What happened to my package?!?!?!
 

I owed a buddy a six pack of beer. Said buddy happens to live near Orlando, whereas I'm near Chicago. I get the bright idea of packing the six pack in a shoe box (even gave him two beers each of three different regional beers he can't get there) with tissue paper and such, and wrapping it with plain white paper, and mailing it. I sent it via USPS, priority, which was like $13.

That was three weeks ago today, and still no package. :( I put a return address on it, but it hasn't come back. I'm pretty sure I had his address exactly correct.

:wtf:

dont you get a tracking number with priority mail?

It was a few bucks more for the confirmation, I didn't get it since it was already costing me $13 to ship. Guess I shoulda. Someone suggested to me on another board that it's illegal to ship beer, and they probably x-rayed it and confiscated it. :(

I don't think it's going to arrive. Aside from the chance of beer can explosion, it is also against the USPS rules to ship liquor. I think you need to use a carrier like UPS or FedEx. And, I'd recommend something more sturdy than a shoe box.

Uh, Delivery Confirmation is 45 cents when added to a Priority package. However, I don't think that would help.

I don't know if it's "illegal" to ship liquor, or simply against the rules. But, if you tell them what it is when you mail it, they'll refuse to take it.

They were bottles, but I suppose the caps coulda shot off too.



I didn't tell them what was in it. I weighed it and metered it at my office, and it was just dropped off.

Shoe box, bottles = bad idea. Unless the were packed in bubble wrap, or peanuts (styrofoam), they wouldn't have made it there. They would have broken and leaked out, and the post office would have put them in a plastic bag, and forwarded, but smelling like beer, they probably pitched them.

The best way to ship those is in a nice sturdy box, with lots of peanuts, each bottle wrapped in plastic. Oh, and label it fragile. Chaulk this up as an expensive lesson learned.

Each bottle was individually wrapped in tissue paper and cardboard around that.


I don't think it's gonna ever make it though, at this point. :(

I suspect that somewhere right now, after a hard day, a thirsty crew of mail workers is relaxing and enjoying a couple well deserved brews. Cheers! ;)

I kind of have the feeling that you are absolutely correct. :lol:


Now is the dilemna of if I still owe my buddy the beers or not. :o

Uh, yeah. Things that obviously look good get snagged in the mail. My wife subscribes to a magazine called the Fortean Times which has these amazing lurid covers (it's actually a fine magazine about strange phenomena). They shipped the magazines in transparent mailers, and we were only getting about every other issue. We complained, and apparently a lot of other people did, too. Turns out that the issues were getting "lost" in the mail. The publisher switched to opaque, unmarked mailers, and guess what? We now get every issue!

Charles Fort! W00t!!1!

Also, check out Postal Experiments:

From the above link( I'm shocked):

Never-opened small bottle of spring water. We observed the street corner box surreptitiously the following day upon mail collection. After puzzling briefly over this item, the postal carrier removed the mailing label and drank the contents of the bottle over the course of a few blocks as he worked his route.

OK shipping the toy monkey that screams "Help let me out of here" was pure brilliance.

I sent a necklace to my girlfriend last Christmas that never got there. I bought a replacement and gave it to her in person the next time I saw her. I still have a mental image of some postal worker/border guard's wife getting a really nice necklace for Christmas.

And that link reminds me of the guy who started signing crazy things for his credit card purchases. I don't remember the url and can't be arsed to look it up, but maybe someone else will remember.

Doesn't matter, tissue paper becomes extremely useless once it becomes wet (ie bottle breaks, package gets wet, etc)

I'm curious as to why people is still sending stuff via mail rather than Fedex or UPS? Granted, they may be more expensive than USPS, but at least your package will actually make it whereas with snail mail, it's got a head/tail chance of getting there

Hmm, I have to disagree there. I ship items almost everyday via USPS Priority Mail w/ Delivery Confirmation (free when you ship/label online via the USPS site) and I've never had a problem. For small, big-ticket items, USPS Registered Mail is the *only* way to ship domestic, as the package is under lock and key the entire time, and every person who handles it, signs for it. Jewelers usually ship loose diamonds via Registered Mail.

For regular first-class mail, though, USPS is a bit unreliable.

My first thought when I read the title of this thread was that it belonged in "Sexuality" not "General Discussion"...

Someone mentioned that it is illegal to mail alcohol? Is this true? I know that there are quite a few "beer of the month" clubs that will ship you beer. I suppose that they might use a different shipping service than the USPS...

Redlemon: Thank you for the Annals of Improbable Research link. It was entertaining.

The next time you go in the post office, look at their picture of things that are against the rules to ship.

I'm quite sure that when some postal inspector recognized beer, their eyes lit up. That's not totally bad, considering the state of the world now.

The last time I got away with mailing beer was during Desert Storm. It was appreciated, though.

Your package might make it but why is it that everybody hears more case of "missing" package that went through USPS than either Fedex, UPS or even DHL?

Or even better, why is it that USPS has to have a "Delivery Confirmation" in order to make sure your package actually gets through? Fedex and UPS doesn't charge extra for those, they ARE paid to make sure it gets through. I'm sure you can get it for free online but it sounds to me that it's just another way of conforting the customers for USPS.

