619Oy&id=D725268CA1B8BEA5C33AA581DC66FBFC5DBBCD6D&t...

[bunchick]

In a sturdy box - paper cushioned the dvd's

and also taped the bottom, top, sides of the top ....

Label had clear shipping tape over the ebay shipping label

[lja440]

Then it should not have gone missing.  But really paper doesn't make the best packing materials unless the item is so light it can't crush it, doesn't protect well from the box being crushed though, especially if the item compacts it causing voids within the box.

[aproudparent2010]

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@oldwestgold wrote:

I love how people will comment stating they have shipped thousands of packages and then you check their profile of no items for sale and 11 feedback. LOL, Funny stuff bro.

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It's called a posting ID.........my selling ID has over 30,000 feedbacks

[bunchick]

I've sent alot of boxes with paper cushion - and they all made it.

Many people/companies have sent me boxes with paper cushion & I've gotten the pkgs.

Even with bubble wrap and the box is crushed - the bubble wrap will also be popped.

This was just negligence on the Post Office's part. 

Had several regular size envelopes not make their destination, which made my payments

late. Post Office for the most part are workers who really don't give a darn....I've had alot

of crabby post workers at the desk taking my pkgs. If they hate their jobs so much, get a new one!