STOLEN: Hulk 181 CGC 9.6 0

[James J Johnson]

2 hours ago, s14roller said:

For clarification, certified mail is different than registered mail?

I have only sent books via registered mail and would hope USPS would take responsibility for it not getting delivered.   

Yes. Registered mail is the premium signature service because not only is the recipient signing for it, but each and every time the package was handled and/or locked mail-bag moved in transit, the register must be signed by the postal worker handling or moving it. Registered usually doesn't show all the steps and stages from acceptance to delivery on the online USPS tracking, sometimes even registered will appear to get "stuck" in transit. But with registered service the post office can always track its location on their computers and locate its exact whereabouts if need be. 

You very rarely hear of registered mail going off the grid for long; in fact, I can't think of ever hearing an anecdote related to me of, or experiencing a botched registered delivery. 

[UncleBEN]

The only caveat is that USPS is especially hard on registered mail in mine and others experience . 
The last big  book I shipped this way ended up with a cracked slab and it was package to ensure an atomic explosion .

No clue how it ended up damaged , thankfully it was just a reholder as it could have been a very bad situation as they only insure for 25k 

So plan accordingly 

[Dr. Love]

OP, if you dont mind - who is the insurer and what seems to be the problem

[theCapraAegagrus]

Hopefully this gets recovered.

[mackenzie999]

This worries me, as I've never shipped books before but will be liquidating my collection (starting here!) in the next couple of weeks and have a few decent books to move. What is the general consensus about who is best to ship with? Most likely within conus.

[theCapraAegagrus]

27 minutes ago, mackenzie999 said:

This worries me, as I've never shipped books before but will be liquidating my collection (starting here!) in the next couple of weeks and have a few decent books to move. What is the general consensus about who is best to ship with? Most likely within conus.

Learn something new everyday. I had to look up what this meant.

[batman_fan]

49 minutes ago, mackenzie999 said:

This worries me, as I've never shipped books before but will be liquidating my collection (starting here!) in the next couple of weeks and have a few decent books to move. What is the general consensus about who is best to ship with? Most likely within conus.

There was a dealer/collector that shipped off a ton of books registered that went “missing” but later on some showed up for auction.  At that point he had been paid out on the insurance so the books technically weren’t his.

[alexgross.com]

1 hour ago, mackenzie999 said:

This worries me, as I've never shipped books before but will be liquidating my collection (starting here!) in the next couple of weeks and have a few decent books to move. What is the general consensus about who is best to ship with? Most likely within conus.

if you havent read anything the last 4 months about how the post office has been gutted, or read any of the dozens of gripes here on the boards about them, welcome back to civilization! as someone who regularly ships packages with usps, i have stopped now. i only use fedex. its more expensive, but theres no contest. usps now routinely loses packages and claims for me have been impossible, compared to the past. fedex damaged one of my insured packages and within 2 weeks of my claim i received a check. 

if you use usps, many of your "priority mail" packages to customers will disappear from tracking completely. perhaps after 2-4 weeks they might show up. starting an investigation online often can help with this. but as you have read in this original post, this guys package has vanished, though i doubt it was stolen. just disappeared, as is all too common right now for the post office. 

fedex ground is slower than ever but i dont think they lose too much stuff. fedex 2 and 3 day services are the best choice, and usually 3 day is not crazy expensive. you can insure with fedex up to a grand. over that, you have to provide your own. 

PS- heres 2 pics of the latest usps tube crushing. regularly happens with them, but this claim was filed 5/27. this is a $500 print. i included all photos of the damage. my first claim was denied based on needing more evidence, even though the recipient actualy brought this to the post office and left it with them! now i am in my first appeal. in the olden days, the post office would have paid this by now. they are dysfunctional over there. 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by www.alexgross.com

[NP_Gresham]

6 hours ago, batman_fan said:

There was a dealer/collector that shipped off a ton of books registered that went “missing” but later on some showed up for auction.  At that point he had been paid out on the insurance so the books technically weren’t his.

That is correct, once paid belongs to the insuring agency or USPS

So unless this consignor in the Auction is a party to the USPS, they are still complicit in the theft.

Report the incident to Postal Inspection service, someone will be in a world of hurt

[NP_Gresham]

To the OP

As a previous poster suggested , get a trace from the postmaster at your PO

Then get a statement from the recipient declaring the item never arrived

Take the report on the trace and recipients statement to the Postal inspection service and request an investigation for theft

That would at the very least provide you with proof for insurance claim. No one in the USPS (including the Post Master) wants anything to do with PI. It often shakes things lose and positive things develop

[comicwiz]

On 10/3/2020 at 4:32 AM, sLiver said:

USPS transit status was “in transit”, it reached the Boca Raton USPS warehouse and that’s where it stopped. Status never changed. So it was never delivered.  I have private insurance but they seem to be dragging their feet, so I may need to seek legal help.  😞

Sorry to hear. I have a similar situation right now where a package has had no status update since Sept 22. Also heading to Florida. I'm starting to wonder if there is something happening within USPS.

