My packages are being opened

[elfinbaby]

This is probably the 4th in a couple of weeks. The first was a lg. envelope with curriculum. It's possible that one opened on it's own but one of the books fell out and is missing. I'll be dealing with that shortly. That incident was followed by a couple of more. Today we got a box from UPS that literally had 1/2 of the side torn open. Obviously, someone was trying to figure out the contents. We receive alot of FEDEX - dh has wine samples and all sorts of things delivered through them. I don't think we've had a problem with those packages - maybe b/c they are well marked (21 and older have to sign). We also have envelopes that have little tears in them delivered to us, too.

 

What is the problem?? I mean, really. I just can't stand that someone is opening up our packages. Is this happening to anyone else? I'm going to USPS soon to discuss the problem. I have to talk to them anyway about my missing book. Fortunately, the seller included insurance on the package - which was just lucky for me. No one's going to do anything, are they? I mean, what can they do? There must be a huge amount of people handling these packages.

 

Ugh. It's just stuff! I'm sure the perpetrator is delighted to find out he/she has busted into a package filled with Classical Writing!

Edited June 9, 2010 by elfinbaby

[H0MEFree]

:001_huh: Perhaps a nosy neighbor?

It must be frustrating!

[lighthouseacademy]

One time a "tall thin man" intercepted the UPS guy coming up my driveway and accepted a package on my behalf... it was a package of textbooks for my herbalist studies :lol:. I never saw the package again though. The UPS man swore up and down he delivered it to us. When I reported no tall thin man living in my home, they backed down. Anyway, it does happen. Sorry it is happening to you.

[Harriet Vane]

This happened to me with our photos, which we have mailed in for developing for years. At first the packages looked accidentally ripped open, and were then placed in a USPS plastic bag. However, it got to where they were ALWAYS opened, and they looked intentionally opened (real "clean" cut on the envelope). I spoke with a USPS manager at my local station in strong terms about it and my pictures miraculously stopped being opened.

[2cents]

OMG! This was happening to us! It started after 9/11 and I read that the postal service was opening packages randomly so as long as nothing was missing we put up with it. Well earlier this year I started getting almost EVERYTHING torn open that was delivered by postal service (not UPS or FedEx). Finally I got angry and called the main customer service and was told that it should not be happening at all. They told me they were opening an investigation and that they would make sure it would stop happening. After that call, NONE at all have arrived opened. I don't think it was neighborhood kids because I would go out and get the packages right away. I'm pretty sure someone in the postal service was responsible. Our delivery man never said anything about the obviously torn open packages so I suspected something there. It was pretty strange that since that call we've not had a package tampered with since. I should have called earlier! Grrrr! You need to call the postal authorities.

[Just Robyn]

I'd call the postal authorities. I ordered a number of poultry catalogs once and they didn't come and didn't come and then, they all came at once! I mentioned to my mail lady that that seemed odd--she told me that they'd come over several different weeks but that she'd taken them home to read! She was fired!

 

WHAT?! I can't believe she just told you like it was no big deal.

[unsinkable]

I'd call the postal authorities. I ordered a number of poultry catalogs once and they didn't come and didn't come and then, they all came at once! I mentioned to my mail lady that that seemed odd--she told me that they'd come over several different weeks but that she'd taken them home to read! She was fired!

 

Did ya hear that thud out in CO? It was my jaw hitting the desk!

Edited June 10, 2010 by unsinkable
b/c there's a difference between here and hear

[Pretty in Pink]

For some reason I thought the USPS conducted random package searches. Is that just for boxes going overseas? Hmmm.

[Hathersage]

USPS can open packages that are sent Media Mail.

 

 

For some reason I thought the USPS conducted random package searches. Is that just for boxes going overseas? Hmmm.

[duckabell]

We've had a bad experience with media mail. We were moving across the country and shipped out some boxes of books to my sister-in-law who lived by our new town. When we picked up the boxes from her a few weeks later I noticed excessive taping and some rough damage. When we opened it up it was full of army magazines and our books were gone. I never brought up a complaint because by the time we discovered it, it had been a few months from when it was shipped.

[StephanieZ]

I once had a problem with Newsweek magazine arriving late. I subscribed for many years, we had no TV, and we lived in the boonies, pre-www., and was desperate for my news fix each week. My magazine *should* have arrived on Monday or NLT Tuesday each week. . . Every so often it would be late. . . a day, or two, or even three. . . once in a while it disappeared altogether. . .

 

I finally noticed the pattern. . . It would magically be late (or totally AWOL) any time the Clinton Lewinski scandal or something equally lewd was on the cover. Some boring international news cover would *always* arrive on time.

 

When we lived in a huge metro area (NoVA), my stuff always arrived on time. . . But, in the hills of North GA, well. . . those mail handlers definitely took liberties with my magazines!

 

I'd definitely call, and *write* complaints. . . Write a form letter and re-send one each time it happens. I bet once you rattle some cages, your problem will magically disappear.

[fhjmom]

I scrapbook and one of the scrapbook forums I hang out on had a 'postal incident' a while back. One of the other gals was an Ebay seller and sold a lot of her handmade embellishments, page kits, etc. and shipped them USPS. She had a rash of buyers saying they weren't getting their deliveries. Then she noticed that it happened only to packages that she sent from one post poffice (she regularly shipped from two different ones).

