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Head’s up - USPS mail theft

caolsen

caolsen

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
1,488
Dolly from Bijoux posted this on IG. Sharing for those who didn’t see it as folks in this forum ship a lot of stuff back and forth as private sellers who probably don’t have commercial jewelers insurance. The trade folks who commented said there is something up with shipping in and out of LA using the US Post Office.

Mods: Hope this is acceptable.

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That's terrible!:angryfire: and infuriating.
I hope that ring is found.
 
Yes I think there is a big issue. When I bought my stone from Alex Park back in February it went on a diverted route to get to David Klass, apparently employee theft is a BIG issue in LA, this was with Fedex btw.
 
How awful. It's a useful reminder that mailing highly valuable items is not without risk.

My in-laws persist in sending cash for birthdays through our regular mail despite being told lots of times this isn't safe. Sigh.

I wonder if she sent those instructions to the client? If so, and the client ignored them, frankly I would not expect the vendor to have to claim on her own insurance (though it is good of her to do so). If she didn't, I am sure she will in future...
 
meely said:
Yes I think there is a big issue. When I bought my stone from Alex Park back in February it went on a diverted route to get to David Klass, apparently employee theft is a BIG issue in LA, this was with Fedex btw.
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This makes me extremely nervous as I literally just reached out to David about making a setting. Is there any safe way to get a stone to him or am I better off just forgetting the whole idea?
 
Dolly wrote this is UPS, which is highly suspicious because I'm sure the person delivering saw the slice, you can't miss it. Also, this is really lazy and stupid packaging. I ranted in her comments and I'll rant here too. Never, ever mail jewelry in a bubble mailer! Especially not in a regular ring box! Always use a cardboard box, and tape contents to the inside of the box so they can't slice and grab. The few times I've used a bubble mailer for express mail (at the request of the recipient), I taped everything to the inside of a small priority box, taped the entire exterior of the box, then taped the box to the inside of the bubble mailer, then taped the entire outside of the bubble mailer, you'd have to cut the box out to get to the contents. Ebay sellers throw jewelry in bubble mailers all the time and they've always arrived mangled.
 
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I mean this is a helpful way. Hindsight is 2020, but when communicating with a client on how to return a high-value item, coaching a customer on how to properly return a valuable item correctly would be a vendor best practice.
 
I posted about this in Hangout. The customer should never have mailed it like this. But scary nonetheless. @YadaYadaYada ask David to send you a label and invoice you for it. That’s what I did when I sent my stone to him. Usually vendors have their own insurance.
 
I wonder if she sent those instructions to the client? If so, and the client ignored them, frankly I would not expect the vendor to have to claim on her own insurance (though it is good of her to do so). If she didn't, I am sure she will in future...
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I don’t think so. She did say she had insurance I just hope her claim process goes smoothly.

I sent a stone back once to a vendor and I was told that I was responsible for shipping. I really wanted them to send me a label and I would’ve paid for that label but they told me I had to do it which I did and I insured it but I feel like even when you insure the claim process can be a headache if something happens.

I also did some research on this and if you use Fed ex or UPS and you do declared value that’s not the same as insurance. It means they will cover if they did something wrong or mishandled it. But you have to get third-party insurance to insure in a traditional way. That’s why Usps is the easiest in terms of buying insurance. It sounds so complicated!
 
ForteKitty said:
Dolly wrote this is UPS, which is highly suspicious because I'm sure the person delivering saw the slice, you can't miss it. Also, this is really lazy and stupid packaging. I ranted in her comments and I'll rant here too. Never, ever mail jewelry in a bubble mailer! Especially not in a regular ring box! Always use a cardboard box, and tape contents to the inside of the box so they can't slice and grab. The few times I've used a bubble mailer for express mail (at the request of the recipient), I taped everything to the inside of a small priority box, taped the entire exterior of the box, then taped the box to the inside of the bubble mailer, then taped the entire outside of the bubble mailer, you'd have to cut the box out to get to the contents. Ebay sellers throw jewelry in bubble mailers all the time and they've always arrived mangled.
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Agreed. But I wonder why it was in her mailbox if it was UPS not USPS?
 
caolsen said:
Dolly from Bijoux posted this on IG. Sharing for those who didn’t see it as folks in this forum ship a lot of stuff back and forth as private sellers who probably don’t have commercial jewelers insurance. The trade folks who commented said there is something up with shipping in and out of LA using the US Post Office.

Mods: Hope this is acceptable.

B12C6AC4-86E4-4884-A2D2-1F340ECBDDFF.jpeg1FDAA93B-CA0A-4A98-AEE8-94B5235FADF7.png
Click to expand...

