U.S. Postal Service stealing submissions

[pawnee101]

I think I have had my submission stolen, by the US post office, I really wanted to have these coins graded WOW does this happen very much? I was well insured but the money is not all that counts, just wondering if anyone else has had there coins taken with NGC on the label? May be premature on this but sent them 12/01/2005 maybe just backed up some where but I talked to my mailman and he said they should have been there already!

[jgrinz]

I am sure you sent it registered - Have them track it. It will have a trail through each post office it travels through. Rifling does happen though Good Luck.

[GAB]

Good luck with USPS. They won't even start talking to you about it until January.

They have some scary policies.

 

I just had a fun one trying to send an isurable item to an APO in Germany with USPS.

They wanted me to declare WHAT was in the package, and HOW MUCH it is worth.

This sticker was going to be placed directly on the parcel, for everyone to see.

What an enticement to interested postal workers and handlers!! (USPS wouldn't do registered to an APO ??)

 

Any coin of serious value (monetary or other) should DEFINITELY be sent registered, especially if it is being sent to NGC, PCGS, ANA, Heritage,Superior etc. - any recipient widely known in the coin world. Packaging can be a good "disguise" in some cases.

 

 

[midwest]

Well if you sent it registered don't worry. Two weeks for registered mail is normal. Even if you didn't send it registered don't worry. You have to remember now is the busiest time for the postal service. All mail is delayed a bit due to the Christmas season. Besides for insured mail you can't register a complaint untill I believe 30 days after mailing. It should get to NGC soon.

[EricG]

If you sent it Express mail 1 week ago or registered mail 21 days ago I would be saying you should do it you should be calling you local postal inspectors and your local police. If you just sent it insured mail and you sent them to NGC or PCGS then you violated their policies and they may not accept the package when it gets there. PCGS specifically requires registered, insured mail. The comma is not an or. PCGS and NGC both require the package be sent registered and insured. The reason for this is simple. Only registered mail is tracked from one person to the next. All other forms of mail can at one time or another be in a mail sack with several other pieces. Not so for registered mail. Registered mail is so expensive because it is handed one piece at a time from one person to another and each time it is handed it is scanned. You will not see that tracking on the web site but the Postal inspectors can look up the log and see This package started out with John in Denver and then John gave the package to the driver Jack who took it to the Denver airport and loaded it onto flight 372 to Philadelpia whitnessed by Mark, David unloaded the package in Philadelphia and gave the package to Josh who rerouted the package to flight 879 to Orlando etc etc etc. The fact that registered mail must go through all these extra steps is why it can take so long and also why it can cost so much ($7.50 before even figuring in insurance). If you just simply sent it insured mail then you are out of luck until after 30 days after mailing. In any even if you only sent it December 1 and you sent it any way other then Express mail you are too early to be worried at this point.

[gmarguli]

If you just sent it insured mail and you sent them to NGC or PCGS then you violated their policies and they may not accept the package when it gets there. PCGS specifically requires registered, insured mail. The comma is not an or. PCGS and NGC both require the package be sent registered and insured.

 

They suggest, but do not require it. I've sent lots of packages to PCGS that weren't registered.

 

I've also sent quite a few packages to NGC with no postal insurance or signature confirmation. Just stuffed in a padded mailer. Never once have they refused the package.

[EricG]

Note I did not say would but rather may... as in it would be within their rights to.

[pawnee101]

13 Days and NGC don't have them yet!

[EricG]

Pawnee, How did you send them? First Class Insured?, Priority Mail insured?, Parcel Post insured?, Registered insured?, Express insured? Other? HOW did you send them. And BTW its only 8 days. If you sent them on the first and the 4th and the 11th were sundays (no mail service on sundays, if you send a package Fedex 2nd day on Friday does it get there on Sunday or even Monday Nope.) Then the 2nd was the first day, 3rd 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 12th (the thirtienth hasn't been updated as of my posting so I know it wasn't updated when you posted) count them up thats only 8 days.

[pawnee101]

First class insured, never had a problem with the service and I know its just been a few days, but I have a gut feeling I am gonna have to collect the insurance, wish I had exadurated it a little, but was conservative on the insurance, what a deal. Well if NGC gets them I will let you guys know!

[michael]

anyone that does not send coins or other small valuables in the mail by fully insured registered mail is asking for trouble most of the fault here is with the original sender

[jgrinz]

PCGS and NGC are not going to refuse a package when its in thier hands. IT ramps ups the liabilty on thier part having it reyruned. They have to accept it.

I use striaght Express ... and make them Insure Registered on its return.

