Next day air package takes 14 years to deliver

jesus_saves

Well-Known Member
Next day air package takes 14 years to deliver


A businessman named Paul, who mailed a package using next day air service from UPS, found out 14 years later the package never got there, according to a report on The Consumerist.

Well, he probably knew that was the case, and 14 years earlier he probably sent replacement materials, but he wasn't able to find out what was actually in the package.

The package arrived empty and damaged. It was torn open and the contents were missing. Paul reports he has no idea what was in the package and his records for customers 14 years ago are long gone. He said the only way he could even tell the age of the package was that it had his company's shipping number and company label on the damaged package. In fact the address for the shipment was his home address from which he ran the business at the time.

What's really incredible is that the UPS tracked down the business to its current location, which has changed numerous times, just to deliver an empty, damaged package. UPS even offered to pay a claim on the package, but there's one big problem. Paul needs to know what was in the package before he can file a claim and he has no idea given the package is so old.He did talk with a UPS customer service rep, who he said was laughing about it. Given that's it's so old it may be something to laugh about, but I'll bet Paul wasn't laughing when he first found out the package didn't arrive. The UPS customer service person told him he could still file a claim in the future if he can ever figure out what was lost.

Today, thanks to technology advances, a package that was shipped and not received would probably be noticed much more quickly, Susan Rosenberg of UPS said in telephone interview about this package. While she didn't know the details of what happened to this package, Rosenberg speculated that it could have been stuck in a belt or wedged in the side of one of the UPS trucks.

She admits that does happen, but in today's environment with e-mail notification throughout the process of shipment available, companies more rapidly report lost shipments and searches can be conducted much more quickly than 14 years.

To avoid something similar happening to you, Rosenberg recommended that you should be sure you add your e-mail address to the records for any shipment you send and ask that you and the receiver (if you have the receiver's e-mail address) get notices of packages in the process of delivery. That way if a package does get lost you can more quickly start the search process for the package.

I'm still wondering what happened to a package of mine that was lost five years ago when I was in the process of buying my current home. All my financial records were in the package because it was my formal mortgage application and all supporting data. I had to cancel all my financial accounts and open new ones, but UPS did pay for one-year of credit monitoring as part of my claim. I wonder if I'll ever get an empty envelope in the future and wonder what will be in it?

I do give credit to UPS for taking the effort to deliver that empty package, but the bigger question is where has it been all those years, who opened it and what did they do with the contents? I certainly wasn't laughing about the lost package when someone tried to use one of the accounts I had to cancel thanks to the mortgage package UPS lost for me.

Obviously for Paul this was not as critical a loss. Are you still wondering about next day air packages that have never arrived?

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/...xt-day-air-package-takes-14-years-to-deliver/
 
One day many years ago, a supervisor was riding with me to train me on a route. We had a very light day, and were driving a little used truck that spent most of the year sitting on the back lot. There was on unholy mess of filthy dr bags, used shipping cartons, and assorted trash, piled in a heap on the driver's side top shelf. When we finished, the sup started digging through the mess to get it cleaned up. In the pile, he found a next day air letter that had never been delivered. The label was faded to the point that the words numbers could not be read. He opened it and it turns out it was from a law firm to one of it's clients. A final divorce decree. It was 2 and a half years old.
 

upsgrunt

Well-Known Member
I agree with DC. The consignee cannot file the claim, the shipper does. Even if Paul knew what was supposed to be inside he cannot file the claim and I doubt UPS would even talk to him about it.
 
M

Mike23

Guest
We had an envelope wedged behind a door since 2006...apparently our records couldn't trace it. We got a lecture about it even though I bet the driver quit since then.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
I found a next day air envelope stuck in the pass side door track of an 8 cube that was 2 years old. They never did tell me what it was other than "important papers".
 

HEFFERNAN

Huge Member
Actually, I've seen packages disappear with no fault to UPS themselves.

Our preload uses the cage system to sort to the package cars. When a box is taped rapidly in rewrap, sometimes the flaps loosen and it becomes opened again in the cage. Then if you start throwing letters in the cages, they can slip into the box without detection.

This happened last week while delivering to a Harley Davidson, I noticed a letter in their pickup pile that belonged to someone 5 miles away. The reciever said he was doing inventory on boxes delivered 2 days before and found it in the box. It was a Next Day Air for a bank's mailroom. I could imagine this has happened many times in the past with others.
 

atatbl

Well-Known Member
I agree with DC. The consignee cannot file the claim, the shipper does. Even if Paul knew what was supposed to be inside he cannot file the claim and I doubt UPS would even talk to him about it.

Do you even read what you're typing about?

How do you remember to breathe?
 

grgrcr88

No It's not green grocer!
We had a driver sent to one of our local post offices to pick up a package they found in their facility that belonged to UPS, this is not all that unusual, however when he picked it up it had the old register tape style shipping label on it, no kind of tracking what so ever. It contained a collectors plate from Little Orphan Annie. If I remember right the date on the register tape was like 1987. Turns out the consignee still lived in the house it was addressed to. They were pretty shocked to get it!!

Post office said it was stuck in a bin of undeliverable mail and had been there for years.

Obviously!!!
 
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