USPS stealing from its customers

[JosephIV]

For those of us SOMD'ers who have successfully used the USPS in the past I give a word of caution. The sorting facility has changed locations and with this change myself and some others that I've talke to have had cards cut open or packages have "disappeared" from the face of the Earth. I believe the sorting facility changed from La Plata/Waldorf to Capital Heights.

Roughly 4 months ago my sister sent a card. The top of the card was open but I didn't think too much of it since the opening wasn't neat, it looked a bit torn. My sister sent a note and some newspaper clippings. Everything was there. That envelope had no stamping on it indicating that it had been received open by my Post Office. I never complained as I didn't give it any thought.

A month later my parents sent money for me to spend on the kids. Well, the envelope arrived with the top neatly sliced open, stamps from the Valley Lee Post Office indicating that they received it that way, and the money long gone. I reported it and it's a case of me and my family being S.O.L.

Fast forward to this weekend and my friend tells me that his grandfather sent a Christmas card containing a personal check. It was sent confirmed delivery and fastest shipping available to arrive well before Christmas. It arrived late of course. The envelope arrived with the top neatly cut and had been placed in a plastic bag by his Post Office. He lives in Hollywood. The check was still in there. We figure they didn't have the fake ID to cash it.

Another friend was supposed to receive a laptop that he bought on Ebay. It is shown as having arrived at the sorting facility but has disappeared after that. He's having a nightmare trying to settle with the seller, Ebay, and USPS since it was insured. The seller is having to jump through hoops trying to get the insurance paid.

If you have these problems please report it to your local Post Office. Tell your loved ones not to send money, gift cards, or valuables via the USPS. It would be a shame if a 70 year old Grandmother living on Social Security sent birthday money to some criminal within the USPS instead of it getting to their grand kid.

 

[mAlice]

That's interesting. My daughter ordered something that completely disappeared.

 

[shannonbrio]

I have had 3 ebay packages drop off the face of the earth in the past month. Now I am out money because I had to issue a refund back to my buyers.

 

[Ladyelk]

Interesting. I have always used USPS for shipping across country but this year had lots of odd issues. Out of 3 packages sent to the same address only 2 arrived. 1 package sent to me has yet to show up after 3 weeks. A holiday card from the MIL (that always contains cash) sent on Dec 10th is still missing. All of these are to or from different places so it has been hard to figure out just where the problem lies.

 

[JosephIV]

That's interesting. My daughter ordered something that completely disappeared.

One of my friends is a local and has been with the USPS a few years. He said that they have machines at the sorting facilities that can scan packages and show you exactly what's inside. I'm guessing it's like the Airport scanners. When I told him about the missing money he said it didn't surprise him. He said they fired a woman because she wasn't delivering the mail. They got so many complaints on her route that the USPS inspectors shipped a package that was electronically tracked through her route. It never arrived and was found in her house along with letters, packages, etc. She'd drive home instead of finishing her route and stack the undelivered mail in her home. Sad. I can see now how gross incompetence is killing the USPS.

 

[SamSpade]

What he said - if the USPS gets wind of this kind of activity, you can bet they will land on the guilty like a ton of bricks. When I worked for the USPS, they mentioned that the Postal Inspectors were the first law enforcement agency in the country and they had an awesome conviction rate, because they made certain their evidence was iron-clad. My bosses warned me never to even touch something in the mail stream, because as they said - if these guys tap you on the shoulder, don't even resist, because you are definitely going to jail.

 

[SoMDGirl42]

I did all my shopping for christmas on line. Received all but one package. Tracking states it arrived at the distribution center on 19 of Dec.

I do hope whomever received my package enjoys playing poker, because it contained some very expensive Copag Poker cards and the charger for my daughters Leap pad Explorer. Asshats!

