The Royal Mail Does it again.......

[Petra]

The only time I have sent anything abroad is via ebay. For normal postage I send it to their warehouse down south, they carry out customs etc. then forward it on. Several days later I get a message saying that the parcel has arrived. Never any problems. The customer pays all the extra fees. I have regularly had people pay as much for postage and even more than the actual items worth! Far cheaper than any other service.

[Guest]

That's the problem I have.  There is a lot of good stuff coming out of UK but paying postage can be a killer.

[Crabby]

I caught my post man stealing reported him to his depot manager and magically the items appeared at my door ,with the sheepish guy saying he had delivered them to the wrong door .

what was amazing was the householder he delivered to had had them three days not noticed the name and address on the label  had a good look opened them up decided to keep them .charming !

got the items all back apart from a Westminster Alice in wonderland proof coin just got the packing back on that , but Westminster were great and sent me another free of charge .

 

The postie is still working same round but he can’t look me in the eye and knows he will not dare steal from my post box again .

 

[Guest]

I am mildly surprised that more postmen don't steal stuff.  But I suppose if too many items are reported lost on a route, it would look suspicious.  We have banks of mailboxes in our subdivision that are unlocked.  It would be easy for someone to steal stuff from them.  After knocking on wood, I am glad to report that I haven't lost anything yet.  I can have 10 little packages sitting on my porch sometimes.  I am glad I live in a neighborhood that appears to be devoid of porch pirates.  The international stuff that has the package contents and its value seems particularly ripe for theft.  One place from where I get bullion labels the contents as "machine parts" 😀

Thank goodness there still appears to be more honest than dishonest people in the world.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

what was amazing was the householder he delivered to had had them three days not noticed the name and address on the label  had a good look opened them up decided to keep them .charming !

I have accidentally opened incorrectly delivered packages.  I opened the package and then thought, "What the heck is this?". Then I look at the address label and realize it was wrong.  When I take them to the correct address, I can see the owners are looking at me with suspicion.  I had another case where some people who had the same house number but different street number insisted that their package was delivered to my house.  They didn't believe me when I said I didn't have it.

[Crabby]

5 minutes ago, HappyHippo said:

I have accidentally opened incorrectly delivered packages.  I opened the package and then thought, "What the heck is this?". Then I look at the address label and realize it was wrong.  When I take them to the correct address, I can see the owners are looking at me with suspicion.  I had another case where some people who had the same house number but different street number insisted that their package was delivered to my house.  They didn't believe me when I said I didn't have it.

In my case the postman dropped them in at a relatives ,not suspicious at all that lol, I hasten to ad they get the cold shoulder as well when I see them 

[dicker]

My experience of the RM Special Delivery Service (to me) has been very good no issues ever.  This is down to an excellent postman in part.

When I send anything of value, I usually package up a slat square package and write “Wedding Photos - Please don’t bend” with a smiley face below.  Just a small way to reduce your mail being a target.

Similarly in hotel rooms in less safe part of the world, I leave a “Do not Disturb” sign on the door and leave the TV on loud.  

[Crabby]

That’s a great idea wedding photos will use that one myself 

[Bimetallic]

If you have to post the value on the package, I would misdirect on the contents to deter thieves. The contents should be implied as something hard to sell, fence, etc., unlike bullion or jewelry. In the US all of the online dealers label their shipments as coming from fictitious merchants like Joe's Machine Parts, M&J Bearings, etc., or just a generic "Fulfillment" followed by an address.

But given the value declaration, the fiction should be something like Nova Biotech, Star Electronics, Chavez Labs, etc. High tech that explains the value, but isn't going to be liquid financially, no one to sell it to.

[GoldDiggerDave]

3 hours ago, Bimetallic said:

If you have to post the value on the package, I would misdirect on the contents to deter thieves. The contents should be implied as something hard to sell, fence, etc., unlike bullion or jewelry. In the US all of the online dealers label their shipments as coming from fictitious merchants like Joe's Machine Parts, M&J Bearings, etc., or just a generic "Fulfillment" followed by an address.

But given the value declaration, the fiction should be something like Nova Biotech, Star Electronics, Chavez Labs, etc. High tech that explains the value, but isn't going to be liquid financially, no one to sell it to.

Label it as a tax demand that would never go missing.

[watchesandwhisky]

I would think these should be isolated incidents or possibly done once out of the uk, are you sure the contents in the royal mail bag for split packaging was not swapped by the buyer? 

Most posties value thier jobs, and are such high workloads dont really have the time to try and work out whats inside packages and swap/steal the contents. 

I have been working with the royal mail since christmas, I would say there service is good from the limited side I see - Its easy to forget just how much mail is delivered.

The tracked and special delivery services are 99.9% of the time very very good. 

signed for less so IMO.

[SilverAngel]

5 hours ago, Bimetallic said:

If you have to post the value on the package, I would misdirect on the contents to deter thieves. The contents should be implied as something hard to sell, fence, etc., unlike bullion or jewelry. In the US all of the online dealers label their shipments as coming from fictitious merchants like Joe's Machine Parts, M&J Bearings, etc., or just a generic "Fulfillment" followed by an address.

But given the value declaration, the fiction should be something like Nova Biotech, Star Electronics, Chavez Labs, etc. High tech that explains the value, but isn't going to be liquid financially, no one to sell it to.

