? of the United States Postal Service

Most of you who have been around and reading these posts for a while already know that I have precious little faith left in the US Postal ?Service? (if it can be so called). Well? here we go again.

I ordered a coin from a seller late on Friday. The seller is a great guy and apparently he got the coin shipped out on that Saturday. Most people here know what the ?tracking? is like with USPS, but I was thrilled this morning when I saw that the coin had been processed out of the ?North Houston? facility at just after 1:00 AM. Usually if the package leaves North Houston by 5:00 AM then the chances are good that my package will be delivered at my home (about 45 minutes out of downtown) that afternoon. I normally have to call my sister to get news on deliveries while I?m at college. Today, my sister was trying to call me. I returned the call and when she said ?You?re going to be pissed,? I immediately knew that something was wrong with the coin. I had to send the seller the following message:

The envelope you shipped the coin in arrived today. I choose this wording because the envelope is stamped "Received Unsealed," and has been ripped open. The coin had been removed. I guess whoever tampered with the package decided to be nice enough to leave the invoice in the envelope (whoopee). The mail carrier delivered the package to my mailbox apparently without comment. They did not ring the doorbell or try to explain the condition of the package to one of the family members who was at home. I'm still waiting for any updates to the tracking site to see if USPS considers this miserable performance to be a delivery.

I'm at college right now so I'm going to find it very difficult to complain to my local post office directly.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

(As it turns out, the Postal Service DOES consider this miserable performance to be a delivery.)

I really didn?t know what to expect from the seller. It?s important for you to know at this point that this is the same seller that sent me the wrong coin by mistake and then sent me the right coin without asking for the return the first coin and without charging me any more money. Most sellers, now with 2 problem transactions in 4 months on low dollar items, would probably just decide that it?s not worth it to deal with me and tell me to go away. I would kind of understand the feeling. Dealing with me must be becoming a real pain in the butt for the poor guy. He ships out thousands of coins a year and he probably has more profitable uses for his time. Here?s the response I got back just hours after I contacted him (He always gets back to me in less than 24 hours no matter when I contact him):

Wow.... I've shipped over 30,000 coins in the past three years, and that is the first case of just ripping open the envelope that's been reported. About one out of every 3,000 or so just disappears and is never delivered.

I am happy to accept your account of the empty envelope without any additional evidence. I will send another replacement coin at no additional cost. Hopefully this one will come in the same condition I send it out.

At that point, I was the one left thinking, ?Wow.? I?ll continue to do business with this seller if he?s willing to deal with me. We?re currently debating whether or not he put the word ?coin? on the envelope (and therefore a sign that says, ?Steal me?). He says that he uses his name, not the name of the business on shipments. I have an envelope that says the name of his business on it including the word ?coins.? I don?t believe in plugging dealers in the journals but if any of you would like to know who the dealer is then you?re welcome to message me. He deals mostly in modern material though so don?t expect to go hunting early American copper.

I think I?m going to provide the tracking information to the Post Office through their 1-800 number. They say that they?ll investigate and try to find out what happened but I seriously doubt that anything will come of it. I just think that a complaint needs to be made in this case. A machine could not have hiccupped and magically opened a padded envelope in that way. I have to study probability theory for quantitative risk assessment. I don?t buy that possibility for a minute. It?s too consistent with someone opening the package with their hands and fingers.

I try not to judge the entire organization based on one or two incidents, but this keeps happening. Something stinks.

I had intended to make a different post today but I?ll just delay that one for a few days?