Monday, January 07, 2013

From PMFA's Mailbox: Disappearing Packages

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This may be more of an issue for those in the neighborhood who work outside of the home, but Reader Jonathan contacted me via email to say that packages addressed to him have been disappearing from his building in Carroll Gardens. He writes:
I don't know if other readers have said anything but I have had 3 packages taken (all different times) from my building on 4th Place. Perhaps this is a neighborhood wide thing.One package was USPS, which I thought was maybe lost because in my experiences, local post office isn't the greatest :.)The other two were FedEx. Both were apparently delivered according to my tracking. A neighbor in my building said he saw my package the day it arrived but when I came home it was gone.I just wanted to let you know in case other readers have had this happen as well.Nothing to post about if it's just my misfortune, but may be happening to others.
How about it? Is this just a problem in Jonathan's building or have others in the neighborhood lost packages as well?


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've actually been waiting for my fiance's iphone to arrive in the mail for the past week or so. It definitely should have arrived by now and have been getting a bit worried. I live on 3rd place so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it has also been stolen. What can we even do about this?

kassie said...

Unfortunately, yes and not just over the holidays! I have had two packages stolen from my doorstep on 3rd Place. The first time was about 6 months ago. The package was from eBay but because USPS marked it as delivered I had no recourse thru the seller/eBay/Paypal/USPS (I even filed a police report). The second time the box was from drugstore.com and they very kindly shipped me a replacement order...to my office! It very frustrating to know someone is lurking around waiting for packages to take.

Anonymous said...

I am also on 4th place and had 2 packages stolen right before Christmas. I filed a report with the local precinct. Both were UPS. I also spoke the the UPS driver and the UPS office.

Anonymous said...

Apple is pretty strict about having people sign for their package via FedEx. I would check the tracking if they provided it for you, if you ordered it from them. Perhaps the delivery slip was misplaced by FedEx?

Anonymous said...

Indeed I can also report a missing package, to have been delivered via USPS. Also live on 3rd Place.

Anonymous said...

I live on 3rd Place, and had a missing package just after Christmas; marked 'delivered' by USPS.

Anonymous said...

In regards to the iphone, it wasn't purchased through Apple unfortunately. My fiance got it shipped from a small Verizon store in South Carolina. (I know, I know, don't get me started) ;)

Anonymous said...

I hope these are being reported to the local precinct!

Anonymous said...

Ditto. I'm on 1st Place and had packages "delivered" but were nowhere to be found. I had all of my holiday packages shipped to work. Inconvenient, but at least I got them. Good reminder to file a police report.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but the delivery people should be getting signatures, not just dumping the packages so they can be on their way quicker. My old UPS guy used to leave my package with my neighbor if I wasn't home, and if neither of us were home he would leave a "missed you" slip.

Anonymous said...

Folks come on. Nobody questions the mail carriers. Have you seen these people? Totally incompetent . They deliver mail to the wrong address all the time. When they don't require a signature it's like a crap shoot if you will get your package.

Anonymous said...

Obviously there is a pattern here. I had packages left by my door for years with no problem until several months ago when they started disappearing. It would be easy to say the delivery people should get a signature but if you aren't usually home during the day then that means the package goes back to the Post Office which is only open during the hours most people are at work or UPS/FedEx which I am pretty sure you need to drive to - so not really the best solution for most people.

Anonymous said...

A friend had her Christmas gifts shipped back to her home on Pacific only to discover the box had been left outside and ripped open. One item had been taken and kids toys were left behind.

Anonymous said...

Yup, I live on Nelson Street and had this happen around the holidays, too. USPS item, signature on delivery was mysteriously waived, no sign of the package, but the post office considers it delivered. Lesson learned, I guess?

Anonymous said...

We live on 3rd place and a package from early Dec was marked as delivered by USPS but it was nowhere to be found. Spoke to the regular usps package guy to no avail. We have never had an issue w packages over 6 years. Is this just holiday sloppiness or part of a pattern?

Anonymous said...

We had a package delivered about 2 years ago. You could tell that someone came into our vestibule, opened the package, removed the items and left all the packaging. FedEx ultimately honored the insurance on it but they tried not to since they had, in fact, delivered the package.