Missing, then found rifle, USPS coincidence?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Chuck R.

Chuck R.

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2005
Messages
5,193
Location
Leavenworth, KS
So, back in MAR I sent a barreled action off to have rebarreled at PacNor and was told they were running 16-20wks out. At the same time I ordered a new Manners stock, which arrived in OCT. The "intent" was to have it ready, load developed, for our rifle season, which ends tomorrow. I ended up shooting a buck with one of my .270s, so still a happy dear season ending.

The rifle was shipped from the company doing the Cerakote work for PacNor on 30NOV with a 3Day priority delivery with arrival on SAT 4DEC. Tracking shows it left OR on 30 Nov and promptly....disappeared. It never made another stop. Contacted the shipper on Monday and was told it was shipped priority and insured for $1200, which almost covered the work I had done, minus the cost of the base rifle action, not to mention 10 months of waiting. Since Rem M7 actions aren't exactly growing on trees these days, I became "slightly concerned".

So I waited the normal amount of time, then contacted my extremely helpful local PO yesterday. Very nice lady, (benefit of being in a small town) said she'd contact OR, since it looks like it never really left there. Apparently the packages get grouped together at an origin point and containerized. She checked the system and every other package in that group container had been delivered. At this point I'm a little "more than slightly concerned". I'm imagining my rifle in a ravine somewhere as an overwhelmed USPS employee dumped it with hundreds of others..

She advised starting a missing package search as it would go into detail as to the package contents. Once it was known that a firearm was missing, wheels would begin to turn. I guess the wheels turned pretty quickly or it's a big coincidence as I received 2 TXT messages last night:
  1. Acknowledging the missing package search
  2. The package has arrived in KC, MO and will be delivered today!
My guess is based on normal USPS package flow for our area, it got hung up in the KC KS regional center, the place that packages go to die. Tracking shows out for delivery now. If everything's OK, it will go to my smith on Monday for bedding. With any luck it will make the 2022 dear season.
 
Chuck R. said:
So, back in MAR I sent a barreled action off to have rebarreled at PacNor and was told they were running 16-20wks out. At the same time I ordered a new Manners stock, which arrived in OCT. The "intent" was to have it ready, load developed, for our rifle season, which ends tomorrow. I ended up shooting a buck with one of my .270s, so still a happy dear season ending.

The rifle was shipped from the company doing the Cerakote work for PacNor on 30NOV with a 3Day priority delivery with arrival on SAT 4DEC. Tracking shows it left OR on 30 Nov and promptly....disappeared. It never made another stop. Contacted the shipper on Monday and was told it was shipped priority and insured for $1200, which almost covered the work I had done, minus the cost of the base rifle action, not to mention 10 months of waiting. Since Rem M7 actions aren't exactly growing on trees these days, I became "slightly concerned".

So I waited the normal amount of time, then contacted my extremely helpful local PO yesterday. Very nice lady, (benefit of being in a small town) said she'd contact OR, since it looks like it never really left there. Apparently the packages get grouped together at an origin point and containerized. She checked the system and every other package in that group container had been delivered. At this point I'm a little "more than slightly concerned". I'm imagining my rifle in a ravine somewhere as an overwhelmed USPS employee dumped it with hundreds of others..

She advised starting a missing package search as it would go into detail as to the package contents. Once it was known that a firearm was missing, wheels would begin to turn. I guess the wheels turned pretty quickly or it's a big coincidence as I received 2 TXT messages last night:
  1. Acknowledging the missing package search
  2. The package has arrived in KC, MO and will be delivered today!
My guess is based on normal USPS package flow for our area, it got hung up in the KC KS regional center, the place that packages go to die. Tracking shows out for delivery now. If everything's OK, it will go to my smith on Monday for bedding. With any luck it will make the 2022 dear season.
Click to expand...

I had almost the exact same thing happen with a nice Garmin GPS watch a year ago.

Sat forever, started a claim, said everything else in the container had been delivered, the day I was supposed to get a new one sent out it showed up (with no update on the tracking, showed it in South Carolina not moving). I could have just not said anything and gotten an extra, but called the company and let them know I received it.

USPS is certainly struggling lately.
 
Chuck R. said:
it got hung up in the KC KS regional center
Click to expand...

