Coins "lost" In The Mail

[+Anthus]

To those that have sold and shipped their own coins:

 

I'm courious what is the average number of coin orders lost in the mail. How many of your orders were reported as never getting to their destination and how many total orders did you mail mail out.

 

The post office says that the rate that I've lost in the mail is extremely high. Sometimes, you just have to wonder. If I ever sale another coin, I'm definately going to do deliver confirmations on all of them.

 

....Anthus

[+Team JSAM]

I have not shipped geocoins but I am a powerseller on eBay and ship about 15 items a day the best thing you can ever do is pay for del. confm. if you ship with paypal Its only like .13 cents extra well worth it, the only problem is there are time that the postman/woman does not scan it in.

[+MustangJoni]

I got my Anthus coin I traded for today, with delivery confirmation on it!

[+Anthus]

I got my Anthus coin I traded for today, with delivery confirmation on it!

 

Glad you got it.

 

I started sending all sales and trades out with delivery confirmation about two weeks ago. Delivery confirmation is 60 cents through the post office.

[+WWC-World's Worst Cacher]

1-2% of total coins.

 

I have found it to be quite variable from coin to coin. But I will confess that at least some have been orders that I missed. When you run a PayPal spreadsheet, the payments that are e-checks do not necessarily show up.

 

I have done three things that have helped:

 

1. I ship off my shopping cart and confirm the paypal payment. - This helps to make sure I don't miss orders.

 

2. When I get a pending e-check payment notification I leave it in my in-box until it clears. - just a reminder to watch for payment notification.

 

3. I use Endica to do my mailing labels and postage along with delivery confirmation $.14 per package. (watch out for Stamps.com)

 

Internation is more problematic. There is no cost effective way to do delivery confirmation on those packages.

 

I keep a spreadsheet on lost coins and honestly, I do not see a pattern of buyers who report lost coins.

 

I have had a couple of times where people have reported lost coins, then they either showed up or realized they had them all along and had tossed the package in a hidden spot.

 

But remember Endica and not stamps.com - Several reasons but I am still waiting for postage refunds from stamps.com. Endica processes in just a few days.

[+LadeBear68]

Too many. The coins from 9key came up missing, the coins from ParentsofSam came up missing, the Czech coins came up missing, there is at least two packages from overseas missing and a package from NC came with no coins.

 

I need to add that 9key, ParentsofSam and NC have all replaced the coins. Very nice of them considering the loss wasn't their fault.

Edited May 15, 2006 by LadeBear68

[+Rusty & Libby]

I have probably shipped as many individual packages of coins as anybody and I think the US Post Office gets an A+ rating.

 

We get a report of lost coins about 1 in each 100 packages but actual lost coins by the Post Office are maybe 1 in 2000 packages. We see an erratic rate of late deliveries and sometimes it is 10 days for a coin that should have been delivered in 2 days but they do get there.

 

Experience has taught me that if you use quality packaging, proper legible addressing, and proper postage your coins will arrive, ocassionally late but they will get there.

 

If your return address is clear the improper shipments will make it back to you eventually. In February I screwed up the address on a bunch of International shipments and I just got another one of them back Saturday. Out of about 70 packages 40 have made there way back so far.

 

Rusty...

[ParentsofSAM]

We have had a few go missing and been very delayed. But we have resent all the packages reported missing to us, including one that was just delayed the original package showed up 2 days after the replacement package.

 

We have only had 3 coin shipments to us go missing, so not too bad.

Edited May 15, 2006 by ParentsofSAM

[+dhenninger]

I have mailed about 750 packages of coins and have had reports of only 2 lost (1 US, 1 International). I believe of the 200 I have received, only 1 got lost on it's way to me.

 

But then again I am VERY nice to the post office people

[+nfa]

I've had 1 out of about 200 coin shipments go missing...at that rate, high though it is, it doesn't seem that delivery confirmation is worth it...

