Thieves at the Post Office!

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daysleeprx

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So I recently sold a Springfield loaded 1911. I had replaced the FLGR setup with a GI plug and guide from Ed Brown, but I included the FLGR in the box when I sold it (it was an FTF deal).

However, when I got home I realized that I had forgotten to give the buyer the plug that fit with the FLGR. The buyer said it was no problem, and I told him I'd just mail it to him.

So I put the plug in a small plastic baggie, and put it in an envelope and mailed it off. Today I got an email from the buyer saying he received the envelope, but the corner of the envelope looked like had been slit open with a razor blade and taped back up and the plastic baggie had been slit as well and the plug was gone!

I'm glad it was just a small part that wasn't very valuable. (And the buyer was understanding as well) but still...what is this world coming to??

:cuss:
 
Thieves at the Post Office!
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Not necessarily. If you used a standard paper business envelope they sometimes remove bulky items. Those envelopes are intended to go through a high speed sorting machine and lay flat.

You need to use the proper shipping methods.

The padded brown type envelopes are hand sorted and are for bulkier items.

How exactly did you ship the item?

Unfortunately all the regulations on how to pack things are buried deep and hard to find, but they exist. One of them says that if you send something that jams up their sorting machine, they don't have to send it back to you.

Been down this road before myself and had the Postmaster rub my nose in the fine print spelling it all out for me.
 
That's what the Postal Inspectors (some of the coldest and most ruthless law enforcement agents in the country) are for. They take theft by employees very seriously.
 
That's what the Postal Inspectors (some of the coldest and most ruthless law enforcement agents in the country) are for. They take theft by employees very seriously.
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Amen! I dated a lady who was a special inspector for the postal service. She'd go undercover at a facility for a few weeks or months and then once she had the inside scoop she'd show up one day in her PI uniform with about a dozen backups and they'd drop the anvil on the place.

She took an especially perverse glee in busting corrupt supervisors when she found them (which was, thankfully, not nearly as often as you might think).
 
My thoughts:
The outline of the plug may have appeared to be a ring or jewelry. Razor cuts and tape repair are not caused by routing machines.

Show evidence to postmaster; there's a bg between you and the world.

Larry
 
I sent a book one time in a paded envelope, paid the extra postage etc to my Father in Law. Well the envelope arrived with slit in the bottom minus a book. I called the post office and since it wasn't insured or retrun receipt requsted I was SOL. Some of these flunkys they hire during the holiday rush help themselves to a few bonuses now and then. :mad:

The one thing that puzzled me more than the theft was why the post office/ postal employee would deliver a empty padded envelope with all that stuffing coming out of it. It was obvious that what was shipped wasn't in there any more.
 
Razor cuts and tape repair are not caused by routing machines.
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No but again, they are within their authority to remove and trash items shipped improperly.

Still want to know what kind of envelope. If it was a standard business envelope it's not theft. I found out the hard way.

I sent a couple of similarly sized airplane engine parts to a friend in a bind and they disappeared, envelope arrived.
Now in my case there was a hand stamp on the envelope saying "opened for inspection" or some such.

When I asked, they told me I had shipped them improperly and they showed me some obscure regulation where they are not obligated to return items like that. They also showed me another obscure regulation that says basically when you buy a stamp you agree to all their goofy regulations, most of which you can't find even if you want :)
 
I had someone send me something similar through the mail once...a missing part to something I ordered on eBay. Months went by without ever recieving it, and then one day in the mail came an envelope that had been shredded up, postmarked way back when. I think the shredded envelope came inside of a Post Office envelope saying something about using proper packaging, but I could be wrong (it's been a few years).

Don't mail small objects inside plain envelopes.
 
Still want to know what kind of envelope. If it was a standard business envelope it's not theft. I found out the hard way.
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It was a standard business envelope, but I dont see how this makes that much of a difference. I recently bought a couple of batteries for my camera off ebay that were shipped in the same style envelope and they got to me fine. And those were definitely bigger than a little recoil plug.
 
It was a standard business envelope, but I dont see how this makes that much of a difference.
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Well I'm not defending the Post Office, just relating what happened to me.

They told me that if a standard business envelope jammed the sorting machine, they could toss the contents and did not have to return them.
They said the other envelopes go to be hand sorted, so bulges are not an issue.

They also showed me this in writing since I filed a written complaint.

The batteries might have managed to get through the machine or caught a sorter in a good mood and he pulled it and hand sorted anyway. I was told that could happen since I asked about it.

Since my episode I always use the brown padded envelopes and have had no problems.

So I think I would consider that possibility before I started screaming theft and felony etc.

The fact that the envelope was delivered doesn't sound like theft. Someone stealing would not take the time to return the envelope to the machine, just pocket the whole thing I'd think destroying all the evidence later.
 
