Delivery Confirmation packages that don't show up

[Tonearm]

USPS Priority Mail has always been very reliable for me, but lately there have been a few cases of packages that don't show up at their destination and don't ever register on usps.com. The Delivery Confirmation number never advances beyond the "The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper..." message.

Has anyone else dealt with this?

[jecasc]

I guess that simply indicates that the parcels where lost somewhere between pick-up at your company and the first shipment centre.

I'd inform USPS and tell them to look into it. Maybe it's one of the drivers who picks up the parcels, maybe it's someone at the first shipment centre with magic abilities that let's the parcels "disappear".

[HRoth]

Were you using the click-n-ship system? Because I have noticed that there appears to be a bit of a bug in that system in terms of delivery confirmation numbers. When I use a regular delivery confirmation sticker and take the box to the post office, once in a blue moon I will input a number to check on delivery status and get a message saying there is no record of it. Usually this is because the clerk forgot to scan the ticket at the counter. Sometimes things just get lost.

But I have noticed since I have been using click-n-ship a lot that if I try to search for a delivery confirmation number even days after the thing has been mailed, then it will often show as no record. But if you go into your account and look at your previous transactions and click on the delivery status, it will show it just fine. So there is some kind of disconnect between click-n-ship and the post office as a whole. I guess I am not surprised.

[jwolthuis]

The premium price they you pay at the post office counter includes the labor cost of the clerk to scan the delivery confirmation bar code.

The discounted price you receive with click-n-ship or Endicia assumes that no scan is done until the package is actually delivered. The labor savings is passed on to you.

[gangadevi]

If you're paying your postage online you can click on the 'add to scan form' option and print the scan form after printing your label. Those forms are scanned at the PO when you drop off your packages. That gets them into their system and shows when the package was accepted so you have proof it was mailed. Sometimes carriers don't scan the package when it is delivered.

[HRoth]

Thanks. I had no idea what the scan form thing was about.

[Blacksheep]

I ship over 100 packages per week via USPS. One month I ran a test and after checking every shipment for the last 30 days found that 40 percent never shown a final delivery status.

I went to see my local post master and was told that delivery conformation was just that a delivery conformation and they WOULD NOT do a local scan of my packages, even if I printed out the master shipping form that only required one scan.

I was also told that they don't even scan packages that I bought insurance online. I then asked them how I would prove a lost insured package was ever even given to the post office, I was told to call the regional claims office, I did, and they never got back to me. What do you think their response would be if an insured package was ever lost, and I had no proof in was in the postal system other than I bought the insurance on line.

To take this one step further; I know of one guy who buys a lot of items shipped with USPS delivery Conformation, and he always checks the package delivery number against the USPS web site to see if it actually shows a delivery conformation and if it DOES NOT, he sends an email to the shipper demanding a refund or reshipment, and what do you think the seller does?