Rant on shipping

[Dftodd]

I encountered on odd problem with mail theft back close to 20 years ago when I lived in Florida.

I was installing alarm systems at the time.

I was at one customers home for a service call when the home owner motioned for me to look out the living room window, specifically at his mailbox across the street.

He had a locking mailbox and his elderly neighbor was trying her best to get into his mail box.

Come to find out she had dementia and kept steeling his mail, thinking the box was hers. So that's why they installed a locking mailbox.

 

[Oaktree]

Amazon uses UPS, USPS and FedEx around here. USPS for light items from 3rd-party sellers. UPS and FedEx for heavy items (not trucked)

I didn't think Amazon used Fedex...read someplace several years ago that Amazon tried to lowball them on price and Fedex told them to stuff it. Maybe 3rd party vendor?

 

[ultrarunner]

No problems with mail theft is. We just use a regular mailbox at the road. Keep your thieves out on the left coast.

I hope it stays that way...

Mail theft comes with strong penalties but for the most part nothing happens even with clear video showing in the act. Letter carriers getting robbed for postal keys happens multiple times.

Its very much the same for theft under $950.

Police here cannot go after a property crime in progress if the thief runs away... need I say more?

Business keep closing because the cost is too high... often the items stolen don't amount to much but the damage done when a stolen car is used as a battering ram ripping out mail boxes or storefronts can be quite costly.

How does a thief reach repeat offender status when nothing happens regarding past theft.

One morning I bent back straight a dozen mailboxes on my road... everyone with a locking box was hit.

Even 25 years ago when I managed apartment buildings the mailboxes were in constant repair.

 

[kenmbz]

Wow, Federal offense and no repercussions. Sad

 

[DarkBlack]

Lately Amazon ships UPS and UPS last tracking notice says it has been given to the local USPS for delivery.
That adds a minimum of two days for delivery.

That’s UPS “SurePost”. Better than mule back…..

 

[Jstpssng]

That’s UPS “SurePost”. Better than mule back…..

Yes. Apparently part of the contract states that the package won't get put out until the day after the post office receives it.

 

[goeduck]

No problems with mail theft here. We just use a regular mailbox at the road. Keep your thieves out on the left coast.

Unfortunately, we have them. They head out here from all over the country (and other countries) for the free lunch and no consequences. Enough said.

 

[Tinhack]

I didn't think Amazon used Fedex...read someplace several years ago that Amazon tried to lowball them on price and Fedex told them to stuff it. Maybe 3rd party vendor?

Somebody better tell them. I just received my 80-pound tool yesterday. I ordered it off Amazon and the tracking number was FedEx. I watched for a couple of days. I didn't look at any labels on the crate, but I will--It's still sitting in the bed of my truck this morning. It was all I could do to get it there from the ground down front. I'll be using the tractor to get it to the shop. My back is killing me this morning. I'm old and weak.

I've gotten lots of FedEx deliveries from Amazon. And I hate FedEx, but I don't have a choice of shipper when I order off Amazon. You should review your information because, apparently, it's stale.


Photo Update:
Original Amazon Order

Label on shipping crate:

 

[ponytug]

@ultrarunner I can't speak for all of California, but around here both the USPS and law enforcement take mail theft very seriously. We've had our mailboxes finger printed more than once, and once the fingerprinting at least allowed an ID of a perpetrator, and a neighbor's video has resulted in multiple arrests. My favorite video of theirs is of a male and female pair, where the guy stops the car in the middle of the road on a hairpin, hops out to get the mail, discovers the box is locked, comes back for a tool, meanwhile the woman kindly turns on the hazard lights, giving great video images of both them. Both apparently residents 50 miles away from what I heard. When we have gotten information on some of the arrestees, they have turned out to be not local, some coming from 50-100 miles away.

For us, the adage off "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun at least one other person" seems to apply. We upgraded our mailbox, and then about a third of the folks on our rural road did the same, plus some video cameras and mail thefts have gone to zero. The mailboxes in town are easier to get to by far. Of course, prosecutions, fewer folks getting checks in the mail, and other factors could certainly be part of why there aren't as many thefts.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

@ultrarunner I can't speak for all of California, but around here both the USPS and law enforcement take mail theft very seriously. We've had our mailboxes finger printed more than once, and once the fingerprinting at least allowed an ID of a perpetrator, and a neighbor's video has resulted in multiple arrests. My favorite video of theirs is of a male and female pair, where the guy stops the car in the middle of the road on a hairpin, hops out to get the mail, discovers the box is locked, comes back for a tool, meanwhile the woman kindly turns on the hazard lights, giving great video images of both them. Both apparently residents 50 miles away from what I heard. When we have gotten information on some of the arrestees, they have turned out to be not local, some coming from 50-100 miles away.

For us, the adage off "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun at least one other person" seems to apply. We upgraded our mailbox, and then about a third of the folks on our rural road did the same, plus some video cameras and mail thefts have gone to zero. The mailboxes in town are easier to get to by far. Of course, prosecutions, fewer folks getting checks in the mail, and other factors could certainly be part of why there aren't as many thefts.

All the best,

Peter

My box signals when the slot opens and it has been opened in the very early morning hours and mostly weekends.

A lot of my experience is local to the SF East Bay where profitable business like In and Out shuttered...

What surprises me is mail falls under the postal inspector with broad enforcement powers so it would seem to leave local LEO out if the loop...