Shipping coins in the United States is a terrifying ordeal.
bolivarshagnasty
Posts: 7,359 ✭✭✭✭✭
We've all heard the horror stories these last few months about lost and stolen coins. Tonight, I was expecting my return shipment from CAC with a pair of double eagles, a five gold, and a Cam Proof 3CN. Out for delivery was the message this AM, so I patiently waited into the evening. So I check the status about 7 pm, dark thirty here in the eastern US. I get this...........
Your item was delivered to an individual at the address at 6:54 pm on February 15, 2022 in CLEVELAND, TN 37312.
Status
Delivered, Left with Individual
February 15, 2022 at 6:54 pm
CLEVELAND, TN 37312
What individual? What address? I have nothing in the mailbox. Found a 10' x 10" box leaned up against a column at the edge of our front porch. Very much visible from the street. Wife and I had been home all evening. Not so much as a doorbell ring. Lot of good shipping registered when your local delivery leaves the package on the front porch. Am I going to win that argument one day when USPS says it was delivered and I find no package due to thievery? Will the insurance pay in that instance?
On a better note, went 4 green beans out of 5 submitted. End rant. 
Comments
Wow, that really is nerve-racking ordeal. Glad it worked out and congrats on the beans.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Thank goodness you got them. Cool on the beans. Can you post some images of them?
Best, SH
All of these beaned.
PR66CAM
MS62
MS65RB
MS62
It’s very difficult for those drivers to ring a doorbell bell for any type of delivery 😡😡
Lafayette Grading Set
Love that double eagle!
Stuff like this is why I decided to pay for a PO Box. There’s still room for problems, but normally the packages don’t leave the post office. Glad it worked out for you.
I recently had a package stolen from the inside post office drop off bin. I dropped it off and it never got scanned and it’s my word vs theirs. My mistake - i should have stood in the line and got it scanned - but thankfully it was a inexpensive book I sold on eBay. But either it slipped behind something or somebody on the inside saw it and thought it was electronics or something expensive. I’ve opened one case but not a lot they can do. I refunded the buyer. Maybe the thief will enjoy reading the life story of Jeb Stuart!
Glad it worked out for you!
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
This is why I haven’t sent my coins to CAC yet… I’m terrified I’ll never see them again.
BHNC #248 … 140 and counting.
I have been having issues as well here in NW Washington, The work around is to Request Hold Mail the day before (if you are tracking you know what delivery date will be) then go to your PO and pick up the parcel. That way there’s no chance for shenanigans.
I use a post office box for my deliveries.
I just received a ups express from sb today. The delivery guy just ring the bell and dropped it on the porch. I was in the house and expecting the package. By the time I got out of the door he was on his truck already. Most delivery guy never ask for signature any more.
That's crazy. Just dropped on your porch?
What's your address again, Mel? I must have lost it.
Lance.
Sending to CAC I always do priority not registered to avoid time spent in transit. I think CAC should as well on not too expensive coins. PCGS sent it Priority to me as I am waiting for a package. I have my own mailbox as I live in an apartment building so I hope for the best, but if I had an expensive coin I would bring it to CAC as I live not too far in NYC.
If you are shipping expensive coins, you need a PO Box. Its cheap insurance. Not foolproof, but better than the alternative.
You mean as in a regular post office box or a post office box where you live in a building?
Nice 3CN
I love the $20 gold piece
I remember the old days when you could mail a package and just assume that it would get to its destination without a postal employee or postal contractor stealing it and when a signature confirmation of receipt actually meant something.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Nice to hear it worked out... though I am sure there were some tense moments. Very nice coins and four out of five green beans is good as well. Cheers, RickO
It’s faster, but riskier. The maximum insurance on a Priority shipment also caps out at $5k, whereas Registered can go up to $25k.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
CAC sends them back registered mail unless you tell the otherwise. I have sent them 30 packages over the years. Each one came back safely via RM.
Best, SH
Count your lucky stars it was there.
For better security you need to get a POB.
Actually had another near miss a few weeks ago. The most expensive coin I've ever bought was "out for delivery". I met the mailman at my box to sign for it and he says "I don't have anything for you - but if I find it I'll bring it back by". A few hours later I checked the tracking and it said "delivered/left with individual". I went out to my mailbox with fear and trepidation but there it was in my mailbox. Gulp.
Ever since December 20th, 2021 (when the UPS delivery guy handed me an empty box from ANACS) I have been nervous while shipments are on their way to me. Somewhere there is a UPS employee enjoying 9 coins that I was supposed to receive. It's been almost 8 weeks now and UPS is still conducting an investigation. They are out nothing (ANACS has to cover the loss) so I am not sure how hard they look of if they even want to find the employee taking items.
Successful BST with drddm, BustDMs, Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
It is very sad that we read about missing packages every day.
