Response time for USPS missing mail search?

[irlandaise]

Anyone know how long it's apt to take for USPS to complete a missing mail search?

[tinsoldierunderground]

I've had it take up to 6 weeks for a tangible result (yes it's lost/no we found it).

I once had a camera lens go missing for a full year before they 'found' it.

Gotta love USPS.

[a_c_green]

A few days ago, I got a reply from them in response to a return request that I'd filed maybe 3 weeks ago. It was a Missing Mail search that I filled out in full on their website, complete with tracking number, description of the package and photos of what was inside.

In particular, when I got to the section where they ask you if you want them to deliver it or return it (if they do manage to find the missing package), I carefully selected the request to have it returned to me, as I had already refunded the buyer. 

So of course, the package resurfaced a few days later... and was delivered to the buyer. My request to have it returned instead was ignored. (I could not file a Package Intercept order on it earlier, because the package was officially missing; the system would not accept the order.)

Fortunately, I had a good buyer and he paid all over again. I sent him a small freebie gift package in appreciation.

So that all happened 2-3 weeks ago. A few days ago, we got the final kicker: a deeply heartfelt form letter from USPS. telling us that they're still looking hard and hope that the package will turn up. Never mind the fact that their own tracking system can tell them that it did turn up, three weeks ago, and they already delivered it.

[irlandaise]

Thanks for the information, discouraging as it is. 🙂 I'll go ahead and refund the buyer's money. She says she'd like to purchase the item again if it shows up. If it doesn't, I'll file an insurance claim with USPS.

[lex-talon]

Last year, I had two packages go missing and after 3 months they told me the items were never found.

[a_c_green]

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@irlandaise wrote:

Thanks for the information, discouraging as it is. 🙂 I'll go ahead and refund the buyer's money. She says she'd like to purchase the item again if it shows up. If it doesn't, I'll file an insurance claim with USPS.

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I should add that my recent experience was the first of its kind in my 13 years of sales, and the package did show up in the end.

On what day did you mail your package, and when was the last scan? What did the last scan say? (Ignore any "In Transit" ones, which are automatically added; give us the last actual scan, please, and tell us what it said there.)

Another idea would be to sign yourself up for emailed notifications, via the link offered on the USPS tracking results page for your package. While doing so has no actual effect on the package itself (e.g. there is no magical "shaking loose" of a stuck package), it will send you a heads-up email as soon as the package is scanned anywhere, so that you won't have to go looking for it; it will be reporting to you. The notification request lasts for two weeks before you'd have to renew it. Good luck...

[irlandaise]

I mailed the package on April 29th, and it arrived in the buyer's town four days later. The last two scans were "Arrived at Post Office" and then "Available for Pickup" a few hours later.

I don't know when the buyer first checked for it. She said she moved to a different town the day after those arrival scans, but that she had a relative in her old town checking her PO box for her. My theory is that no one came for it for a while and it got buried under some other items in the back room of the post office. But she says that she's inquired at both the destination post office and the one in the town she moved to (in case it got forwarded), and both places say they can't find it. Nor, of course, has it been returned to me.

I did sign up for email notifications for one of my sale items, but it may not have been this one. That's a good idea. 

[a_c_green]

Thanks for the update, but I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the buyer's relative picked it up and then lost it. That's a totally normal track all the way up to the buyer's PO box, and I suspect (though I can't state this for a fact) that if the item physically fit in the rented PO box, they would have put it there, and "Available for Pickup" would have been its last scan. I think (and again, I am just guessing at this, so I may be wrong) that if the package did not fit in the box, they'd have placed a pickup notice in there instead, and it would have been scanned as Delivered when the clerk handed it over the counter.

In other words, it sounds more like it did get picked up than got lost at the post office, but unless "Available for Pickup" is considered to be the same as Delivered by eBay in terms of defending an Item Not Received dispute, then it looks like you may have to refund anyway.

[knode89]

Sometimes never.  They never find it or bother looking for it.

[hattedsandwich]

Thank you for sharing such a gripping story, I love how the USPS masterfully weaves a tale of loss, redemption, and utter incompetency

[carlmarxx]

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@irlandaise wrote:

Thanks for the information, discouraging as it is. 🙂 I'll go ahead and refund the buyer's money. She says she'd like to purchase the item again if it shows up. If it doesn't, I'll file an insurance claim with USPS.

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Back in 12/20/16   a Package  I was waiting   for  went missing after  departing the USPS  Cleveland  OHIO  hub.  USPS  declared it lost  after 12 days .   Well I got refunded by the seller and seller got their insurance  paid out .  So  on  a raining day  1/23/17  USPS  showed up to my door  with the lost package . It was a priority mail  over size  30x14x10   5lb.'s  . I did noticed a tiny  hole in package  that happened at the San Diego Ca.  Hub  .  I opened the package and found a note  from USPS mail recovery  .It something about  being sent to the wrong  address . Yet the label was not damage  and  scan in system without any issues .  The USPS ran a investigation   and blamed the temp.  Help  the Ohio  Hub,  for  reason it ended up with mail recovery by misstake which cost them the insurance money.   

[alwaysauthentic1]

"there is no magical shaking loose of a stuck package".

I disagree with that statement. I have found that packages turn up when you go through all the nonsense of calling, etc, otherwise lost packages stay lost. The shaking loose process could just be the extra step of a phone postal worker entering in your info/tracking as lost, but I don't know what the actual shaking loose process is. I've had a postal worker weed around in the back and find the package in some random location. Based on my experience I would say that the odds of finding the package goes up when you bug the post office. It could be a coincidence, but I'm 0 for 4 when I haven't bothered calling around on a missing package and I'm approx 11 for 14 when I have.

[nonog-59]

Hey there I’m also frustrated I’m not sure whether my parcel is missing or what the story is.  it has been showing that it is in transit to USPS tracking since 18th July 2018. I am based in South Africa and I really don’t know what to do , I don’t even have an email address for USPS. I have already filed a search request but I’m so discouraged from the comments above. What frustrates me the most is that this was a group order for my girls as well. I’m also going on an international trip next month and I really wanted to wear some of the stuff on my vacation . Please help

thanks my email address is nono.nogqala@ gmail.com

[nonog-59]

Hi I wish I could call USPS but I’m based in South Africa and my phones keep saying I’m not allowed to make the international call. My parcel has not updated on USPS since 18 July 2018, here is my tracking number CY112702437US. Please kindly assist.

[southern*sweet*tea]

https://www.packagetrackr.com/track/usps/CY112702423US?r=1533237044694

Your package appears to be taking a world tour. It's last stop was Bermuda