Same thing happens all the time with the St Louis and Hazelwood distribution centers. I have had packages bounce back and forth between the two for days. Hazelwood is so bad that even the local Post Masters call it "The Blackhole of Hazelwood"

I also have packages that go out on the truck but not unloaded at the local post office. The packages then take a few trips back and forth before finally being unloaded at my local post office.

Another issue I have had is the idiots can't tell the difference between Wentzville, Wright City, and Wellsville. I live in Wellsville and have had packages get dropped off in Wentzville or Wright City or both. When this happens, it is another round trip back to one or both distribution centers.
 
I had an air rifle that shipped USPS from the distributor that was never located. They sent me a replacement, by UPS, that arrived 3 or 4 days after shipment. We are guessing it found an alternative home.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
I worked at the Bulk Mail Center in KCK as a mechanic 20 years ago. It's not so much "die" Chuck, more like purgatory. :uhoh:
Glad they found it and it's on it's way to you. Again...
Click to expand...

:D

Yup Tongie!!! Even though I'm actually in McLouth (sort of).

I've yet to fully understand the relationship between the KCK and KCMO distribution centers. I even made up a PPT flow chart at one time. For me it seems like it goes:

Arrive KCK, then cross state line to KCMO, then cross back across state line to Tonganoxie, KS, then out for delivery. A lot of time stuff arrives early at KCK, but it will sit to the point it's either on time or late...

The "Tongie" folks are great, they're usually the ones that play catch up when it comes to tracking. Stuff departs.....then suddenly appears in "Tongie"
 
I had a somewhat similar experience and once reported missing and a track initiated I had the package in 48 hours.
Glad it worked out!
 
We have had numerous lost packages from usps, we quit purchasing things if shipped by them. The last draw was a couple of months ago we ordered bullets from a company who is 30 minutes away,they shipped the same day and it took a little over a month to get. It's a shame to have to pay more for shipping but when you want your stuff you have to.
 
A few years back my local mail carrier, someone I frequently chatted with, disclosed that the Postal Service actually had an oral exam for entry level postal workers whose English was lacking... Exactly how someone who can't read will be able to work with mail is something I don't even want to think about. All I can hope for is that he was pulling my leg - and I fell for it...
 
Several years ago I sold a used McMillan stock to a man in Charlotte NC and shipped it USPS with $500 insurance on it. Tracking said it was delivered 3 days later just as expected. The buyer contacted me and said he didn't have the stock. I waited 2 more days before going to my local PO to file a claim for loss. They told me that since tracking said it had been delivered, I had no claim.

I assumed someone had stolen the stock after it was delivered so I did an on-line search for the Charlotte PD and filled out an on-line theft report. I was contacted several times within the next few days via e-mail and phone by a Charlotte investigator. In the meantime, I refunded the money I had been paid.

Then out of nowhere the stock mysteriously appears at the address I shipped it to over 2 weeks AFTER tracking said it had been delivered. The investigator had contacted their local PO and it turned up. I never heard the details, but the buyer paid me a 2nd time and all turned out well.

I was impressed that the Charlotte PD actually took my case seriously. I honestly figured I'd never hear anything after filing the report.

And I'm not being especially hard on USPS. In my experience they are as good as UPS or FedEx. Stuff happens with all of them
 
Things can be a bit squirrelly with all the shippers.
Back before Thanksgiving I bit the bullet and ordered 2K primers from Natchez. They shipped FedEx with signature required (Hazmat).
Shipment went somewhere in Oklahoma before being returned to Natchez due to the bill of lading having separated from the box.
Natchez shipped again, signature required.
FedEx tracking indicates a delivery window in the afternoon, so I run some errands in the morning; get home and find the "We tried to deliver" label stuck to my door, two hours before the estimated delivery window.
Next day I'm home and the doorbell rings. Before I can get there, delivery guy drops the package and books back to the truck; on my security camera you can see him saunter up to the door, set the package down, ring the bell, then run for the truck.
I check FedEx tracking, and it says "Delivered; signed for by (my name)."
Heck, if you're going to lie about getting a signature, why not drop it off on the first day?
Anyway, got my primers.
 
If you ship and receive daily, there is little to replace insurance to value. It does multiple things at once, give peace of mind, makes every stop responsible and accountable. Been there done that. I have had stuff found that arrived in a plastic bag, from a plane crash, literally.
 
