Last December i sent my daughter a gift using UPS. Never more. They left the box on the front porch it was stolen. I resent similar gifts using USPS. and instructed her to get a po box. USPS mishandled the box perhaps using it as a football. Anyway it ended up in Atlanta, she lives in Seattle. The recovery center ended up with it. After i discovered where it was and working with the post master at my local post office i got the box back after three months.

The lesson i learned was first put a letter in The box with an address where the box should go. The recovery center gets the box because the label was destroyed if they have a tracking number then there is hope. They will open the box looking for an address. Lesson two use a sturdy box and cover your label with clear tape. I had sent her a three hundred dollar quad copter and a few other items some of which were missing when i finally got it back. It was insured but good luck with that.

I get a weekly news magazine called The Week. I really enjoy this magazine, and will smoke a cigar while reading it.... It keeps me well informed. For years, I received the current issue on Monday for the week it was intended to be received. The last 6 months or so, it has been arriving late and sometime quite unpredictably. 3 or 4 times, I've gone a week without receiving an issue. Then the following issue would arrive on Wednesday and the prior week's issue would arrive a day or two later. I don't know what the heck is going on there!

I once made an order from a company near Detroit. Living in Northern Michigan, I expected 3 day delivery, from USPS.

Imagine my surprise when tracking showed the package went to Florida, on it's way to me.

Never underestimate the incompetence of our government and it's ability to screw up everything it touches.

I recently worked as a Return Material Authorization agent for a fairly large company.
Guess what, they all screw up! However, on a percentage basis it is very very low.
Unfortunately, it has to happen to someone. It was your turn in the barrel.
I'm not trying to seem cold or insensitive. It's just the cold hard facts of the volume they all move.
I'm sorry it happened and I do hope your turn is up.

UPS just leaves packages to keep costs down, for a fee they will get a signature.
Making sure an address is inside is a great idea that can help when lost.
Making sure it is well packaged is probably the most important issue.

Better luck in the future,
KW_Counter

UPS Packages left at wrong door, not visible from inside house. No notice, doorbell ring, etc. Damaged packages and contents. Late delivery(days). Delivery as late as 9PM.
FedX Local delivery truck loaded at 6-7AM usual delivery time about 12 hours later.

I've ordered and shipped probably 300+ things in the 27 years I've been at this same address in Houston and have never suffered a loss yet. UPS absolutely has the worst attitude with the most abused/crushed/torn boxes!! The SOB's don't have the courtasy to ring the bell, and prefer to leave a $900 box propped up against my door for everybody to see while I'm in the house all day! (so I'm not aware that it's there) Don't get me started on those UPS ! At least the mailman ALWAYS ring the bell.

I'm not saying you guys who mail boxes did anything wrong, but being anal and planning can often pevent losses. I print the addresses on Word onto regular paper, enlarge the shipping address This Large So It Is Legible And Easy To Read; Houston, TX 77069 -2767 and paste it on the box and cover it in clear tape. I use foam peanuts to protect the contents & seal the box flaps with old style tan reinforced glue-shipping tape. Last but not least, if something is valuable I ask it be insured, signiture required, and perhaps that it be held at the Post Office. This way if something goes wrong, it's not on my dime. Unfortunately, I have less control with how boxes are shipped to me, as some folks plum lack common sense and nothing bothers them.

USPS can be really good or really bad. My local post office is the issue where I'm at; and, specifically, my hopelessly lazy letter carrier. She's a middle aged woman who isn't very nice and hates her job. Packages are shoved out the window into the ditch by my mailbox (yep!). Calls to the postmaster yield apologies, lots of "Sir, that's unacceptable, I will take care of this immediately!" followed by my next package being found in, you guessed it, the ditch. The most recent time I asked the post-master to come out. She did. She saw the package in the mud, brought it to my door, apologized, and told me; quite frankly, that she's done all she can do. In her words, it's difficult to let a letter carrier go. And so she really can't do anything. So now I simply won't have packages delivered via USPS. The Postmaster is great. It's always TO the post office quickly. The box is never damaged. But it all falls apart when this apparently tenured and apathetic letter carrier gets the package.

I should mention, the throwing the boxes in the ditch is probably "retribution" for being forced to deliver them at all. Several packages were undelivered, with a note in my mailbox saying "Undeliverable, pick up at post office". After a couple of times I asked the lady at the counter; who turned out to be the postmaster, why. She called the letter carrier to ask why it was 'undeliverable'. She explained it wouldn't fit in the truck. It was a small package from Amazon. Most of the packages were small (we're not talking about RC planes here, little things from Amazon mostly). The reality is she just didn't want to deliver it. Further digging revealed she had a habit of not picking up ANY packages, and just bringing them all back to be unloaded and claiming they were undeliverable or nobody answered the door, often without actually attempting the doorbell. It was also uncovered that she marked items "delivered" that weren't, and just left them at the post office (the Postmaster told me all of this). I'm sure she got an earful enough that she's being forced to do her job and deliver the packages, and out of spite (or just sheer laziness), can't be bothered to do more than chuck them out the window.

My letter carrier has gotten quite angry/huffy, even so much as yelling at me (from her window in her little truck thing) for getting so many packages. Saying it makes her route longer and longer the more people get packages. Does she think she's doing some kind service? I paid (or the vendor paid) a shipping charge, and she's paid a salary. In return for payment, the package is delivered. What's the issue here? How am I the bad guy for using YOUR service?

UPS, in my experience, has always been great. The guy who usually delivers is super nice. Always in a hurry, working quickly, but careful with packages.

My most "interesting" shipping experience was a TV. A very large, 70" TV. Shipped via a freight company. Once it "shipped" I had to schedule a delivery date and time. Per the vendors instructions, they were supposed to send a 3 man team. And part of the service paid for was that they would bring the box all the way into my home, into the living room, and remove this TV from the box. I would then mount it on the wall and do all that; but I wouldn't have to lug this very large and very, very heavy box anywhere. Guess what showed up? One very pleasant, and frail, 71 year old man (you can't make this stuff up folks) with an ankle boot. By himself. He apologized up and down and said he argued with his boss, but his boss said "Just use a dolly, you don't need three guys for a TV". We attempted, but couldn't even comfortably get it down off the truck. I invited him inside, got him a glass of tea, and called up a couple of friends. We got it unloaded. I called the freight company and they refunded everything and apologized. Felt bad for the poor guy. But my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw a white haired old man who could barely walk with his ankle in a boot coming up to my door representing the "three man team" I was promised. And, naturally, it was all he and I could do to get it TO the lift on the back of the truck (Yes, liability insurance company for this freight company; your franchisee expected a customer to climb onto your heavy equipment and operate your lift) and then took me and two friends to get it off the ground and into the house.