Pawn shops in the Cash America chain sent packages including precious jewelry to a repair and refurbishment center Fort Worth, Texas, but starting in 2011, many packages never reached their destination. Why was that? It took a two-year investigation to find the culprit, a worker at a processing and distribution center in North Texas. He pleaded guilty this week in federal court. [More]
u.s. postal service
Ashes Found: NH Man Won’t Spend Eternity In Bowels Of Postal System
By 10.9.13
While relaxing in his favorite fishing spot in Key West, Florida, a New Hampshire man told his wife that this was his idea of heaven on earth, and he wanted to have his ashes spread there. He died suddenly earlier this year, and his widow tried to follow his wishes. [More]
USPS Gets Express Mail Package To Post Office At 11:45, Says ‘Good Enough’
By 6.18.13
U.S. Postal Service Express Mail carries a guarantee: your package will arrive by noon the next day after it’s accepted at the post office, depending on what time you hand it over to a clerk in person. Okay. The problem, as Consumerist readers have learned, comes in when your package arrives late and you actually try to cash in this guarantee. [More]
Is The USPS More Likely To Lose Boxes Emblazoned With The Word ‘Atheist’?
By 3.27.13
Here’s something odd. Would you think that packages would get lost more or less often according to the brand on the box or the words on their packaging? That shouldn’t be the case. A German company that sells handmade, minimalist shoes, did a cool branding thing and uses tape with the company’s name printed on it to seal their shipping boxes. That company’s name? “Atheist.” They noticed that a lot of packages sent to the United States were significantly delayed, and wondered why that was. So they conducted an experiment. That experiment proved that if you want a package to get lost, brand it with the word “ATHEIST.” [More]
Rallies Supporting Saturday Mail Delivery Held Nationwide, But Are They Pointless?
By 3.25.13
Last week, Congress passed a budget bill that keeps the federal government going until the end of the federal budget year on September 30, and averts the scary and inconvenient consequences of a government shutdown. That’s good. There’s an interesting provision, though: like past budget bills, it specifically says that the U.S. Postal service can’t cut back on mail delivery, which it had planned to do in August. Oops. But while groups of letter carriers and supporters held rallies nationwide yesterday, has the crisis been averted? Yes. No. We’re not really sure. [More]
U.S. Postal Service Promises Express Mail Money-Back Guarantee, Won’t Give It To Me
By 2.22.13
The U.S. Postal service guarantees delivery on Express Mail packages, but what does that guarantee really mean? Danny sent an Express Mail package that he claims was well within the rules: he ordered the postage through PayPal, but handed it to a clerk at the post office before the deadline. The problem is that since he bought the postage online, his local post office is resisting giving the refund. [More]
Post Office Announces End Of Saturday Delivery, 63% Of Americans Shrug
By 2.13.13
Despite the fact that some Netflix DVD subscribers will be put out, a new Gallup poll shows that for the most part, Americans are in favor of the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to terminate Saturday mail delivery. The survey showed that 63% of Americans are in favor of ending Saturday mail as a way for the USPS to help fix its financial woes. [More]
My W-2 Arrives Ripped Open, Only Tax Cat And I Care
By 1.28.13
Ultimately, we’re all responsible for our own fates. That’s what David learned when an important tax document arrived in his mailbox with his Social Security number and name exposed. It didn’t come in a “sorry we damaged your mail” envelope like most mangled letters do, so he was suspicious. Maybe someone had ripped it open to get his info. Maybe a postal employee had mangled it, but forgot to put it in an apologetic envelope. Whatever had happened, surely the postal service, credit bureaus, and police would have answers for him, right? Right. [More]
Insider Explains Why FedEx SmartPost Is So Terrible
By 11.21.12
The overwhelming crappiness of FedEx Smartpost as a shipping method is a frequent topic around here. But why is it so terrible? We could have guessed that a partnership between ostensible rivals FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service might not work so well, but one reader with inside knowledge about why it’s so terrible reached out and shared their knowledge with us. The basic reason? The labels are terrible, and confuse the equipment. [More]
