USPS package delivery problem
December 3, 2016 8:22 PM Subscribe
What should I do about a package that USPS says was delivered but I haven't received?
I was expecting a fairly small, fairly valuable package to be delivered by USPS today. When I tracked it this morning, it was listed as "Delivered, Left With Individual" on yesterday's date. I haven't received it.
I live in a small apartment building, and I've emailed the property manager to ask if his staff took delivery of the package (nope) and if he would email the other residents to ask if they've seen it. I also went by the post office to ask if they could help, someone from there is theoretically going to call me on Monday.
Is there anything else I can/should do in the meantime? Is this something I should file a police report about in case the package was stolen? Has this happened to you, and what was the outcome?
Thanks!
I was expecting a fairly small, fairly valuable package to be delivered by USPS today. When I tracked it this morning, it was listed as "Delivered, Left With Individual" on yesterday's date. I haven't received it.
I live in a small apartment building, and I've emailed the property manager to ask if his staff took delivery of the package (nope) and if he would email the other residents to ask if they've seen it. I also went by the post office to ask if they could help, someone from there is theoretically going to call me on Monday.
Is there anything else I can/should do in the meantime? Is this something I should file a police report about in case the package was stolen? Has this happened to you, and what was the outcome?
Thanks!
Other possibilities... I've had packages say they have been delivered that showed up on the next business day. It's as if they marked it delivered for the credit and did the work later.
I've also had the package begin with UPS who gives it to the USPS for actual delivery, but the package gets marked as delivered at the first hand off rather than the final delivery to you. (I shop online a lot)
posted by cecic at 9:10 PM on December 3, 2016 [7 favorites]
I've also had the package begin with UPS who gives it to the USPS for actual delivery, but the package gets marked as delivered at the first hand off rather than the final delivery to you. (I shop online a lot)
posted by cecic at 9:10 PM on December 3, 2016 [7 favorites]
"I've had packages say they have been delivered that showed up on the next business day. It's as if they marked it delivered for the credit and did the work later. "
Yes, ditto. Always worth giving it another day or two when it's USPS.
And yeah, when it's UPS or FedEx using USPS for last-mile delivery, their tracking shows "delivered" when it's handed over to USPS ... which takes often two more days to get it to you. Very annoying!
If you don't get a call Monday from the post office, call and ask to speak to the postmaster, who is responsible for handling customer complaints and generally more helpful than whoever answers the phone.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:13 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yes, ditto. Always worth giving it another day or two when it's USPS.
And yeah, when it's UPS or FedEx using USPS for last-mile delivery, their tracking shows "delivered" when it's handed over to USPS ... which takes often two more days to get it to you. Very annoying!
If you don't get a call Monday from the post office, call and ask to speak to the postmaster, who is responsible for handling customer complaints and generally more helpful than whoever answers the phone.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:13 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Huh. I do a LOT of mail-order shopping, and this happened to ME for the very first time about a week ago.
I got home from work, read the "Package Delivered" lie, and emailed the USPS to ask "What's going on here?"; the next day, they actually DID call me, and seemed to take an interest - and the item showed up later that day.
(OUR theory was that the delivery was actually made to a neighbor, who walked it over without comment. Our deeper theory is that maybe this is some unanticipated side-effect of the PO's relatively new "track everything" policy: maybe they're under some new pressure to keep their on-time-delivery stats up? )
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 10:09 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I got home from work, read the "Package Delivered" lie, and emailed the USPS to ask "What's going on here?"; the next day, they actually DID call me, and seemed to take an interest - and the item showed up later that day.
(OUR theory was that the delivery was actually made to a neighbor, who walked it over without comment. Our deeper theory is that maybe this is some unanticipated side-effect of the PO's relatively new "track everything" policy: maybe they're under some new pressure to keep their on-time-delivery stats up? )
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 10:09 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Do you trust the shipper? If it's someone you trust, or a well established seller, the issue probablye lies in the delivery network. But is there any chance the seller is trying to cheat you? I had a similar thing happen with an eBay transaction. Turned out the seller shipped a package (undoubtably not containing my valuable purchase) to a nearby local mailbox store, so that it would show as "delivered" to my zip code, which met eBay's requirements for proof of delivery. I ultimately discovered the delivery was to the mailbox store by calling my local Post Office; the delivery driver recalled being at that store around the delivery time.
