they're in the garage / storage unit of a postal worker. or they were dumped on a back road / into (or by) a dumpster somewhere out of a PO (or other) truck. videos of that happening have been seen on the news in recent times.

or it will be found at a PO building / facility sometime in the future.

Or the postal worker's aquarium!

By the same token my post office box rental payment went missing after I dropped it off there in person sealed in the envelope provided for that purpose by USPS!! How does that happen?? 8 weeks later and the check has still not cleared so not stolen.

I swear gremlins must live there.

"they're in the garage / storage unit of a postal worker. or they were dumped on a back road / into (or by) a dumpster somewhere out of a PO (or other) truck. videos of that happening have been seen on the news in recent times."

Such contempt!

The PO handles many millions of items a day. Give them a .5% error rate (pretty low) and then see how many tens of thousands of wayward mail pieces that numbers.

My mother worked in a parcel postal sorting facility. At the time (I don't know if things have changed) all mail and packages were hauled in huge canvas bags, which were emptied into bins then sorted onto belts by the workers. Things would get stuck in the bottom of the bags...she'd find things months later, far from their intended destination.

Packages get damaged and are sorted out to be dealt with later, or if they aren't salvageable, destroyed. Some are simply misaddressed.

Is it possible your state doesn't allow the shipment of plants? If so, they could have been confiscated.

You wouldn't believe what gets shipped in packages through the USPS. Their huge sorting facility (blocks long) was often the scene of escaped live animals - some shipped for science labs others just for personal use (like baby chicks). They had frogs and bees and rats and mice, chicks and snakes and more that I can't remember escape.

I've just sent off several mailings via UPS. I am disturbed that I am unable to track these after I have entered the proper number. It has been several days and this has never occurred before. A friend notes several of her Xmas packages have already been lost. We were warned that package delivery would be unusually slow this year, due to so many workers being ill with Covid.

Ordered an item middle of November. Tracking it shows has been at our local post office since end of November. Cannot get any info the post office will only tell me they have a work overload. Tried to cancel the order , said it’s too late since it’s in transit. Said I can return after I have the item. Guess I have to write this up as lesson learned.

Hallngarden it must be very frustrating to have the item right there in your post office. My own local post office and mail delivery person is outstanding, I feel fortunate to have him.

BTW if any of you have a few minutes and want to be entertained, do a search for AmyLou's posts about her mail carrier from Hell. I'm not laughing at her predicament, but the way she describes it all is very entertaining. She is a talented writer.

I believe the reason that my seller was vigorously trying to not refund me is that he had sent the package first class instead of priority, so it was not insured. It is a gamble for sellers who try to entice sales by offering free shipping if the customer spends x amount, like he did and then cheap out on shipping,- if a first class package is delivered, they have spent less on first class shipping. But if something goes amiss, the package is uninsured.

One of my lost packages this year ended up back with the seller. Apparently, the package got wet and my address was obliterated, but USPS could still read the return address. I had already received a refund from the seller as months had passed from the original mailing date.

I have two items from eBay coming to me right now and both have been stuck for days in transit from USPS. They aren't needed for Christmas, so I'm being patient and hoping that they show up eventually.

A postal carrier was delivering mail at 8 p.m. last Friday night. I knew I had packages coming and saw the truck on my doorbell camera, so I walked up to meet her. She had both of my packages, but I noticed that I only received one mail piece when Informed Delivery said I had four. I suspect the other three are junk mail so I'm not too concerned.

Hallngarden, I think you can put a tracer on a package. https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm

I'd bought something on Ebay a couple of months ago from a woman in Calif. We almost established a friendship in tracking that package, turns out it was someone who had once lived near here. It should have been a straight commute up the coast taking only approx 3 days delivery time. It overshot me and went to Seattle, OK, understandable for out of state sorting but from there it traveled to Alaska. We never did understand why. When I did receive the item about a week later than anticipated, it was in a correctly and clearly labeled box. Undamaged and clean. Just well traveled.

I ordered Target gift cards online earlier this month that were scheduled for delivery in 48 hours. The first class envelope took 4 days longer than that. I know it's not my carriers fault, she's working herself to a frazzle trying to keep up. Delivering here as late as 6 PM some evenings and I know from talking to her she's a single mom of two littles.

Has anyone read this little book? It’s so sweet.