 

[sparkyaclown]

My mother ordered something that was suppose to arrive on Dec. 3. According to the tracking number it sat in Capitol Heights until Dec. 23 when it somehow ended up in Greensboro, NC (she resides in SoMD). She still has yet to receive the item, although the company has since cancelled that order and refunded her for the purchase. It's these kinds of stories that show why the postal service is losing money. If the Postal service was more dependable and timely I would use them to ship items.

 

[JosephIV]

I have ordered thousands of dollars worth of car parts, ATV parts, riding gear, you name it online in the last three years and have yet to be ripped off. All of it was delivered by UPS or Fedex so that's probably the big difference. If it was USPS someone would probably have put my nitrous kit on their Caprice.

 

[Jameo]

Sent a package out the 21st USPS to Colorado and tracking is showing it is still sitting somewhere in NC

 

[GWguy]

I learned a long time ago to use UPS or FedEx for packages, just too many reported package losses.

Still have to deal with USPS for letters tho... fortunately, no losses that I am aware of.

 

[SoMDGirl42]

Sent a package out the 21st USPS to Colorado and tracking is showing it is still sitting somewhere in NC

those yummy baked goods are going to be stale as shiat when they reach Colorado!

 

[Wrkn4livn]

Usps

I have two HS buddies that work at the USPS in the Mid-West (for like 30-years). They have always told me NEVER ship anything of value through the US Post Office. Use UPS or some other commercial outfit, not the Post Office...

 

[Hank]

I sent a priority package from Calvert to Lexington Park and it took two weeks to get there via USPS...

 

[GWguy]

I sent a priority package from Calvert to Lexington Park and it took two weeks to get there via USPS...

And just the opposite of that, I send packages from here to Long Island UPS ground, estimated ship time is 3-4 days, my packages always arrive next day for no additional cost.

 

[BadGirl]

I've never had a package handled by the USPS to be undelivered or misplaced.

But I can't tell you the number of times that the damn dog next door has gotten into our delivered packages and scattered the contents and packing materials across our yard. We have lots of packages delivered, and not one of them has come into our house unscathed by that dog.

 

[ArkRescue]

Postal service employees stealing money and gift cards has been going on many years. One person in particular that I heard about would slice open the side of the envelope, bend it to make the card open up inside the envelope, look inside and slide out any cash or gift cards using a special tool with a rubber tip on it they made just for that purpose.

A couple years ago, I was mailed several old harmonicas as part of my Father's estate, and the box arrived, but 2 of the harmonicas were missing. It's obvious someone in the postal service stole them, and the sender had not insured the package.

They obviously are not doing much policing there, otherwise how would all these thefts be occurring? I can only hope that Karma is swift, as they stole part of our family's history. How come we don't hear about thefts regularly through UPS or Fedex? Maybe because they have better practices in place to deter/detect theft?

 

[TGB]

I had ordered food for my gift basket business and needless to say I got my stuff 3 weeks later and all the stuff was damaged. The sorting facility opened the case and preety much bashed the boxes and put them back in the case then when the food spilled out claimed suspicious material and had it bouncing from Capital Heights, Ohio and philadelphia sorting facilty before I got it. I had to call the company and postal service and complained.

 

[somdfunguy]

I've never had a package handled by the USPS to be undelivered or misplaced.

But I can't tell you the number of times that the damn dog next door has gotten into our delivered packages and scattered the contents and packing materials across our yard. We have lots of packages delivered, and not one of them has come into our house unscathed by that dog.

Since the owners obviously suck you need a box to put on your porch (or whatever) to keep the dog out of it. We have one of those ABS storage boxes for the shipper to place the package in.

 

[lovinmaryland]

I ordered some candles from Yankee and the box arrived w/ about 100 stickers that said "damaged" Every single candle was broken. Its like seriously why deliver it if it is so damaged that glass is actually sprinkling out of the box.

The kids grammy from California sent them letters this Christmas each w/ $100 bill in them. Ours had cash in it also much more than theres infact. Needless to say I was surprised as hell that they actually made it.