Lost passport! Is Post Office responsible? Need it in 2 weeks!!

[J-rap]

My hs senior was awarded an all-expense trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to attend a convention, leaving Easter evening. She needed to have her passport stamped ahead of time at the Brazil Consulate in Chicago, and they required her to send it registered mail...which she did two weeks ago! Apparently it has gotten lost en route. The last tracking record is a post office just 40 minutes away from here. It never even made it out of our state! We have called the U.S. Postal Service headquarters and have been down to our local post office several times, and no one can find it. (?!)

 

Unless it is found by the end of the week, there is no way she can go to Brazil unless we pay for an expedited passport, and fly to Chicago ourselves to get the visa stamp. Does anyone know what the Post Office's responsibility is in this??

 

Frustrating.. :( It could be worse, I know! She would probably just forfeit the trip if it doesn't turn up soon.

[Twigs]

Is this something you could contact your senators or representative in Washington DC about?

Best wishes.

[Arcadia]

Filing a claim https://www.usps.com...ance-claims.htm

 

You can go to the last known post office and ask them to search their sorting room. For a passport, most are kind enough to help. It could be covered up by something else and not noticed. Or it could have left there and not scanned at the next destination. Another possibility is that the passport is sitting in the inter-post office delivery van and didn't get handed over to the next post office on the route.

[AK_Mom4]

Definitely recommend visiting the Last Known Post Office in person since it is only 40 minutes away. If they have it there, you still have time to get it moving again.

[LMA]

It's registered mail. The PO should be looking for it. They are responsible for it. You can file a claim after 15 days for registered mail. I would drive down to the PO and talk to them in person.

[Brilliant]

I'm shocked that this happened with registered mail. They need to find it. Registered mail is kept LITERALLY under lock & key every moment. (at least it was 25 years ago when I did a summer gig at an FPO facility)

[J-rap]

Thanks everyone. Yes, I think tomorrow I'll drive to last known post office. And yes, they did tell me that registered mail is under lock and key the whole way, and our Postmaster said that in 30 years, he has only known of one lost registered mail article out of our post office. I did just drive down to our local post office again. They explained that because registered mail requires a signature at every single step, it will sometimes sit waiting for a signature before it moves again. They also said the recent storms in the midwest could have caused delays as well, but everyone says that two weeks is beyond what it should take. And the fact that they cannot find a record of it after a certain point is what is really strange.

 

It has been almost 15 days, so I will be able to file a claim soon if it doesn't turn up. Maybe I can get Partners of the Americas involved on our behalf, since they are helping to organize the event.

 

Margaret, I do remember a little bit about your daughter's PO experience. That sounds maddening! I've never had bad luck with the PO before, so this is very surprising to me! :(