[kav]

2 hours ago, comicwiz said:

On 10/3/2020 at 1:32 AM, sLiver said:

USPS transit status was “in transit”, it reached the Boca Raton USPS warehouse and that’s where it stopped. Status never changed. So it was never delivered.  I have private insurance but they seem to be dragging their feet, so I may need to seek legal help.  😞

Sorry to hear. I have a similar situation right now where a package has had no status update since Sept 22. Also heading to Florida. I'm starting to wonder if there is something happening within USPS.

Still some hope.  I sent a small parcel to the next state and it took 5 weeks to arrive.  Sent stuff across country that arrived in 3 days.  It seems random.

[Arkham]

Good lord. What a nightmare. 

It probably isn’t possible with COVID, but if I was buying that book I’d have flown to you to collect it in person. 

My recent purchase from MCS was last scanned at Chicago International Distribution Centre on the 24th of September. Technically should have been in my hot little hands a while back. But no tracking updates. I’m not panicked yet - because I’ve heard many stories of things getting held up for weeks in customs etc as part of COVID overloads. But, my book is worth $400 AUD, tiny for many here but not insignificant for me.  Regardless, it is not a 9.x IH181. I can totally understand your concern. Good luck mate, hope it works out. 

[Hollywood1892]

20 hours ago, Arkham said:

Good lord. What a nightmare. 

It probably isn’t possible with COVID, but if I was buying that book I’d have flown to you to collect it in person. 

My recent purchase from MCS was last scanned at Chicago International Distribution Centre on the 24th of September. Technically should have been in my hot little hands a while back. But no tracking updates. I’m not panicked yet - because I’ve heard many stories of things getting held up for weeks in customs etc as part of COVID overloads. But, my book is worth $400 AUD, tiny for many here but not insignificant for me.  Regardless, it is not a 9.x IH181. I can totally understand your concern. Good luck mate, hope it works out. 

Definitely...I wonder what the monetary value is before someone decides to circumvent shipping services and use what extra money they have to go on a roadtrip. When I first started collecting I was almost certain to do it after a couple thousand. I've had ASM 300 9.8 delivered in person but I've had ASM 15 5.5 ASM 50 8.5 (sent separate of one another) FF 48&49 (Same shipment) sent via mail or FedEx, what I have noticed like Kav says that it is very random but mail takes considerably longer and updates are very poor. I waited 5 weeks for the ASM 15 but only a few nail biting days for the FF 48&49.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Hollywood1892

[shadroch]

I have a package from Russia that scanned into the depot at JFK and never scanned out. Scanned in on June 16th.  After a lot of back and forth, the seller refunded my money and asked me to pay him if the package ever shows up. He says he has had ten packages disappear within the US  this year, over 5% of what he has shipped.

[alexgross.com]

18 hours ago, comicwiz said:

Sorry to hear. I have a similar situation right now where a package has had no status update since Sept 22. Also heading to Florida. I'm starting to wonder if there is something happening within USPS.

you're just now starting to wonder? wow. 

[mysterymachine]

I purchased a book that disappeared in the mail (this was in May of this year) and was eventually returned to the sender two months later so don't give up hope yet.  

[musicmeta]

I shipped off some books to various folks via Priority Mail and instead of taking the normal 2-3 business days it took more like 5-9 days to be delivered.  None had any damaged (Whew!) but definitely a lot slower than normal.
Something inside me feels like shortly after the election is over, normal delivery times will start occurring.

Edited October 6, 2020 by musicmeta

[01TheDude]

Sorry to hear of your troubles-- especially considering the value involved.

I can honestly say that I have not had any troubles with USPS this year. I am in AZ. I'm not sending high dollar comics just low weight stuff mostly or things in priority mail.

I think results vary sometimes based on luck and in other cases on where you are sending the item.

In the past-- I have had some packages get seemingly lost. I used the online USPS system to initiate a search and they found the item and got it delivered. In other cases-- it was lost and they paid me for the item from postal insurance.

 

[grail_raider]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I’m going to take this to the next level.  I’m trying to get in touch with the postmaster (in FL) to open an investigation.  Question is, do I contact the postmaster in Boca Raton FL or my local one?  Or maybe both?   It’s like pulling teeth even to get through to a live person on the phone.   I’ve been really down about this but I look at the fact that it’s just a comic book and there are more important things in my life.

As for insurance, I have collect-insure but they’re dragging their feet.   😓  I know some board members are insured w/ them...Any tips on how to deal with them?   Thanks again everyone for your support. It really means a lot.  Take care.