Mailing May

It is 1913 and five year old May wants so badly to visit her grandmother in Idaho. The train ticket costs $1.55 - more than her parents can afford. May's ingenious parents come up with a plan - they send May as mail for $.55 as there are no rules excluding sending people. She is stamped and tagged on the back of her coat as a 54lb baby chick. Her uncle is the mail car mailman who escorts her safely. The artwork is a wonderful & charming. A perfect capturing of the story! This story is based on true events. What a fun piece of history to read and wonder about.

Synopsis from GoodReads

So the surest way to mail something is escorted lol. Except of course for gardengal’s box rent. What happened there?

Of all the ways to ship packages, I like USPS the least. Yes, things happen. But....my personal grudge is with a mail carrier we have had to put up with for years. Thankfully, she finally has been moved off our street. We would find other people's mail in our box weekly. Once she dropped off a box of hold mail for folks that many blocks away.

Who knows what mail we were missing. She was always busy talking on her phone to pay attention to actually doing her job.

How does the Post Office lose packages? Probably about the same way as UPS and FedEx. Personally I see the post man more often than I do the UPS or FedEx trucks, they've cut my neighborhood back to once-a-week service. Honestly I think the handlers, if they mess up a delivery for whatever reason, chuck that package in a storeroom and their supervisor will get to it whenever. They are overwhelmed with new packages every day, so they service those first. Is what I think.

In September I ordered four items to be custom made by a small business in Southern California. The items were surprise "just because" gifts for my nephew and his wife. Because they were to be custom made, I knew that it would take at least six weeks before they'd be shipped. I received an e-mail from the company on November 2 that the package had been mailed USPS First Class, and a tracking number was provided. NO tracking updates by the USPS until the first week of December when the tracking showed it would be delivered on December 7th. It wasn't. Tracking changed to "Delivery Exception" with no further expected delivery date. Tracking hasn't changed from that, and the package hasn't been delivered.

She was always busy talking on her phone to pay attention to actually doing her job.

This drives me crazy. How much can these carriers have to say that they are talking constantly on their phones?

I've been selling a lot on eBay this year, using USPS Priority Mail for all of it. The bulk of my shipments have been vintage Chanel clothing, shoes & accessories - i.e. high value items. Despite the fact they could be attractive to thieves, I've had more issues with scammers trying to pull a fast one than delivery.

Only one package so far went missing, a signature-required Priority Mail package that tracked onto the truck out for delivery in San Francisco and got lost from there. Who knows what happened, I refunded the buyer and submitted it for an insurance payout. I've had many other packages take long circuitous routes to their destinations.

Right now I have three out of 15 mailed last Monday that are in a suspended state. One is stuck where it was dropped off, and the other two at various sorting locations. The system is overwhelmed right now, so I just keep watching and communicating with my buyers. My guess is that the only one really at risk is the one that hasn't tracked away from my local post office.

I drop off all packages at the desk to get a receipt and buy insurance for anything over $75 now. Insurance up to $50 is included in my mail fees. I also send signature required for anything over $500 and inform my buyer to expect that added security.

I moved recently, haven't gotten any forwarded mail yet. And suspect I am going to end up having to inform every entity that would have sent me something that I never got it. This includes bills.

We have received our neighbor's mail, including packages, and we always deliver it in person to the neighbor. Our mail has gone missing even though it says it was delivered. We guess the neighbor just keeps it.

Our mailman is completely clueless and a total screw up. What I really hate is when it says signature required, ours, and the mailman just signs for us. Then he dumps it down by the gate in any kind of weather and it is 400 feet from the street to the house. Of course he doesn't let us know. But tracking says, left at front door.

Ah yes. I have asked Santa for a new mail carrier. My packages don't get delivered because mine is a worthless bag of breathing garbage. Last time she HAD to deliver one, she talked to my dogs, who were barking at her from behind their fence. I didn't hear what she said,but it made me mad. She is NOT worthy to look in my dogs' direction,let alone speak freely to them. Trash.

They have hired some seasonal help though and more of my packages have been getting delivered by the extra help, but on days that the garbage is supposed to deliver them, I more often than not get one if those slips in my mailbox to come get it myself. I have 4 in my glove box now I must go get on my next off day.

As far as the original question, I always figured they fell off a belt or something somewhere along the way and are waiting to be discovered. I ordered a shirt for SO which was stuck in Atlanta for 2 weeks. Amazon issued a refund, and it finally showed up yesterday, almost 3 weeks after I ordered it, so now I have to got through the hassle of returning it. So irritating.

We are also having an issue with FedEx, we always ask for delivery to front porch. Past two times they have left on steps and show on notifications, delivered to front porch. We have 15 steps to our porch so if I have to go down steps and pick up a 30 pound box, it’s impossible; so we open garage I take elevator and go upstairs. If they would deliver on porch it would be a simple matter of opening door and taking it in. Oh the joys of being 82 and dragging boxes .

