Eye Opening Experience With USPS & Misdelivered Package

[OliveBlossomSoap]

Hi Friends! I've had a very eye opening experience with USPS and a package they admittedly misdelivered and were not able to recover.

My customer alerted me that her package had been marked "delivered," but she had not received it. She had already checked with her local post office and they had let her know it was misdelivered and they would search for it. That's when I got involved. I started my own query and was told the same - package was misdelivered and not recoverable. I went ahead and replaced my customer's order and paid to have it shipped again. 

I filed an insurance claim and sent all proof that the package was misdelivered and could not be recovered. It was denied. I appealed and sent more proof and official correspondence from my customer's local postmaster stating the package could not be recovered. Denied again. 

At this point, I'm in a state of disbelief and made some phone calls. Turns out, USPS doesn't indemnify (cover with insurance) packages they misdeliver! All that work filing claims for nothing! 

Looking back, I'm wondering if I should have just told my customer to file a claim against my shop and let Etsy refund her from their pockets? Her package was under $250 and would have been covered. What are your thought? All are appreciated!  

[MeerkatsManor]

Wow, I had no idea. I thought it would be considered lost. This is what I just found.....

While it can be frustrating to say this, sometimes USPS really delivers packages to the wrong address and there is no way to file a claim with the Postal Service because the insurance that comes with Priority Mail service does not apply to accepting claims for any package the USPS marks as "delivered."

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@MeerkatsManor I had no idea, either. Looking more into it, I see it's hard to get USPS insurance to cover any claim. 

I'm not sorry I replaced my customer's package, but disappointed with the safeguards I thought I had in place. I'll treat it as a learning experience and know better for next time!

[digitaldoodlebug]

Sad to hear. I just self insure unless it's more expensive, then get 3rd party insurance. You could choose to have them use the etsy protection. I tend to pretend it's not there. So if it's a case like yours I would replace that. If it was a tracking or signature showed delivered then it can fall back to etsy. 

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@digitaldoodlebug It is sad to think the insurance that comes with Priority Mail and Ground Advantage packages doesn't cover a situation like this. Essentially, USPS lost the package, but since they marked it delivered, they're off the hook. 

This package would have qualified for Etsy's protection plan, since tracking showed it was delivered.

[bradgoodell]

USPS's insurance is fairly useless and they will choose any reason possible to deny.  The only thing they are guaranteed to cover is packages that are clearly lost while in the hands of USPS prior to delivery.  If they fail to scan and it disappears, you are out.  If they deliver it to the wrong address, sorry, you are out of luck.

So sorry this happened to you.

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@bradgoodell Thank you. I honestly believed my claim would be covered. Through no fault of my own, nor my customer's, the package didn't get to where it needed to go. If there's a next time, I think I'll have my customer use Etsy's protection program. 

[ThePurplePuppy]

Just an addedum: I would never tell a buyer to file a claim with Etsy. No matter the outcome (you win) it is counted as a "Strike" against your shop. No one really knows how many "strikes" it takes to close a shop permanetly.  I would continue to do as you did --replace the item. (self insure)

[DeserdogsTreasures]

I just sent in a question concerning is issue to USPS. What gets me is that there are written rules that determine if the insurance covers a loss like this. When USPS answers the question, I am going to have them point out the exact language that covers this situation.

[CanningCrafts]

Wow, that's incredible! Did they tell you why there weren't able to recover the package?

Years ago, I had a package misdelivered to the wrong address. It went to a business that never seemed to be open, so USPS wasn't able to retrieve for over a month. I kept getting the runaround from them. Luckily I had used ShipSurance because it was an order over $100. So after a week of thinking they'd be able to get the package back, I submitted a ShipSurance claim & easily got my money back. I had already refunded the customer because it wasn't an order that could be replaced. I'm a bit shocked that USPS wouldn't refund for that type of delivery error??

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@CanningCrafts They didn't say why it couldn't be recovered. I suspect it went to a personal residence and it was kept. 

While the GPS scan shows the package was misdelivered, they weren't able to forward a copy of it to me because it would disclose personal information. 

Although they admit fault in the misdelivery of the package, they marked it delivered and that means they're off the hook for an insurance claim.

[DeserdogsTreasures]

If a package meets the criteria for an insurance reimbursement payment, it should be covered..

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@DeserdogsTreasures Unfortunately, because they marked it "delivered" the package doesn't qualify for insurance coverage. Hard to believe, but true.

