getting art stolen from your doorstep, etc 1 1

[Will_K]

In my case, I had a comic delivered to my PO Box.  But it just as easily could've been OA (which would've been even worse).  If I have an item that won't fit in the PO Box, they put a yellow card in the box so I know to ask for it at the window.  Now most of the people that work at the window know my name and/or face.  But it seems someone just peeked to see which PO Boxes had a yellow card and just went up to the window.  I was going to talk to someone that may know better or would take my report, but that person is not available today.  It might be nice but I doubt the Post Office is going to ask for an ID every time someone has a pickup.

So it looks like "porch pirates" have found another way to steal.  I can't have items delivered to me at work.  Getting another PO Box may yield the same results.  I can imagine the same problem at a Mailboxes, Etc.

Can anyone offer any suggestions ??

[Bird]

2 minutes ago, Will_K said:

It might be nice but I doubt the Post Office is going to ask for an ID every time someone has a pickup.

My p.o. does, and you have to have the card with you as well. They are really strict about it.

when you get the card you can have them hold it at the post office. I also go end of day on the same day when I get the card and can usually get the item.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Bird

[Will_K]

My item was ready for pickup on Tuesday and I went on Wednesday, it was gone.

In the past, I've gone for weeks without picking up my items.  This seems like a "crime of opportunity" but it could have a snowball effect.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Will_K

[Artboy99]

my local post office requires I present identification to pick up items that were carded out. I can't believe they don't have the same policy where you live.

 

[Pete Marino]

My local PO has never asked for ID.

The only place that has ever asked for ID is FedEx.  Pretty scary.

 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Pete Marino

[vodou]

15 minutes ago, Will_K said:

In my case, I had a comic delivered to my PO Box.  But it just as easily could've been OA (which would've been even worse).  If I have an item that won't fit in the PO Box, they put a yellow card in the box so I know to ask for it at the window.  Now most of the people that work at the window know my name and/or face.  But it seems someone just peeked to see which PO Boxes had a yellow card and just went up to the window.  I was going to talk to someone that may know better or would take my report, but that person is not available today.  It might be nice but I doubt the Post Office is going to ask for an ID every time someone has a pickup.

So it looks like "porch pirates" have found another way to steal.  I can't have items delivered to me at work.  Getting another PO Box may yield the same results.  I can imagine the same problem at a Mailboxes, Etc.

Can anyone offer any suggestions ??

Awful. I have a POB specifically to de-risk porch pirating. I guess I'm lucky in the sense that the boxes they use at my PO have a metal door with no window, so nobody knows if I have a yellow card or not. At that level the only way something gets to my PO branch and doesn't get to me is if it's an inside job. Twenty years and counting, that has never happened.

Maybe you can use your experience here as a strong suggestion for your branch to re-door the boxes to metal and no windows?

[T Shen]

They should be asking for ID, that's ridiculous. Did you escalate to a supervisor?

I'm especially worried about porch-pirating as my post-person sometimes puts my packages in my box, which is outside our security gate, even though they should have our gate code. Imagine a 13x19 sized package sticking out of a 9x12 box... just screaming for theft. The only saving grace is that I work from home and I keep an eye out when I'm expecting a package, easier now especially with my desk facing the window looking right at my mail box. Had I had a traditional job at the office, there's probably no way to have items delivered to my home.

Edited March 22, 2019 by T Shen

[Will_K]

3 minutes ago, T Shen said:

Did you escalate to a supervisor?

Today. I was going to talk to the person in charge of PO Boxes but she left early.

[Will_K]

11 minutes ago, vodou said:

Maybe you can use your experience here as a strong suggestion for your branch to re-door the boxes to metal and no windows?

Short of that, I can ask if it'll be OK to put something in my PO Box to block its window.

I can find a Post Office with boxes that don't have windows.  I didn't know there was such a thing.

[vodou]

3 minutes ago, Will_K said:

Short of that, I can ask if it'll be OK to put something in my PO Box to block its window.

I can find a Post Office with boxes that don't have windows.  I didn't know there was such a thing.

Living in Nowheresville helps; our boxes probably haven't been upgraded since the 60s...1860s that is

Was there even glass back then? (j/k!)

[NelsonAI]

Will

Sorry to hear about the theft.  I used to have a P.O. Box so just a few points:

- did they get rid of the keys?  I used to open my own box.  For oversized packages, I also received a slip of paper.  However, you would hand the slip to the mail clerk in order to receive the package. 

