Post offices & People who steal

duchess15 · Jan 20, 2008

So my cousin sent us a package from Germany about the middle of November and we still have not received it. I just can't fathom it taking THAT long because we have never had problems before.

I can only conclude that someone took it or it was delivered to the wrong address and they did not bother to return it.

I am so

. I just feel like doing this

to whoever did it. The reason I'm so upset is because my bday gift was in it along with some pictures.

I was going to go to the post office to see if they log in all the packages they get and the addresses they go to. Anyone else have any suggestions? If I someone did take it and I ever find out, they will wish they never had.

Sorry...I just had to get that out.

spudsmom · Jan 20, 2008

The PO does not log in ALL the pkgs. The parcels you can track are Delivery Con., Sig Con., Certified, Reg., COD. All of those are the best way to go if want to track a package. Oops...I knew I forgot one, #rd insured. They cost a little extra to send but easier to track.

blondrebel76 · Jan 20, 2008

Our mailman is crappy here, my sister purchased a laptop and waited and waited, one saturday my other sister was going downtown for a haircut and low and behold there on the sidewalk in front of a door was the package my other sister had been waiting on, correct name and address and everything, it was as if the mailman got tired of carring it and put it in front of the first place he found. We often find our mail on the lawn, the neighbors have to get together in the day to exchange the mail that has been misdelivered or sometimes we just dont get mail service for days at a time (i watch for him when i can to see what he really does, and somedays he just never walks down our street. We had a new maillady the other day, she looked like the pied piper, except she was followed by dogs, a collie, a husky, a german shephard and several smaller mutt lookin dogs.

persi & alley · Jan 20, 2008

Originally Posted by Duchess15

So my cousin sent us a package from Germany about the middle of November and we still have not received it. I just can't fathom it taking THAT long because we have never had problems before.

I can only conclude that someone took it or it was delivered to the wrong address and they did not bother to return it.

I am so

. I just feel like doing this

to whoever did it. The reason I'm so upset is because my bday gift was in it along with some pictures.

I was going to go to the post office to see if they log in all the packages they get and the addresses they go to. Anyone else have any suggestions? If I someone did take it and I ever find out, they will wish they never had.

Sorry...I just had to get that out.

The German and U.S. postal sytems are among the best there are. Your conclusion must be correct because it really is impossible that it is still in transit.

duchess15 · Jan 20, 2008

Originally Posted by Persi & Alley

The German and U.S. postal sytems are among the best there are. Your conclusion must be correct because it really is impossible that it is still in transit.

I agree. This has NEVER happened in the 17 years we have been here. It just makes me so mad someone would sink that low.

natalie_ca · Jan 20, 2008

I used to send parcels to Denmark and on average it took about 6 weeks and sometimes 8 weeks to arrive there. The only time it arrived within 3 weeks was if I paid higher shipping fees.

duchess15 · Jan 20, 2008

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I used to send parcels to Denmark and on average it took about 6 weeks and sometimes 8 weeks to arrive there. The only time it arrived within 3 weeks was if I paid higher shipping fees.

If I don't get it by the end of January I will know. Or it got lost.

goonie · Jan 21, 2008

my mom sent me a small package from germany a few years ago and i received it 6 months later. i really would like to know where it was 'stuck' at. i was very surprised to get it after that long

bonnie1965 · Jan 21, 2008

This is interesting. My brother and I sent packages (mine small, his medium-sized) aroung the first week of November to my sister in Trier, Germany for her birthday. She still hasn't received them. My tracking slip says the package is in customs. That's been a long time ago.

The first package I sent to her in October took about 7 working days. Not sure what is going on.

mews2much · Jan 21, 2008

My Package from my friend in Holland was sten a few years ago. Also Ups stole my Package in Nov 2007. I was tracking it and it said it was stolen from their office in Ohio. It never left the office. Lucky the place I ordered from replaced it.

fwan · Jan 21, 2008

This might help a little or maybe not. Since i work at Frankfurt airport, we are having a few problems with customs. All mail comes in and out of Frankfurt Airport. In november DHL had a small strike because they wanted more money. Not sure what is going on now, but maybe you can call up the post office.

