Since we're talking about how to ship coins and confirm delivery...

ziggy29

I won a coin on Teletrade last Monday, and it arrived today. We were home, but we never had to sign for an insured package with signature confirmation. Apparently, our mail carrier usually signs for the packages he sends that require signature confirmation. (Since we have a slot in our front door and it goes into our house and not a secure box, I assume he feels safe doing that.) I was surprised at this. Now I trust this guy and I don't have a problem with that where he's concerned...but with others, I might. And I wonder if any other mail carriers "sign" for items that are left in unsecured mailboxes that people outside can get to (again, he sticks these in a slot into the house, and if they don't fit and we're not home, he doesn't leave them if they need signatures).

But I'm wondering, as an occasional shipper/seller, how this affects delivery confirmation and signature confirmation? Seems to me that I could ship something and have a careless/unscrupulous mail carrier (again, I trust ours VERY much having come to know him) sign for something that the buyer can claim they never received. And if it were their signature, and not the buyer's or some other adult who lived in that household, would there be recourse against the seller for non-delivery? And would PayPal's seller protection kick in if this happened?

I don't know that anyone here has answers, but I figured it was food for thought.

airplanenut

Delivery confirmation doesn't get a signature--it just gets scanned.

Signature confirmation most definitely needs a signature (DUH!)... I'm almost positive you're mailman, while trying to be nice, is doing something against postal regulations. I'd kindly ask him to stop--tell him you realize he means well, but there's a reason that you have to sign for it.

Jeremy

ScarsdaleCoin

I think that your mail drop changes the regulation....maybe we have some postal people on the boards who know the correct answer....here is what I found....


Door slots and nonlockable bins or troughs used with apartment house mailboxes are not letterboxes within the meaning of 18 USC 1725 and are not private mail receptacles for the standards for mailable matter not bearing postage found in or on private mail receptacles. The post or other support is not part of the receptacle.

MSD61

<< <i>I think that your mail drop changes the regulation....maybe we have some postal people on the boards who know the correct answer....here is what I found....


Door slots and nonlockable bins or troughs used with apartment house mailboxes are not letterboxes within the meaning of 18 USC 1725 and are not private mail receptacles for the standards for mailable matter not bearing postage found in or on private mail receptacles. The post or other support is not part of the receptacle. >>



Cool info however, this has nothing to do with an item that MUST be signed by the person it is addressed to. By law and regulations NO one should be signing for any letter or package that requires a signature upon delivery. If the person is not home that carrier is to return the article to the post office and another attempted is made the next day OR you get one of those cards stating you have an item at the post office. Our carrier is a family friend and knows us however, she would never EVER sign any letter or parcel in our name. I agree with Jeremy you need to ask your carrier to stop this. It could lead to trouble in the future. This is also the kind of thing that leads to mail theft.

ziggy29

Thanks for the input. My main concern was as a seller sending stuff that the buyer claimed they never signed for, but I do also worry that someone other than our usual carrier (whom we don't know and have no reason to trust) might do this and fo God knows what.

Anyway, it's mostly moot for us as buyers now -- my wife just started school again and won't be home to sign for stuff, so everything's going to the P.O. box now. Still, I was concerned how my rights as a seller would be affected if the buyer says they never got something which the records show the mail carrier signed for.

sliderider

If someone sent me something that required a signature and I didn't sign for it, but they claimed I did, I'd ask them to produce the signature.

BigD5

Well, I'll let you know! I have an Ebay buyer who claimed to have not received a package, and it turns out the postal carrier "dropped' the package at his residence, and now the buyer is claiming he did not receive the package (he did not sign for the package). You can request that your postal carrier sign for insured items, but they will NOT sign for registered pieces, or certified mail etc. You must sign for those parcels "in person".

My PO, the buyers PO, and myself think this buyer is full of bologna, but what we think doesn't really matter at this point. A claim has been filed, and the claim will be investigated. I'm not sure how the situation will turn out, but it sure is an interesting scenario.

As a side note, the buyer briefly threatened me with a paypal chargeback, but when I notified him that I had a printout from the PO that the package was indeed DELIVERED, he never got back to me with that one. I contacted paypal, and they told me (not sure how much weight goes with that), that since I had the printout from the PO that confirmed "delivery", they would not enforce the chargeback, and would advise the customer to seek alternative forms of compensation (a claim through the PO). It's been an interesting scenario, and it is a new one to me.

Barry

I once had a missing shipment from RPS investigated. Turns out the driver signed for it and left it outside my office, which is in the open, about 10 ft from the parking lot. Initially the driver denied it, but the time and day of signature was Fri at 4:30 PM. We close at 4 PM, so it had 3 days to disappear, until we returned Monday morning. RPS sent a copy of the signature and it was my name, but not my signature. I told them it wasn't my signature, and I don't sign for packages anyway. My sec'y does. The driver then admitted "doing us the favor." They paid the claim, apologized and fired the driver.

I suspect rules are stricter with USPS, with all the mail fraud regs.

sliderider

All I know is, delivery confirmation, or no delivery confirmation, if I didn't sign for it and it got lost, I'm getting my money back.