[pawnee101]

Michael I wasn't asking for trouble I don't think, I payed the US post Office $25.60 to get this small package to Florida from Oklahoma

[EZ_E]

anyone that does not send coins or other small valuables in the mail by fully insured registered mail is asking for trouble most of the fault here is with the original sender

 

I fully agree with this statement. Registered mail is the safest, most reliable method of sending valuables! Just ask any postal worker.

 

p.s. Usually, buying extra insurance is a waste of money when weighing the loss risk vs the additional cost. Just claim the value as $0.00. Plus, if anything actually is lost then you would play hell getting reimbursed for it. One MUST have original receipts, etc.

[ElectricEye-migration]

Did you spellcheck the label first before sending? I hear the USPS uses a giant tree shredder for packages that aren't addressed correctly. It's the Xmas season, expect delays, especially with registered USPS packages.

 

PS - On a side note, a new regulation requires that international USPS packages to Canada require all caps on the country and two spaces between the postal code or they can refuse to ship the package.

[EricG]

Did you spellcheck the label first before sending? I hear the USPS uses a giant tree shredder for packages that aren't addressed correctly.

 

Boy am I glad that smilee face is there. You wouldn't belive what shows up in the USPS auctions for the mail they couldn't deliver. No they won't shred them but they don't hesitate to sell them.

[jtryka]

I was at the post office yesterday, and some guy was there trying to mail a crate full of live roosters to California...given the racket they were making in the lobby I doubt they could lose them, no matter how much they wanted to!

[gmarguli]

p.s. Usually, buying extra insurance is a waste of money when weighing the loss risk vs the additional cost. Just claim the value as $0.00. Plus, if anything actually is lost then you would play hell getting reimbursed for it. One MUST have original receipts, etc.

 

I've never provided original receipts. On an item I sold, I used the eBay printout to show its value and they paid that amount. On two that were lost the value listed on the submission form was accepted and I was paid that amount.

 

And one package that I mailed that was damaged, the Post Office figured out the value of the damage. I never heard back from the buyer, so I assume he was happy with the payout.

[Count_Erfit]

The Post Office is NOT YOUR FRIEND! I have a particularly crappy unit that controls my zip code. I have had to have TWO clerks reprimanded OFFICIALLY for not allowing my wife (who actually rented the box) to pick up any registered mail. They seemed to get a real KICK out of making her come home (if I wasn't with her) to get a signature (which they could NOT verify by any possible means) and finally demanded that ...I... come personally to the office to pick up the mail.

 

Well...friends....there's a little online source for POSTAL REGULATIONS and they ATE those words. One gabby gal even TRANSFERRED from the ordeal. She had pretty much made a fool of herself by saying VERY LOUDLY that ..SHE...was a POSTAL EXPERT and it WAS HER JOB TO KNOW!

 

Unfortunately (for her) she did NOT know. Now she...and all the others .... know the regs state that anyone with ACCESS to the box may pick up ANY mail and sign for it. (which should REALLY be a blessing as the liability passes OUT of the post office once it's SIGNED for)

 

But....do they LEARN? Not on your tintype!

 

Just yesterday some poor woman was worried about losing something in the mail. My wife overheard the thing as I have a cold and could not be there to ..help out. She repeatedly asked the clerk if she would be paid if they lost a REGISTERED package. Do you think they told her (or showed her) that the form has an INSURANCE box to check? Do you think that? BZZZZZZTTT!!!....WRONG!

 

The nice lil clerk just kept repeating that a registered item can be "tracked" and never DID tell the lady how to fill in the form.

 

Now I'll be the first to admit that 90% of the users of the post office are as dumb as a load of goats and should probably be using smoke signals for communication, but the post office should have a lil ...booklet.... like the DMV driver's license thingy that TELLS folks what their services are.

 

They could also hire English speaking polite help, but I would never suggest such a crazy idea as that.

 

Wouldn't a nice EXPRESS window be swell for a post office? For those who KNOW how to wrap and mail a package? Ahhhhh......... Never happen, but...Ahhhhh.

 

[EricG]

but the post office should have a lil ...booklet.... like the DMV driver's license thingy that TELLS folks what their services are.

 

Actually they do. It's called "A Consumer's Guide to Mailing" but then you'd never figure that a booklet with that title would be that would you?

 

You can download it here assuming you have a reader capable of reading PDF.

A Consumer's Guide to Mailing

Otherwise you can order it at any post office, its got form number DMM100

[Count_Erfit]

Is it available AT the post office? ...I.... know how to mail stuff.

