Why USPS nor return items?

[Tigers!]

Let me explain.
My wife has a small online business making and shipping original patterns for quilts, table runners, applique etc.
She has never dealt much with the US because the shipping costs are horrendous for small (sic) parcels (paper is not terribly heavy).
She has a shop though in the US for a number of years. this shop is one of the few who is prepared to absorb the shipping costs.
In March this shop requested a large order (>$1200AUD) which made it really worth shipping it over.
My wife duly printing the patterns (almost 200) and I spent about 10 hours packaging them ( ). They were sent and my wife finally received a message that the parcel had arrived at the shop.
The shop owner opened the bowling by asking why had not all the patterns arrived? Some were missing. How, my wife asked? They were all packed and sent.
The shop owner sent a picture of the box upon arrival to the shop
.

No wonder there were patterns missing. Why she sought to blame my wife instead of the delivery is a puzzle. Turns out 20 patterns were missing.

The lady went to USPS to complain. She took in the box and contents and they investigated.
Yesterday the lady sent a message to my wife saying USPS had admitted responsibility.
"Could we resend all the patterns again."
"Why do you not have them returned".
"Oh, USPS keep the contents and do not return them".

She needs the patterns for her store reopening in early June. We now have to do all that effort again!

Questions: Why did USPS not return the contents? Is that usual practice? Is this the standard way USPS handle parcels?

Australia Post for all its foibles would return the contents of the parcel as it got them. That would have saved us a lot of work and trouble i.e > 180 patterns would not have to be resent. And we have to pay upfront as we have no idea when the compo will be paid to us.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It sounds like a scam, but the photo appears to be in a crafting store. Man, that package looks like it was delivered by Fedex. I've never had a problem like that before. The worst I've had was a birthday card bouncing for a couple months before coming back to us.

link

If a claim is filed because some or all of the contents are missing or damaged, the addressee must retain the mailing container, including any damaged articles, all packaging, and any contents received. Upon written request by the USPS®, the addressee must make this proof available to the local Post Office® for inspection, retention, and disposition in accordance with the claims decision. Failure to do so will result in denial of the claim. The Postal Service employee completes PS Form 3831, Receipt for Article(s) Damaged in Mails and it is provided to the customer. The Post Office retains the item until the claims process is completed and determines full, partial, or denied payment and whether to dispose of or return the damaged item.

This could get a bit messy, because I'm assuming USPS was paid for shipping by the Australia PO folks. If it was insured, presumably you are owed, or at the very least, the shipping is owed.

 

[thebeave]

I get a lot of packages these days, delivered by various outfits...Amazon, UPS, and USPS mostly. Occasionally, FedEx or other. Haven't had problems with damaged packages much by anyone, but by far USPS is the worst in terms of delivery. The tracking data and delivery dates rarely make sense. Like it will say delivery on Saturday, but on Friday evening its still sitting in Dallas or someplace. And it took 4 days to get there from, like, Kentucky. Finally, on late Saturday the delivery date will be updated to, say, Monday or Tuesday. This has happened a lot lately. Don't even get me started on trying to pay for my P.O. Box rental online with a debit card that everyone else doesn't have a problem with. They just say, "We had a problem. Try again later." Four years later, same message. No explanation whatsoever about what the problem was so that I might be able to fix it. Thanks a lot, pal.

 

[ZiprHead]

Ive had two packages get lost at the USPS over the last two years. Both of them Homelink keypads/transmitters for the BMW. Every couple months I'll get an email from USPS saying they are still looking.

The first one was actually found and then lost again.

 

[thebeave]

Ive had two packages get lost at the USPS over the last two years. Both of them Homelink keypads/transmitters for the BMW. Every couple months I'll get an email from USPS saying they are still looking.

The first one was actually found and then lost again.

Newman and the post office are more like real life than I previously imagined!

 

[ZiprHead]

Ive had two packages get lost at the USPS over the last two years. Both of them Homelink keypads/transmitters for the BMW. Every couple months I'll get an email from USPS saying they are still looking.

The first one was actually found and then lost again.

Newman and the post office are more like real life than I previously imagined!

