Funny Experience with USPS

So two months + ago I sold a camera on eBay for $165. I shipped it uninsured but with delivery confirmation, using Parcel Post (which I never do). Two weeks pass and it is not delivered. Buyer is pretty patient; I'm checking with Post Office, and they're like "Parcel? What did you expect...". Third week goes by and I give up; issue the refund and move on.

Later it dawns on me that the Post Office should at least refund my shipping cost. $12.94 isn't a big deal, but it seems important to get some satisfaction. So I jump through hoops for a couple of weeks, and eventually get my money back. Maybe two weeks ago.

Yesterday I get a "postage due" envelope in my mail box, for the $12.94 that has been refunded to me. So I call the Post Office. The guy on the phone has no clue what's going on, but after walking him through the events all he can tell me is that my carrier has paid the postage out of her pocket and that envelope is to reimburse her. I've given up at this point, but I'm not going to have my carrier be out the cash, so this morning I leave her the money in the envelope.

On my doorstep when I return home at the end of the day is the camera that I shipped over two months ago, in the original shipping box in pretty much pristine condition. I have no clue what happened or why it wasn't delivered, but it's back.

Moral of the story: Don't ship via Parcel Post; and don't give up on your lost package.

My goodness! I'm glad you got it back in one piece!

Bryan

Great idea asking for the postage back. Good stuff.
I'll remember it for registered post (in Aus)

Amazing. And they wounder why they're going broke. At least you got the camera back.

For shipping anything of value, USPS Priority Mail is the bare minimum (and IMHO still a poor choice based on my past history with USPS). UPS or FedEx is a far better choice, and not always that much more expensive.

Why would you ship Parcel? That is your first mistake. At $13 for shipping, you were better off shipping Priority Mail which would have costed the same if not less and arrived quicker.

Never heard of the postage due letter. This "carrier" that you're referring to is the post office or this store that you drop your package off to? For me, postage due is usually underpaid postage. In other words, the postage you paid wasn't enough to cover the actual weight and postage. So you could of paid $13 but it could of actually been $18. When that happened to me, they usually just return to sender.

I've had times where I would ship, it would get to the same state, out for delivery and all of a sudden, returned back to me and I would have to reship it again. I'll remember for next time to try and get my money back for shipping.

I got a yellow stickie attached to a box I got for a flash.. the sender had paid .43 cents to ship it, and the post office wanted something like $4.xx for it, but left the package in our mailbox nonetheless. Normally, I'm a pretty honest guy, but if something ends up being 'postage due', then the USPS should hold the package until it's paid (and at least make it look like an official 'Postage Due' instead of a hand written note on a stickie.

Mistabernie wrote in post #15248462
I got a yellow stickie attached to a box I got for a flash.. the sender had paid .43 cents to ship it, and the post office wanted something like $4.xx for it, but left the package in our mailbox nonetheless. Normally, I'm a pretty honest guy, but if something ends up being 'postage due', then the USPS should hold the package until it's paid (and at least make it look like an official 'Postage Due' instead of a hand written note on a stickie.

It's probably will cost them at least $20 in effort to collect the $4

1KIND wrote in post #15248432
Why would you ship Parcel? That is your first mistake. At $13 for shipping, you were better off shipping Priority Mail which would have costed the same if not less and arrived quicker.

I know. I was annoyed with the buyer, who after making the purchase was completely non-responsive with regard to payment. I filed a non-payment case, or whatever it's called on ebay, and he literally waited until about an hour before the deadline and paid me. So when the postal clerk said Parcel was a couple of bucks cheaper I figured "why not?". I never have used it in the past. And never will again.

1KIND wrote in post #15248432
Never heard of the postage due letter. This "carrier" that you're referring to is the post office or this store that you drop your package off to? For me, postage due is usually underpaid postage. In other words, the postage you paid wasn't enough to cover the actual weight and postage. So you could of paid $13 but it could of actually been $18. When that happened to me, they usually just return to sender.