Ughh that is horrible. I watched like a hawk and tracked my insured usps box to DK. It initially said delivery attempt and no access to site so I emailed DK quickly. He said they were there so I got nervous but then he said he will wait for regular mail delivery and maybe it will be with it then. Thank God, it was and he confirmed he got the package safely. Next time I will be mailing UPS or fedex.
 
Mreader said:
Agreed. But I wonder why it was in her mailbox if it was UPS not USPS?
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Maybe they didn't want to walk up to her door? It looks like her mailbox is by the curb. Do they normally not put packages in mailboxes? because I've gotten smaller UPS packages in my mailbox.
 
Dmndsr4evr11 said:
Next time I will be mailing UPS or fedex.
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I don't know if they are any safer. I frequently get UPS and Fedex packages addressed to other houses like a block away :lol: One time Fedex came back for it 3 days later and we told them we brought it to the correct house already, and he just said "okay!"... i mean how would he know? We could have lied.
 
meely said:
Yes I think there is a big issue. When I bought my stone from Alex Park back in February it went on a diverted route to get to David Klass, apparently employee theft is a BIG issue in LA, this was with Fedex btw.
Click to expand...
Ughh. so scary. I’m always on edge when sending rings back to WF. I went to a different fedex location once as I was running errands too and the staff asked me what’s inside the box. I was never ever asked that in my usual location. I had to just say quickly that they’re research materials. I emailed Vera right away as I got so nervous.
 
ForteKitty said:
I don't know if they are any safer. I frequently get UPS and Fedex packages addressed to other houses like a block away :lol: One time Fedex came back for it 3 days later and we told them we brought it to the correct house already, and he just said "okay!"... i mean how would he know? We could have lied.
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Ughhhh! I guess it will always be a gamble mailing anything no matter what carrier :(.
 
It wasn’t UPS, it was USPS. Frankly I would never ever use them. I’ve never managed to get a package delivered from the states with USPS. It disappears. Whenever I deal with US vendors I message them and get them to arrange a courier service (never had any issues with DHL, FedEx or UPS). Would much rather pay the $50 and actually receive my goods.

This is just very sad for everyone. I saw it on her IG. Really disappointing. We must all keep our eyes out in the online market for this ring.
 
Ionysis said:
It wasn’t UPS, it was USPS. Frankly I would never ever use them. I’ve never managed to get a package delivered from the states with USPS. It disappears. Whenever I deal with US vendors I message them and get them to arrange a courier service (never had any issues with DHL, FedEx or UPS). Would much rather pay the $50 and actually receive my goods.

This is just very sad for everyone. I saw it on her IG. Really disappointing. We must all keep our eyes out in the online market for this ring.
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Just curious, do the packages go missing after they leave the US? or after they arrive at your country? When I sell stuff on LT I don't ship outside of the US anymore because off theft. USPS can't control it once they leave the US, and Fedex/UPS requires third party insurance.
 
Part of the problem is that fedex and ups use a service called something like “ the last mile”. Packages are delivered by ups and fedex to the local post office and the post office is responsible for the final leg. The usps carriers are inconsistent and tracking ends when the package reaches the post office.
 
Oh bizarre, I was told it was USPS delivery not UPS. If you send it with a courier anyway why not ask for signature and box it properly?!

Very very unlikely that they are going missing once they reach this country. But they go through multiple jurisdictions before they get here. The problem is USPS packages don’t get delivered to the door here whereas courier packages do - and require signature.

I’ve had all sorts of gemstones and jewellery delivered by courier companies to the UAE from all over the world and never had any issue. US Postal Service - never arrives.
 
rocks said:
Part of the problem is that fedex and ups use a service called something like “ the last mile”. Packages are delivered by ups and fedex to the local post office and the post office is responsible for the final leg. The usps carriers are inconsistent and tracking ends when the package reaches the post office.
Click to expand...

Ah that now makes sense!
 
ForteKitty said:
Maybe they didn't want to walk up to her door? It looks like her mailbox is by the curb. Do they normally not put packages in mailboxes? because I've gotten smaller UPS packages in my mailbox.
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I thought federal law prohibited anything being put in the mailbox that wasn't USPS, but maybe that has changed since it seems that sometimes now USPS delivers for some of the private carriers. I found this article about it

www.npr.org

Your Mailbox Could Be Opened Up To Private Carriers

By law, only you and the Postal Service are allowed to put things in your mailbox. But what if companies like FedEx and UPS could do it too? That could happen under a Trump administration proposal.
www.npr.org www.npr.org

and this also:

UPS and USPS have a service together where the Postal Service makes the final delivery, since they are the only service with access to mailboxes by law. It is inefficient for UPS to deliver small packages driving the big brown truck. The UPS truck delivers a load of small parcels to each local post office for delivery on the next work day.
 