Ha! I just watched that episode last week.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Let me explain.
My wife has a small online business making and shipping original patterns for quilts, table runners, applique etc.
She has never dealt much with the US because the shipping costs are horrendous for small (sic) parcels (paper is not terribly heavy).
She has a shop though in the US for a number of years. this shop is one of the few who is prepared to absorb the shipping costs.
In March this shop requested a large order (>$1200AUD) which made it really worth shipping it over.
My wife duly printing the patterns (almost 200) and I spent about 10 hours packaging them ( ). They were sent and my wife finally received a message that the parcel had arrived at the shop.
The shop owner opened the bowling by asking why had not all the patterns arrived? Some were missing. How, my wife asked? They were all packed and sent.
The shop owner sent a picture of the box upon arrival to the shop
.View attachment 46107

No wonder there were patterns missing. Why she sought to blame my wife instead of the delivery is a puzzle. Turns out 20 patterns were missing.

The lady went to USPS to complain. She took in the box and contents and they investigated.
Yesterday the lady sent a message to my wife saying USPS had admitted responsibility.
"Could we resend all the patterns again."
"Why do you not have them returned".
"Oh, USPS keep the contents and do not return them".

She needs the patterns for her store reopening in early June. We now have to do all that effort again!

Questions: Why did USPS not return the contents? Is that usual practice? Is this the standard way USPS handle parcels?

Australia Post for all its foibles would return the contents of the parcel as it got them. That would have saved us a lot of work and trouble i.e > 180 patterns would not have to be resent. And we have to pay upfront as we have no idea when the compo will be paid to us.

Return them to who, how? The box obviously took a beating, the missing stuff likely came off in the system somewhere, whoever found it would have no way of knowing what package it went to. When they know what happened they put the stuff inside and tape it up, but once the link is lost nobody's going to try to make it again. If they had returned it instead you would be in the same position except the surviving material would now be in Australia rather than the US.

 

[Tharmas]

The last job I worked I put a 25 page proposal, cover letter, etc. in an overnight folder and mailed it to an address in New York state. It’s possible I had forgotten to seal the flap, or somehow the P.O. machinery opened the envelope, I don’t know. The empty envelope was delivered to New York. The P.O. found an address on the documents and shipped them to it overnight. The address turned out to be my corporation’s headquarters in California.

So I got a call from the company in New York to inform me that my submittal came in an empty envelope, and another call from the receptionist and corporate headquarters, very mystified, wanting to know what to do with the documents and how/why did they get them. I had them overnight them to the New York address and re-printed the proposal and re-sent it to the New York address. So we got two copies of the proposal there the next day.

It took the Post Office about a week to get me a full refund,

Otherwise I’ve always had very good luck with the USPS. They’re in a vicious spiral. Congress gets pissed off and cuts the budget, so workers are laid off, service deteriorates, so Congress cuts the budget again, etc. I say restore the budget. The other services, UPS and FedEx, skim the cream of the first-class deliveries and everyone marvels at how efficient they are.

As for packages, I’ve had UPS and FedEx tear them up too. And don’t get me started on Amazon. Have you ever tried to lodge a complaint with them? It can be done, and they will make it good. Eventually.

 

[Tigers!]

Let me explain.
My wife has a small online business making and shipping original patterns for quilts, table runners, applique etc.
She has never dealt much with the US because the shipping costs are horrendous for small (sic) parcels (paper is not terribly heavy).
She has a shop though in the US for a number of years. this shop is one of the few who is prepared to absorb the shipping costs.
In March this shop requested a large order (>$1200AUD) which made it really worth shipping it over.
My wife duly printing the patterns (almost 200) and I spent about 10 hours packaging them ( ). They were sent and my wife finally received a message that the parcel had arrived at the shop.
The shop owner opened the bowling by asking why had not all the patterns arrived? Some were missing. How, my wife asked? They were all packed and sent.
The shop owner sent a picture of the box upon arrival to the shop
.View attachment 46107

No wonder there were patterns missing. Why she sought to blame my wife instead of the delivery is a puzzle. Turns out 20 patterns were missing.

The lady went to USPS to complain. She took in the box and contents and they investigated.
Yesterday the lady sent a message to my wife saying USPS had admitted responsibility.
"Could we resend all the patterns again."
"Why do you not have them returned".
"Oh, USPS keep the contents and do not return them".

She needs the patterns for her store reopening in early June. We now have to do all that effort again!

Questions: Why did USPS not return the contents? Is that usual practice? Is this the standard way USPS handle parcels?

Australia Post for all its foibles would return the contents of the parcel as it got them. That would have saved us a lot of work and trouble i.e > 180 patterns would not have to be resent. And we have to pay upfront as we have no idea when the compo will be paid to us.

