4 ms·

Three years ago, a friend of a friend told me that he knows people inside UPS/Fedex/etc who steal expensive items, and sell them to fencers. Now it is time to p

Three years ago, a friend of a friend told me that he knows people inside UPS/Fedex/etc who steal expensive items, and sell them to fencers. Now it is time to pick up your expensive stuff from local stores, even if you place orders online.

whatshisface 3y ago
I had something stolen out of the USPS system. I don't know whether it was the mailing center or the USPS itself but it disappeared in a way that logically couldn't have been a mistake.
- raincom 3y ago
  USPS is considered safer, because of federal charges. Some wise people suggested to use priority/express mail, along with insurance, if one wants it more secure in the USPS system.
  - User23 3y ago
    Postal inspectors take this sort of thing very seriously.
    - raincom 3y ago
      Only when they want to investigate your case. Most of the time, postal investigators don't care. Maybe, they care if the package is insured/priority/express mail.
    - handedness 3y ago
      Lately I've been seeing comments like this surprisingly often, but my firsthand experience tells me otherwise.
      - gnicholas 3y ago
        A relative had mail stolen from an outgoing mailbox. She filed a complaint and was contacted months later when they caught the guy. They found her checks (to charity) in his house. She was shocked to hear back so much later. Apparently they were on the case the whole time, since it was affecting a lot of people.
        handedness 3y ago
        I don't doubt they solve cases of serial theft by ordinary citizens. They are, however, habitually unwilling to investigate Postal employees in all but the most exceptional cases (and the value of the thefts is not sufficient to be exceptional).
        gnicholas 3y ago
        In this case, it was actually an inside job, since some of the mail had been deposited in slots at the post office itself!
  - coredog64 3y ago
    I have had 3 watches stolen out of my secure neighborhood parcel locker. Each time the package was scanned to show delivered, and each time it was not there. It’s just watches (which are marked as such on the customs form), and despite numerous complaints, USPS refuses to do anything about it. I’ll believe Federal charges when I see them.
    - raincom 3y ago
      I agree with you here. One time, I didn't receive a check for $8k for two months for work I did. I complained to the sender, who sent me the image of the cashed check. So, I filed a complaint with USPS about stolen mail, and that too was supposed to be delivered to a PO Box. No response whatsoever from USPS postal inspectors, who are busy with priorities of their political masters. So, it took another three months to sort out this mess through alternative means. At least, USPS should have contacted me about my complaint; no, they didn't care.
  - handedness 3y ago
    I have relevant industry experience, and I would advise anyone to never, ever use Priority or Express Mail for a high-value item, under any circumstances. Even with third-party insurance. Theft is much more likely than with UPS/FedEx overnight services, and it's nearly impossible to arrange the delivery so that the parcel is on camera for its entire journey, something easily accomplished with some other carriers. And if the package lost, prosecution is almost an impossibility, as is therefore recovery. In the event of a loss, Postal Inspectors are typically useless for pursuing package theft committed by USPS employees, even with very high value because they live in perpetual fear of the APWU (their explanation, not mine). They also hilariously attempt to pass the investigative buck to local authorities, who rightly note that it was a Federal crime committed by a Federal employee on Federal property. The Postal Inspectors recently had a high-visibility thread on another site that very much overstated their value, and ever since that thread went up that's been the narrative. It's wholly unjustified. Registered Mail is the only USPS service worth considering for such items, and it's actually incredibly good, and tightly controlled. It's arguably the most secure service of the major carriers, and probably where that recommendation comes from. As bad as the USPS is at delivering everything else securely, they're excellent at getting Registered Mail items where they belong. Insurance up to $50K can be purchased (and sometimes over that amount). For someone with no experience doing a one-off, high-value shipment, that is what I would strongly recommend. The insurance also comes without the endless hidden caveats one finds with UPS that requires a complex decision tree to validate, or the BTW-it's-not-actually-insurance aspect of FedEx's declarations (for which they'll happily charge). Third-party insurance services are worth their (very reasonable) cost, but can be difficult for the average person to secure. Services like Brink's enter the picture when you start talking about moving items above that level. But Priority/Express is the absolute wild west in terms of secure package delivery. Temporary employees working with no oversight, with a union that will reflexively and aggressively defend people even when it's fully aware it's defending criminals (sound familiar?), and unmotivated inspectors. It's a recipe for high rates of package loss, which is exactly what it has.
    - raincom 3y ago
      Thanks for sharing your experience. USPS says 'Registered Mail is kept highly secured and is processed manually, which naturally slows the speed at which it travels.Registered Mail is not recommended if speed of delivery is important.' So, UPS/Fedex overnight is better.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  Make sure to let the postal inspector know.
dboreham 3y ago
Guitars are notorious for vanishing in the shipping pipeline. They look obviously like guitars when shipped.
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
I worked as a FedEx package handler for a bit. One item that was shipped was rolled up mattresses, another item that was shipped was cell phones. These arrived on trucks in large quantities. The shipping labels didn't stick well to the mattress packaging, and occasionally came off of the cell phone boxes as well. Sometimes it was obvious which packages the labels had come off of, other times not.

