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A couple of years back the US Post office started a new service in which they would accept UPS and FedEx packages using your P.O. Box. I was thrilled because I wouldn't have to worry about my trains sitting on my porch waiting for me to come home or for someone to steal them. It has worked fine until yesterday. FedEx delivered two packages for me to my local post office. The post office signed for them...however the post office has lost the packages before they got to me. They think they may have given them to the wrong box holder. They are also telling me that they are not responsible because it wasn't sent via US Mail. FedEx says the package was delivered and signed for. SO I am basically being told your out of luck. I hope you are not out a lot of money.

    So what looked like a great safe way to get your trains turns out to be "we are not responsible even if we signed for it". Any suggestions on what should be done next.

Scott Smith

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USPS lost a package of mine about a month ago. The clerk gave me the postmaster's phone number as she was not in at the moment. The post mistress was most helpful, and asked for a phone number she would call, if the search turned up nothing. It took 3 weeks, but I did get my package, which was lost within the P.O. 

Of course this was a straight USPS shipment, no UPS/FEDEX. But I'd say to talk to the postmaster of your local P.O. Take it above the counter clerks.

 

 

Well, I jumped on this service, as my P.O. had given me good service and most know me (although that has changed under their budget constraints).  I had a problem with FEDEX refusing to deliver to the post office (per a shipper's statement).   (Maybe that is due to this kind of occurrence ) I also had a problem with shipping labels of shippers, maybe standardized by UPS, that did not allow for all the information required by the post office.  You have to DRILL this into some shippers.  The second time I used this service, the package sat in general delivery for over a week, until one of the counter people recognized my name.  The not so swift shipper did not include all required info in the address.  I think you need to query the shipper as to how he

addressed your package...you may not get it back, but you will know why it was in

general delivery (I am assuming you have a P.O. Box).

Originally Posted by N5CJonny:

If you paid for the items using a credit card you might be able to recover the value of the loss with the help of the credit card company. Depending on the credit card company, losses like that might be covered.

One of the VERY BIG reasons I prefer to shop with my American Express card, as I've noted frequently in the past!  In the very few times I've needed their customer service for something, they came through in superb fashion, and quickly.

 

I imagine other cards also offer a similar service (not sure who, or how responsive they may be), but I have been very happy with the way AMEX has resolved any issues I may have had.

Originally Posted by RickO:

The post office is a another poorly run government operation where the "majority" of people there don't want to work, or don't care and are overpaid.

 

My local mail carrier has spun the tires on the mail jeep from box to box to prove it.

.

For me, that hasn't been my experience at all. I've had excellent luck with well over a thousand USPS Priority Mail shipments made over the years, and generally good service from PO employees. Some have had an attitude issue, but I find those people employed everywhere. Spinning tires? - our home mail carriers are all very nice, and I have never observed anything but careful driving by postal employees. They drive more carefully than I do, that's for sure.

 

UPS has never shipped to PO boxes.  Only real, physical addresses.  UPS does deliver pkgs to Post offices  to be delivered by them to actual addresses, not the PO boxes. I don't know about Fedex but I would think not

As I said before, when using the post office you use the physical address of the post office with your box number for instance here is my P.O. Box address for FedEx and UPS;

D. Scott Smith

6621 Williamson Road

#19562

Roanoke, VA 24019

Vs.

D. Scott Smith

P.O. Box 19562

Roanoke, VA 24019

 

I have received packages from UPS and FedEx. I have received FedEx packages from MTH and Nassau Hobby using the first address I listed.  The manager of the post office told me that they had 500 UPS packages delivered this week for people's P.O.Boxes. If you have a P.O. Box you have to sign a form to give the post office permission to accept your packages from FedEx and UPS.

Scott Smith

 

Originally Posted by Flash:

If I am going to receive a package (UPS, FedEX, or whatever) and know that I will not be at my home to receive it, I will pay the local UPS Store a small fee and have the package shipped to them for them to hold it. They will call me when its been received so i can pick it up.

Exactly, except, I have never had to pay UPS for me to pick up a package at the distribution terminal.

I don't know why Scott didn't think of this before. The UPS terminal can't be very much farther away from Scott than the post office. If you don't want stuff on your doorstep for the wife to see just pick it up at UPS. I've never had a problem when I did that.

Originally Posted by Allan Miller:
Originally Posted by N5CJonny:

One of the VERY BIG reasons I prefer to shop with my American Express card, as I've noted frequently in the past!  In the very few times I've needed their customer service for something, they came through in superb fashion, and quickly.

 

I imagine other cards also offer a similar service (not sure who, or how responsive they may be), but I have been very happy with the way AMEX has resolved any issues I may have had.

I agree about AMEX, don't understand why people complain about using American Express. Looking up the fees they charge are compatible with Visa/MasterCard (to the vendor).

 

I had placed an order with Sears for two 2 ton bottle jacks. UPS delivers a package to my front door, the box is empty. You can clearly see the shipping weight of the box on the label (36 LBS.) Yet the driver placed an empty box on the doorstep (the seams of the box had slit).

