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Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 2:14 pm
by PolishPunisher
While sending a 24 lb. package of forex to Bill today, the postal worker mentioned that I send "coins or whatever" frequently (I probably go there about once every three weeks). Should I be concerned that they know what I am shipping?

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:02 pm
by SoFa
I would be worried.

I had to sign for a package one day. The postman asked me what it was (it was heavy). I told him I don't know and so he said he was just wondering because I get a lot of coins. So now I'm thinking about getting a post office box.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:52 pm
by wheeler_dealer
No need to worry. Postal workers are well paid and penalties for tampering are pretty tough. If they know and you haven't had problem yet no need to start now.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:56 pm
by natsb88
Mail pilfering doesn't usually happen at the post office where people have (more or less) permanent jobs, it happens at the sorting centers where workers get shuffled around and there are often temps working.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:01 pm
by Lemon Thrower
yeah, all the postal workers i have ever met looked like real upstanding citizens.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 4:38 pm
by cooyon
For what it's worth, I filed 2 cases this week on feebay for non-receipt of items...one was a silver coin with no tracking (received full refund), the other was a CTU from Cali, which had tracking for the first day then nothing since 4/15. Seller working with USPS to locate. How would they lose a 68 pound box? Fell off the truck maybe. Good seller, he will reship if needed. Our local country post office knows I collect coins, don't think I have a problem with them.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 9:58 am
by mflugher
Thats Odd, I'm missning about $6k face in gift cards also shipped about the same time. Last known place was cleveland on the 15th of april... About to file insurance claim since it was sent insured.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 10:05 am
by Corsair
Lemon Thrower wrote:yeah, all the postal workers i have ever met looked like real upstanding citizens.


Thank you for making my Friday all the brighter, LT.

I don't care who you are, dats funny rite der.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:16 am
by natsb88
I've been going to the same small-town post office working primarily with the same small group of people since I was about 12 years old. They know me well, I know them well, they have a pretty good idea of what I'm shipping, and it hasn't been a problem. Obviously not the case everywhere.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:45 pm
by Lemon Thrower
you can tell them you are shipping pennies. that may make them less interested. tell them something like, did you know the old ones are worth two cents each? they'll think you are nuts instead of a mark.

the real problem is not theft of your mail but burglary of your home. think that through.

the folks who work there may be fine, but they may tell the folks down at the methadone clinic all about you.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:54 pm
by SoFa
I'm not worried about my postman. But people talk.

I had a ctu delivered maybe a couple years ago and it arrived with the box broken and pennies spilling out (the postman put it in one of those plastic bins to catch the stuff that was spilling out). There are probably still pennies from that episode residing in mail trucks from here to who knows where. So ever since then, the lady who works in our condo office and others who work here know I get coins in the mail. I guess they figure it's just old pennies though.

I hadn't had anything ever lost in the mail until recently when something stopped tracking after it left Tampa.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:45 pm
by Lemon Thrower
mailboxes etc.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2013 1:16 pm
by rulesforrebels
cooyon wrote:For what it's worth, I filed 2 cases this week on feebay for non-receipt of items...one was a silver coin with no tracking (received full refund), the other was a CTU from Cali, which had tracking for the first day then nothing since 4/15. Seller working with USPS to locate. How would they lose a 68 pound box? Fell off the truck maybe. Good seller, he will reship if needed. Our local country post office knows I collect coins, don't think I have a problem with them.


usps tracking isn't realy trackingit's delivery confirmation. sometimes you see scans along the way those are courtesy scans they are only required to scan upon delivery so its possible if htey didnt get it scanned in upfront you wont see anything until the package is in your hands. also once a package is lost with the usps you can open cases and traces but its bascially lost. i send a lot of stuff and have never have one found. they often wind up getting stalled in sorting facilities and if you dont get on them about it asap its lost

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2013 4:19 pm
by cooyon
Amazingly, this missing CTU showed up today at our PO. The box looked like Shrek had been using it for a soccer ball, postal clerk said it probably fell off the conveyor and split open, then that PO used a roll of strapping tape to wrap it enough to survive the rest of the journey. The two plastic bags each had 34 pounds of coins when I weighed them, so I guess I didn't lose much if any.

Re: Postal clerk knows I'm shipping coins

PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2013 12:43 am
by HoardCopperByTheTon
cooyon wrote:Amazingly, this missing CTU showed up today at our PO. The box looked like Shrek had been using it for a soccer ball, postal clerk said it probably fell off the conveyor and split open, then that PO used a roll of strapping tape to wrap it enough to survive the rest of the journey. The two plastic bags each had 34 pounds of coins when I weighed them, so I guess I didn't lose much if any.

Sounds like a seller that had some experience packing and shipping pennies. Occasionally one will get stuffed in a corner and forgotten for a while.. but fortunately this doesn't happen too often. Believe it or not some postal workers dislike 69 pound packages and will either "accidentally" drop them on the ground or push them aside because they don't want to handle them. I ship a lot of pennies.. so I have seen it all over the years.. including one CTU that disappeared for 6 months.. and then came back to me. We suspect it spend some time at the unclaimed mail center in Atlanta. Funny thing was it was being shipped from Northern to Southern California. :mrgreen: