Missing package... what do YOU do?

[Former_Member]

I shipped a priority mail package to a buyer on Oct 1. It has apparently been lost in transit by the USPS. The Delivery Confirmation number shows it left my town, went to a pit stop town, was sorted and left that facility en route to the buyer on Oct 3. But no activity since then. Both the buyer and I have contacted post offices in various places and the package can not be located. The USPS won't put a search on it until it has been missing for 30 days.

There is no insurance on this package, the buyer didn't ask for any. Even though the buyer seems understanding that it is out of my hands (especially since the delivery confirmation number shows that I DID ship it), I feel awful.

What would you guys do in this situation? The order was approximately $35-ish in products and sent flat rate priority mail. Out of all the items I have shipped out over the years, this is my first lost package.

[Former_Member]

Bumping in hopes of getting advice :-)

[RadicalWorks]

If the post office is at a lost, I would refund the customer. Give your sincere apologies about the lost package and issue a refund.

But despite the stress of all of this, you've been blessed to have an understanding customer to help you out in this incident.

[TheCheekyUnicornCo]

Since it's the halfway point, I'd see if the customer would be willing to wait until the end of the month for a resolution. In my experience, the package will likely show up any day now.

If they don't want to wait, the only other options would be refund or replacement and hopefully the customer will return the package to you once it shows.

The post office can put a hold on packages and reroute them. It just takes finding a nice person willing to take the time to do it. I've had this done with packages/letters before and they will send them back to your post office for pickup. Might be worth looking into for when the package is found.

Best of luck!

[LovgrenandDaughter]

We haven't had this problem yet but I would err on the side of customer service and send a new one. You make good will, you get good feedback. You didn't say what the cost to manufacture is, I'm hoping it is less than half of the purchase price.

We would replace it. Collect from the post office if you can.