Who wants to hear a USPS story with a happy ending?

[kali_is_my_copilot]

I know we all have our share of negative experiences with shipping & receiving and thought I would share a positive experience I had recently with the post office. I won a cross pendant for 99 cents with free shipping, it looked nice and even if it's junk it's only a dollar right? I pay, it's marked as shipped, and a few days later I'm excited to find an envelope in my mailbox... an empty envelope with the end torn open. Not a padded mailer mind you, a regular letter-sized envelope with no sign of any padding in sight.

At this point I gave it up as lost forever, as there was no way of knowing when this had occurred and I pretty much assumed someone along the way had pocketed it. The whole situation irritated me, to the point that I decided to see if I could track it down. I called USPS customer service, explained the situation, and was given a case #. A day or two later I get a call from one of my local offices saying that they had my item! It turned out that what had looked like a smallish piece in the listing pics was actually a 3-inch-long, 1 oz blinged out sterling monster, which makes me even more surprised/pleased with the outcome. Here are pics, wish I still had the envelope evidence but picture a junk return mail envelope with a tear across one end and you're pretty much there.

 

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[OWK]

Dat be all huge, fo shizzle.

 

[kali_is_my_copilot]

Lol when I walked in to the PO to pick it up the employee I'd spoken to was MIA and the woman at the counter had no idea what I was talking about and asked me to wait at the last register, to be helped by somebody else, I guess? So I'm standing there waiting and I look over the counter and on top of a stack of paperwork is some internal claim form with this thing taped to it. Took a moment to register that this was indeed the (sparkly) droid I was looking for.

 

[Beachkid23]

I'm glad you got your cross back. If I were you though I would send a letter to the seller and tell him what happened and using better packing material may be a good idea!! I just had a pack of coins supposedly not show up as well. They were all foreign coins but the guy said the package was ripped open as well. And I wrap my stuff good so there was no sound whatsoever and the ends are taped I don't understand how it could've gotten open.

 

[kali_is_my_copilot]

Oh for sure! I definitely did. Waited until the situation was resolved since I wasn't sure if I was going to open a case over a 99 cent item, then sent them a very nice message suggesting that they may want to secure things better going forward (including suggestions for doing so without upgrading materials too much) and never got any response. Part of me wonders if it was intentional because they didn't get more for it, but I try not to attribute to malice what is just as likely to be stupidity or ignorance.

That sucks about your coins and I pack things very securely too, that sounds like a bunch of BS to me (unless it was seriously just torn open by a USPS employee or something). I would be extremely skeptical if someone said that an item I shipped experienced failure at that level.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I purchased a silver dollar from a vendor on ebay. Received the standard envelope in the mail, corner torn & dollar gone. But I could clearly see the imprint of the dollar. The tear was on the edge past the imprint, thus the dollar had been stolen by someone in the post office.

Seller made it good, but hope the seller learned a lesson there.

 

[deserdog]

I never ship anything in an envelope.

 

[WhiteTornado]

Glad it all worked out and it looks like you got a nice item for a buck! I agree with deserdog, I never ship any goods in a PWE (plain white envelope). Even if I am shipping one baseball card, I still use a small padded mailer.

 

[diggummup]

I never ship anything in an envelope.

Agreed. That's just looking for problems.


Glad you got your cross and surprised as well that it was sterling. The seller must not be too bright since it wasn't even listed as such. Between that and the pitiful packaging, I doubt any malice was involved on their part just someone that isn't the brightest bulb in the box.

 

[Beachkid23]

Although I suppose he shipped in an envelope because it only sold for $.99..

When I first started I put three rolls of silver quarters and a yellow envelope and taped it up. None of them made it there they all were taken out. 3 negatives at once. Learned my lesson!!

 

[austin]

OMG, it's a miracle!!!!!!

 

[mugsisme]

That's one of the reasons I print a shipping label on card stock, and put the item with the label into a ziplock bag. If the envelope gets torn, all the stuff is still together. (I tape the envelopes shut, and only use them for flat items. All my stuff is wrapped in tissue paper, then bubble wrap.)

Hooray for your happy ending! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.