[DeserdogsTreasures]

I believe somewhere in the DMM is a definition of delivery. Once a delivery person left a big box of school clothes I bought from Kohls for my grandchildren on the ground next to the mailbox on a busy street.  Now is that considered delivery, according the the standards in the DMM? Don't think so. Otherwise they could just toss a package on the ground in front of your house and call it delivered. 

[Hertfordweaver]

Sounds like they could throw it in the trash, call it delivered and go home early with no consequences.

[ChillwolfArt]

I was in a similar yet different position re: a package. It was Priority mailing, went on a scenic route, then into a black hole. An Investigation was opened, which most likely got the package moving.  My U.S. Customer finally received it in ONE WEEK (Priority Mail).  Anyway, I made up my mind that if she didn't receive the pkg. by the weekend, like you, I was going to replace the item (which meant I had to make it, as I had none left). She never once complained, and I felt bad that she paid for Priority and didn't receive that service. But it turned out positive; she received the package. If it didn't get delivered to her, I don't know that I'd want Etsy involved.

[LynnsLittleShop]

When my daughter's package from Ebay was lost and she had the Post office send an email or something to her claim to Ebay saying it was lost, Ebay refunded her payment.

The post office saying it was delivered when it wasn't is the problem here for the OP. 

[JBPacrat]

Although it did cost you, I believe that you did the right thing. You can always claim a loss on your taxes for your out of pocket expense. BTW, your shop is lovely.

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@JBPacrat Thank you! I'm not sorry I replaced the package, just of the outcome with USPS. Will definitely be claiming it as a loss! lol

[SaltoftheArt]

I was told by my accountant that I can't claim these types of losses. =( That since the reshipment is using supplies already tax deducted.

He basically said that I couldn't claim it because a business could claim "business losses" due to shipment problems and claim falsely to benefit financially .

Is he wrong? Does anyone have more insight and how I can be covered by a situation like this? I lose about 300-500 yearly due to the USPS problems.

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@SaltoftheArt I replaced my customer's items, so I'm assuming I could claim those replacement items as a loss and  not the original "lost" items. This is NOT tax advice and asking your tax professional is advised.  

[GlassyFields]

I think you did the right thing ... I recently did something similar for a package that was stolen by a porch pirate - USPS verified correct delivery and porch pirate is the only logical hypothesis about what happened in the short time between delivery and loss (the buyer was expecting the package).

I wouldn't file a case with Etsy. Too many risks. It might be counted as a strike against the shop or use up the number of cases that Etsy refunds from their coffers (I read somewhere it was one per year). I don't think Etsy is consistent enough in how they apply their policies to count on anything being covered by Etsy. In this case I would expect Etsy to see Delivered and point you back to USPS. But most of all, I'm uncomfortable with telling a buyer to file a case with Etsy. It kind of feels like I'm passing the buck instead of 'owning' my shop and my response to an issue.

I had a USPS priority mail package that was lost and when it re-sufaced had a big hole in the package and items were missing. The buyer - a long term repeat buyer - took pictures. USPS. USPS rejected my claim.

I had another USPS package where I bought the label through Pirateship. The package was stuffed into a mail box that was too small and some items broke. The buyer took pictures and I claimed via Pirateship and Pirateship credited my account for the amount I requested (the value of the broken items and repeat shipping of replacement items).

So I'm a big fan of Pirateship. They seem to be able to do more with claims than I'm able to do as an individual. (Maybe because they're pirates!)

And I self-insure. I've had very few issues in 11 years. An issue feels huge but they really are outliers so self-insurance ends up being a few cents per order.

[CanningCrafts]

I had to do a damage claim through PirateShip a few months back & it was super easy! Much easier than when I had to handle my misdelivery claim for an Etsy order directly with ShipSurance years ago. 

[OliveBlossomSoap]

@GlassyFields I think I did the right thing, as well. 

Although I stated above that I may use Etsy's protection if something like this happens again in the future, I'm also hyper-paranoid it would get my shop shut down or count against me in some way. We've all read the horror stories here.

I agree Pirateship is AMAZING and I'm team Pirate all the way!

While I'm a bent out of shape about this issue currently, I've been here for 7 years and you're right - these issues truly are outliers!

[MicrostepCustoms]

I don't know... I had a different experience.  When this happened to me and I was able to get USPS to verify the package was mis-delivered based on GPS of the delivery scan, I filed a claim and was reimbursed.  It was denied initially because they don't let you put any comments in when first filing the claim, so all they did was see "delivered" and denied my claim.  When doing the appeal though I was able to leave a comment/justification for the appeal and I put in a statement saying I verified with local post office that the package was mis-delivered per the GPS delivery scan, and then a couple weeks later a check from USPS showed up in the mail.