More chips stolen by USPS (1 Viewer)

[markleteenie]

Lee that's great news!

I will say lots of my USPS tracking numbers aren't showing any in-transit updates until they get to the destination city, and instead of 2 days, more like 5 days. It's not ideal but I understand they are probably being overwhelmed.

 

[navels]

yes I'll be really curious to see what condition the box is in, whether it has been opened and resealed.

 

[navels]

Lee that's great news!

I will say lots of my USPS tracking numbers aren't showing any in-transit updates until they get to the destination city, and instead of 2 days, more like 5 days. It's not ideal but I understand they are probably being overwhelmed.

I'm definitely experiencing the same but this package was dropped off on May 9th

 

[AK Chip]

I think if you leave the responsibility on the seller (non vender) you will find a huge hit in chips available for purchase.

that said I sent a package to France a bit over $1,000 In value which never made it. I offered to take half the loss and it worked out but it sucked for both of us.

I now have $4,000 in chips in various deals in the mail, some for over a month now, hard not to be anxious about it.

 

[BGinGA]

I am STILL waiting for a package that had tracking updated to 'Out for Delivery' on 31-March-2020.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

My co-worker is going through an interesting shipping issue right now, and I'm curious how you guys think it should be resolved.

He preordered some expensive headphones about 4 months ago from a guy in Ukraine that makes them. His finally shipped, but the seller's printer broke and he had to hand-write the address. I assume that he is used to writing in Cyrillic and this was not easy for him, because his writing was not great. He left off the zip code completely, and his spelling of "Aurora, CO" in all caps looked more like "AUTOTA, CO". Somewhere in the shipping system this got interpreted as Augusta, GA even though there isn't a street with that name or number in Augusta. Anyway, they went out for delivery in Augusta yesterday, and he called USPS to see what can be done.

The post office basically told him that he will never receive that package at this point. Worst case, somebody gets it and keeps it. Best case, they return it to the sender and it goes back to Ukraine. So my co-worker is telling the seller that he's liable for shipping screw-up and needs to send him a replacement, but the seller is trying to say that he did nothing wrong and printed the address clearly, so it's the post office's fault. What do you guys think?

This is not even up for negotiation. No brainer, 100% seller's liability. Poorly written address with missing zip. How can he in the slightest amount of good faith argue not his responsibility?

 

[t0bes1]

if some chips haven't arived (US to UK) in 2months, should I consider them stolen?

 

[SuckoutKing]

This happens way to often with International sales. Sorry not doing it anymore. Burned once is enough for me.

 

[davislane]

if some chips haven't arived (US to UK) in 2months, should I consider them stolen?

nope. check tracking on the usps website for updates

 

[PocketAces]

Just flagging in case these chips pop up somewhere: bought this small lot from eBay, unfortunately, the padded enveloppe arrived ripped off and, obviously, empty. They were shipped from CA to NM. Not a huge deal but it's a shame, they are lovely chips!

 

[Percy7]

My brother works for USPS call center and there is theft from employees and more so packages that were “never delivered” meaning buyer said they didn’t receive goods when they did. It’s a crazy world we live in but it’s not always the employees either. Just keeping it real

Agreed it’s hard to say where things went wrong. Very sorry that you got an empty package. Like a punch in the gut. Had some incidents with USPS in the past but never with chips only electronics....much easier to sell I imagine.

 

[Taghkanic]

Isn’t there $50 insurance built into the price of Priority Mail?

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

This is an incorrect statement of the law. No trying to be a dick here, just trying to be helpful.
Maybe @WedgeRock our respected barrister has some input.

The convention of PCF is another story, and I have no idea what that really is. If I never got these chips, I would have asked the seller to pay for half their value, knowing full well that he was responsible for the entire amount, but also being reasonable about what seems fair.
EDITED TO ADD - But we're talking about like $20 - it's easy for me to be reasonable about that.

I thought the same thing when I read it, but wasn't sure if using the USPS changed the rules.

FOB (freight on board) terms determine who bears the risk in transit on a commercial shipping situation.

FOB (destination) means the seller bears the risk of loss until the goods reach that destination. If I (in Detroit) sells chips to someone in California, and specify FOB Detroit, once the goods leave Detroit, the buyer has the risk of loss during transit. FOB California would mean I (the seller) bear the risk of loss during shipment.

