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PSA: when shipping with USPS, take a photo of ALL paperwork

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you are the noob that has a smartphone with a camera and not take a picture of the tracking number barcode.
 
rudeguy said:
how much was your package worth?
Click to expand...

It was broken equipment that I sent in for repair. Brand new, $700.

I honestly had no idea that the system would be so rudimentary as to remove ALL identifying information and have zero traceability other than what's on that paper, especially considering that the nature of their business often includes handling valuable material.

If you are a business with the potential to handle valuable material every day, would you design it to have NO safeguards and NO traceability? And then have the gall to blame the customer for utilizing a system that they somehow should have known had zero safeguards? You're blaming the customer for what really is the business's horrible design.
 
sdifox said:
you are the noob that has a smartphone with a camera and not take a picture of the tracking number barcode.
Click to expand...

USPS its just a tracking number, no barcode on the receipt

Its pretty simple, when you get the receipt you email the tracking number to yourself. I did this even when I sent out the holster. It had zero value to me but I had the tracking just in case.

If I were shipping out something expensive, I would not use USPS. But if I did, I would for sure keep the receipt AND email the tracking info to myself. For expensive things, I'll track it online and cut and paste that link to myself. That way I can just click on it whenever I want.
 
It sucks, but it's the way the USPS works. Whenever I ship by USPS I know the only way to get that tracking number is by having it written down somewhere. I keep all my USPS tracking slips until I can confirm delivery.
 
rudeguy said:
USPS its just a tracking number, no barcode on the receipt

Its pretty simple, when you get the receipt you email the tracking number to yourself. I did this even when I sent out the holster. It had zero value to me but I had the tracking just in case.

If I were shipping out something expensive, I would not use USPS. But if I did, I would for sure keep the receipt AND email the tracking info to myself. For expensive things, I'll track it online and cut and paste that link to myself. That way I can just click on it whenever I want.
Click to expand...


Humm, our registered mail has barcode and tracking number.

533086584.jpg
 
rudeguy said:
USPS its just a tracking number, no barcode on the receipt

Its pretty simple, when you get the receipt you email the tracking number to yourself. I did this even when I sent out the holster. It had zero value to me but I had the tracking just in case.

If I were shipping out something expensive, I would not use USPS. But if I did, I would for sure keep the receipt AND email the tracking info to myself. For expensive things, I'll track it online and cut and paste that link to myself. That way I can just click on it whenever I want.
Click to expand...

Well I hope this PSA thread does someone some good.

This single lost item has single-handedly negated, and then some, the money I have saved over UPS or FedEx over all my years if shipping.
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
When you ship with USPS, make sure to immediately, before you even leave the post office, take a photo of the receipt, tracking number, insurance slip, etc with your phone and email it to yourself or put it on a server or whatever.
Click to expand...

What if you lose the photo?

You're better off buying postage online if you can't keep track of important documents.
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
It was broken equipment that I sent in for repair. Brand new, $700.

I honestly had no idea that the system would be so rudimentary as to remove ALL identifying information and have zero traceability other than what's on that paper, especially considering that the nature of their business often includes handling valuable material.

If you are a business with the potential to handle valuable material every day, would you design it to have NO safeguards and NO traceability? And then have the gall to blame the customer for utilizing a system that they somehow should have known had zero safeguards? You're blaming the customer for what really is the business's horrible design.
Click to expand...

The post office takes a photo of every single piece of mail, no exceptions.

It's used for law enforcement only, not for your convenience. They can trace it if they decide you're a criminal. I guess you could tell them it's got pot in it. 😛

I hope the package or the receipt turns up, OP.
 
I wonder if it relates to the way the post office ships packages, which is arguably not much different than mail. If you look at a letter, you'll see the variable-length bars at the bottom. That bar serves as an identifier to the sorting machines that tells them to which post office the letter/parcel will go. There's a good chance that USPS doesn't even store most of the information that you were trying to provide to them.

I usually create my USPS labels online since most of my packages are with eBay. Also, online shipping tends to be about 5% cheaper. Anyway, it's pretty easy to keep your tracking information then!
 
USPS uses legacy IBM 1401 systems with Punched cards for keeping track of parcels, so once you lose your information it would cost them lots of time and money to try and track down which card in storage is related to what you mailed if they do not have the info at hand.
 
Hugo Drax said:
USPS uses legacy IBM 1401 systems with Punched cards for keeping track of parcels, so once you lose your information it would cost them lots of time and money to try and track down which card in storage is related to what you mailed if they do not have the info at hand.
Click to expand...

You aren't serious

Are you?
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Well I hope this PSA thread does someone some good.

This single lost item has single-handedly negated, and then some, the money I have saved over UPS or FedEx over all my years if shipping.
Click to expand...

.... and single-handedly taught someone about responsibility and personal accountability..... at least we would hope.
 
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