It is nice to read that some packages actually arrive days later, but do arrive and are not stolen.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
I had my share of those. I do not buy or sell coins anymore but the experiences and bad memories are still there.
There are just too many crooks out there today and at my age I don't want to deal with them.
Tip, make very good friends with your normal postal carrier.
I had a great relationship with my route driver until he retired. Since 2019, I’ve probably had a dozen different carriers with no set routine. USPS is struggling right now IMO.
Thanks. I’ll do it this spring.
BHNC #248 … 140 and counting.
My advice given from 34 years of mail delivery. I’m now retired but had a walking route for 13 years. Went right to the front porches where the mailbox was. Lots of walking…12 miles a day. I really got to know the people and I treated them well. At Christmas time I received gifts from about 125 of my 300 customers. It paid for much of my daughter’s college education.
Best advice is IF you have a good regular carrier remember them at Christmas. I would treat all of my customers well but I truly appreciated those that showed such consideration.
Love that double eagle!> @Tomthemailcarrier said:
.
... "nice packages you have here, be a shame if something was to happen to them..."
It's simply wrong for the post office to claim it was left with an individual.
It seems that all shippers are having problems, depending on the part of the country. I'm very fortunate to have a super local PO and postman. Issues with FedEx for me. No losses yet but patience required.
If this was a registered package and just left without notification you should definitely take a trip down to the PO to talk to someone in charge about it. Leaving the package unsecured at the last step defeats the entire registered mail system.
There is no excuse for leaving a registered mail package unsecured.
Collector, occasional seller
You have an odd sense of humor that is not appreciated.
What drives me nuts is when they claim they have shipping the item, it gets "on the cart" and stays there for days. The U.S. Mint is good at that, but some dealers are too.
I had one piece hug up for so long, over a week, that I was wondering if it had been stolen. It was shipped from the New York City area, which is always a source of concern, and it was a big piece of gold, a British 5 pounds, (larger than a U.S. $20 gold coin), which would look great to thief. I finally got the coin, much to my relief.
.
Well, the issue at hand was USPS leaving valuable package on the front porch. Your advice to prevent this issue is to give a Christmas gift to your carrier. You don't think that sounds a little bit like paying protection? If we can't joke about it, why not?
I could be mistaken, but I thought that the max insurance value on 'registered mail' was $50,000.
Reference
If it was registered, take the tracking number to the postmaster at the PO that handled the delivery and ask what happened to "this registered package" (use those words). Give them a bit of a scare before you tell them you have it and they'll be more likely to come down on the negligent party than if they know up front the package is safe.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Talk about a timely subject - I was expecting a package today (with a $5,000 item) that was sent by USPS Express Mail. The mailman usually comes around 2:00 pm here so I went out front to do a little yard work (it's warm enough to do that now in South Carolina) and wait for him. Sure enough, he shows up at 2:00 but, instead of pulling in the driveway, he just stuffs the package in my mailbox and drives away! And yes, it says right on the package - Signature Required. All's well that ends well but I'm still going to my local P. O. tomorrow and scream at them.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
Registered packages cannot be delivered without a signature. This means your mail carrier still has it ! Even though you received your package the system is not working. This has happened to me several times and I went to have a talk with the Postmaster for our district and she fully agreed to have a talk with the delivery person. So then it happened again ! Go figure
This is why my coins haven't been to CAC yet...
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If it's a box in your building, then it isn't a POST OFFICE box.
I am still amazed that people have anything of value delivered to their home. Way to advertise where you live and what kind of stuff you have inside.
As my late father always use to say......"good help is hard to get".
Glad everything worked out.
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
I have a pretty good Porch Locker with key-code listed on the address label, I ALWAYS leave a little "thank-you" chedder on the inside, many won't even raise the lid (which is only latched, not locked) to deposit the package!
(l8-)>>
I learned my lesson the hard way. Had a package with one of my favorite coins pilfered on the way back from PCGS. Without going into details, it was probably the mail carrier, it triggered a USPIS investigation, the coin is probably lost forever, but at least PCGS eventually paid me for the value of the coin.
That prompted me to rent a PO Box (for the first time in my life), and now everything I send is double-boxed third-party insured and/or registered. CAC is wise to default to registered for shipping. I now request that PCGS use registered for all their shipments to me, too. Not foolproof, of course, but much better than the alternative.
Same here-- I have been thinking about traveling to NJ to avoid shipping risks. These stories fall into one of the four big horror categories of numismatics: theft, counterfeit, shipping loss, and environmental damage. Huge stress! I am glad that your story ended well and falls into the 'near-miss' category... Beautiful coins!!
The notation “LEFT WITH INDIVIDUAL “ could be challenged and proven with security cameras on the front porch.
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