I ordered a winter coat in mid-Sept. and it never arrived. The store gave me a refund, but this thread reminded me of it and I just checked the tracking again and it is now saying it will be delivered in 10 days. I'm not optimistic, but it would be nice. It was a $300 coat on sale for $80 and I never did find another one I liked.

I sent a package to someone in Alaska a while ago. Once it left our USPS sorting hub in the nearest 'big' city, it went ghost. Tracking just says "package is running late. In transit to destination". I have visions of the package being dumped or lost in the wilderness somewhere and a dog sled team will find it years from now haha. Oh well. Maybe it will show up soon...

eta, other packages sent and received have been making their way through the systems without incident. Feeling lucky.

Not certain if it was here that I was complaining about a package being delivered to another address which the post office verified via GPS but they did not change the notation on Amazon that it was not delivered so I could get a refund after Amazon charged me for another shipment. I received one of those "how did you like the service" things late last week and complained because the person at my post office did not know how or could not change the notation removing that the package was delivered. Late Saturday the charges on the original shipment show being zeroed out. I have not found in my bank account where the charges were reversed but will keep looking. If you have a USPS tracking number even if it states it has been delivered they can track where it was delivered. They sent a person to the house my shipment was delivered but no one would answer the door.

I just checked the tracking again and it is now saying it will be delivered in 10 days.

How do stores handle situations where the item gets delivered after they have refunded the customer? Particularly items like coats that are time sensitive, one needs the coat when the weather is cold, a late shipment diminishes its value. Do they just write it off as a business expense or do they expect that it would be returned to them?

Lucille, I'm guessing that a store would never even know that the package had finally been delivered. As soon as they refunded the original purchase, they probably moved the amount into a loss category; that is, wrote it off as a business expense.

IDK what I would do if the plants showed up. I'm sure most would be dead. I guess I'd ask the seller and if he would pay return shipping he could have whatever was left if he wanted to salvage them. I sort of feel bad for him but it was his choice to send them uninsured.

desertsteph I think you are right, same way all those voting ballots "got lost".

Lucille many of the plants that are shipped at this time of the year are shipped dormant which means they look like they are dead. You would not be able to tell if they are dead until next spring unless they are house plants. If house plants even the seller should not be shipping at this time of the year.

The few times plants have gotten lost or severely damaged in shipping I let the seller know and ask what they want to have happen. Most will replace, refund, or even send extra plants. Only one has told me to plant it out and see what happens when the root snapped and sawdust like material came out. If you are ordering out of the US neither you or the shipper has any control of the lack of training of the staff with either Customs or the USDA inspectors. Roots/plant looks dead although dormant into the trash it goes.

Maifleur, these are aquarium plants. Ebay has refunded me, after the seller refused to do so, when tracking has shown nothing beyond pickup for quite a while.

My comment about shipping plants at this time of the year holds for aquarium plants. Shipping is done by unheated trucks and planes. If you receive them and they are still in usable condition I would contact seller and pay for them. If either never received or dead when they arrive I would drop it.

13 days for USPS to get a small first class package from central Wisconsin to Arizona. I think USPS must have sent it by ox train.

One of the best suggestions is to put a mailing label inside the package/envelope

I always do that when I send out pkgs to my family and friends. We got lots of torn, ripped, smashed pkgs come thru.

Yeah, DeJoy brings no joy. But I think trying to fail our postal service has been in certain politicians plans for years/decades. Cause it to fail, privatize it, invest in it and enrichen themselves?

I've always liked the postal service. It was good in Ohio. It was good down here until DeJoy. I had a USPS package coming from Texas take so long Amazon sent another. I've had misroutes before but this wasn't misrouted, it was just very slow. I assumed due to lack of available labor hours. No overtime allowed, whatever.

USPS always delivers my packages with care though. I don't cringe and hope my package arrives in one piece when I see it's coming by USPS, or Amazon, or FedEx. (with the possible exception of Walmart boxes but that's because Walmart hasn't yet mastered proper protective packaging)

UPS? When I see something is coming by UPS I cross fingers it arrives undamaged. It wasn't a problem in Ohio though, just here.

As for misdelivered packages, they've all goofed, pretty much equally. :)

For the most part I think USPS does a decent job.

Although my DD is still waiting to find out if Tufts University ever received her college application sent by USPS certified return receipt in 2001. I took it to my local post office and have my hand stamped receipt and tracking info. Tracking shows it was accepted but never left the post office.

