Have you ever mailed something that got lost inexplicably? Or maybe, like me, you had tracking info, and saw the package was out for delivery – but it never got there, and the tracking info just mysteriously stopped updating? And the manager at the responsible post office could not possibly care less and treats you like dirt?
Good news! The US Federal government has an inspection service that launches investigations into “mail theft”, which is technically what “lost mail” is. When you launch one of these investigations, your local post office that was so rude to you gets so scared that they phone you up at 9pm on a Thursday night to ask if the package ever arrived. Yes, that really happened.
How to launch an investigation
- For missing mail, go to this page and input all the details you have. You can also phone them up at 1-877-876-2455 and choose option 3 for mail theft. (Do not choose option 1 – they’ll tell you to call 1-800-ask-usps, which is perfectly useless.) I used the phone option, and they were very professional and courteous.
- Over the phone, I was told that you have to wait “5 days” before starting an investigation, but mine was past that point, so that was okay. I assume this is means 5 days since it was mailed? The website doesn’t say anything about this, so I don’t know what will happen if you start the investigation less than 5 days after it was sent.
Once you have a complaint number, you can update your complaint with new information online.
What they do
Supposedly, they do a search for the package and call you in two business days. In reality, when I used them, they were still searching on the third day, and the package eventually wandered back to me (through many zip codes – it was a well-traveled little package by the end), and I had to pay for shipping all over again. (They claimed there was something amiss with the recipient’s address, but he said he’d received mail with his address just like that many times. Some postal carriers can be bothered to sort out an imperfect address; others jump on any chance to bounce a package back so they don’t have to deal with it.)
Other types of investigations
The US Postal Inspector also takes complaints about mail fraud (for example, solicitations for bogus jobs or money schemes) and allows you to report identity theft, which may help if your mail has been re-routed.
Does it work?
I can’t promise any particular results from this. Like I said, when I used it, the package eventually found its way back to me. I wish I’d known about this service back when something valuable was mailed to my current address, but this same post office reverse-forwarded it to my old address, and it ended up mysteriously gone forever. From now on, I’ll be using another local post office – far more professional, efficient and courteous – for shipping, but I’m very frustrated that I’m stuck with this totally unprofessional and lazy post office for receiving packages.
I may be launching two more investigations soon, as I currently have two packages that the tracking info said were “out for delivery” two and three days ago. Supposedly, they’re arriving today, or so I was told by the local post office, which I trust about as much as someone offering to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge.
Is it worth the effort?
It seems to me there’s absolutely no way to get the post office back to its former level of reliability. I think because they’re going bankrupt, they’ve just given up – I mean, their big plan to get back in the black is “more junk mail.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed I’m getting junk mail delivered fairly early every mail day, and the first class and priority stuff arrives late in the evening, if at all. So they’re doing two runs to make sure you get your junk mail, and the junk mail is taking priority over first class and priority? Sure looks that way to me. Really, maybe it’s time the USPS went under and some private enterprise found a better way. I don’t like putting people out of work, but some mail delivery really is required, so hopefully the professional and courteous postal workers would still find employment.
That said, I do think it’s worth filing investigations. Because maybe if Washington has more records of just how often the post office is screwing up badly, they’ll make better decisions about how to manage it in the future. The USPS wants a government bailout, so they should be aware what they’re bailing out. Also, the post office may be laying off workers and even shutting down stations to save money, so investigations could help them pinpoint which branches are doing the worst jobs.
And it doesn’t take long to file a complaint. I did it over the phone, and it took eight minutes. In my opinion, even if an investigation does nothing but let the government know how inept the post office has become, it’s worthwhile. But I also think it puts some pressure on the post office to get its act together. That post office caller at 9pm sure sounded worried.
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Updated: March 27, 2012
Copyright: March 27, 2012
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