USPS Fiasco

[wiscoaster]

If you think all three main delivery services have gone to the dogs, just wait until they start delivering everything by drones.

 

[nhmoose]

I have been told that some packages that are suspected to contain firearms are held so the fbi can investigate the person it’s being sent to. Hence the delay.

Wrong

 

[nhmoose]

use reregister mail. it is signed for at every destination and departure there is no track but it will be there as it will be locked up ay every location it is at. Tracking sucks, price sucks however it will get there.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Not firearms related, sent in our annual ambulance membership over a month ago, yesterday called the bank to see if the check cleared, nope. Went to the fire hall explained the situation and wrote another check there gave it to the ambulance chief, she asks me what if the other check shows up told her to call me, today it arrived at the hall she called and I told her to consider it a donation, now here is the kicker our home is halfway between the fire hall and the post office not a mile's difference either way. But the postal service is constantly raising prices on the services they provide. and the quality of services is constantly depleting.

 

[Sam squanch]

Actually, right in a few cases. It’s not widespread.

 

[Sam squanch]

How many members have had a very late arriving package that was opened?

 

[nit wit]

Call your Senator or Congressman. It's the only way that you may succeed.
Nit Wit

 

[Kansas Jake]

Most letters these days go to a processing center. If I send a letter to my neighbor across the street it gets hauled to either Topeka or Kansas City to be “sorted” and then back to my town. The quickest it would get there is probably 2 days after mailed. Either way, the letter travels 50+ miles one way to end up a few hundred feet from my mail box.

 

[Boston Bill]

Last winter I noticed a .40 flintlock on the For Sale forum that really caught my eye. I'm getting old and have a bum shoulder so a .40 sounded like a good idea. I contacted the owner and we agreed on a trade, his .40 for my Centermark Fusil de Chasse. I packed up the FdC and used USPS Click-N-Ship to create a label for Priority Mail and insured it for $1,300.00. On Feb. 23rd I handed the package to a clerk at our local post office. It should arrive at its new home in the Adirondack Mountains of NY in about 4 days. My new rifle, shipped via UPS, arrived promptly and in great shape. USPS tracking indicated the FdC cleared the San Antonio, TX regional center. Then it disappeared. Days, and then weeks, went by without further scans showing up on tracking. I initiated an inquiry with USPS. No result. My new friend in NY was very understanding and patient. After the required amount of time had passed I filed an insurance claim for $1,300.00. Then things got interesting. The USPS denied the claim saying I failed to provide adequate "Proof of Value". I had provided a link to a French smoothbore for sale by Track of the Wolf. Not sufficient. I appealed and got a letter of appraisal from H. Dykes Reber at The Muzzleloader Shop, Ltd. in Arkansas. Again, the USPS denied the claim based on inadequate proof of value. Would the USPS continue to flatly deny the claim on a package they LOST? Or were they planning to settle for a lesser amount? Luckily, we didn't have to find out. On May 3rd, more than two months after I handed the package to the clerk in Texas, it arrived at the post office in Johnstown, NY. The FdC was undamaged.

To say this was a learning experience is an understatement. How does anyone establish irrefutable proof of value on a hand-made muzzleloader, especially in a straight trade transaction? Should we both have paid dealers to sell the other party our gun for us so we would each have had a receipt? According to the USPS, a sales receipt would have been proof of value. Or would they have found another excuse to deny the claim? Be very careful, my friends.
John

John, if that is your man cave I am so jealous!

 

[Okie Hog]

My wife and i order a lot of stuff online. It's shipped by USPS, FedEx and UPS. We've not had a parcel damaged, opened or lost in several years.

Several years ago i began liquidating my firearms collection. Shipped dozens of center fire rifles and shotguns to collectors and FFL holders. Had one problem, a rifle went astray for a week or two and was delivered.

 

[BlackRock52]

How does UPS fare with smaller size packages? I don’t know how often they loose stuff but I have read they destroy a lot.

And they have an official do not ship firearms policy now. When initiated many items already in the system for delivery simply disappeared. The following is from their website. It is a direct quote.
"Shipments containing Firearm Products are accepted for transportation only from shippers who are federally licensed and have an approved UPS agreement for the transportation of Firearm Products."
If you are a firearms company you can probably get a shipping account. When I tried to get approved they said you do not qualify but would not give me specifics as to what is needed to qualify....

 

[SOLANCO]

Call your Senator or Congressman. It's the only way that you may succeed.
Nit Wit

Only in election years.

 

[11th corps]

I hate to be THAT guy... but I've had nothing but success with USPS for the most part, but you are right... they will not pay an insurance claim. I flat out don't ship a firearm thru them anymore. I'll use shipmygun and just drive into San Antone to a customer service center for UPS.

I tried to ship an unmentionable firearm through UPS several years ago for service to the original mfg.
I was told at the box store, an agent for UPS that they would not take it. The local UPS hub kept weird very limited hours and wasn't open the two times I checked even though the sign ont he door said it was.
I ended up going through a local gun shop. They used UPS. But then they got regular service from them.
You can have shipping problems with any company.

And we can most likely thank those who cheat and lie on insurance claims for the issues honest people have claiming loss.

 

[Sam squanch]

Ups stores are privately owned, with their own rules. It used to be, you could go to an ups hub, and they would ship it. I think that changed now. Either they won’t ship it, or you must have an FFL. So it can go to another FFL, and be placed on the atf’s books. Slowly building a gun registry, in my opinion….

 

[Bad Karma]

Ups stores are privately owned, with their own rules. It used to be, you could go to an ups hub, and they would ship it. I think that changed now. Either they won’t ship it, or you must have an FFL. So it can go to another FFL, and be placed on the atf’s books. Slowly building a gun registry, in my opinion….

How do they know what’s in the package?

 

[Sam squanch]

After it’s “accidentally “ opened….

 

[Bad Karma]

After it’s “accidentally “ opened….

I’ve shipped a fair amount and often over the last dozen years. Well, really since the internet. Never heard of that happening. And if it did? What could they do? Return the property? Send it on to the addressee? Call the cops? It’s been my experience that if you’re not breaking any laws the cops don’t appreciate being dragged into these things…

 

[Sam squanch]

I had an antique military bolt action unmentionable sent to me from an individual. A non FFL item. The box was opened , and shut back up rather crudely. The seller insisted he was not to blame for it, and I believed him. Who opened it and why?

 

[Jappo]

Old post new question. It might have been answered already.
Does the USPS pay for a claim if the item is a black powder gun? I’ve been told that buying insurance on black powder guns is a waste of money. That they will not honor a claim for such items?

 

[wiscoaster]

...That they will not honor a claim for such items?

Hmmm. Don't see why not. It's not by law a "firearm".

I don't see it listed as a "non-payable" claim anywhere here:
https://about.usps.com/publications/pub122/pub122_v07_revision_092016_015.htm