Their is a default if FOB terms are not defined in the contract. IIRC, the uniform commercial code puts the risk of loss on the seller if not defined. So maybe that's what @JMC9389 was referring to... Default if not defined in the terms between the parties.

When I sell chips, I always specify that risk of loss in transit is on the buyer, but I would do whatever I could to help make them whole. Haven't lost a package yet (knock on wood). If I was a vendor, however, I might operate differently. You did the right thing here .

I would use your experience in this sale to determine the percentage of chips/packages lost and build that into the cost. Then, when an unfortunate situation happens, you can replace the chips/issue a refund and not be out-of-pocket for those costs. It's a cost of doing business and one that shouldn't come from profits, IMO.

So @upNdown , sorry if I missed it, but did you get any resolution? I ask because I had a similar situation where chips went missing. Interestingly it was the $500s and $100s that were taken (UPS this time, not USPS). I'm sure the stupid bastard thought they were live chips, so went foe the big ones. Couple months now and zero response from UPS on my claim.

I pretty much let the seller off the hook because it was an international shipment, and I know how difficult those can be with customs.

Just curious if you got any resolution amd if so how long it took?

 

[Percy7]

Isn’t there $50 insurance built into the price of Priority Mail?

Indeed.

 

[upNdown]

So @upNdown , sorry if I missed it, but did you get any resolution? I ask because I had a similar situation where chips went missing. Interestingly it was the $500s and $100s that were taken (UPS this time, not USPS). I'm sure the stupid bastard thought they were live chips. Couple months now and zero response from UPS on my claim.

I pretty much let the seller off the hook because it was an international shipment, and I know how difficult those can be with customs.

Just curious if you got any resolution amd if so how long it took?

Yeah, it’s probably contained in this thread, but after they told me I was screwed because it wasn’t insured, I managed to talk to somebody else who finally opened an investigation. I had my chips the next day, I think. They were at the local post office with some story about them falling out of the package.

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

Yeah, it’s probably contained in this thread, but after they told me I was screwed because it wasn’t insured, I managed to talk to somebody else who finally opened an investigation. I had my chips the next day, I think. They were at the local post office with some story about them falling out of the package.

Damn...now that's a good ending!! Congrats!!

 

[upNdown]

I was just appalled at the vulnerability of first class packages. They’re uninsured; anybody working at the post office knows they’re uninsured, and if uninsured means no investigations, then they’re free to raid those packages at will.

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

I was just appalled at the vulnerability of first class packages. They’re uninsured; anybody working at the post office knows they’re uninsured, and if uninsured means no investigations, then they’re free to raid those packages at will.

As sad as that is, you're 100% right. Somebody wanted some extra cards showing hand ranks, so I dropped them in an envelope. When I went to mail them, the dude at the post office gave me a speech about mailing pre-paid credit cards in an envelope. I looked at him and said..."that's pretty damn sad that your first thought was that could be something of value...because it ain't!!" In his best offended tone, he tried to assure me that he was just looking out for me.

 

[coolguy101]

WTF!
I'll leave out details until I get to talk with my buyer, but he's a long timer and I'm sure we're both victims here.
I got 7 mailers today, mostly singles from eBay, so I just started cutting them open. When I got to this one, and cut it open to find it empty, my heart sunk, because I figured, based on the size of the envelope it wasn't a single chip.
And the envelope had clearly been cut open and retaped, but at first sight, I assumed the seller had just re-used an envelope - I do that all the time.
What's my next step - do I contact the PO or does the seller?
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I ship hundreds of packages a week via USPS. IMO, the increases shipping times these days due to COVID-19 blah, blah,blah, has caused packages to sit in distribution facilities for extended periods of time, therefore exposing them to possible theft by USPS employees. It’s a real problem.

aside from that, the seller aka shipper is not legally bound to be responsible for the shipment once he turns it over to USPS. It is now the responsibility of the receiver. He may be nice and eat the loss for you, but you shouldn’t expect him to. It’s the risk of buying things online.

 

[bigdonkey]

one paddled canoe

New boat chips?

 

[Brookston]

[old man rant]What the hell do they mean by "indictments/informations"? And why so many administrative actions? You get busted with an ounce of weed and you go to federal fuck-me-in-the-ass prison, but you steal mail and you get a mark on your performance review??? And why do I care about funds returned to the post office??? How about returning funds to the poor son of a bitch who got his mail stolen from him? [/old man rant]