Volume? USPS handles more than 200,000,000 pieces of mail per year. USPS handles more mail in two weeks than FedEx, UPS, and DHL handle in one year, combined.

Dollar for dollar, USPS Priority with Delivery Confirmation (even if you pay extra for it) is a better value than FedEx and UPS. If you pay extra for extra services, USPS prices are competitive with UPS and FedEx, for the same level of protection for packages in transit.

If you compare services for small, high-value items, USPS is the only way to go. Believe me. You can send a $5,000 wristwatch via USPS Registered Mail, fully insured, and with all the confidence you would have if you were delivering it in person. UPS and FedEx won't even insure a wristwatch for $5,000.

In November, 2004, a friend of mine who lives in VA sent my computer from his place of work through UPS, insured, to MO. It never arrived, or if it did, was signed for by someone other than the addressee and taken. UPS won't pay the insured amount, claiming 'we delivered it, not our fault the addressee wasn't the one that signed for the thing'...so I am out a computer, the $30 it cost to ship and the insured amount. UPS doesn't send back a signed receipt. :(

Actually, one December a couple of years ago, I had a UPS package from Amazon, filled with about $300 in Christmas gifts for my friends and family, go missing. Whether the package actually made it to my porch, I don't know. I didn't bother pursuing it with UPS, I went directly to Amazon, and they promptly replaced the items.

Isn't Delivery Confirmation just "proof" that you sent it off as opposed to proof that it was delivered?

No, Delivery confirmation is precisely what it sounds like.

For proof of mailing, there is a Certificate of Mailing, which is basically what you said, proof that you mailed the article. There is also Certified Mail, which is the equivalent of Registered Mail for documents. Items like legal motions and contracts are often sent via Certified Mail. It's also common for people to send their income tax returns via Certified Mail.

Here is the USPS page on domestic extra services:

http://www.usps.com/shipping/specialservices.htm

Unfortunately, in my case it was my own pc case. The friend in VA had it to try and fix it...I don't know how much he insured it for, but he said UPS is giving him a hard time about paying up.
Convenience aside, I'll stick to USPS to send things out, return receipt requested. Last we spoke, UPS hadn't even gotten back to him about the signature, although they were able to track the package. It's been almost a year now. :(

I had no trouble FedEx'ing my father a bottle of bourbon for his birthday. He's in VA and I'm in WA.

Mail doesn't count, I'm talking about packages.. since when does Fedex, UPS and DHL deliver people's mail? I work for Fedex, last time I checked, we don't do mail unless a company packages a whole bunch of them up and fedex it to their other office.

You don't need to pay Fedex and UPS extra to have a delivery conformation.

I don't know about UPS but Fedex offers this information via website for free. If the sender/receiver has a Fedex account and they can simply look up the status of the package, where it is exactly (Meaning which facility whether it'll be at Memphis, Oakland, on a plane, or sitting in a courier's truck) all for free. If an individual doesn't have a Fedex account, he can simply sign up for one for free and send the fedex account number to the shipper so that he can track his package. With USPS, they gotta pay extra to get those kind of information? Plus, when you fill out an airbill for packages, it's a legal binding contract between the sender and the carrier to ensure that the sender is not sending something stupid and illegal and the carrier is responsible for making sure its delivered. If it fails to delivered, the insurance can cover the lost of it, provided that the sender purchase some.

Plus, you mentioned that it's like a certificate of delivery. To me, that's like USPS is trying to reassure their customers that they're not as bad as others are saying, especially if they're famous for losing packages or mail every second of the day. If the USPS courier loses a package, they can easily get away with it, probably same for UPS courier. But with Fedex couriers, they'll get hanged by the management. The main differences? We ain't unionized like USPS and UPS.

That's true, but ya gotta keep in mind, USPS is a government organization and if they fuck up, they can simply pay it out with government's money and the government has the biggest pocket. With Fedex and UPS, it's not that simple, if they keep fucking up with delivering high value package, eventually they'll go out of business. Plus, government regulations demand that whenever Fedex and UPS move packages that are over $2000, there's gotta be a special paperwork to accompany the package and trust me, those paperwork a real pain in the ass.

I'm not arguing that you're wrong, I'm saying that in some cases, Fedex and UPS is the best way to go, especially when you're trying to ship a case of beer that somehow, easily disappears with USPS. I'll trust USPS with my mail but with packages, I'll stick to Fedex, plus I get a discount with them :D

People never send documents using Fedex? I used to do it all the time.

I think that says a lot right there. :p

USPS Priority is usually cheaper than Fedex and UPS for small items. It's only when you add those extra services that the prices become comparable.


Good. :) I'd be willing to bet the beer did not get delivered because 1. it was poorly packaged, or 2. it's against postal regulations to send alcohol through USPS.

I like Fedex. I used to use it all the time, and I still use it when I ship overnight. But, for the small, inexpensive items that I ship almost everyday (and the high-value small items I ship every now and then) I will stick with USPS.

I have had packages lost with Fedex and UPS, just because it's private doesn't mean that it's better. Every system has its bad days.

By the way, just for those of you who didn't know, USPS is actually Fedex's biggest customer.

So, don't blame me if you happen to lose a package through USPS :D