 

I call Sears and UPS, I get the usual statement to save the box in case they like to see it. A couple of weeks go by and I hear nothing from Sears, I had called three times questioning the status of my reimbursement or re-delivery of the items. Each time I called, had to explain over and over what had happened.

 

So seeing that I was getting nowhere with Sears, I call AMEX, Bam-problem solved. They credit the account, they fight with Sears, not me.

 

I have tried this with Visa and M/C, I get a runaround about online orders.

 

I use my AMEX for everything, even groceries (my debit card don't give user points!).

UPS, FedEx and DHL all have a service linked to the USPS. FedEx calls their 'SmartPost'....it's an oxymoron as the last package I got via this service traveled 1000's miles extra to get to me.....and many extra days too.

Also I only have a PO Box as until about a month ago we had no physical address.....and only do now because of Homeland Security. I was 'only yellow house on the right' for many years!

But all 3 package services do deliver to PO Boxes if not direct then through a partnership with the USPS. In a county with 99% of the addresses are POB....it happens a lot. 

I've had items shipped by both UPS and FedEx that have come to the post office to be delivered by them.  I think FedEx calls it SmartPost.  I don't recall if UPS has a name for it, but recently I had ordered several lawnmower parts from Sears, some that came to the house via UPS and some that came via UPS to be delivered by USPS (first time, never before) that I had to pick up at the post office.  No home or phyical address mail delivery since I have a POB.  If I don't include the box number in the my physical delivery address and the person at the post office isn't aware that I have a POB, that item may get shipped or mailed back.  When completing an order delivery address online, I include the POB number in the second address line of the shipping address but a lot of times when the item comes the POB number will have been dropped.  One of the clerks at the post office told me recently to just include the number with no mention of POB.  Hopefully the shipper will include the number.  It's frustrating because a lot of the time you have no idea what carrier they will use or what type of shipping the carrier will be using.  One would assume that if they used either FedEx or UPS and you gave them your physical delivery address, such as your home, they would actually deliver it to your home.  Now you don't have a clue. 

Larry

There are a lot you out there that just like to bash the USPS, FED EX, and UPS when something goes wrong with your package delivery.  I had my share of disappointments with all three.  I work for the USPS and I'll won't be the first or the last to criticize them for sloppy work and for hiring some lazy people, but this has nothing to do with being a government agency, it people's work attitude and you find it wherever people work.  My neighbor works for UPS and he all ways complaining about some of his co-workers "lazy-***" attitudes.  Until any of you work in any of these delivery companies and learn how your mail and packages are sorted, please hold your inexperienced thoughts. I guess I should be expecting some hate responses from some people.  All of these companies have amazing and complexed computer and sorting systems, they all also have for the majority, knowledgeable and conscientious employees who want to serve the public, there always a bad apple in the bunch.  It is unfortunate to us when we the customer becomes the one with a misdirected or undelivered package.  Scott needs to request an inquiry from the Postmaster and hope that if the package was placed into another PO box that the person who has it will return it to Post Office.

      There is one other possibility, his wife became curious about all the new trains showing up on his train layout and discovered that they were showing up at his PO box.  She has intercepted this package and it is now buried in his front lawn.

   

 

I've had items shipped by both UPS and FedEx that have come to the post office to be delivered by them.  I think FedEx calls it SmartPost.  I don't recall if UPS has a name for it,

 

With UPS, it is called "the last mile". But they really don't want you to know that the USPS is delivering you package for them.  They mostly use this service in low volume areas and since the USPS is delivering mail in these areas anyway and every day except Sunday, it made economic sense to hand off the package to USPS for final delivery.

No issues with my post office but I always have items bigger than my mailbox delivered to my work. (they don't care)

All the delivery folks (USPS, UPS, ect) seem to enjoy leaving packages in the rain or snow, on the open front steps, 15 feet from the street, in plain sight from a block away. Thus the work address deliveries.

Right now I have an insurance claim in on UPS, Driver left the insured package (a pair of the Presidential cars (unnamed on package)) on my brothers steps in Phoenix, Az. They disappeared.

Scott:

 

Certainly instills much confidence in the USPS - or it confirms they are spiraling out of control into the toilet.

 

I would suggest as others have that you speak with (in person) the Postmaster. 

 

If that seems to not be going well, mention you have already posted your experience to the internet so that no one else has this problem (the subtle threat - you have other choices for shipping and so do we on the forum).

 

The moral of the story - avoid using the USPS at all costs.  It is an incredibly dysfunctional organization that is technically bankrupt, is and has been mismanaged for years, has a staff that has been beaten down and demoralized.  Not the ideal organization to be handling your goods.

 

Again, sorry this happened, but for a USPS employee to say - in effect - "not my problem, yours" is the height of ignorance.  They have a fiduciary responsibility to convey the package to the correct recipient.  Anything short of that is a breach of contract.

Originally Posted by Traintrack:

With UPS, it is called "the last mile". But they really don't want you to know that the USPS is delivering you package for them.  They mostly use this service in low volume areas and since the USPS is delivering mail in these areas anyway and every day except Sunday, it made economic sense to hand off the package to USPS for final delivery.

Two things.......