- The majority of packages required a signature so I had to show ID and sign the postcard to go back to the seller.

- if something was lost / stolen, the P.O. appears to be negligent.  Have them review video to see if it's an inside job or if this person has struck multiple times.  

Best of luck Will.

N.

[cloud cloddie]

I’ve had a Postal Annex box for the last two years. I will never get rid of it. They accept packages from all delivery services, and send an email when a package is delivered. They put a package notice in your box that you have to give to them to pick up the package. 

I’d had multiple delivery issues before Postal Annex. Not a single one since. 

[PhilipB2k17]

I had the opposite problem. I won a page on eBay, and after I was given the tracking number for the art, I made an online request to hold the package for pick up at the post office. Instead, they scanned it in as a “refusal,” and sent it back to the seller! 

They would not turn the package back around, so I asked the seller to resend it to me after he receives it. 

Quite fidiculous. I pushed my complaint all the wah up to the local Post Master. 

[miraclemet]

My PO asks for ID. It's the only thing the do well. They've delivered to wrong addresses. They've done SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION to the wrong people. They've shows boxes at delivered and Im staring at it at the post office pointing to it. 

 

but if you show up with a slip they ask for ID. 

[mister_not_so_nice]

I've had a box at a UPS store or similar since I've been collecting. Haven't had a problem yet. 

What i like about the private mail box is they will sign for packages, so even places that don't deliver to a "P.O. Box" will deliver there. At each place I've used, after a couple of months they get to know who the box holders are. When I get a package at my current mailing address they put a slip in my box with my box number in 2-inch font on it and a similar sticker on the package. 

At about $120/year it is well worth the peace of mind it buys.  Why anyone getting OA or expensive comics on the regular uses the "porch hope & pray" method is beyond me 

Edited March 23, 2019 by mister_not_so_nice

[▫️]

I closed my P.O. Box for nearly the same reason. I opened a box at the UPS store and for the first few months I needed both the card and my ID. Once they knew who I was, I only needed the physical card. Every once in a while a new face is there and then I’m asked for ID and card again and I happily ablige. Never going back to the Post Office for services.

[timguerrero]

I've had OA stolen twice from the porch. Thankfully they weren't expensive pieces but it has always hurt. I need a PO box!

[Brian Peck]

1 hour ago, Oddball said:

I closed my P.O. Box for nearly the same reason. I opened a box at the UPS store and for the first few months I needed both the card and my ID. Once they knew who I was, I only needed the physical card. Every once in a while a new face is there and then I’m asked for ID and card again and I happily ablige. Never going back to the Post Office for services.

I would never go with Useless Parcel Service. Had alot of bad issues with them, they are POS.

[Will_K]

Thanks to all for the responses !!

@NelsonAI

My PO Box has a combination (no keys).  The previous "occupant" (a business) has a different PO Box but I still get their mail sometimes (addressed to my PO Box).  And USPS probably never changed the combination on the PO Box.

When I tried to pick up my item on Wednesday, they asked me if there were keys in the box.  There weren't but I'm not sure why they asked.  But it seems like USPS might be starting something like those Amazon lockers.

Last Saturday, I picked up a couple pieces of art and 2 hardcover books.  Those items totaled in the low 4 digits. 

In this instance, my item was a blank sketch cover comic.  A cheap lesson learned, I suppose.

I've only showed ID once for a pickup.  And that was only recently.  And that person seemed to be pretty new to that Post Office. 

Also, and it only happened a couple times this year, I would get a slip of white paper (like 1/4 of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet) with barely legible (very fine print) shipping info and a tracking number on it.  And also the yellow card.  So I took all that to the window.  And they said something like "you don't really need that".  I figure that may have been a way to match up items with the yellow cards.  But then I stopped getting those slips of white paper.

Now I'm remembering the Mike Nasser / Vince Colletta splash to a Flash story in Adventure Comics (Dollar Comic).  I never got it.  The seller sent me a scan of his USPS receipt to prove he sent it..  This is way before eBay integrated the auction and mailing functions.

[vodou]

11 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

I would never go with Useless Parcel Service. Had alot of bad issues with them, they are POS.

I'm that way with both UPS and FedEX. Awful. I intentionally steer business away from them as much as possible, I hope they both go under!

DHL is "ok" but not great. (Is this the only choice Germans have to export to USA?)

USPS is #1 by far.

This the culmination of my experience: shipping/receiving 1,000 packages per year for 12 years and counting.