Parcel held at USPS locker

[capital_nick]

How would you handle this?  Sold an item and it was delivered to a parcel locker in the buyer's town, not to their address.  Buyer claims no key and no notice was left at their delivery address.  Only the tracking number shows delivery to a parcel locker.  Buyer says "this has happened before" and that the PO will not surrender the package even with the customer's ID and tracking number.  So now what?  Wait until it's returned back to me?  I've gotten suggestions of opening a Missing Mail Search or Service Request to somehow nudge it to being delivered or to open communication to get it delivered.

I know some people are going to say, "It's been delivered.  Not your problem anymore."  But I want to get this person their package.  How can I do that?

Thank you.

[le-5262]

I probably wouldn't consider it delivered until it made it to the address on the package...

and I would probably be kinda irritated if the post office arbitrarily put my customer's package in some random parcel locker.

Are they, perhaps, in some communal postbox situation?

If so, maybe they can contact their property manager to open the parcel locker?

Someone has to have the key...

[albertabrightalberta]

@capital_nick 

If tracking shows delivered to the parcel locker, you're fine. 

It's the buyer's responsibility to figure out how to get his package from his community's parcel locker. It's not your concern. 

[christworks]

Has the buyer even tried to get their package? I don't care that it has happened before. They have the responsibility to at least try to get their package. If USPS won't give it to them, they need to get the name of whomever they spoke with. Then, armed with that information, I'd call the buyer's local post office and try to get it moving. I don't think I'd file the missing mail request. It isn't missing and you have your delivery scan. Don't do anything that could mess that up. If they can't get it for whatever reason, it will come back to you. I think GA ships back after 14 or 15 days.

[rokkworks]

Why not just call the post office in question (the one attached to that zip code) and speak to them to find out exactly where it was delivered? And how it can be delivered to the actual address you addressed it to. 

I’ve called post offices on behalf of my customers many times. At least in the past, all have been friendly and eager to help. [The trick of it is no trick - just politely + professionally ask for their help - enlist them as the experts (we all hope) they are, and they usually step up.]
“Parcel locker” can mean a PO Box, a building complex mailbox, or just that a mail carrier hit the wrong button at delivery. 
It’s insured if it was under the “care and control” of the USPS, and never delivered to the addressee’s actual address.

Good luck! 

[rokkworks]

One more idea - was the customer’s address a PO Box?

Because when a parcel doesn’t fit in the box, the parcel often gets put in a Parcel Locker - a bigger box in the PO, and the key for that Parclel Locker is left in the customer’s actual box. Sometimes the key not put in the correct box, or i

they forget to put the key in the PO Box. I’ve had it happen a few times over the years, since I rent the smallest box. No problem - I just ask a clerk to retrieve my package from the parcel locker. They will ask for ID before doing so, if they don’t know him/her, before handing over the pkg.

[capital_nick]

Regular address from the looks of it.  However when I Google it, it looks to be a business address.  So I don't know what's going.  They said they went in-person to get the package and the response they got to getting their OWN package was "only delivery at the address or returned to the sender".  So I dunno.  I've helped them as much as I could.

[capital_nick]

They said they went in-person to get the package and the response they got to getting their OWN package was "only delivery at the address or returned to the sender".

[wastingtime101]

Buyer's best option is to speak with their carrier directly - speaking with their carrier is better than speaking with the post office in a case like this. If the carrier left the parcel locker key in somebody else's mailbox, the carrier may remember and can try to retrieve the package from the other resident.

If it was delivered to a neighbor in error, they may give the package back to the PO for re-delivery so it could turn up in a few days.

Ultimately, tracking says it's delivered so there's not much you can do to track it down. Even the GPS coordinates probably wouldn't assist much if it's a communal mailbox situation as that won't tell you if the key was left in somebody else's PO box.

Don't suggest mis-delivery of the key to the buyer. Keep it simple and say tracking confirms delivery and their best option is to speak with their carrier directly or speak with their neighbors. Leave it at that.