Hi James,
If you want, I could ask my Dad on what your best bet is, he's a Postmaster with the USPS. I'm assuming he'll say what I said, contact the Postmaster and go from there.

You can PM me if you want me to ask him anything specific or whatever. Doesn't matter to me man, let me know if I can help ya out.

Lmao. I have not actually tracked it today; just relaying our dialogue from this morning. I will most certainly stop in at 0800 tomorrow. Its packed very will with Boveda packs, compression and bubble wrap.

Should be ok with the Boveda packs, I'm just hoping it lands at one of our houses soon so we know it still exists

It might end up on its way back. I shipped Mac a package that went to Indy for sort then out for delivery in Fishers In.... I don't live in Fishers.... Then it finally went back to sort and on to Mac.

I don't want to give away too much but it is insured, contents not available for replacement though.

Brian thanks for the note, shoot you a message after I visit the friendly USPS office in the morning. Enjoy your evening all. :-)

FWIW:

The USPS has only two "guaranteed" services: Express Mail and Global Express Mail... And you pay a lot for these services. Express Mail is $39.95 for the equivalent of a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate box ($12.35). The cost of Global Express varies by country.

If the package is insured, you in theory should be able to get some kind of a refund if it gets lost.

I just don't know anyone who has ever tried to get a refund for an insured package through USPS.

As a side note, I think Amazon should just buy the USPS. I have not doubt they would run it better.

If a package is insured thru USPS, only the person who purchased the insurance (sender) can file a claim. If anyone claims otherwise, they're yankin' yer chain and trying to evade responsibility.

Thanks Peter,

But do you know anyone who has ever actually done it? And how do you prove the contents were worth what you insured the package for? Especially if the cigars are no longer available.

This always concerns me, even though I still purchase insurance. In addition, half the people at the counter think you are not even allowed to ship cigars.

I can tell you for a 100% fact that if a package goes missing in the mail, through the post office's fault or the person (or my case the DB) that sent its fault, the only person that can file for any type of claim, mind you this includes requesting the package be looked for in the dead letter office (in ATL), is the person that physically mailed the letter or package.

Worth noting is the package goes missing in the system and there is no return address on it, God only knows why someone wouldn't put a return address on a package, the package will end up in ATL eventually, the sender can call and request a physical search for the package at that facility, again only the sender may request this, which makes sense because if the receiver never got the package he wouldn't know what the description was, it's up to the sender and if the sender refuses to do this, well that's just odd as well isn't it.

The only way someone who is on the receiving end may file a claim, is if that person received the package, whether it is empty, opened, items missing or damaged, the receiver may then take the package, remaining contents and any packing materials to the post office to file a claim. Mind you the sender may file the claim as well, not both, but one of the two.

As far as the claim you must be able to prove what was in the package, show receipts for value, various other forms of proof and a sample of your blood, they do not make it easy to file a claim.

As you can tell I've been through this to an extreme and sadly the sender was not willing to assist in the retrieval of the package or any claims or refunds.

Hope this helps.

After reading the exchange from this afternoon, I thought I would post this tidbit from the Tips For New Members thread.

i like this rule as well

Cigar Asylum has zero tolerance for any posts containing:

• personal threats,
• slurs, epithets, and/or other derogatory or otherwise offensive comments regarding race, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation,
• flaming or trolling content, and/or
• spam.

if that wasnt an attempt at trolling then i dont know what his purpose was

Did you not read my response to Bob as well? So I guess you are telling me that in your judgement, if someone else breaks a rule, it is o.k. for you to do so too?

Stick to abiding by the rules yourself and let the ToE handle others. If you don't approve of how things are handled here, there are plenty of other cigar boards out there.


Oh, and since you feel compelled to remind me of the rules, let me point out this one.

I had a package I sent USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail get lost. The USPS delivery confirmation showed that the package had been delivered. There no signature required so I am guessing that the package was left in the mailbox or at the door.

The recipient did not receive the package so I filed a claim. Since the USPS delivery confirmation showed the package as delivered they denied the claim as they stated they had done their part.

Another package got lost. I delivered it to the post office but it never showed up in the system. USPS denied the claim because they had not received the package, even though I put it in a mailbox at the Post Office. If I had waited in line and hand delivered it to them at the counter, then the claim would have been accepted.

I have only had three packages get lost and while things could be better, the USPS Flat Rate prices are so much better than other carriers that I am willing to continue to use USPS.