whatshisface 3y ago

I had something stolen out of the USPS system. I don't know whether it was the mailing center or the USPS itself but it disappeared in a way that logically couldn't have been a mistake.

raincom 3y ago
USPS is considered safer, because of federal charges. Some wise people suggested to use priority/express mail, along with insurance, if one wants it more secure in the USPS system.
- User23 3y ago
  Postal inspectors take this sort of thing very seriously.
  - raincom 3y ago
    Only when they want to investigate your case. Most of the time, postal investigators don't care. Maybe, they care if the package is insured/priority/express mail.
  - handedness 3y ago
    Lately I've been seeing comments like this surprisingly often, but my firsthand experience tells me otherwise.
    - gnicholas 3y ago
      A relative had mail stolen from an outgoing mailbox. She filed a complaint and was contacted months later when they caught the guy. They found her checks (to charity) in his house. She was shocked to hear back so much later. Apparently they were on the case the whole time, since it was affecting a lot of people.
      - handedness 3y ago
        I don't doubt they solve cases of serial theft by ordinary citizens. They are, however, habitually unwilling to investigate Postal employees in all but the most exceptional cases (and the value of the thefts is not sufficient to be exceptional).
        gnicholas 3y ago
        In this case, it was actually an inside job, since some of the mail had been deposited in slots at the post office itself!
- coredog64 3y ago
  I have had 3 watches stolen out of my secure neighborhood parcel locker. Each time the package was scanned to show delivered, and each time it was not there. It’s just watches (which are marked as such on the customs form), and despite numerous complaints, USPS refuses to do anything about it. I’ll believe Federal charges when I see them.
  - raincom 3y ago
    I agree with you here. One time, I didn't receive a check for $8k for two months for work I did. I complained to the sender, who sent me the image of the cashed check. So, I filed a complaint with USPS about stolen mail, and that too was supposed to be delivered to a PO Box. No response whatsoever from USPS postal inspectors, who are busy with priorities of their political masters. So, it took another three months to sort out this mess through alternative means. At least, USPS should have contacted me about my complaint; no, they didn't care.
- handedness 3y ago
  I have relevant industry experience, and I would advise anyone to never, ever use Priority or Express Mail for a high-value item, under any circumstances. Even with third-party insurance. Theft is much more likely than with UPS/FedEx overnight services, and it's nearly impossible to arrange the delivery so that the parcel is on camera for its entire journey, something easily accomplished with some other carriers. And if the package lost, prosecution is almost an impossibility, as is therefore recovery. In the event of a loss, Postal Inspectors are typically useless for pursuing package theft committed by USPS employees, even with very high value because they live in perpetual fear of the APWU (their explanation, not mine). They also hilariously attempt to pass the investigative buck to local authorities, who rightly note that it was a Federal crime committed by a Federal employee on Federal property. The Postal Inspectors recently had a high-visibility thread on another site that very much overstated their value, and ever since that thread went up that's been the narrative. It's wholly unjustified. Registered Mail is the only USPS service worth considering for such items, and it's actually incredibly good, and tightly controlled. It's arguably the most secure service of the major carriers, and probably where that recommendation comes from. As bad as the USPS is at delivering everything else securely, they're excellent at getting Registered Mail items where they belong. Insurance up to $50K can be purchased (and sometimes over that amount). For someone with no experience doing a one-off, high-value shipment, that is what I would strongly recommend. The insurance also comes without the endless hidden caveats one finds with UPS that requires a complex decision tree to validate, or the BTW-it's-not-actually-insurance aspect of FedEx's declarations (for which they'll happily charge). Third-party insurance services are worth their (very reasonable) cost, but can be difficult for the average person to secure. Services like Brink's enter the picture when you start talking about moving items above that level. But Priority/Express is the absolute wild west in terms of secure package delivery. Temporary employees working with no oversight, with a union that will reflexively and aggressively defend people even when it's fully aware it's defending criminals (sound familiar?), and unmotivated inspectors. It's a recipe for high rates of package loss, which is exactly what it has.
  - raincom 3y ago
    Thanks for sharing your experience. USPS says 'Registered Mail is kept highly secured and is processed manually, which naturally slows the speed at which it travels.Registered Mail is not recommended if speed of delivery is important.' So, UPS/Fedex overnight is better.
lupusreal 3y ago
Make sure to let the postal inspector know.

dboreham 3y ago

Guitars are notorious for vanishing in the shipping pipeline. They look obviously like guitars when shipped.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago

I worked as a FedEx package handler for a bit. One item that was shipped was rolled up mattresses, another item that was shipped was cell phones. These arrived on trucks in large quantities. The shipping labels didn't stick well to the mattress packaging, and occasionally came off of the cell phone boxes as well. Sometimes it was obvious which packages the labels had come off of, other times not.