Chuck R. said:
:D

Yup Tongie!!! Even though I'm actually in McLouth (sort of).

I've yet to fully understand the relationship between the KCK and KCMO distribution centers. I even made up a PPT flow chart at one time. For me it seems like it goes:

Arrive KCK, then cross state line to KCMO, then cross back across state line to Tonganoxie, KS, then out for delivery. A lot of time stuff arrives early at KCK, but it will sit to the point it's either on time or late...

The "Tongie" folks are great, they're usually the ones that play catch up when it comes to tracking. Stuff departs.....then suddenly appears in "Tongie"
Click to expand...

Every bit of mail for the Topeka area goes to KC, then to Topeka. Even if its going just across town. So when we mail statements out, it all gets hauled to KC then back to our customers here in Topeka. Our old sorting facility has sat mostly dormant for a number of years now.

I recently had a fedex delivery from brownells ordered on the 30th. Got a weather delay in Iowa, with not a cloud in the sky. Then got to topeka early saturday morning. I finally got it mid day wednesday the 8th. Ordered some stuff from Lauer Custom in MN on the 5th and ups delivered it the 8th. Anything from midway is usually next day if ordered in time. Unless its small and they send it USPS sure post... Then its a week or so.

I worked dawn to dusk all season this year. Didn't even buy a tag. Waiting for the season to end so I can go kill some paper.
 
wiscoaster said:
No need to guess ... slowing down the mail is the USPS official operational plan going forward.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alison...-slammed-by-postal-regulator/?sh=24a42065601d

You're not alone. I've had packages just sit in a facility for days on end for no clear reason.
Click to expand...

Yup.

I bought an M1 Carbine that left Los Angeles, CA Dec. 4, arrived in Ft. Worth, TX Dec. 6, and has been sitting there ever since, not more than 100 miles from my house. Maddening...

35W
 
Been waiting on a 98 mauser reciever, it's been 10 days tracking # indicates that it's delivered on the 8th to my ffl. But no call from him yet.
 
I'm waiting on a UPS, ground, shipment (lead molded hooks for production work about 2000 of them, and definitely a very heavy small box when it comes). As usual my supplier has sent me an invoice via email - and I'll be waiting another week or so for delivery (but that was never at Christmas time so I'm not getting my hopes up...). Like most very small businesses I'm at the mercy of my suppliers and try to inform my end customers of that... "May you live in interesting times" - oh yeah.. that supposedly Chinese curse is very active these days...
 
On Dec 1 Isent a book to my nephew and it reached SFO, then to LA, back to SF, then to LA, only to be sent back toward SF. Still not delivered.
 
Apparently UPS is doing some transport and sorting for USPS. My wife ordered some Christmas items back in Oct from a major dept store that didn't arrive, then suddenly the tracking showed as delivered. Our local P.O. confirmed that the items were supposed to ship to a UPS hub a few towns away and then to our local P.O. for delivery by mail route. Neither facility had any record of receipt or processing even though my tracking # showed "delivered".
My wife filed a claim with CC company and re-ordered the items. Both the old and new orders arrived last week:confused::confused:
 
Congress has deliberately unfunded USPS for decades now. The last administration was hostile to USPS and I had packages held up for weeks, if not months. I asked the Post Man about it last year, and there were semi tractor trailer loads of packages sitting in USPS yards, waiting to be unloaded. I really doubt the capacity issue has improved in one year.
 
Some things don't change.
When working as a contract postal clerk in Anniston, Alabama, I found myself handling mail bags holding V-Mail messages from 1945 when preparing for Christmas 1985.
-And you probably don't want to hear about the trophy fish from Norway that went through our office on the way to a taxidermist - three times... .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Wisco
  • Locked
Missing upper receiver via USPS
2 3 4
Replies
78
Views
5K
Robert
Robert
E
  • Locked
Tell me what you guys think about lost or stolen shipments?
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
El Rojo
E
E
  • Locked
MBC - Delivery Assurance Guarantee question
2
Replies
27
Views
1K
irishlad
irishlad
T
  • Locked
He mailed the wrong firearm....
2
Replies
27
Views
3K
Trent
Trent
D
  • Locked
Do not use USPS.
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
general
G
Back
Top