I know you are having fun with this issue, taking your jabs where you can, Peter, but now that
you have stated this twice in two different threads, allow me to show you EXACTLY where you
are wrong.... http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/609.htm
Direct your attention specifically to section 1.3, section b.

Who may file a claim

"Either the mailer or addressee who is in possession of the original retail mailing receipt,
or in possession of the online label record or computer printout of the Web-based application
as described in 3.1 d., for lost articles."

Any of the other sections where you feel you may be RIGHT on the issue that we both know you are
going on about, do NOT APPLY.

c. is for RETURN MERCHANDISE.
d. is for RETURN MERCHANDISE.
e. is for C.O.D.

I have no issues with reading comprehension. The regulations clearly state who may file.
Your opinion on my character based on hearing the complaints of your smoking buddy
have no bearing on the postal regulations. Furthermore I made significant efforts to make your
friend whole and have heard no more complaints from him as he smoked his way through those.
Perhaps when he is holding only ashes, he will start up again, but for now it appears that the real
issue is simply his lack of desire to collect on his insurance payment. I offered to mail him all of the
requisite paperwork to support his claim.

As for the post office, how they expect to look someone in the face and say that they will
not even ATTEMPT to collect on postage due articles, instead sending them off to some
holding facility somewhere where NO ONE wins, is beyond me. There is no surprise that
they are nearly bankrupt. When I was younger, you would simply get a card and be asked
to come and pay your ten cents or 5 dollars.

:-)

one of the more interesting threads of 2013

Now THIS is IRONY defined.

For those of you who may not understand, Peter is stating this as a moderator,
but in a previous reply (#28)
he is acting as a proxy for the person in reply #30, ragging on ME (for those who do not know about the whole
long story) and taking what amounts to free shots at me. The poster in reply #30 is allowed to call me a
douche bag (DB) for being negligent, because the only one that knows what's going on for sure is ME, Peter
and poster #30. I sent poster #30 some cigars to make up for his loss after in a moment of complete and
utter distraction at the USPS, I made an error after spending 20 mins in a line for the kiosk. This was 6:45 am
and I was behind two idiots who never used it before both mailed 5+ packages, making me late for work.
In my hurry when I finally got up to bat, I transposed a number in the zip code and paid for postage to KY and not Cali.
I also forgot to write the return address on it. The perfect storm of errors, and I am at fault for it, but the modern USPS
bears a ton of responsibility as well as you will read. The package had NO TROUBLE getting to poster #30's town,
but then went off the radar , I am guessing owing to a postage due issue. I provided poster #30 with postal insurance
for his irreplaceable cigars, and since the post office never delivered them, feeling it was better to incur man hours
and fuel costs to mail them back to Atlanta rather than asking poster #30 to pay 5 bucks at the window in
San Diego, we all got screwed. I told him that I could not replace his cigars, I would not refund his money,
and offered him about $600 in more irreplaceable cigars, which he accepted. Since then, he and Peter miss no
opportunity to rag on me in these veiled insults, while one of them moderates as if he has no sin to throw rocks at
and the other smokes through my cigars, taking shots at me in threads like this. The only reason they get
away with it up to now is that it is better for me to stay off the air about it and remain a member here.

Poster #30 will not collect on his insurance because he does not want to tell the USPS what was in his
box. That and his mis-reading of the regulations. Weird thing is that even though he has been smoking
his replacement cigars, I would STILL SEND HIM THE receipts he needs to file the claim, since I SURE AIN'T
gonna file for it. I want to make clear that the cigars I sent poster #30 were all the 'unique' cigars I had left
in the world, and his replacement cigars only covered about 2/3 of his loss. But you know what, when you
deal in irreplaceable cigars, whether here or from overseas vendors, sometimes you take a bit of a loss.

So this might be my last post here when I get moderated out of existence, but I have taken about
as much as I intend to on this deal gone bad from this moderator and this newbie to risk and smuggling. :-)

Thanks for clearing that up.
I am now enlightened.

Just remember Brad, there are two sides to every story.

For the record, you have no clue as to what I post as a member or as a moderator. You are clearly confused on this.

Whether you stay or go is up to you but some of the information I received conflicts with yours. So don't pretend to be a saint in this or that everything you state is fact. To be honest, I am not sure what to believe.

PM SENT Peter.....I am not going to thread jack, or spread any more lurid details here.
But to say that I have no clue as to the nature of your post's intention, well that's just
horse hockey, and you certainly know it. Furthermore, I am no saint, I made errors at
the USPS. What's more, NO ONE wins when they try to collect on insurance from the
USPS, whether there is something 'interesting' in the box or not.