I also wanted to add that i sent a parcel to Italy from Germany which isnt far at all and my parents got the box 3 weeks later!

renovia · Jan 21, 2008

I'm still waiting for a package too. I don't understand the PO....

lillekat · Jan 21, 2008

Wow... all I have left to say is God Bless Royal Mail (UK). I can't say I've ever experienced anything like that there. Goodness, they've been known to deliver postcards and packages that only had a name on them!! It takes a while (one postcard did take 80 years to get to it's destination because it had nothing but a name on it, sent by a child) but goodness, it GOT there!! Better late than never, eh?

It makes me wonder why postal staff like that are hire in the first place.

duchess15 · Jan 21, 2008

Originally Posted by fwan

This might help a little or maybe not. Since i work at Frankfurt airport, we are having a few problems with customs. All mail comes in and out of Frankfurt Airport. In november DHL had a small strike because they wanted more money. Not sure what is going on now, but maybe you can call up the post office.

I also wanted to add that i sent a parcel to Italy from Germany which isnt far at all and my parents got the box 3 weeks later!

I didn't know about that. I just hope it is stuck somewhere. The area I live in used to be a lot safer 10 years ago, but people have been known to steal and that is my fear.

I will keep hoping, but it's aggravating all the same. Maybe it's just stuck in customs.

icklemiss21 · Jan 21, 2008

I know Tricia posted in the Secret Santa threads about Germany having a postal strike so that would have slowed it down a lot and US customs are also being really slow.

International packages, while 'usually' delivered in 2 weeks can take up to 12 unless you pay for priority shipping and they generally wont take a complaint before the 12 weeks are up. I know someone who sent a gift to the UK from the US and it took 8 weeks. My Christmas cards to back home, to people that live just minutes from each other took between 10 days and 4 weeks.

There is no telling how long something will take to get there especially when customs is involved.

mzjazz2u · Jan 21, 2008

Packages sent express are tracked and are supposed to be logged. I was able to track some I sent to Germany and France every step of the way over Christmas.

robertm · Jan 21, 2008

This may be a stupid question, but are you absolutely positive that your cousin shipped the package by air mail and not by surface mail? And that "air mail" was indicated in several places on the package if that's the option that was chosen?

I live in New York and have sent and received literally thousands of packages to/from all over the world and surface mail can sometimes take forever to reach its destination. My understanding is that surface mail packages are transported by boat and then are handled like fourth-class mail once they arrive in the destination country. That's why surface mail is so much cheaper than air mail.

So if the package was sent surface mail, that could explain the roughly 2 month time frame. If not, then unfortunately the package might have gotten lost or misdelivered. And if there was no tracking number on the package, there's no way for Deutsche Post or the USPS to trace it.

The only other thing I can think of is if it is being held up at Customs because the Customs form/sticker wasn't filled out properly. But if that's the case I would have thought that it would have been returned to your cousin by now.

It's always frustrating when stuff like this happens with the mail. Needless to say I've been there plenty of times.

duchess15 · Jan 21, 2008

Originally Posted by RobertM

This may be a stupid question, but are you absolutely positive that your cousin shipped the package by air mail and not by surface mail? And that "air mail" was indicated in several places on the package if that's the option that was chosen?

I live in New York and have sent and received literally thousands of packages to/from all over the world and surface mail can sometimes take forever to reach its destination. My understanding is that surface mail packages are transported by boat and then are handled like fourth-class mail once they arrive in the destination country. That's why surface mail is so much cheaper than air mail.

So if the package was sent surface mail, that could explain the roughly 2 month time frame. If not, then unfortunately the package might have gotten lost or misdelivered. And if there was no tracking number on the package, there's no way for Deutsche Post or the USPS to trace it.

The only other thing I can think of is if it is being held up at Customs because the Customs form/sticker wasn't filled out properly. But if that's the case I would have thought that it would have been returned to your cousin by now.

It's always frustrating when stuff like this happens with the mail. Needless to say I've been there plenty of times.

I know it was by surface mail and I know that can take a long time, but never this long. I'm hoping it got held up somewhere. I just don't want her to go through all that effort and we never receive it.

icklemiss21 · Jan 21, 2008

Surface can take up to 6 months! If it was sent in November it will be even slower with the Christmas packages taking priority from the secret santa packages I remember last year

trouts mom · Jan 21, 2008

I just received a package from the US here to Canada which was ordered in NOVEMBER I believe..just got it tonight. So, maybe yours is on its way

Post offices & People who steal

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