How UNsafe is it, really, to send ca$h through the mail?

[James_OldeTowne]

I am always amazed when someone sends me cash through the mail. And not just paper money - I've received small change loose in an envelope along with paper money before. The largest payment I've ever received was $180 in $20s, and I myself occasionally send out cash for small (under $10) purchases, if it can be paid in paper (no coins).

 

I'd guess that I've had about forty transactions like this over the years, with zero lost payments. Any idea what the attrition rate is for cash sent through the USPS?

 

(Of course, now that everyone knows I send and receive cash, my success rate may suddenly decrease !)

[Tradedollarnut]

I think it's not the sending part that's unsafe - it's the arriving part.

[supertooth]

James----- My son walked a postal route for 10 years before becomming a supervisor last year. My wife works part time----a lot of part time----as a postmistress for many of the small post offices in the area.

 

There is some loss. You mostly see it when the drawers are counted. My guess is the "MAJORITY" of it is normal human error in counting correctly. My wife is upset if her drawer doesn't come to the penny.

 

In our experiences, the majority of trouble is at the plants----"NOT" the local offices themselves. Mail of all kinds---tons of it----goes through those machines----every day. It isn't that they couldn't steal something. The errors and losses are more a product of the volume of stuff at those plants----and the poor packaging that breaks open [ sometimes not the fault of the system].

 

In a round about way---in our little part of the rural world--- I'm saying that theft would be unusual if done on purpose. Outright theft---if caught----would be one of the very few things that you could do----that "might" cause you to be fired. It's not worth stealing a few dollars.

 

In my son's and wife's experiences, it is more a matter of the offices going overboard to "FIX" the problems---rather than to create them. But, in the big cities, this may not be the case.

 

My guess---if the person wrapped and was careful about the job---the chances of his loosing his cash money would be "VERY MINIMAL". Bob [supertooth]

[Just Bob]

I can remember when I was a kid, sending off cereal box tops to get some kind of little plastic toy. They usually wanted 25 cents or so to cover postage and handling, so we would tape the coins to the boxtops, put them in an envelope,and mark the envelope "HAND CANCEL." I don't recall ever having a problem back then. (I should say WAY back then.)

 

My father even taped some coins to the outside of an envelope once, in place of a stamp, because we didn't have any. It worked. Try that today.

[DC Dawg]

There is a picture, somewhere, of a package that was sent by noted dealer Abe Kosoff to the US Mint's headquarters in Washington, DC. The package contained a 1933 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle that he voluntarily gave up on request of the US Secret Service. When asked about sending such a coin via the US Mail he said that he always sent coins via the Mail without problems.

 

I think the image is in one of the two books on the 1933 Double Eagles.

 

FWIW: I think I may have had one problem with the Postal Service but I have had several with UPS. There is less oversight on UPS and there has been accusations of their stealing packages knowing that insurance would cover the loss. This happens on items other than coins, too, including the new whiz-bang Thomas The Tank set that was shipped from the factory to my nephew four years ago. It never arrived. Another was sent via the Postal Service and arrived in two days!

 

I know the Postal Service has some issues, but they are more reliable than other services (except for FedEx next day). I hope the execs can get their heads out of their okoles to do what they need to for cost containment.

 

okole is Hawaiian for tuches! (thumbs u

 

Scott

[Tradedollarnut]

There is a picture, somewhere, of a package that was sent by noted dealer Abe Kosoff to the US Mint's headquarters in Washington, DC. The package contained a 1933 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle that he voluntarily gave up on request of the US Secret Service. When asked about sending such a coin via the US Mail he said that he always sent coins via the Mail without problems.

 

Well, if you think about it - did he really care if it was lost along the way?

[thebeav]

There is a picture, somewhere, of a package that was sent by noted dealer Abe Kosoff to the US Mint's headquarters in Washington, DC. The package contained a 1933 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle that he voluntarily gave up on request of the US Secret Service. When asked about sending such a coin via the US Mail he said that he always sent coins via the Mail without problems.

 

Holy cow !

I seem to remember something about this story, but had forgotten it. Not that Abe needed the money, but his family may have been shorted by 7 mil out of his estate.

Well, there's one more '33......I wonder how many more there are?

 

(Information not intended to hijack any thread !)

 

Paul

[ant]

i dont think its about the money getting found and stollen. i think its about the reciever saying they didnt get the money and not having proof of payment.

[farthing]

In the early years of eBay I always paid for items with cash (500+ auctions). Never had a single problem with any payment not arriving.

[jesbroken]

Just to be really sure about your % rate, James. Just send me 10 separate envelopes with 5@$20 bills in them and I will send you an affadavit as to your attrition rate, thus you would then be certifiable. OK?

Jim

[James_OldeTowne]

Just to be really sure about your % rate, James. Just send me 10 separate envelopes with 5@$20 bills in them and I will send you an affadavit as to your attrition rate, thus you would then be certifiable. OK?

Jim

Jim, you must think I am gullible or something. It would be much easier if I simply sent you one envelope with a $1000 bill in it, and then see if you receive it.

 

I mailed it off just now. Please let me know when you receive it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phbbbbbbbt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[supertooth]

Wonderful-----Some humor in these days and times. Good going guys. Bob [supertooth]

[jesbroken]

See, the problem with only sending one, James is that it never made it.

Jim

[MBA101]

I just got 2 crisp $1 bills in the mail from Arbitron (the TV/Radio ratings people) to take a survey if that counts...

[Coindude]

I saw a guy post ATS a bit back that he sent a $20 St. Gaudens in a regular white envelope, no padding. He said it was just worth the gold content... which is still $1000. Not sure what the outcome was, but he did state he's done it before and never lost anything.