Ionysis said:
The problem is USPS packages don’t get delivered to the door here whereas courier packages do - and require signature.
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From what I've been told, this varies from country to country, and once it arrives at the destination country, their local post office takes over... which can be good or bad. USPS doesn't employ staff overseas and rely solely on other countries' local post. Shipments via USPS to Australia used to go to the door and require a signature, but I've heard from friends that isn't the case anymore. I shipped a band to the UK once and it scanned in as arrived, then was never seen again.

Lookinagain said:
The UPS truck delivers a load of small parcels to each local post office for delivery on the next work day.
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Her tracking should show if UPS or USPS made the final delivery. If it's part of "the last mile", her UPS tracking will show that it arrived at a USPS location, most likely the day before. Whether USPS updates after that is a gamble though, I've had good luck but others haven't. I order too much shit and spend way too much time tracking everything. :rolleyes:
 
I just feel really sad for her. And for the lady who sent it, who must be feeling dreadful over it all. Such a horrible thing to happen. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turned up on eBay or Craigslist of something. I hope it does.
 
Ah, I see from the screenshot that she didn't advise the customer on how to return the item. Even so... won't the vendor's insurer hold the customer (as the sender of the item) to account?

Horrible situation all around.

When I returned an item to Blue Nile they sent extremely detailed instructions on how to package and send (that scared the life out of me, but I was grateful for them). I had to purchase insurance separately, and would have considered it my responsibility to claim if the item had been stolen en route. (Just as I would have expected them to refund me and claim on their insurance if it was stolen on its way to me).

ETA - I guess the fact of it being delivered to the vendor's mailbox complicates things.
 
That's rough all around.

But if you as the vendor, don't tell someone how to return and the specifics, I feel as though the loss is on you. I am sorry it happened, but you have to specify the terms and ideally, provide a label that goes with your insurance!

I did return a piece to her once and sent it with tracking, signature and full insurance. I don't remember ever talking about how to return. She gave me the address and I took care of it. Sometimes I think that she may be dealing with people that are repeat buyers of jewelry across the board, so maybe an assumption was made that people would know to send it with full insurance and tracking, as well as a signature.

I do hope it turns up! If she has a vendor account with the shipping insurance for jewelry she would be much better protected to generate the label for the customer even if it ends up costing her a little bit of money out of pocket, assuming she doesn't want to pass along the cost. I think it would be fair if she did pass it along and most do.
 
@elizat and @MillieLou what insurance did you use? I am curious because again as I was researching this I found that UPS and FedEx "declared value" isn't the same as insurance so did you do 3rd party and how did that work? I want to make sure I do it the correct way in the future. And when I've made a few returns; one was JR Emeralds, one was eBay; they told me that it was up to me to ship and in whichever manner I chose. They never gave instructions. I was hoping for a label which I would have been more than happy to pay for but it didn't work that way : ( I returned via USPS because that was the easiest way to purchase insurance even though USPS makes me nervous esp lately with all of their delays. Luckily I didn't have a problem but still. I am waiting for Dan to finish a couple of pieces for me and he shipped the last piece first class so I am going to ask about shipping and insurance before he ships this time. I also have to send a stone to LA soon and I want to explore my options as well given what happened with Dolly.

ETA - when I shipped my stone to DK to set, I asked him to generate a label. At first he just told me to ship myself but I specifically asked (it was an entire ring worth about 8K that he was going to remove the stone from to set). There were crazy instructions - it was UPS and it said you HAVE to double box, the box HAS to be new; if it's not new they won't cover if something happens, etc. etc. It almost seems as if something happens, they companies are looking for a way to not cover :(
 
I send more valuable jewelry (800+) registered and insured with a required signature. The item is double boxed, with the inner box taped to the wall of the package. It takes longer and you cannot track it en route, but it's going to get there. It's cheaper than an insured priority package. I believe this is the only way to ship jewelry valued at over $5,000 that will be covered for loss by USPS.

Each person who touches your package signs for it. If Cletus is on vacation this week and he is the authorized registered mail carrier, your package is going to sit there until Cletus comes back. It's a drag but it takes the worry out of the situation.

Edit: You'll need to get paper mailing tape and tape every crevice of the box. It applies like self pasted wallpaper and it will need to dry. Once at the post office they stamp it all over to secure it from tampering.

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