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Beware USPS “opened” my package and slab missing

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  • spacehaydukespacehayduke Posts: 5,715 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Jacques_Loungecoque said:
    USPS insurance is harder to get a legitimate claim paid from than that crap Walmart tries to sell at the registers.

    Huh? What does Walmart have to do with USPS? Huh? Do tell?…………….

    My online coin store - https://www.desertmoonnm.com/
  • LiquidatedLiquidated Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    Sent package to Australia and never cleared outgoing customs in Miami.

    Claim denied and considered still in transit. Local USPS no help. I wasted a lot of time calling with hopes to find someone that cared.

    $65 postage for $10 item. Was more concerned about reimbursement of postage. Realized going forward any paid for insurance would be a waste of money.

    Fortunately long out of the game of selling coins on eBay. Anything needing auctioned was sent overnight by FedEx to Great Collections. Well worth it.

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 33,927 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @spacehayduke said:

    @Jacques_Loungecoque said:
    USPS insurance is harder to get a legitimate claim paid from than that crap Walmart tries to sell at the registers.

    Huh? What does Walmart have to do with USPS? Huh? Do tell?…………….

    I think he's talking about extended warranties

  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,075 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @1madman said:
    All these package theft reports have me wondering if the guy on the B/S/T board who buys the “piles of junk” ever has his stuff go missing?

    These thieves seem to know how to target the valuable packages, what about the dreck?

    For one you can keep the actual postage paid hidden if you print the labels. If you ship from the PO ask for the same.

    theknowitalltroll;
  • P0CKETCHANGEP0CKETCHANGE Posts: 2,545 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Gerry Fortin reported a suspected USPS theft on his blog this morning:

    Alert! GFRC Package Theft in River Grove, Illinois Post Office

    The following GFRC lot is assumed to be stolen in the River Grove, Illinois post office.

    The USPS Priority package was picked up at the post office counter or by the carrier and signed for by an unauthorized individual. The signature on the post office keypad is illegible. I will speak with the River Grove postmaster tomorrow or Wednesday though the package was improperly released on Friday of last week. My key question will focus on whether the release was done by a mail carrier or counter staff and why a package with Signature Confirmation was released to someone without proper identification or without an addressee delivery attempt. Per tracking information, the package was released prior to a delivery attempt. A post office theft is the initial conclusion as the GFRC client was home the entire day during scheduled delivery. The package was intercepted and never reached our client. The package was doubled bagged with padded Priority Mail envelope with a small flat rate Priority inside. After speaking with the postmaster, a report will be filed with NCIC to alert other dealers who may be shipping into the River Grove post office.

    Yes, this ia common date $2.5 gold piece and will be quite difficult to track if offered at a local coin shop.

    1913 PCGS MS62 G$2.5 Cert #83719862

    Nothing is as expensive as free money.

  • telephoto1telephoto1 Posts: 4,881 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Boxes can obviously still get damaged but are substantially more secure than the cheap padded mailers (if we use a padded envelope it's usually then put inside a box). Virtually everything we ship goes out in a box anymore. Double boxed if warranted. Slabs are bubble wrapped and made unable to move inside the box. Paper money is placed between rigid hard cardboard and affixed so it cannot move inside the box. This is tested by physically shaking the box prior to sealing to see/hear if anything moves inside. Priority mail boxes are sealed at all open seams; we never rely solely on the adhesive strips on the box or mailer because they're not particularly good. Even though we use self adhesive labels, all areas of the shipping label except the bar code are still covered with clear tape to help protect it from moisture damage and/or address tampering. We always hit "suppress postage from label" when printing so a would-be thief cannot easily surmise that it has high value. We probably spend a bit more on packing tape and bubble wrap than we should, but the item gets there intact. 36 years and never had anything part company with the package even if the box got damaged in transit. Now we've had packages get totally lost, but one was eventually found and the couple that weren't got paid off by insurance. As to the paper tape... we only do that on Registered parcels and it goes on over the packing tape, not in lieu of it.


    RIP Mom- 1932-2012
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,264 ✭✭✭✭✭

    They can open any package and take what they want. And they do, obviously .

  • oldabeintxoldabeintx Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Didn’t read this thread, so someone else may have pointed this out: USPS delivers about 24 million packages a day. Use precautions by all means, but unless we see hard data, I think we can find other things to fret about.

  • RonsandersonRonsanderson Posts: 124 ✭✭✭✭

    This reminds me of two incidents.

    First, this package looks like it got caught in the sorter or conveyor belt, and yes, the coin vanished. I hope somebody picked up the lost slab and put it back in the coin market for someone else to enjoy.

    Second, I recall buying my 1910 MPL that had to travel about 25 miles under registered mail. Covid hit, and it got stuck in a giant pile in the Philadelphia sorting facility. It took 10 months to make the trip. The package was covered in stickers touting some large number of of built-in security features in the package - around a dozen, as I recall. Of course, the only actual security feature was the sticker itself, if you were gullible enough to believe it.

  • MFeldMFeld Posts: 13,410 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Jacques_Loungecoque said:
    USPS insurance is harder to get a legitimate claim paid from than that crap Walmart tries to sell at the registers.

    Why would there be a claim made (rather than a simple return) on items that Walmart tries to sell at the registers?

    Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.

  • ProofCollectionProofCollection Posts: 6,056 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I do suspect a lot of thefts are actually a result of damage during shipping and handling as package get moved down conveyors, from bin to bin, to trucks, to planes, forklifts, etc. If your package falls out of a box or bin good luck!

  • hummingbird_coinshummingbird_coins Posts: 1,087 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MFeld said:

    @Jacques_Loungecoque said:
    USPS insurance is harder to get a legitimate claim paid from than that crap Walmart tries to sell at the registers.

    Why would there be a claim made (rather than a simple return) on items that Walmart tries to sell at the registers?

    I believe the "crap" in question is warranties (for appliances and the like), not items.

    Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
    Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled

  • BochimanBochiman Posts: 25,376 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Ronsanderson said:
    This reminds me of two incidents.

    First, this package looks like it got caught in the sorter or conveyor belt, and yes, the coin vanished. I hope somebody picked up the lost slab and put it back in the coin market for someone else to enjoy.

    Second, I recall buying my 1910 MPL that had to travel about 25 miles under registered mail. Covid hit, and it got stuck in a giant pile in the Philadelphia sorting facility. It took 10 months to make the trip. The package was covered in stickers touting some large number of of built-in security features in the package - around a dozen, as I recall. Of course, the only actual security feature was the sticker itself, if you were gullible enough to believe it.

    Brings to mind another thing I do, if I ship in those envelopes, that I wish others might. If a coin is ripped by machinery, and is "loose", even is slabbed, then the USPS most likely can't find it in a timely fashion to get it to the right ripped packaging and get it to the right person. It's laying somewhere else to be found while the envelope is found and delivered.
    So, when using those, I will wrap an address listing around it. So the coin is wrapped with paper, and bubblewrap, and taped. If it falls out, hopefully it will still find an honest person who will read the paper and get it to either me or the other party.

    Too many just put it alone in the envelope or, at best, just put it with the brown sticky cardboard coin "wraps". Nothing that can help if something happens.

    I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment

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