eBay

password9019 · ‎03-16-2017

So yesterday I did some checking on a recently shipped 14 ounce package (buyer paid $9.09 - free shipping) sent First Class, and discovered that it was located in a so-called Recovery Center and is labeled as "dead mail". The only other thing of mention is that it has "visible damage", and cannot be delivered nor returned.

What is this? I mean, it's the first time I've heard of such nonsense. In my own experience as a postal customer, if a package appears damaged, than the P.O. STILL DELIVERS IT!! The carrier will white card the package and, if possible, try to speak to the sendee.

Now I may be mistaken, but isn't that process that should be followed for all packages, Priority Mail or not? Who ever heard of mailing a package with USPS and then the sender being told, via the tracking data, that basically, 'uh, we screwed up, and it's now ours to keep'?

Any input would be helpful. thanks.

password9019 · ‎03-21-2017

the issues associated with this item have already been resolved, with the buyer.

I am on here pointing out how the post office lies to people. And on top of the lying, the folks at the point of origin don't feel obligated to issue a postage refund. Do I think someone is trying to steal a ten dollar HO flex track? Not at all.

DO I think people are opening boxes up all the time, that are/were in the care custody and control of the USPS? Absolutely. ALL OF THE TIME! For different reasons and motivations.

Who knew what was in the box, before it was opened up and contents exposed? Nobody but the buyer and I. That said, there is absolutely no explaining the curious is not intentionally misleading nature of the tracking data. It makes no sense. So, naturally, I am suspicious. And so you know, the weather had nothing to do with this package going to the wrong place following sort departure. LOL, that's even if it ever ended up in the place stated (the wrong place).

One thing I know for a fact, is that if it was truly damaged in transit, then it would have stated so in the tracking data AFTER that same data showed it *arriving* somewhere to be discovered damaged IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Zing!

notjustcollectibles · ‎03-21-2017

I have had packages MUTILATED and still delivered to me

lja440 · ‎03-22-2017

I work as a USPS mail carrier.

Yes the packages are in the care and custody of USPS. No we do not open them all the time. If it is suspicious, a wrapped box or something with Media Mail postage that is obviously not media, then the POSTMASTER will check. Not just anyone can inspect a package though we will bring it to the Postmasters attention.

Also we see plenty of poorly packaged items. True most will get marked visible damage, but some will not. Things happen, a extreme amount of mail, adverse weather or a late truck and everyone is scrambling to get out onto the route because no matter what we have to get back by dispatch time.

To say that we are stealing items is ridiculous. Yes, yes there are bad apples everywhere but at USPS they are rare. I have a 50k job and I would never risk it to take your widget. Nearly everyday I deliver 50-100 packages along with other mail including checks. The packages for the most part would have more value than your average ebay package. I deliver around 2-300 packages of medications each week. I deliver branded boxes from QVC, HSN, Kohls, Hautelook, Lootcrate, Macy's, and a host of others. None of which would contain anything as insignificant as your HO track or as offputting as some items sold here on ebay (well worn category).

As an eBayer I have shipped around 1000 packages. To date I have never had one lost or arrive damaged. As a buyer I probably have received more than I have shipped. Through USPS I have only had one arrive damaged. No surprise that it was poorly packaged. A lot of 50 L'orial bare natural eyeshadows that were shipped just dumped in a standard cardboard Flat Rate Envelope.

password9019 · ‎03-22-2017

"To say that we are stealing items is ridiculous. Yes, yes there are bad apples everywhere but at USPS they are rare. I have a 50k job and I would never risk it to take your widget. Nearly everyday I deliver 50-100 packages along with other mail including checks. The packages for the most part would have more value than your average ebay package. I deliver around 2-300 packages of medications each week. I deliver branded boxes from QVC, HSN, Kohls, Hautelook, Lootcrate, Macy's, and a host of others. None of which would contain anything as insignificant as your HO track or as offputting as some items sold here on ebay (well worn category"

_________________________

LOL....tell that to the folks down in L.A., it's getting ridiculous how much stuff is missing. You gotta understand theft is theft and tampering is tampering. Could be by a postal employee, or it could have been an airport employee. It could have been a bystander. I'm not saying who did it, I'm just saying what likely was done.

