I know, it's almost March. I mailed one of my adult children's Christmas gifts to her in two priority boxes after her visit for the holidays (January 10th). One box made it to the East Coast. The other one made it and then went back to Oakland. That's what the USPS website said when I entered the tracking number.
The missing box was heavy with all kinds of goodies in it. Most were gifts from others, so I had no receipts. I checked the website for days and still nothing. I tried calling the Oakland USPS. The hold time was 45 minutes. I hung up.
The following week I checked the website again. It said the package was delayed but still on its way.
After three weeks, I looked into filing a claim. The website said no one would go look for the package until a claim was filed. I had no receipts. The next week I dug up some alternative receipts that I could use to claim as gifts. I had to scan each receipt and send a scan for each and every item. No wonder people give up getting their money back. It was time consuming and a big hassle. After scanning five receipts I was done. The value was only $62.00.
We all know that the box held more than $62.00 worth of stuff. But with no gift receipts, it was impossible to get any farther than that. I was hoping the claim would get someone to go through the warehouse and find the box.
That was no to be. Instead, a check was issued to me but sent to my daughter's address. Since she was here for a wedding, she didn't know about the check. I finally went to the claims tab at USPS and discovered that a refund for the $62.00 plus shipping had been issued in mid-February. Now I'm waiting for my daughter to mail it to me so that I can cash it and put the money in her account.
I feel so bad for her. Half of her gifts are lost in a warehouse somewhere. The box might've ripped open from the weight, and maybe some postal worker's kid now has the furry llama next to his pillow. I bought it at a house sale (no receipt). Maybe the cheese knives went to the wife of some mail sorter who didn't have an anniversary gift. Perhaps the food items fed some hungry letter carrier's kids.
I tried to call again today to see if I could get through to the Oakland Distribution center. It's the same number for everything, and I spoke to an automated person, to no avail. There was no way to speak to an agent without holding for 30 minutes.
At which time they would say, "Sorry, there's nothing we can do."
My daughter is devastated. We have never had this happen before, and with two daughters on the East Coast, I am a big mailer of priority boxes. It must have been too heavy is all I can figure. There was a small bag of rocks in there, left over from some fairy garden terrarium gifts. With the heavy food, five chrome kitchen utensils, the cheese knives and everything else, it was too much for regular tape. I should've used reinforced heavy-duty tape with strings in it.
Maybe some AI robot in the Oakland warehouse has the three llamas strapped to the front of its government-issued forklift as it drives around the warehouse looking for missing boxes.
Next year, we'll mail her dirty laundry in the priority boxes so she can take the gifts in her suitcase. We know those won't get lost.
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