 

(200 packages using delivery confirmation @ $0.60 = $120...even at $0.14, the delivery confirmation would cost $28...more than a replacement order would cost)

 

Jamie - NFA

[+AtlantaGal]

Counting trades too, I have had 4 packages I have sent be reported to me as never received. 2 were coins and 2 were wooden nickels. All were resent by me and received the second time. The ones lost never were returned and I DO have return address labels on all my packages.

 

On the receiving end, 2 sent to me did not ever make it. A coin from Ladebear last year, which she resent. And most recently, my Isle of Man order from the geocoin store, which I was refunded for.

[+Hula Bum]

Of the 750+ packages that we have sent and received we have had 1 package that did not arrive here (and the sender generously sent another).

Some have taken weeks to get to us/them, but they've made it.

[+ScoutingWV]

I've had more of a problem receiving packages than sending them. And before the jokes start, YES - all major package delivery services operate in WV.

 

Each time a package has been re-sent to me I have received it and received it much more quickly, but I've never seen the original shipments in those cases. In every case, the seller/trader has been excellent to work with.

 

I've had a problem with 2 outbound, and 6 inbound.

[+carleenp]

I haven't sold and shipped coins all at once, so I have no statistics there.

 

With trades, I have never had one I sent go missing, although one I sent took a looong time (3 weeks or so) and just as I was looking to buy a replacement to send on ebay, they got it (whew!)!

 

I have had two times with problems receiving coins. One trade just plain never showed up and another came in a torn and empty envelope. The owners of both kindly sent replacements, which I certainly appreciated since it was not their fault.

 

I also have had a couple that took a long time to receive. One took about two weeks and another three from the ship date. One of those showed up with about 5 different post marks on it from different states!

[Jake - Team A.I.]

Funny this subject shows up today. I just received a message from the UK that some coins I sent over back in March finally made it to their destination today. I had a coin sent to me from Canada that took just over a month to get here. I haven't lost any shipments, but I've seen them delayed by quite a bit.

[+crake]

1000+ shipped, 99.5% by USPS, no packages lost (knock on GPSr).

 

I use online shipping which includes address confirmation on domestic addresses and delivery confirmation. I don't know if it helps, but it sure seems to not hurt!

[+Ladybug Kids]

Over 600 packages (2005 Alaska, personal and other trades) sent out and none lost. A couple came back due to no forwarding address, but those instances got straightened out quickly.

 

Only one incoming package lost out of close to 200...slit envelop and invoice arrived sans coins.

 

That works out to 1/800 = 0.13% lost, or, for the glass is half full crowd, 99.87% successful delivery.

Edited May 16, 2006 by Ladybug Kids

[+graylling]

I've only ever had 1 I sent and 1 that was sent to me lost. Personally I consider that par for the course. It's just one of the hazards of sending stuff thru the mail I guess.

[+Shilo]

I've had more of a problem receiving packages than sending them. And before the jokes start, YES - all major package delivery services operate in WV.

 

Each time a package has been re-sent to me I have received it and received it much more quickly, but I've never seen the original shipments in those cases. In every case, the seller/trader has been excellent to work with.

 

I've had a problem with 2 outbound, and 6 inbound.

I'm part of these stats

Funny thing is the coins we sent each other both got messed up. ScoutingWV got his back eventually and I still havn't seen my half yet. This has been my only mishap sending geocoins out.

Ask WYlostinMA about his loss vs got through rate. His was REALLY high. I'm still waiting....but we wont go any further

[+Team Maddie UK]

As ordering person for the UKCC I post out close to 300 packages a month to club members. So far only 2 have gone missing and been replaced. One of them showed up under my sofa about a month later (who has time to vaccuum on a daily basis when you are busy lol) and still no idea what happened to the other. 1 International trade went missing and also showed up on my end (under the front seat of the car) and was also replaced.

 

When we posted out The English Egg and the Wales coins we were very fortunate not to lose any in the post but there were a few that were delayed by up to 10 days.