The "carrier" is the person who brings mail to our home every day. I'm familiar with the underpaid postage thing, this was totally different. I don't think there was any reason the package didn't deliver. No mention of the postage not being adequate.

I don't agree that I should have had to pay the postage to have my package returned (that the Post Office failed to deliver), but like I said in the OP, I didn't want to put my carrier in the middle of it with her being out a few bucks, as I think she paid the postage to help get the package back to me more quickly. I haven't spoken to her about it, but I don't think she has any clue about what transpired.

jrbdmb wrote in post #15248277
For shipping anything of value, USPS Priority Mail is the bare minimum (and IMHO still a poor choice based on my past history with USPS). UPS or FedEx is a far better choice, and not always that much more expensive.

I don't agree with Priority Mail only being "bare minimum". I've had a perfect record with it, and with FedEx, but Priority is generally cheaper, faster (than FedEx Ground) and a bit easier for me to use.

I shipped a small package to my daughter in TX last year - with only delivery confirmation. USPS stated it was delivered but she never received it and after talking with the carrier - he told her he had delivered it. No package - but about a month later it shows up in her mail box unopened and good condition. I now insure all packages sent to her.

mpix345 wrote in post #15248558
I know. I was annoyed with the buyer, who after making the purchase was completely non-responsive with regard to payment. I filed a non-payment case, or whatever it's called on ebay, and he literally waited until about an hour before the deadline and paid me. So when the postal clerk said Parcel was a couple of bucks cheaper I figured "why not?". I never have used it in the past. And never will again.




The "carrier" is the person who brings mail to our home every day. I'm familiar with the underpaid postage thing, this was totally different. I don't think there was any reason the package didn't deliver. No mention of the postage not being adequate.

I don't agree that I should have had to pay the postage to have my package returned (that the Post Office failed to deliver), but like I said in the OP, I didn't want to put my carrier in the middle of it with her being out a few bucks, as I think she paid the postage to help get the package back to me more quickly. I haven't spoken to her about it, but I don't think she has any clue about what transpired.

So the carrier is the post office. If that is the case, they don't pay to have your mail returned back to you. If for whatever reason it needs to be returned to sender, they mark on the package "RETURN TO SENDER" with a reason whether it be insufficient postage or unreadable address or even wrong address/no one lives there.

Doing some google searching on what "Postage Due" means...

This is a frequent problem. Ebay sellers thinking that they can cheat the USPS out of proper payment of postage. Because they can do everything from their home, it is often a matter of printing postage at a lighter weight. Like the item weighs 14 ounces, but they only pay for 13 ounces.

It could be something that was sent as Media Mail that does not qualify as MM. It could be that the sender used a Priority Mail envelope but didn't pay for Priority Mail postage. Perhaps they paid postage for a First Class Letter or Flat, when it needed to be paid as a Parcel.

As you see, there are quite a number of reasons that this has happened.
As I suspected, postage due seems to be that it was insufficient payment. Usually they either continue with delivery or the return to sender.

You can do a google search and type in "postage due usps" in the search field and majority will tell you that its insufficient postage.

you're lucky, i bet you wish that box could talk

1KIND wrote in post #15248876
...
As you see, there are quite a number of reasons that this has happened.[/I]
As I suspected, postage due seems to be that it was insufficient payment. Usually they either continue with delivery or the return to sender.

You can do a google search and type in "postage due usps" in the search field and majority will tell you that its insufficient postage.

The postage was due now because I had it refunded to me when I thought the package was lost. No reason to think there was insufficient postage in the first place. The package was not marked that way, as it would be if it got flagged during processing.

I originally mailed the package at the post office. They weighed it and calculated the postage.

rick_reno wrote in post #15248900
you're lucky, i bet you wish that box could talk

I'm actually guessing it just sat somewhere for two months. I was shipping from east coast to west coast. Box doesn't look like it has any miles on it. The tracking for the package always showed it made it to the distribution center but then stopped. In my imagination I can see the box sliding off a conveyor and sitting in a corner someplace until someone picked it up and said "whoops".