Return them to who, how? The box obviously took a beating, the missing stuff likely came off in the system somewhere, whoever found it would have no way of knowing what package it went to. When they know what happened they put the stuff inside and tape it up, but once the link is lost nobody's going to try to make it again. If they had returned it instead you would be in the same position except the surviving material would now be in Australia rather than the US.

Australia Post returns the contents to those who brought it in i.e. the reciptient. In this case that would have been the shop to whom we addressed the parcel.
Instaed of being such 20 or so patterns short she is now short about 180. And we have to sent all of them back at our exepnse/time and hope the compo reaches us eventually.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Return them to who, how? The box obviously took a beating, the missing stuff likely came off in the system somewhere, whoever found it would have no way of knowing what package it went to. When they know what happened they put the stuff inside and tape it up, but once the link is lost nobody's going to try to make it again. If they had returned it instead you would be in the same position except the surviving material would now be in Australia rather than the US.

Australia Post returns the contents to those who brought it in i.e. the reciptient. In this case that would have been the shop to whom we addressed the parcel.
Instaed of being such 20 or so patterns short she is now short about 180. And we have to sent all of them back at our exepnse/time and hope the compo reaches us eventually.

Ok, I'm really puzzled. Are you saying the 180 that survived were returned to sender? Because if they delivered them then you only need to make up the missing 20.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

According to the document Jimmy Higgins posted, your Post Office keeps the lot when there is a complaint and everybody has to start from scratch.

 

[Tigers!]

Return them to who, how? The box obviously took a beating, the missing stuff likely came off in the system somewhere, whoever found it would have no way of knowing what package it went to. When they know what happened they put the stuff inside and tape it up, but once the link is lost nobody's going to try to make it again. If they had returned it instead you would be in the same position except the surviving material would now be in Australia rather than the US.

Australia Post returns the contents to those who brought it in i.e. the reciptient. In this case that would have been the shop to whom we addressed the parcel.
Instaed of being such 20 or so patterns short she is now short about 180. And we have to sent all of them back at our exepnse/time and hope the compo reaches us eventually.

Ok, I'm really puzzled. Are you saying the 180 that survived were returned to sender? Because if they delivered them then you only need to make up the missing 20.

No. USPS kept the 180 patterns and will not return them. Apparently that is the policy. Why is the question? If they were a health hazard I could understand that. Australia Post returns such things unless they are a health hazard.
My wife and I this week have to redo the whole order to get it back to the shop in time for her new opening. It will take > 16 hours work. And we have to pay the postage to the UA again without any indication of when the compo may arrive. My wife's business is small. She is the only person involved apart from her manservant, me. That extra time and cost can be absorbed easily. The postage will be about ~$210AUD ($140USD) and we will need a more sturdy box. More cost and more weight.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Buy a $5 suitcase at the op shop. I defy the post office to destroy it, and if you pull off the wheels it's probably lighter than anything else as strong.

 

[Tigers!]

My wife has just resent the package to the US.
After reinforcing a box and taping it to within an inch of its life it weighed 11.2kg. The previous was 10.4kg.
The new postage cost is $138AUD. Sending to the US is so expensive from Aust.

Let's see how this one arrives.

 

[Person19960]

"USPS kept the 180 patterns and will not return them. Apparently that is the policy. Why is the question? If they were a health hazard I could understand that. Australia Post returns such things unless they are a health hazard."

USPS has more customers, and does not budget for such returns.

 

[Tigers!]

"USPS kept the 180 patterns and will not return them. Apparently that is the policy. Why is the question? If they were a health hazard I could understand that. Australia Post returns such things unless they are a health hazard."

USPS has more customers, and does not budget for such returns.

USPS seem to be a mob of wallies.

 

[Person19960]

haha, it could be the customers!

 

[Tigers!]

The good news is that the 2nd parcel arrived intact at the shop 3 days before the show started. The owner was pleased and put them out. The show was a success and many of my wife's patterns were sold. I saw a spike in interest on the web site from the USA and a few extra sales. So that part was good.
Australia Post and USPS did agree on compensation - just the price of postage and the packaging - $220AUD. So we got the postage back.
It took 9 hours to print, collate, package, post the parcel again.
We are still out the cost of the 2nd lot of labour and materials.

Not happy Jan.

 

[Tigers!]

M y wife yesterday sent off a parcel to Wisconsin. Interested to see if it arrives in better condition that the one to Oregon.
Are the posties in Wiscosin better that Oregon?