I have never had a situation like this in all of my years of collecting, and nothing collected-related has made me as upset as this. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I mailed out PWEs to five traders on June 29, and nobody has gotten them yet. A couple of trades I mailed out since then did get through, so I figured it was a one-time glitch. However, I mailed out two more on July 5, one on July 10 and one on July 12, and those haven't been received either. The only ones that did get received I mailed out on July 3 and July 8. I made a chart and realized the ones that got delivered I mailed out on weekends where I was out doing other things and did not drop them in the mailbox by my house like I usually do.
I have sent hundreds of PWEs over the last few years without any problem. The only thing I can think of is that whoever is collecting mail from the mailbox, or is involved in sorting mail when they get to the post office, has started stealing the envelopes, perhaps recognizing from the feel of the envelope that it has trading cards so might have value. Last night I sent a filed a stolen mail report on USPS.com just to see what would happen; supposedly I will get a response in 1-3 business days. I figure it's a longshot but maybe I can get some answers that way. (It also occurred to me that I might somehow be on some kind of watchlist, but I doubt it. I did go to the post office on Saturday to mail a large card package, and it was delivered on Tuesday with no problem.)
Testing my theory about the mailbox, I mailed out one more card envelope from there last night. It was a small TCDB trade and I told the trader not to send me anything until he got his cards. I then sent an envelope of cards to a blogger, from a mailbox in the next town. I am very curious to see who, if either, gets their cards. If it ends up being that I have to go to the next town to mail out PWEs, its an inconvenience but certainly a manageable one.
I am very upset by the idea that my trading is being so disrupted, with no idea why and no idea when/if the problem will go away. I don't think I would even continue collecting cards if I couldn't trade, even though this hobby is a big part of me. At the very least, I have nine trades now that I am going to have to somehow make right. Fortunately most of them are bloggers or TCDBers whom I have traded with multiple times. I think only a few of the TCDB ones might be difficult. Still, how can I even make them right if I have no idea if my envelope will get through?
Has this been happening or has happened to any of you? Do any of you have any suggestions for what I should do?
I am also wondering if something has changed with mailing PWEs? I know postal rates have gone up but I use Forever Stamps. I do notice that the last three TCDB trades I received, in sizes easily small enough to be sent by PWE, were sent with tracking. For example, I received these in a PWE yesterday from Cardsrule. However, he sent it with tracking. Cost him $5.05. I certainly don't want to be spending $5.05 to ensure that a $0.66 PWE gets where it is supposed to. Delivery tracking should be an extra service to track a package, not extortion money to ensure that a properly-stamped envelope gets where it is supposed to. I don't see anything on the TCDB forums to indicate that people are moving away from PWEs so maybe it's just coincidence.
These were what was in his envelope. Lots of stickers for my 1983 Fleer sticker set.
Wait a minute...Yaz is actually smiling? Anyway, I hope this particular problem gets sorted out soon!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar problem awhile back but it was the mail getting sent to me that was delayed. In one case I never got the card I bought (luckily it wasn't high value). The mail has since gotten better around here. Hopefully the post office gets their act together for you soon.
ReplyDeleteSeems about once a month a group of envelopes either coming or going take at least 10 -14 days to arrive, instead of 3-4 days. I work from home so I can hear when the mailman is coming and I watch him. He's a great guy, but I often see him circling back to houses to deliver something missed, I'm assuming sorted incorrectly. Not sure of the cause, but I'm sure USPS is crap anymore.
ReplyDeleteThat sucks, Bo! I try to drop off my outbound mail directly at the post office to cut down on possible "lost mail" issues (plus it's a good distance for a dog walk). But even that post office has had a couple mail thefts in the recent past, though thankfully I haven't had anything go missing that I'm aware of.
ReplyDeleteI would expect the p.o. to be a better option than your own mail box. Anybody can just open your box and take something.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the increase in postage which you mentioned.
There's also been some weather stuff in certain parts of the country - record heat and some flooding.
But yeah - I would try taking them directly to the p.o.
In the last month, I have had 4 PWE's returned. Three saying no such address which was BS. And was said not machineable, which was also BS.
ReplyDeleteThat stinks, Bo. Hopefully your envelopes aren't being swiped directly from that mailbox. A few months ago I tried to mail a couple of PWEs at a local mailbox, and noticed some sticky residue in the mail slot. I didn't drop the envelope in. After doing some research, it turns out there's a little trend going on where some people are "fishing" for envelopes by placing something sticky on the end of a wire and sending it through the mail slot and down into the mailbox, hoping to catch some envelopes and pull them back up. Sounds absurd, but apparently it's happened in more than one area. (And that's why some mailboxes now have those little gears inside the slot that push the envelope through, but prevent them from coming back out.) Wouldn't hurt to check your problematic mailbox for any sticky residue in the slot.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I recently had a PWE returned to me with a yellow USPS sticker on the front that said "unable to deliver to address", even though the address was correct. I messaged the recipient, and he told me that I should use the ZIP+4 instead of just the standard ZIP code. I'd never heard that before, but sure enough, I sent the PWE back out with the ZIP+4, and he received it. I wonder if that would help your PWEs arrive at their destinations at all. Keep us posted!
I hope your mail issues are just a delay and get resolved soon!
ReplyDeleteYeah, still haven't gotten your envelopes.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about this issue. I haven't sent PWE's in a long time... so I haven't encountered any theft lately. That being said, as part of my Gwynn giveaway, I'm about to ship out a bunch of PWE's... so we shall see.
ReplyDeleteJust curious. If I'm shipping 19 to 20 cards per PWE... how many forever stamps should I place on the PWE?
My first thought is definitely theft. Whether it's the carrier or just some rando, who knows; and even if someone did know, would anyone actually do anything about it? I remember when I was a kid, mail theft was treated as a very serious crime, which since it's supposed to be a federal offense, it should be. These days though, it's apparently no more serious than jay walking, because people are stealing mail left and right, and no one is ever being punished. Hell, you can burn down a post office these days and not even be charged.
ReplyDelete