In one month I had a set of Sig sights stolen and two Kahr Magazines stolen, wrapped in bubble wrap and put in those mylar priority envelopes. Maybe I should have boxed them. I also used the automated postal Kiosk at the main post office here at 10:30 at night.

I filed a loss report and neither package could be found. I paid using my debit card and hoped that they could use the transaction number to help narrow down the time frame to see where the loss occured. No dice.

Bet if I had mailed something illegal they would have been able to find me through my card info. One of the clerks at the post office across town said that items dissappear from the Mattis post office all the time and one of the reasons she thought was that they hire temporary workers. I just started using a different branch.

Lesson learned was to mail small things in a large priority box, they are free.
 
hello guys,

I've been working at an APO in Europe for about a year now. I don't think I've seen any postal theft. I think most of missing items can be attributed to rough handling or poor packaging. The envelopes or boxes can only take so much before they bust open and lose their contents.

As noted above, the regulations pertaining to letter class mail are pretty strict. The length to height ratio is pretty specific so the machines know which way to read and the thickness is restricted to 1/4". Also if a letter looks or feels like it has anything besides paper in it we return the envelope for a customs form and $0.13 surcharge. We try to avoid opening anyone's mail unless we have a pretty good idea that the contents are being shipped illegally. Stateside mail processing is stricter, but we try to look out for our fellow GIs.
Even so we occasionally break out the box cutters. Once in a while a family back home sends their airman some alcohol that leaks a bit enroute. Even though its made it all the way here we still have to open the box and drain the alchohol out. The patron then receives the empty box and a copy of the applicable regs. We've even had a sack of mail arrive with a loose 20mm round in it. The PO was closed for a few hours until EOD determined it was just an inert training round. Needless to say the addressee never received their souvenir and I hate to think what happened to the poor sucker that sent it off in the first place.
 
On the other hand...

You could pray that you get a letter carrier like mine.

He's fulltime USPS and a part time LEO. Sees my never ending supply of American Rifleman, Cheaper Than Dirt, Century Arms, etc and lets me know he's a gun nut too.

I recently bought a Colt Woodsman Match Target with my C&R & was expecting the delivery last Friday. What I didn't expect was my postman standing outside my door holding a box saying "I've got bad news"...sticking out a hole in the side of the box was a good 3" of gun barrel.:cuss:

No real damage to the Colt but I would bet that 99% of postal workers would have had the FBI deliver that package.
 
I spent about 2 years loading trucks for a package handler. It wasn't the USPS and no, I'm not going to tell you who it was.

There's a lot that can happen to your package besides theft. There are a lot of people who just don't give a damn about your package who have to handle it to get it where it's going.

I saw some pretty astonishing things happen from both the shipper's and the handler's point of view. All it takes is a (sometimes not accidental) nudge when the conveyor backs up and the package explodes on the floor - which could result in nerf footballs getting tossed around the terminal for the rest of the night, or full strength, unmarked sulfuric acid getting spilled right in front of you.

This was at a corporate location - a place that was not only unprotected by byzantine federal regulations designed to screw the consumer, but was also in it to make a profit. The USPS doesn't really sweat that last part.

Now, I've never seen the workings of a USPS terminal, but from what I know of one of the private outfits, I'd say always insure it, if for no other reason than to screw them right back when they help themselves.
 
Envelopes are for folded paper. Nothing else! For the life of me I cannot think why anyone would put anything else but folded paper in a standard envelope. One of my hobbies is building plastic models. I ordered a used kit from a guy of the 'net and it was missing a small part. (Spinner on a P-40) Bozo tapes the plastic spinner to a piece of cardboard and places it in a business envelope. Well running it through the machine crushed the part as it is designed to do. (part was about 1/2" in diameter and about 1/2" high, conical shaped) Had him mail me another one in a box.
OTOH, I ordered 500 bullets from a seller here on THR, and it arrived in a big plastic bag with an apology from the post office. Apparently the Priority box did not hold up too well with 500 230gn. RN bullets packed in it tightly. Only had 3 in the box when it arrived.
 
I once received a zip lock bag full of ashes and burnt paper from USPS. It was the remains of an invoice I had sent to a customer. It included a note that there had been a truck fire and they managed to get my return address from the envelope, so they were returning what was left as undeliverable.
 
I sent something once, properly packaged (Padded Envelope), an marked as non-machineable. It still got run through the machine, delayed, and the recipient said it looked like a dog got to it. I had the same happen a month ago, only I was the recipient. Luckily nothing was lost either time.
 
10 Round Mag

I had the same thing happen to me. I bought a 10 round power mag from a user here and when I got the package, it was cut open and the contents where gone. So upsetting.
 
Anything OF VALUE needs to go priority mail, with delivery confirmation, insured.

With anything else, you're taking your chances.

I use PM/DC whenever sending a postal money order, that way I have proof the recipient actually received what I sent, and I know the date on which it was received.
 
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