 

However, when receiving coins, I notice that a lot of packages I get do not have a return address on them! If the packet were to get wet and the ink smear and my address be illegible then it cannot be returned either. I have received damaged packages and lost 2 coins out of one and 1 coin out of another. Not bad in the long rum as the packages had more than 30 in them. The strangest one (damaged) was actually put into a postal plastic wrap and labelled by the post office in GERMANY. Now why it went there first I have no idea.

 

Currently I am missing one entire order (Sent out in March) that cannot be trracked:(, but after contacting the minter it would seem that it was posted by the slowest possible method meaning that it could take up to 10 weeks to get here, so I am not panicking over it yet.

 

One thing I am guilty of doing and probably a lot of you are is using the postal address from the paypal slips. I have to admit that if I were to move Paypal ....changing my address at paypal would not be amongst my priorities IF I even thought about it.

 

People move after placing orders (It might be only a few blocks away and the postman knows them) but the orders they placed 3-4 weeks ago still show the old address. I did have one situation where this happened with Wales and they were able to retrieve the parcel from a former neighbour.

 

Posting in the forums that a coin has arrived and that it will be sent on does allow for an email saying MOVED to arrive before a coin goes missing. Most people do post updates and that is great but can you start a new thread pleaseeeeee. Going to page 14 of a thread that is 8 weeks old just to see someone ask if any are left ..........I don't bother with them anymore and it would be nice to know.

 

Lynn

[+desert georangers]

I've not been in this for very long, but have had 2 incidents receiving packages. I checked tracking on-line for one package which stated that it was delivered. It was not actually delivered until the next day. My second issue is one that is still not resolved. USPS tracking shows it delivered, but I don't have it. The USPS tracking is only as good as the mail carriers on the route. Aparently mine have issues of integrity and/or quality.

[+ncfinn]

If you didn't ask for delivery confirmation, do you ever wonder if the sender/recipient is lying?

 

I get packages from Europe all the time. Every time they are sent "surface" which supposedly takes 4-6 weeks. Every time they arrive in 5-7 days. That is faster than many packages within the U.S.

[+Mystery Ink]

2 coins one the sender said he mailed in december but never got it the other I don't know maybe they forgot.

[+big rick]

Out of around 300 packages sent and 150 packages being mailed to me. I have lost 2 outgoing both to the US and 2 incoming 1 outside of the US and the other just about 20 miles from the house. All in all not to bad. The two outgoing packages had a total of 5 coins.

[+fox-and-the-hound]

So far only one lost going out. It was a token that went through auto-sorting even though it was marked "hand sort only" by the post office. The sad remains were still delivered minus the sigitem pieces. Not bad I think.

[+9Key]

Be sure to verify your address on your Paypal account. I think some folks have old or inaccurate addresses listed on their accounts which might be the cause of some of the lost or misdelivered packages that I've sent.

 

Also, please be both pleasant and patient when contacting people regarding coins that you have not received. 99.9% of people are *not* trying to rip you off.

[+The Lost Geeks]

I find that the shipping has slowed down into and out of the U.S.. We ship everything with Canada Post and find it seems to be taking a little longer to get out to the customer.

 

For us in Canada to get a package to the U.S. with a tracking number and insurance the price starts at $10.00.

 

This makes it very hard to sell to the U.S. so everything goes without tracking numbers.

 

Even in Canada the price for tracking numbers and insurance is around $8.00 and up.

 

Consider yourselves lucky that you can track things for under a dollar, it is well worth it!

[+bobuk]

Funny this subject shows up today. I just received a message from the UK that some coins I sent over back in March finally made it to their destination today. I had a coin sent to me from Canada that took just over a month to get here. I haven't lost any shipments, but I've seen them delayed by quite a bit.

 

wooo !!! that was me....though i had put them down as lost for good after so long..

 

o' yea of little faith...

 

cheers jake nice coins too

 

B.

[+Eric K]

It does seem like some of my packages can make it quicker to Europe from the US than they do to Canada. Mail from the US to Canada has been pretty slow lately.