Mail Carrier Puts My Package In Someone Else’s Rural Mailbox, USPS Calls It ‘Delivered’
By 7.2.12
H. lives on a rural mail route, and her mailbox is secure, with a lock and a slot just big enough to slide letters through. When a package containing an expensive camera lens went missing recently, she learned that her mail carrier had put the package in the “parcle box.” The what? Oh, the unused but not secure mailbox on her street that some neighbor wrote “parcel box” on a long time ago. H. had no indication that her package had been placed in the box until the mailman left her a note about it. By then, the box had already been stolen. The post office, for its part, insists that the package was delivered as addressed. [More]
Another Seller Swears Off eBay Forever
By 5.2.12
There was a time, around approximately 2001, when eBay was a global marketplace where you could easily and efficiently unload items with any market value that you wanted to get rid of. Now, it’s more of a global flea market full of scams and villainy. eBay and its old accomplice, the U.S. Postal Service, worked together to make Keith’s old iPhone disappear into the ether. [More]
NewEgg Sends Package To Wrong Address, Shrugs
By 4.23.12
When Jessica placed her NewEgg order, she provided them with a shipping address. This turned out to be a waste of her time, since NewEgg just went ahead and picked an address to send the package to out of her PayPal account. Not the one associated with her credit card, or her primary address on the account. Certainly not the address where she actually lives. Their customer service representative’s solution? Wish really, really hard that the person who ultimately received the package would return it so she can get a refund. She hung up and called back until she got someone competent. [More]
USPS Turns Box Into Accordion, Hopes You Won't Notice
By 4.17.12
When Chris received this package in the mail, he assumed that his mail carrier had crammed it in his mailbox with overwhelming force. That wasn’t the case, though. The truth is more mysterious and much weirder. [More]
Post Office's Plan To Save Itself Involves Cutting Jobs, Ending Saturday Delivery & Raising Stamp Prices
By 2.17.12
The U.S. Postal Service is in danger of losing billions of dollars in the next few years, so in an attempt to check that money leakage, they’ve proposed some drastic measures, including cutting more than 150,000 jobs. [More]
Here Are The Tattered Remains Of An Attempt To Mail Some Textbooks
By 1.27.12
Victoria mailed some textbooks worth $275 in what seemed like secure packaging. The postal service returned the packaging to her, but the textbooks were never seen again. She opted not to insure the package, figuring that no one could do that much damage to heavy hardcover textbooks. She was overly optimistic. [More]
US Postal Service Adds To Your Mom's College Care Package
By 10.13.11
Robert received a Priority Mail package at college from his mother. The box contained a variety of canned foods: Vienna sausages, sardines, beans, liverwurst, spam, and corn. Which is awfully nice of Robert’s mother, except that the box she sent him only contained fifteen cans of Goya brand beans. Where did all of this other stuff come from? [More]
USPS Holds Our Mail During Vacation, Keeps Holding It
By 10.5.11
While less and less of our crucial information comes by post now, that doesn’t mean that it’s okay if a few weeks’ worth of it just disappears into nowhere. Especially when you’re expecting presents in the mail. That’s what happened to Dave’s mail after he and his wife left town for their honeymoon. Expecting cards and gifts after the wedding, they requested a two-week hold on their mail. Evidently, the postal service held their mail, all right, but isn’t too keen to give it back. [More]
US Postal Service Swaps Box Of Love Letters For Strangers' Mail
By 9.15.11
David has saved every piece of paper correspondence that he’s received from his wife during their entire life together. When shipping most of their possessions during a cross-country move, the box containing all of these cards and letters was damaged, and the contents lost. They were replaced with an awful lot of random items that don’t belong to David at all. So where are David’s letters? And who are the random people whose mail was stuffed in the box? [More]