I figure some day they'll find it wedged between a cabinet and the wall. She happily went to Columbia instead so I guess it all worked out.

Eld...I think I have your old carrier. She has to hurry through...throws whatever

into boxes...she has people along the route that she must stop and chat with.

One day, I will get, maybe, one ad of sorts. Nothing the next, and the 3rd get

a stack of mail..catalogs, papers, bills, letters, etc. I sent a card to my DD just

to check to see how long it took (my DD lives about one mile from me). It

took her 5 days to get the card (first class at that). The one before this one,

they caught opening cards, etc., and stealing money, etc. They did fire her,

but they didn't bring charges. I guess they felt sorry for the poor thing. If

you complain...you get the old, "oh my, we are sorry, but we are so so busy."

So, evidently, they are busy with Christmas mailings all year? Have never

had such poor postal service except in this State I am in now.

a few months ago, one of my dogs was diagnosed with glaucoma in her left eye. started her on drops immediately to keep the pressure down. i was getting low so called the vet's office (90 minutes away) and they put a bottle in the mail to me. that darn thing went everywhere EXCEPT to ME! i tracked it 3 states away. wth?? ended up driving all the way to the office to pick up another bottle. the original one showed up TEN days later.

fedex isn't much better. i realize i live in the middle of nowhere but seriously, how hard can it be? my other dane takes heart meds and MUST have them every day. one of her meds comes from a compounding pharmacy in florida (i'm in illinois). fedex LOST the package a while back and i ended up having to have the pharmacy overnight another bottle to me. fedex finally delivered it 4 days later. so, the usual $79 ended up costing me $193.

I worked part time at a UPS facility during my college years and saw the destruction of thousands of packages as they came down a slide to the workers who sort them into a revolving box line according to which delivery truck they are supposed to go out on. Large, heavy packages would smash smaller, lighter packages all the time. During peak time the slides would often get jammed up and packages would fall off the slide onto the floor 10-15 feet down.

I did not intentionally damage a single package in the years that I worked there but I sure saw a lot of them being damaged. I blame the industrial engineers that designed the sorting systems. I would think that the sorting systems in use back then (mid 80s) would have all been replaced by now. Lord knows that if they couldn't adequately handle the volumes back then, they sure as heck can't handle today's volumes.

As mentioned up thread, if you are sending a package by whatever carrier, always put the shipper and consignee address inside the box. If the exterior of the box is damaged and the address label comes off a worker will look inside to see if the can find the destination address. Most all commercial shippers will include the address on the invoice inside the box.

Fun2BeHere, I took your advice and put a tracer on my package. Guess what, just moments after I did, got message that it would be here today. May be bragging too soon. It’s 5:30 here and hasn’t arrived yet, The message stated it would be here 9am until 11 am. I really don’t need now. It’s Christmas lights , my daughter gave me lights last week. All the tracing showing it had been at our post office since November. Still holding my breath for delivery.

The package that I mentioned being miss delivered showed up late this afternoon with two of the three items that had been in it. I will wait a few days to see if I am charged. If I am not I will contact Amazon about it. The third piece is worth less than $5 and I am not going to be upset if they charge me for it.

This is ridiculous, just got notice that my package, missing since November, saying they are rescheduling for a later delivery.

Hallngarden, I suspect the first message was just a cya for the tracer in case supervisors ever checked, I'm not sure they ever intended to actually deliver.

Hallngarden, I'll keep my fingers crossed that your lights do show up.

Or like us - the Baltimore processing station is so backed up with a large number of employees testing positive for Covid (apparently more sick than working) that we may see some packages by February, if we're lucky. They were pictures of trucks backed up to unload and no place to unload.

hey, hey,hey . Guess what came today. Okay, the real truth , I have my lights now, BUT, they delivered to someone half a mile away. I received notification at 10:39 this morning , stating they were on porch. Looked out and nothing. Thankful neighbor took the time to bring to our home. It was addressed correctly. . Guess putting the tracer on them started motion.

Glad it is resolved, even if there are still underlying problems.

I have noticed recently on all my ebay purchases, when I go to track the item, it says "high volumes are causing delays. Please allow extra time."

Like I have a choice? I already bought it!

The package I was most concerned about because it hadn't tracked away from my local post office was delivered in TX yesterday. They scanned it when I dropped it off in So California and the next scan wasn't until it hit the sorting station in Ft. Worth TX. I also have one that went to Northern Cal last Thursday and has been circling around their facilities for four days now. At least it's being scanned! :)