If you trust the seller, it might be a mistake with USPS. What shipping method was it? Check to see if it was any method involving another shipping partner (e.g. FedEx Smart Post, UPS Mail Innovations, DHL Global Mail). If it was solely within USPS, I'd vote to give it one more delivery day, then start raising questions.
posted by reeddavid at 10:32 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you trust the seller, it might be a mistake with USPS. What shipping method was it? Check to see if it was any method involving another shipping partner (e.g. FedEx Smart Post, UPS Mail Innovations, DHL Global Mail). If it was solely within USPS, I'd vote to give it one more delivery day, then start raising questions.
posted by reeddavid at 10:32 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have a relative who is a USPS truck driver. He often marks packages as delivered that they couldn't get around to delivering in order to make the numbers look better. Expect to receive your package the next day.
posted by Gosha_Dog at 12:00 AM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Gosha_Dog at 12:00 AM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Every tracked USPS package that I'm supposed to receive at work on a weekend (when work isn't open) gets marked as "delivered" on Saturday or Sunday when USPS tries to make the delivery. It'll then get shuffled off somewhere for a day, and will with near-certainty show up on Tuesday, rather than on Monday. I like my mail carrier, but weekend deliveries in the age of eCommerce are done by contractors who are graded on performance, and they routinely lie to make the numbers better.
posted by DaveP at 4:36 AM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by DaveP at 4:36 AM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This happens to me with an unreasonable frequency. Others have mentioned their postal carriers scanning on one day to make their stats look good, even if the package can't be delivered until the next, but that's not my problem. My packages are regularly misdelivered to wrong addresses, and in recent cases I've gotten notifications that the package's barcode has been scanned as delivered, at the exact same time I hear the mail truck outside at my box, only to go out there and find no package.
So I have a two step process. First, I go to https://emailus.usps.com/emailUs/iq/usps/request.do?forward=emailUs and email them under their "Where is my package" tab. This establishes a paper trail that the tracking number was scanned as delivered, but is not actually at the destination. In my experience, this usually gets you a phone call and/or an email from your local postmaster/stationmaster within 1-2 business days.
The other step is to call the local post office directly. This may be trickier, as depending on how you look up the number, they may have listed the national toll-free number instead of their local number, but if you dig deep enough there should be a local number that you can call to speak to them directly. In my past experience, the direct call is most effective if made within an hour or two of getting the incorrect notification (they usually call the carrier directly, while they're still out on their route). I'm not sure how effective it'd be to call a day later, but you would at least would be getting the local staff on the problem without the lag of the email complaint having to filter down through the system.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:42 AM on December 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
So I have a two step process. First, I go to https://emailus.usps.com/emailUs/iq/usps/request.do?forward=emailUs and email them under their "Where is my package" tab. This establishes a paper trail that the tracking number was scanned as delivered, but is not actually at the destination. In my experience, this usually gets you a phone call and/or an email from your local postmaster/stationmaster within 1-2 business days.
The other step is to call the local post office directly. This may be trickier, as depending on how you look up the number, they may have listed the national toll-free number instead of their local number, but if you dig deep enough there should be a local number that you can call to speak to them directly. In my past experience, the direct call is most effective if made within an hour or two of getting the incorrect notification (they usually call the carrier directly, while they're still out on their route). I'm not sure how effective it'd be to call a day later, but you would at least would be getting the local staff on the problem without the lag of the email complaint having to filter down through the system.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:42 AM on December 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yes, this has happened to me a few times, with various outcomes. Once I filed a police report because there was a rash of package thefts in my building (it happens a lot at this time of year), but the police came to interview all of us who had problems and then just shrugged and did nothing. Most reputable shippers will be happy to send you a replacement, but I'd give it until probably Tuesday before asking. It may well show up Monday or Tuesday from a neighbor or the mail carrier or who knows what.
posted by karbonokapi at 1:39 PM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by karbonokapi at 1:39 PM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This happened to me recently. I called my local PO and they told me to call another larger area PO that manages deliveries for my area. I talked to the delivery supervisor and he looked up the tracking number and could see that it had been delivered to another nearby house with a similar address. In fact, this isn't the first time we've had delivery confusion with this house. I drove over to the other house, knocked on the door, and they had my package! All within an hour of noticing it was not delivered.
The point is, if you talk to the right person, they should be able to tell where the package was actually delivered, and if it was delivered correctly.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 5:49 PM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
The point is, if you talk to the right person, they should be able to tell where the package was actually delivered, and if it was delivered correctly.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 5:49 PM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everybody! I'm hoping the post office will call tomorrow and help me get this sorted out, knowing what's happened to other people puts me at ease a bit.
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 10:17 PM on December 4, 2016
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 10:17 PM on December 4, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by guster4lovers at 8:44 PM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]