I feel sick. Canada Post whole bunch of missing / item not received.

[velvetfinch]

I mailed out a whole ton of items on Oct 3 and 4th.  Due to the obvious expense of tracking I opt to use discount postage stamps to save money - I've done this for years with seldom an issue.

Well this lot of shipments in early October, almost all of them have mysteriously disappeared, not shown up, a few have shown up very late.  I don't know what the heck is going on??? I'm thinking a Canada Post plane or truck went up in flames or someone at the Post Office stole the whole lot (unlikely)

Has anyone else experienced an unusual amount of lost packages lately?  I guess there is nothing I can do, I have no proof of postage purchase as I used stamps.  Is there even any point of contacting CP about this?

I just feel sick about it.

[velvetfinch]

Thank you for that!!! Yes I am here during the day Weds, I will definitely check out 'board hour' and see if I can get any kind of resolution that way. 

[pierrelebel]

", I will definitely check out 'board hour' and see if I can get any kind of resolution that way.  "

Unfortunately, the Board Hour has been cancelled this week.

[velvetfinch]

Darn it.  Thanks pierrelebel.

[velvetfinch]

Just to clarify and get all of the information on this thread, below is my letter to Canada Post.  In the meantime since I wrote this, I have had to refund yet another person $50 US and another person is filing a claim today if their item doesn't arrive.  These latest items were mailed just over a week later than the original mailings.

So in total I have 10 (most likely 11) items out of 31 that have gone totally and inexplicably missing in the post.  I honestly have zero faith in the postage system as I have been shown that there is zero recourse for services not provided by Canada Post.  They are basically free to take my mail and I can do nothing about it.  This constitutes a 35% loss rate.  

As can be seen from the response I posted previously from Canada Post, they neither take any responsibility or care to investigate at all.

Sent:	15/11/12 23:52:47
Subject:	Multiple Mail Items Lost or Stolen

Hello,

I'd like to let you know of a very concerning issue I faced recently using Canada Post to mail a relatively large amount of packages.

Just to give you some background, I have been a very frequent user of Canada Post services for many years as I am an online seller and ship an average of 40-50 separate packages each week.

On October 5th, 2015 I shipped out a total of 31 items, all to the United States.  I started getting concerned emails after about 3 weeks about items not showing up.  I asked my customers to give it some time in the event that the mail was slower than usual (usually my mail into the US only takes about a week but I give customers a longer timeframe just in case).  Finally after a month, I have been forced to provide refunds to a total of 9 people out of the 31 mailings.

I do use new, gummed Canada postage stamps to mail my items, and send them all by either Light Packet USA or Small Packet USA.  For this reason, my packages are not trackable and I do not have receipts of mailing.  I do however, have Paypal records of sales and the subsequent refunds.  I am known by name by the Postal manager at my local Shoppers Drug Mart Canada Post Outlet, and they can verify my very frequent use of postal services.

I am extremely concerned that on a single day of mailing (October 5th) that 9 articles of mail have gone completely and inexplicably missing. It has now been 38 days since the date of mailing so I can be quite sure they will never turn up. NOTHING like this has ever happened in all my years of mailing and the volume of items I send out.  It is very troubling to say the least.  I am not sure if there is theft going on in a particular area of the mail sorting process, or if all of these items have simply been forgotten somewhere.  Even though my total amount lost (provided below) may seem small, as a small business owner it is quite a hard loss to take and certainly does not help inspire confidence in the mailing process.

The following information is specific to each individual loss to provide you with more information, hopefully this information may provide you with some clues or a pattern as to what may be going on.  Thank you very much for looking at this.

[LIST OF ADDRESSES, ITEMS, VALUES, and MAILING INFORMATION REMOVED FOR PRIVACY]

[pierrelebel]

Take a look:

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/aboutus/corporate/security/default.jsf

Time to contact a postal inspector

[dutchman48]

I am really curious where these were sent to and it there is a pattern to location of buyers?

[velvetfinch]

They were all sent into the US and one of the ones a week later was sent to Canada.  I can't see any pattern in the locations of the buyers, I was hoping that Canada Post would see a pattern maybe the mail hub they went to or something.

Pierre, I took a good look at that link but can't find any information on my situation or how to contact a postal inspector? 

[theviper316]

Any update on this ? I sent 20 packages on Oct 31 and 3 weeks later so far 5 people have complained they haven't recieved thier packages. 1 of them is local to me. I am in surrey,BC and his package went to Vancouver, BC.

[theviper316]

I am going to be out a lot of money if all my packages just disappeared.

[momcqueen]

Did you mail them all at once? From the same outlet and did you get the person at the counter to issue you a Proof of Shipment receipt? What direction were they headed? 

[velvetfinch]

Hi mjwl2006, if you read my post #86 above it gives all the details.  They were headed into the US and no I have never got a proof of shipment receipt as I use postage stamps.  

So now in the meantime, it is just getting worse.  Another 3 items are now missing (sent mid and late Oct), one of them to Canada and 2 to the US.  This is just getting crazy.  Two of them are the same baby clothes brand that I discussed earlier.  I am getting ready to file a police report and bring this to the next level.

[velvetfinch]

oops, sorry mjwl, now I realise you were talking to the person who just posted (viper).

Viper, I feel your pain, I too am out a lot of money and no explanation. Did you use postage stamps as well?

[theviper316]

Yes I used stamps and dropped them into a red mailbox. Where are you located ? Of the ones missing 3 are going to the USA, 1 to vancouver, 1 to quebec 1 to new Brunswick.

[velvetfinch]

Very interesting.  I am located in Surrey, BC,  how about you?

I just sent another very strongly worded email off to Canada Post.  I am demanding some action on this.

[theviper316]

I am in surrey as well around 146th and 60 ave. You ?

[velvetfinch]

Wow, seriously? I am at 56A Ave and 148th, near the YMCA. This is crazy.  What letter box have you been using?  I use the one at Shoppers Drug Mart mainly.  Or I take it inside to the counter sometimes.

[theviper316]

Same here the shoppers drug Mart red box. I usually drop it off in Richmond where I work but this batch was at shoppers on the weekend.

[theviper316]

We need to get together and talk. It seems like someone might be stealing our packages.

[velvetfinch]

Wow! This is seriously some crazy coincidence that we found each other.  I'm in disbelief.  Where should we go from here?  Anybody have any advice for us.  We are literally neighbours and both of our mail is going missing from the same place!!! How do we best handle this?

[theviper316]

I think we need to get together and talk then go down to the shoppers and confront them and ask questions.