Look, here is the deal: You cannot explain the shady tracking data, nor can anyone else. So, yeah, it leads to one conclusion logically: A stolen or tampered-with package. Period.

Not one person on here can explain the *holes* in the tracking data. And nor could the postal worker I spoke with. But heaven forbid I get a postyage refund. That's really my BIGGEST isssue with the P.O..

To be clear. Was the package poorly labeled? Not a chance. It was a handwritten label on a matte white sticker, laminated and then plastered, if you will, to the box. Taped totally over with clear. A box that took 30 minutes to construct. Custom measured, taped extensively.

The bottom line: The package should have been returned OR delivered. One or the other. Period. The notion this was 'Lost in the mail', is a bunch of baloney. The box could have been run over by a machine and I bet the contents would still have been possibly salvagable.

So unless acid burned or melted the label into a disfigured, unintelligble patch of goo, I'm not beleiving the P.O. No way, no how.

lja440 · ‎03-22-2017

My SIL was the head psych nurse at Cedars in LA for years. The real issue with mail out there is the fact that it has an unnaturally high transient population. And I'm not talking only the homeless but also there is a huge portion of the population that travels a lot.

Here in Ohio, we have snowbirds, and that can be tough enough. You have people in the entertainment industry. This is not just celebs but EVERYONE down to roadies, personal chefs,... It is the busiest hub in the nation, not even DC has as much traffic.

Over the years I shipped many items to them. None were lost but many did take longer than expected.

yuzuha · ‎03-22-2017

@password9019 wrote:
Look, here is the deal: You cannot explain the shady tracking data, nor can anyone else. So, yeah, it leads to one conclusion logically: A stolen or tampered-with package. Period.

Not one person on here can explain the *holes* in the tracking data. And nor could the postal worker I spoke with. But heaven forbid I get a postyage refund. That's really my BIGGEST isssue with the P.O..

I just gave you three personal examples of tracking data that had holes in it, and that's just from the last three months alone. You can look at them and see for yourself that none of them got any scans at the local sort facility despite obviously going through it.

partial*eclipse · ‎03-23-2017

@yuzuha wrote:
@password9019 wrote:
...Not one person on here can explain the *holes* in the tracking data. ...
I just gave you three personal examples of tracking data that had holes in it, and that's just from the last three months alone. You can look at them and see for yourself that none of them got any scans at the local sort facility despite obviously going through it.

Here's my personal favorite of skipped scans from my own collection: a Priority Mail package that got no scans at all between the time it was picked up at the seller's home in TX until it arrived at my local Post Office in Masachusetts.

password9019 · ‎03-23-2017

the highest population density for a central area within an urban agglomeration is San Francisco, not L.A., fyi. Over 18,300 per square mile. More than even NYC.

password9019 · ‎03-23-2017

My main two issues of late, was with this package going off in to the abyss, and the fact that come June 20, ebay is stiffening the tracking requirement to 95% upload on time AND with a scan. It baffles me that with three shipments in January, there was no data at all. ZERO. Not even a "reception" or initial "in transit" (to the sort facility).

That knocked me from 100% (where I had been for 5 years) to now under 95%. The thing that really is outrageous, is that ebay insists on penalizing sellers for this. It's not our problem, not our doing, has nothing at all to do with us. CSR used to reverse the downgrades, but they won't anymore, evidently.

..at least you DID get a scan. That's all you need. I had three in a row get nothing, but yet they all made it to their destination and the customer had no issues with anything, at all.

