The Post Office has now lost 7 books on me!

[acsnmama]

I ordered a set of 5 books on ebay, uninsured (Christian liberty press nature readers). However, the package arrived empty, inside of a plastic bag from the PO saying, "were sorry for any damage..." The thing is, the books were obviously stolen, as the packaging was clearly and cleanly ripped open. The books were NOT packaged poorly. The people at the PO were rude to my husband and could do nothing for him. This was back in December.

 

Today I received my package from HOD of 3 books that had been on backorder. I only received 1 of the 3 books. Again, package ripped open. Unfortunately it was shipped in a paper envelope, so it could have easily been torn. Anyway, the one book I did receive is filthy, and the other 2 are completely gone, yet again, arrived in a plastic bag with the PO stating they are sorry for any damage.

 

I'm at a loss, and I'm very, very upset. What is going on? I'm not sure what to do.

[Mothersweets]

I've had that happen to me before. A very large order of books was obviously cut into and stolen and the po was very rude about it. I contacted the company I bought the books from and they replaced the books. I'm very lucky as my current po is awesome.

 

Not much you can do about the ebay purchase but I would contact HOD and see what they will do. Maybe think about putting insurance on every package from now on? I'm sorry, it's terrible to have things stolen!!

[acsnmama]

The postmaster last time didn't give a poo. She was rude.

 

I will likely have things delivered to a family member from now on.

 

I did contact HOD. I hope they can be of help, but I'm so sad that they would have to replace books for me, because of the PO!

 

I've ordered so much, I shop mostly online and this has never been an issue before, ever. I would find it hard to believe that it's my Postman, but at the same time, I know of someone (though not local to me) who's postman was stealing people's mail.

[Oakblossoms]

I would request a sender use a different service. UPS has always been good. FedEx can be iffy. I have had several problems with FedEx in different locations. It doesn't hurt to complain to the higher up levels. It sounds fishy to me. The sorting warehouse might want to know and might be getting complaints already.

[stripe]

I had this happen to me, several times from a store that did not (in my opinion) package books well. The self-seal would pop open or, in another case, the bag ripped. I felt horrible, especially because the PO never even bothered to put a "we're sorry" stamp or provide any evidence of the loss. The mailman didn't even seem bothered! And what really irritated me was the last time it happened, someone had tape up an empty package. Yeah, thanks, the purpose of that is what? I did suggest to the company in question that they not send so many books in a bag-like thing, and add reinforcing tape; they seemed to change a bit, but not to really great packaging. The company is the one responsible, even though it's the PO's fault. Ridiculous that the PO takes so little responsibility.

 

You know, if it seems like a consistent thing, and the PO doesn't seem to care (I would go up higher than just your carrier, though), you can keep going. I had to involve my senator with issues with two other government agencies at various times. It worked!

 

I once called the PO to complain that after I moved (within the same PO's area) that credit card offers were still staying at the old address, and the man on the phone sounded concerned and promised to look into it.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I would definitely file a complaint (go up the chain of command until you get someone who will listen.) I pretty much insist on priority mail these days for both sending and receiving. If I want it badly enough to buy it, it is worth it to me to pay for shipping with insurance. If I am selling something, I will only ship priority with insurance because I don't want someone coming back to me telling me they didn't get it.

[acsnmama]

I just called the 1-800 number and filed a complaint. They said they would call me back tomorrow with details.

 

Unfortunately I never held onto the last package. However when my DH brought it to the PO, they claimed they made a copy of it to document it. I doubt it. He said the woman came back smelling like she took a smoke break. Anyway, I ended up throwing the package away after she said there was nothing she could do. I guess I'll take that one as a loss. It was my fault for not adding insurance. However, this package from HOD, were my backordered books and I never would've thought to ask them to add insurance.

[sunshine clementine]

I would request a sender use a different service. UPS has always been good. FedEx can be iffy. I have had several problems with FedEx in different locations. It doesn't hurt to complain to the higher up levels. It sounds fishy to me. The sorting warehouse might want to know and might be getting complaints already.

 

i second this..it's more than likely happening at the sorting facility. my fil managed our local one for 30 yrs..and after he retired they closed it down..so all of our sorting went through ft worth..not too bad of a deal, just took an extra day to get our local mail..now however, they might close down fort worth and all of our sorting is going through dallas..and it has been a pain..haven't had things lost, but some media mail does sit there a lot longer. people don't really realize what pkgs go through getting from point a to point b..especially media mail. (have to add here though, that what makes me think something weird is going on here is if i remember right, my HOD order was shipped priority, and packaged in USPS materials)

so my advice would be keep on complaining..don't let the rudeness get to you..and get insurance. hope some of this makes sense..my husband is a city carrier, and i'll ask him what to do when he gets home :)

[sunshine clementine]

meant to say hope this makes sense bc i tend to ramble typing and don't really tie my thoughts together----------->see! :tongue_smilie:

[acsnmama]

Thank you!

 

HOD is awesome, they are re-sending what I need. It's not their fault, and I have no blame on them of course. My main HOD package was shipped Priority, but these were the books that were backordered, they were shipped media, I'm not sure how they normally do it, I assumed that was likely what they did to save on shipping, I don't blame them :001_smile:

 

The PO is frustrating. I will probably go there tomorrow and talk to them, I didn't make it today.

 

I have to order a tadpole for our Science, and I'm worried it's not going to make it here safely!

[sunshine clementine]

ok, i asked my dh last night..he said several things which i thought were kind of interesting..(wish i were speaking in my person so that my tone comes across right :) ) first thing was he thinks it is so odd that anyone would deliberately steal books..ie a postal worker, which was my first thought as to the culprit..not too many people know that homeschool books are like gold and how much $$$ we spend on them..second thing that he said, which may not apply either, but he said it would surprise a lot of people, how much neighbors will steal or even (obviously not the case here) when a pkg is mis-delivered..they'll just keep it. like i said, those two things more than likely don't apply to you..but just food for thought..anyway, his only recommendation was if the postmaster/station mangers aren't really being helpful..he said you can always call the postal inspection and they'll investigate since this has been happening frequently with your packages.

 

really all that may be happening is whenever they transport media mail..it goes into these large bins and sometimes things get crushed under the weight of bigger pkgs, and then tearing the packaging..if you have conscientious people (like my dh :001_tt1: ) loading those bins it really isn't a problem..but unfortunately some people don't care..if i were you, i'd probably call the postal inspector, and at least see what you can do...bc if nothing else your local postmaster SHOULD be trying to help you. good luck to you, and i hope you get it all sorted out!

[gardenmom5]

if the post office doesn't want to help (and I'd take it up the line a ways - I wouldn't leave it with that post office.) - many tv stations have "people helper/consumer" whatever who are helpful. they'd love something like that. books being stolen by someone in the post office and the post office doesn't care. just think of the tv stations PR audience draw for that story. ;p

[Flowing Brook]

Did you know the post office has a lost and found for when things like this happen? Once we ordered some home school books. The package came ripped open and there was only one or the three books we ordered. Our postmaster gave us a form to fill out. We had to describe the contents. Apparently everything that gets lost like you described goes some place. If they can find the lost items they will send it back to you. It might be worth asking your post master.