I like this idea 👍

[SilverAngel]

10 minutes ago, watchesandwhisky said:

I would think these should be isolated incidents or possibly done once out of the uk, are you sure the contents in the royal mail bag for split packaging was not swapped by the buyer? 

Most posties value thier jobs, and are such high workloads dont really have the time to try and work out whats inside packages and swap/steal the contents. 

I have been working with the royal mail since christmas, I would say there service is good from the limited side I see - Its easy to forget just how much mail is delivered.

The tracked and special delivery services are 99.9% of the time very very good. 

signed for less so IMO.

We had 2 high value parcels in one week go missing.  The tracking took it as far as the sorting office locally on one and the other made it to destination in a royal mail "im sorry your parcel was damaged" bag so both stolen this end.  One of the boxes came back to us and it had been opened using a pen as you could still see the pen marks on it.  The other package the contents were swapped with sachets of hand cream so that was more than opportunistic, as this took some effort to re-package.....and who carries multiple packs of hand cream in their pockets!    The posties on the rounds i trust...it the people in the sorting office have proven otherwise.  On a positive note, the post office paid us back in full within a couple of days. 

[TheShinyStuff]

Maybe actually using the legislation now and again  would sort out the Post Office...

[SilverAngel]

1 hour ago, TheShinyStuff said:

Maybe actually using the legislation now and again  would sort out the Post Office...

The post office had no interest in any sort of complaint.  Just told us to fill in the claim form...said that is the complaint!!  I will however, use this as a basis to send an email to the head office.  Cheers 👍

[SilverDrum]

4 hours ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

Label it as a tax demand that would never go missing.

Never had a problem myself..

 

[stataman]

Always send Fedex or UPS for higher value international parcels. Royal Mail special delivery good for UK.

[FourNinesFine]

6 hours ago, SilverDrum said:

Never had a problem myself..

 

Do you have a link? #askingforafriend

[HillWalkerDundee]

On 26/04/2022 at 09:30, TheShinyStuff said:

Maybe actually using the legislation now and again  would sort out the Post Office...

In the days when Royal Mail really was Royal, was the crime not treason? Or is that an old wives' tale.

[James32]

On 26/04/2022 at 09:14, SilverAngel said:

We had 2 high value parcels in one week go missing.  The tracking took it as far as the sorting office locally on one and the other made it to destination in a royal mail "im sorry your parcel was damaged" bag so both stolen this end.  One of the boxes came back to us and it had been opened using a pen as you could still see the pen marks on it.  The other package the contents were swapped with sachets of hand cream so that was more than opportunistic, as this took some effort to re-package.....and who carries multiple packs of hand cream in their pockets!    The posties on the rounds i trust...it the people in the sorting office have proven otherwise.  On a positive note, the post office paid us back in full within a couple of days. 

Always wondered how a claim works?? How can you prove what was meant to be in the parcel? And correct value, or does when we pay for insurance at posting stage cover us no matter what.

Fingers crossed I never find out but does make me curious/nervous. 

[sovereignsteve]

11 minutes ago, James32 said:

Always wondered how a claim works?? How can you prove what was meant to be in the parcel? And correct value, or does when we pay for insurance at posting stage cover us no matter what.

Fingers crossed I never find out but does make me curious/nervous. 

Never throw away a receipt😎

[James32]

1 minute ago, sovereignsteve said:

Never throw away a receipt😎

I always keep them in a drawer for around a month. But I'm still curious as to how it works ( so as long as I ask for insurance at the post office which i always do and say what's inside at that point also, then I'm covered??) Would get a tad awkward if I had to try and produce a receipt for the item to prove value that I bought on the forum from John 6 months ago and now selling to Steve. 

[Pete]

When I had a claim against the Royal Mail I had to produce evidence of value.
If you post an item with £1,000 insurance that does not mean you can claim £1,000 it only means up to £1,000

The problems you can face are how to prove value.
This is easy if you sell something for say £600 and can show a payment from your buyer on a bank statement ( this was what I did ).
If you sell on eBay or any other web based platform they will require details of the transaction.

But if you sold privately say at a discount, or part traded with other goods, or maybe offered on a sale or return basis prior to receiving payment - you could Google search for the same item and copy the details showing an image and a price to establish value.
I would argue the claim / loss not necessarily at the transaction price but at its replacement value.
Being honest though is always best policy.

[James32]

6 minutes ago, Pete said:

When I had a claim against the Royal Mail I had to produce evidence of value.
If you post an item with £1,000 insurance that does not mean you can claim £1,000 it only means up to £1,000

The problems you can face are how to prove value.
This is easy if you sell something for say £600 and can show a payment from your buyer on a bank statement ( this was what I did ).
If you sell on eBay or any other web based platform they will require details of the transaction.

But if you sold privately say at a discount, or part traded with other goods, or maybe offered on a sale or return basis prior to receiving payment - you could Google search for the same item and copy the details showing an image and a price to establish value.
I would argue the claim / loss not necessarily at the transaction price but at its replacement value.
Being honest though is always best policy.

Thanks Pete 👍 makes sense.

[TheShinyStuff]

3 hours ago, HillWalkerDundee said:

In the days when Royal Mail really was Royal, was the crime not treason? Or is that an old wives' tale.

You mean before George Osbourne sold it to his brother at a fraction of its market value?