[EricG]

Probably not YOUR post office the way you describe those people, but any Distibution Center (The places local post offices send the out of town mail to be sorted and redistibuted) and many of your larger local Post Offices (those with 4 or more windows and clerks and a Post Master who care about what their doing).

[EZ_E]

Well, Count,

 

Don't you know that nine out of ten postal workers are crazy?

 

The only reason the tenth is not is because ..... they're a new employee.

[pawnee101]

It has ended with good results thanks to some very helpful board members and I have an appoligy to make to my good ole mailman, this was a crazy deal, can't elaborate any further at this time unless I get bad grades HA Mike

[cybersharque-migration]

Well I just got back my second submission to NGC...and I had to make two trips to the Post Office. Track & Confirm showed the coins at the Post Office on 12/24, and today they still did not show up, so I made a trip to the Post Office. It looked very much like the coins had engaged in a "departure from accountability," i.e., been stolen. But that's not thw whole story. It seems the folks at NGC thought it would not make a difference if they left half of my business' name off the mailing label. (I had them sent to my office because there's rarely anyone at home during the week these days.) It certainly did make a difference...the PO was in the process of returning the package due to insufficient address...and it seems that the return process is a black hole. So NGC's attention to detail on the addressing leaves me disappointed.

 

Now I'm also disappointed that--even though I filled out the form for imaging, the coins were not imaged. I wasn't charged for the service, either, but that's not the point: I wanted the service and I did not receive it (I didn't get it on my Marine Dollars either, even though I asked for it).

 

And I'm really disappointed that NGC did an abysmal job blowing dust off the coins before they encapsulated them. One of the coins is plumb UGLY with all the dust on it.

 

But I'm really, truly, p-o'd about the fact that the two West Point Commems graded at 69. I do not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do: and I say to you that the hairlines (which, incidentally, are visible to the naked eye) were not there when I sent the coin in (and I left them in the mint capsule in order to remove that potential for adding hairlines). (The other coin, I can't for the life of me tell why it's a 69, but that's the dark art of grading coins.)

 

So...I joined NGC. I got my marine SDs slabbed (one of them @70, thank you) and I got a nifty MS68 ASE and I do not think I will bother slabbing any more coins. Even if it had not taken over a month (received by NGC 11/18, received back 12/28) for an express grade, on the whole I remain more a fan of raw coins than slabs. And the agita of bad addressing and no photoproof just makes it, on the whole, a bad experience.

[EricG]

But I'm really, truly, p-o'd about the fact that the two West Point Commems graded at 69. I do not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do: and I say to you that the hairlines (which, incidentally, are visible to the naked eye) were not there when I sent the coin in (and I left them in the mint capsule in order to remove that potential for adding hairlines). (The other coin, I can't for the life of me tell why it's a 69, but that's the dark art of grading coins.)

 

I can't disagree with you there except in my case they weren't hairlines but more like gouges. The Nickel I sent in that was at least MS67FS was downgraded to an MS 64FS because of the gouges. The 4 state quarters which were each perfect to the naked eye are now only MS65 and MS66's. Unfortunately I did not scan the coins before sending them so its my word against NGC's. Fortunately I learned my lesson with a $4,000 submission... My $27,000 submission went to PCGS.

[supapimp]

like other fellow board members stated, always snd it registered mail.

[jgrinz]

I have a new twist as I will not put NGC on a package - the acronym is getting to well known.

I use NG Corporation

LOOKS a whole lot different on a package and some people have asked what I am sending to LG corporation ( The electronics manufacturer ) defective merchandise I say

Its a minor thing but I feel better doing it haha

[truthteller]

Yikes! This thread turned into the "whiners" club. Make friends at the post office and you'll go far. I try to be as friendly as possible, and deliver all sorts of goodies at the PO during the holidays, here in the boonies as well as in big city Los Angeles. I never lost a registered package out of the hundreds sent and recieved. I have lost several insured packages, yet always paid promptly and for full amount. Patience and accolades also go far. To this day, I get calls at home when a package arrives and oodles of good service.

 

 

TRUTH

[chinook]

Yikes! This thread turned into the "whiners" club. Make friends at the post office and you'll go far. I try to be as friendly as possible, and deliver all sorts of goodies at the PO during the holidays, here in the boonies as well as in big city Los Angeles. I never lost a registered package out of the hundreds sent and recieved. I have lost several insured packages, yet always paid promptly and for full amount. Patience and accolades also go far. To this day, I get calls at home when a package arrives and oodles of good service.

 

 

TRUTH

 

Same here Truth. Do unto others.....

 

I have found that 99% of problems are due to user error.