Talk about ebay making problems when none exist!

lja440 · ‎03-23-2017

@password9019 wrote:
the highest population density for a central area within an urban agglomeration is San Francisco, not L.A., fyi. Over 18,300 per square mile. More than even NYC.

By population, yes, but I said highest TRANSIENT population. People who move temporarily often.

password9019 · ‎03-24-2017

I suppose my only reply to that is for property owners and landlords to pay attention to who's coming and who's going (and squatters). I mean, you can't get your mail in a dark alley, the beach, or a public park.

Are you suggesting these kinda nomadic people are mail thieves, or are they somehow getting their mail there and tangling things up?

lja440 · ‎03-25-2017

@password9019 wrote:
I suppose my only reply to that is for property owners and landlords to pay attention to who's coming and who's going (and squatters). I mean, you can't get your mail in a dark alley, the beach, or a public park.

Are you suggesting these kinda nomadic people are mail thieves, or are they somehow getting their mail there and tangling things up?

No, you are still not understanding.

But, yes, people do need to be aware of what goes on, on their property.

I am talking about excess movement of mail pieces. Take this example:

I currently have 4 snowbirds on my route. Only one who manages their mail correctly. This couple has had their mail forwarded to Florida for the last 3 months. Now they are making their way back so they have put their mail on hold pending their return. So I am no longer sending their mail through forwarding. They obviously have notified their company that ships their meds as I do not get packaged of medications that I have to forward.

The others will just return putting in another COA. meaning what I have just sent to forwarding will arrive at their winter addresses only to be put back through forwarding again. Thus more chances for damage or loss as well as delays.

Talking on-line to a carrier out in LA they said that they can have almost half of their mail volume on hold or being forwarded at times. Personal assistants often pick up tubs and tubs of mail. It's easy for normal peoples mail to be lost in the shuffle despite all care not to have this happen. They also get a crapload of mail with wrong and incomplete addresses (this happens everywhere), more than the normal routes worth.

password9019 · ‎03-27-2017

I guess I just do not see how what you're talking about has anything to do with what my OP is about, or the fact that it is more than likely that when your buyer never gets the item and the tracking had serious holes in it, the package was stolen.

In my book, "stolen" packages is as simple as someone removing contents and never putting them back, and sending the thing on its way. Doesn't matter if they declined to keep the item because it wasn't what they were hoping it was or of low value, or not. If it is tampered with, and not corrected to make it look like it was not tampered with, and it never gets sent, that's stealing far as I am concerned.

Again, when you have tracking that states "visible damage", and that being directly preceded by only a scan stating "departed from", than something hinky is going on. Simple as that.

stuff4u2love · ‎04-27-2017

Hi. The same exact thing happened to me! I shipped an item on March 15, 2017 from South Carolina to Louisiana. According to USPS Tracking, it ended up in Springfield, Massachusetts six days later and then in Memphis, Tennessee six days after that. Why would an item that is southbound ever head north to begin with?? I feel confident in my packaging and labeling abilities as I ship packages nearly everyday. It is obvious the bar code part of the label is still on the package, otherwise they would not have been able to scan it in Springfield or Memphis. And even if the names were completely ripped off the label (which I highly doubt), I ALWAYS enclose a packing slip (which includes addresses) inside EVERY package I ship! My local post master filed a claim on my behalf on April 10, 2017 and even attached pictures of my item; but I have yet to hear anything. I had to refund all my customer's money! So now I've lost my money and my product because of the incompetence of the USPS!! Very infuriating!!

lja440 · ‎04-28-2017

Again, when you have tracking that states "visible damage", and that being directly preceded by only a scan stating "departed from", than something hinky is going on. Simple as that.

Those "departed from" scans are automated. The package is included within an 'A' (aka a big cage on wheels), it is not done by a person actually holding a package looking at it. Visible damage can be noted at any point but is most likely when it is being hand sorted by the clerks into the tubs for the routes or by the carriers putting the packages in delivery order.