USPS gives great service for the price 99% of the time. It's that 1% that is always a critical item tha hurts! Back in my ebay days I only shipped USPS.....and had good results. We live in the most rural area east of the Mississippi so that's one reason we see more of the USPS working with UPS, FedEx and DHL here.

 

The USPS issues have more to do with upper management than front line workers. My Post Office is a one person office. She reports to THREE people. That will not work for long before it collapses on itself.

UPS and FedEx both have services that allow you to hold at their facility for free. (Free to sign up as well)  UPS is called UPS My Choice and FedEx is Delivery Manager.  For expensive items I always make sure I get tracking numbers and then log in and change the delivery to hold at the local delivery facility. For UPS you can also change the delivery address to one of their stores (for a small fee).  I'm not sure about FedEx.

The "last mile" is a good term for shipping.Both

FedEx and UPS bring packages to the post office

then the PO delivers the package.

 

I had a package arrive at a UPS hub but did not leave that hub. The package

was found in Kansas City, Kansas which maybe where all packages without

a UPS shipping lable go.When the package arrived at my house the invoice

had been cut off the outside of the box. A copy of the invoice was emailed to me.The copy had my full credit card number on the invoive. The credit card

company canceled the card on their own and there were no charges on that card.

 

Incompetence and dishonesty are not limited to any one shipper or store, it is

all over.

 

I received what I ordered and paid for, but it was a battle with UPS

and the store. The credit card company did act on their own and sent me

an email about a new card with little reason why.

Originally Posted by Traintrack:

There are a lot you out there that just like to bash the USPS, FED EX, and UPS when something goes wrong with your package delivery. 

 

You are so very right about that!  Every thread like this ultimately turns into a bash of EVERY delivery service, be it USPS, UPS, FedEx, or some other delivery agent.  Turns out to be a wash each and every time.

 

The truth of the matter is that all of these agencies do a fine job most of the time, but there is no service that is 100% error free.

One of the things that really surprised me when we got the house in the US was UPS, FedEx etc. Leaving the packages outside the door.

 

There is just no way they will do this in the UK. I mean NO WAY even if you ask them to.

If your not in they will leave a postcard with contact details to arrange redelivery and

details of the depot if you want to pick it up.

 

Parcel Force (the privatised package arm of Royal Mail) which delivers the larger packages sent via USPS to the UK. Will leave packages at your local Post Office but they are the only ones to do so. They may in some cases leave a package with a neighbour.

 

Nick

Scott,

 

Of the few legal classes I took, the best thing I learned is just because they say they are not responsible does not mean they are not.  They offered this service, you accepted and they did not perform as advertised.  They signed for the package and accepted it on your behalf and then claim to have lost it.  Regardless of what they say a court may see it differently and force them to compensate you.  I agree with others who said to talk to the Postmaster and try and get relief.  Otherwise small claims court may be the place to take it (not sure on which court but you get the idea).  You don't necessarily need a lawyer for this but I'm sure the lawyers on here may disagree with that  Point is, never give up just because they say they are not responsible.  BigRail

For UPS you can also change the delivery address to one of their stores (for a small fee).  I'm not sure about FedEx.

 

FedEx will also deliver to the nearest store at no charge.  On expensive items, I request a signature delivery and if I am unavailable I have it held at the store.  For USPS if you request a signature they will not deliver without a signature and the package will go to your local post office. 

 

All in all it amazes me that these companies handle a gazillion packages per day and unlike the airline's luggage problem, I rarely hear/read about difficulties with lost packages.

The heart of the matter is ALL carriers have problems when the workload involves billions of items and ALL delivery persons make mistakes, it's just the nature of the beast. The only solution is to live with what you can physically buy in a local store and we all know that's not going to happen.

My business experience with UPS, Ups Freight and Fed-Ex over the last 30 years and their performance has been far greater in comparison than any train manufacturer, broker, or LHS by 100% and that is based on thousands plus vs hundreds of actual interactions. Fed-Ex once returned exactly to the day, a package that was shipped to Finland on 9-11. Ups has misplaced but never actually permanently "lost" anything. I had a few incidents out of hundreds of Ebay purchases where the UPS online tracking said the package was delivered and was not. Some were delivered and the site said they were not. The counter people always said the Web site was always "wrong". After a few calls to the local Postmaster who personally found a couple. She always personally called me back with updates every couple of days on one that took a week to find. And by the third incident assured me she would resolve this permanently. But she was always polite and helpful. After enough online documentation, an either incompetent/lazy delivery person was replaced and no more issues. But I agree with Allen, I always use Amex (even for PayPal), would never "gift" anyone and give up my protections. Will also use Amazon instead of direct from the seller when possible for the same reason. Always hear a lot of whining and complaining around hear but not much about people willing to take responsibility for their own choices, actions or consumer protections. Once on the forum I expressed my disappointment with the customer service at the Atlas company. But that was after several emails with the repair person, all the way up to the owner/president. And does not mean I will not buy anything of their products again. Just not new because you get nothing in return for the added expense. And never had anything stolen from my front yard either. It is a criminal offense and most people would not risk it for the chance you might get "something" free. Fred
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