USPS Lost Packages
Hey Everyone, WHAT is going on with USPS? In 13 years USPS has never lost one of our packages. Now two lost within 30 days. Both received an acceptance scan & not another scan. Gone just gone. Put a missing mail search on one of them with no joy. Anyone else having any recent issues wiht USPS?? Thanks!
9 comments
simba6
·8 months agoFill out a missing mail report at USPS.com I have had good luck with "stuck" packages getting found that way. If you made it that long, your doing very good. Could be the weather too.
jbbowers12012
OP8 months agoThanks! Have done missing mail searches in the past that really helped & my shipments turned up. But these last ones - "Not So Much."
kibble-net
·8 months agoI've had many delayed before Xmas, but none lost. Going on 27 years this spring. Maybe an issue with a local USPS hub near you?
bonanza125
·8 months agoI have had packages scanned and over a week later eventually get scanned again then delivered. Has long has it been since each package was scanned for acceptance? Did the buyers complain?
jbbowers12012
OP8 months agoHi, My first package was accepted 2nd week of December with no other scan. Put a missing mail search on it 2nd. week of January & so far no action. Buyer filed an INR & was refunded. My second package was accepted around (I think) four to six days ago. Acceptance scan with nothing else. Both were taken personally to post & scanned by clerk. USPS is making me look bad. Thank for your interest.
rockflyrs_digital
·8 months agoThis is going to be a long one with an agreement with your assessment and a partial solution.
There are major problems within USPS right now. For 10 years, I have had barely a lost package. Then since 2025, one in every 5-8 is coming up extremely late or lost. The problem has become so frequent that I now take all my shipments (once a week) into the post office, have them scanned by a clerk by hand and get a receipt so I have no issues with insurance claims because it possibly was not scanned on intake.
While very few actually are completely lost, the majority of the "missing" packages are just not arriving in a time frame that is reasonable for an average eBay buyer. Since shipping has become so expensive now, I think most people use ground advantage. That is the lowest priority shipping so it sits at the hub longer and is subjected to the same downgrade at each and every hub along the way so if the package is on a 3 hub trip it takes way more time to get through the system. USPS generally says 4-7 day delivery but I have found on average it is more like 3 weeks for these "arriving late" packages (I sometimes ship items in tubes so that may add to my delay).
The major issue is that most buyers are not going to wait for over 30 days for an item (especially in December). I have now been forced to become a shipping communications manager for eBay. Everyday I look through my shipped items, find ones that are getting close to 10 days out and send a message to the buyer that I am watching and apologize for USPS's lateness. Then when that item reaches 15-20 days, I just put in a claim for a lost item.
Why not put in for missing mail search first you ask? Because the buyer is not going to wait for USPS to do a search, have it possibly found and then it gets hung up at another hub and the process starts all over again. So I just file the lost mail claim at 15-20 days and it triggers the same missing mail search but still gets the claim process rolling. If you wait too long to start the claim, you will get into an unfavorable window of time where you must refund or eBay will do it for you. At around 20 days out the buyer will inevitably put in their refund claim to eBay no matter what.
This sounds unscrupulous but it is all a protective move on the sellers part. When the shipment gets delayed for so long and you have to refund the buyer pre-delivery, the item is still in the system and will eventually arrive. The buyer is not going to send the item back or pay you again so you are out both the payment and the item. If you file the lost mail between day 15-20, you will get your insurance claim approved around 7 days later. If it is delivered during that time, USPS will deny the claim. That pencils out to a 27-30 day window for the package to arrive at the destination. More than enough time for a simple shipment to make it from the west to east coast or vice versa.
While it bothers me that I look bad as a seller due to the incompetence of the current USPS, the bottom line is either the buyer or the USPS insurance is paying me for my missing item. So until they get their act together, this is the only way I have found to protect myself from current product shipping losses.
Hope that helps.
jbbowers12012
OP8 months agoThank You. "Food For Thought."
christworks
·8 months ago@jbbowers12012 When I conducted audits at USPS, if memory is correct, their truly lost package rate was about 1 out of 1,500 packages. It has been a while and I may be mixing that up with what the "acceptable" rate is. Either way, you have shipped over 8,000 packages. If you have not experienced a single lost package until now, you have been overdue.
I've not personally experienced a lost package. Anytime there has been an issue, the buyer has eventually received it.
robbie31415
·8 months agoHaven't had issues.
Sounds like a local issue.