[thehumantorch]

James----- My son walked a postal route for 10 years before becomming a supervisor last year. My wife works part time----a lot of part time----as a postmistress for many of the small post offices in the area.

 

There is some loss. You mostly see it when the drawers are counted. My guess is the "MAJORITY" of it is normal human error in counting correctly. My wife is upset if her drawer doesn't come to the penny.

 

In our experiences, the majority of trouble is at the plants----"NOT" the local offices themselves. Mail of all kinds---tons of it----goes through those machines----every day. It isn't that they couldn't steal something. The errors and losses are more a product of the volume of stuff at those plants----and the poor packaging that breaks open [ sometimes not the fault of the system].

 

In a round about way---in our little part of the rural world--- I'm saying that theft would be unusual if done on purpose. Outright theft---if caught----would be one of the very few things that you could do----that "might" cause you to be fired. It's not worth stealing a few dollars.

 

In my son's and wife's experiences, it is more a matter of the offices going overboard to "FIX" the problems---rather than to create them. But, in the big cities, this may not be the case.

 

My guess---if the person wrapped and was careful about the job---the chances of his loosing his cash money would be "VERY MINIMAL". Bob [supertooth]

 

I've been a letter carrier for Canada Post for 30 years. It's unlikely that a postal employee would steal folding money from an envelope since we generally have no idea what is in an envelope. I do occasionally notice envelopes with coin inside but I'm not willing to sell my soul and risk my job for 87 cents. I would be cautious about mailing large sums of paper money as letters do get lost, damaged or misdelivered. For small purchases mailing cash is quite safe and logical.

[WoodenJefferson]

If you want your cash money to arrive at it’s destination, do not put it in a Birthday/Graduation type card.

 

A few years ago, a contract mail hauler was caught here in Texas opening mail, from pad locked mail pouches, while riding in the back of a transport truck! The perp had a ring of keys/head lamp/exacto knife/water and sticky fingers.

 

While the truck rolled along the highway, a slit man would get into the back of the trailer and rifle those kinds of cards. They would make a small slit in the edge of the envelope, peer in and if there was nothing inside, go on to the next. Once cash was discovered, the perp slit the envelope just enough to retrieve the cash.

 

Kids would just lament at getting an empty card, “Grandma was cheap this year…she didn’t send me any money!”

 

Note: These were not Postal Employees...contract haulers.

[James_OldeTowne]

See, the problem with only sending one, James is that it never made it.

Jim

Well, shoot! I've been had doh !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DC Dawg]

There is a picture, somewhere, of a package that was sent by noted dealer Abe Kosoff to the US Mint's headquarters in Washington, DC. The package contained a 1933 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle that he voluntarily gave up on request of the US Secret Service. When asked about sending such a coin via the US Mail he said that he always sent coins via the Mail without problems.

 

Well, if you think about it - did he really care if it was lost along the way?

In this case, you have a good point!!

 

Scott

[WoodenJefferson]

Hope Diamond sent via USPS

Henry “Harry” Winston, a leading American jeweler and gem dealer, bought the diamond from Mrs. McLean’s estate in 1949. In November 1958 Winston donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, intending it to be the foundation for a National Jewel Collection. With his years of experience in shipping jewelry all over the world, Winston chose to have the diamond delivered by registered mail. He told a reporter for the Washington Post that “ . . . [registered mail is] the safest way to ship gems. . . . I’ve sent gems all over the world that way.”

 

The diamond was placed in a box, wrapped in brown paper, and sent by registered mail, traveling down from New York in a Railway Post Office train car. In Washington, it was immediately taken to the City Post Office (the building that now houses the National Postal Museum), where it was picked up by postal carrier James G. Todd.

 

Todd drove the package to the National Museum of Natural History. The diamond was handed over in a ceremony including Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Mrs. Harry Winston. The transfer was completed when Carmichael signed the receipt for the registered package. The price paid for shipping the gem, valued at $1 million at the time, was $145.29, most of that for package insurance.

[Conder101]

See, the problem with only sending one, James is that it never made it.

No the problem with only sending one is that it gives you no data on unsafe it is. Sending just one and having it disappear could mean that it is 100% unsafe, or it could just be an unlucky fluke that would never happen again. You have to send MANY MANY of them and then track what percentage of them were delivered and what percentage made someone else along the way happy. So James should send some cash to every one of us here on the forum and we can report back to him. That would give us a nice statistically significant sampling.

[Just Bob]

This is a great idea. James, do you still have my address?

[James_OldeTowne]

So James should send some cash to every one of us here on the forum and we can report back to him. That would give us a nice statistically significant sampling.

Wait..... a..... minute.....

 

Why can't every one on the boards just send me a little cash? You can trust me !

[zrlevin]

I just received $25 in the mail today for payment of a proof set. I had never received cash in the mail as payment before.

[jesbroken]

 

No the problem with only sending one is that it gives you no data on unsafe it is. Sending just one and having it disappear could mean that it is 100% unsafe, or it could just be an unlucky fluke that would never happen again. You have to send MANY MANY of them and then track what percentage of them were delivered and what percentage made someone else along the way happy. So James should send some cash to every one of us here on the forum and we can report back to him. That would give us a nice statistically significant sampling.

 

 

See James! I told you to send me 10(maybe more) letters with 5@$20 bills--that way it will be thick. Why won't you listen? If none make it then just crank your gullibility quotient to the max and say phooey!

Jim

[Conder101]

10 isn't near enough letters for a good statistical sampling out of the billions of items handled by the Post office every year. And then there are other considerations. Do different times of the year affect the reliability? What about the safety of different areas of the country, and is the mail safer when it is outgoing in an area or incoming? I can see hundreds of possibilities that need to be checked for each one needing hundreds if not thousands of letters with cash in them.