 

She was trying to figure it out when one of her good scrapbooking buddies that was familar with her work went to a scrapbook retreat. There was another woman there that all the other ladies were oooooing and aaahing over her layouts, so friend went over to check them out. Low and behold, they were the missing embellishments and the lady was telling everyone how she had made them herself. Somehow the friend already knew that this particular woman worked at the suspicious post office.

 

I don't remember how it was all resolved, but the apparent story was that postal worker was stealing the scrapbook stuff out of the packages then using them in her own books.:glare:

[Mrs Mungo]

When we first moved to NC we weren't part of the city, we had a rural carrier. We had *all sorts* of problems with our mail. Plus, she was crazy! She did stuff like purposely ran over tricycles that were in people's driveways. People repeatedly called to complain but were told that she was a contractor and they couldn't really do anything. Finally, we were incorporated into the city, she was fired, we got a regular mail carrier and had no more problems.

[momofkhm]

I'd call the postal authorities. I ordered a number of poultry catalogs once and they didn't come and didn't come and then, they all came at once! I mentioned to my mail lady that that seemed odd--she told me that they'd come over several different weeks but that she'd taken them home to read! She was fired!

 

A similar thing happened here in the past few years. I can't remember when exactly. A local postal worker was getting slower on his route. He didn't have time to sort and then deliver everything in his day, even going really late. He stopped delivering the "junk" mail. He'd deliver the bills and letters but none of the stuff so many of us throw in the trash. He did this for 3 (!) years before he was found out and fired. For some reason he took the junk mail to his house. The only reason I know about it is it made the paper.

[Mel in K-zoo]

The post office has a policy that allows them to open media mail to make sure that people are sending books and not something else as media mail. Definitely annoying.

[Pajama Mama]

I just ordered some clothes from Old Navy over the weekend. They were having a sale and I was stocking up for the fall and next summer. Anyway, the box arrived yesterday. It was missing 2 small items and the packing slip. I called and ON was fine about it and is sending replacements. The tape was redone on the box since they use tape with Old Navy written on it and the tape was clear on the box. The box showed no signs of being ripped or damaged. She said it probably popped open and the UPS guy missed the small items(sunglasses and flip-flops) when he retaped the box. I hope so. It really isn't worth losing your job for kids' sunglasses and flip-flops.

[Donna A.]

The post office has a policy that allows them to open media mail to make sure that people are sending books and not something else as media mail. Definitely annoying.

 

Yes, but I don't think that's what's happening in the stories that are being told here.

 

In nearly 10 years of homeschooling and shipping curriculum via media mail in two different states and several different cities/post office stations, I've only had ONE incident where a package was opened that *might* have been because of the "media mail rule". And even then, I don't think it was because it looked like it had been really damaged.

 

BUT. I have had other issues with the postal service, three different times. One time it was resolved just by talking to the station manager. The other two times, just talking did nothing. I wrote letters and sent them certified mail... I sent copies to both the local station manager and the U.S. Postmaster General. (CC'd the Postmaster General on the letter I addressed to the local manager, because I wanted the local manager to know in no uncertain terms that I was going above his head.) THAT brought results.

[ereks mom]

USPS can open packages that are sent Media Mail.

 

Yep, there's a big sign in our local post office that states that Media Mail packages can be opened for inspection. So far, though, I've never received one that was opened. I think a lot of people mail packages of things other than books/CDs via media mail because it's cheaper, so the USPS claims the right to open and inspect just to be sure.

[elfinbaby]

Wow. Lots of stories. I called about the package yesterday. I can tell UPS thinks the package was opened after delivery because the delivery guy didn't note that the package was ripped. However, when we received the package, the doorbell rang, ds opened the door and picked up the package the guy had just dropped off. UPS didn't seem to be too worried.

 

USPS I'll deal with soon. I'm not envisioning they do much of anything. I'll have to start keeping better records of what's going on.

 

Theoretically, I don't mind if USPS wants to make sure Media mail is actually media mail BUT if that's what's going - the least they can do is keep the box/envelope in good condition and seal it properly. I'm just guessing but if/when they do open packages, surely they use a proper cutting tool and tape not bending, ripping, and leaving it wide open.

[Donna A.]

USPS I'll deal with soon. I'm not envisioning they do much of anything. I'll have to start keeping better records of what's going on.

 

Theoretically, I don't mind if USPS wants to make sure Media mail is actually media mail BUT if that's what's going - the least they can do is keep the box/envelope in good condition and seal it properly. I'm just guessing but if/when they do open packages, surely they use a proper cutting tool and tape not bending, ripping, and leaving it wide open.

 

Exactly, and that was my point in my previous post. Keep track, and start by writing down everything you've told us here. Note all dates, times, places, and people that you can remember. Then over a couple more weeks' time, add anything else that occurs that's not right. Put it all in a formal letter so as to show the track record of the postal station(s) you're dealing, then send letters via certified mail. Google the U.S. Postmaster General's mailing address in Washington, D.C. and send him a copy of this letter, too. Make sure to show on the original letter that a copy went to D.C.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Whenever we send packages to somewhere like Kenya or the Philippines or Peru we know that there is a 50-50 chance that the stuff will not reach it's destination but will go into the pockets of the postal workers. It sounds like (based on how many stories there are) that we are starting to have a similar problem here in the US.

 

At least it hasn't reached the level it is in Kenya where a lady was sent a box of chocolates for her birthday. The post office told her they wouldn't release the package unless they got a hefty bribe. The bribe was worth more than the chocolates. She let them have them.