Lost items in Registered Mail (USPS)?

Factual Questions
1

I mailed a valuable item a couple of weeks ago via Registered Mail at a US Post Office. It hasn’t arrived at its destination. When I enter the tracking number online, it says the expected delivery date is more than a week ago, but it just shows that it was “accepted” with no further activity.

I’m assuming it’s lost/stolen at this point, though I haven’t completely given up hope. I’d have more hope if there was some activity shown after the acceptance. It’s one thing for it to get delayed enroute, but to never leave the post office seems odd. However, I haven’t used Registered Mail in many years. Is it normal for the tracking to not show any activity until it’s arrived at its destination?

Does anyone have experiences with lost items in Registered Mail? Is there anything I should know before I file a claim? I declared the full value of the item, but frankly it’s going to be hard to replace. Given my experience with insurance/loss claims at other companies, I’m also expecting some push back on the value, though I’m hoping USPS is better. I do have the original receipt, but it’s from years ago.

This makes me really sad. The item had both monetary and sentimental value. I tried to do the right thing by sending it Registered (I’d originally tried FedEx and UPS but they wouldn’t cover the full value). I suppose the only truly reliable way to get an important item across the country is to take it myself.

2

Registered mail or certified mail? Most people confuse the two. With registered mail, the item is signed for every time it changes hands. They will be able to trace its path and know the person who allegedly has it in his/her possession. Start your inquiry with the USPS as soon as practical so that memories don’t fade.

If it were certified mail, all they know is the last place it happened to be scanned.

3

You don’t say what the source and destinations are but two weeks is far too long for anything mailed within the US. I have not lost an item sent Registered Mail but my advice to you is to act immediately.

USPS does not show you each step of the shipping process, as do FedEx and UPS, when you do online tracking for Registered Mail. So it’s hard to say where your package got stuck. But USPS may track it internally. However, it will take time for them to trace it, and you don’t want the trail to get cold.

Since you’re talking about the value, I assume you insured it.

[&varset%28source%29=sourceType:embedded"]Here is what USPS says to do](http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?create=kb:USPSFAQ&view()=c[c_usps0611) for missing Registered Mail pieces.

And [&varset%28source%29=sourceType:embedded"]here is the referenced FAQ](http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?create=kb:USPSFAQ&view()=c[c_usps04233).

Best of luck. Hope you find it.

4

Registered.

That’s automatically part of the Registered Mail service – there’s no way to send something Registered without insurance.

It’s actually been just under two weeks, so I’m a couple of days too early to file a claim, but I will do so as soon as 15 days has expired.

Thanks.

5

Registered Mail can be sent with no insurance if it has no intrinsic value, although that is not your case.

6

FTR USPS tracking isn’t like UPS tracking, you won’t see the package moving. Nothing will get updated on the site until it reaches it’s destination…IMHO it’s a pretty useless service. If you want to watch the package move and no down to a window of a few hours when it’ll arrive UPS is the way to go.

7

I’ve had a registered item go missing only once. A regular envelope containing a bank draft for a company in the US, mailed from here. This was before computer tracking, and it did disappear into thin air somewhere along the way. Canceling the bank draft was no problem, and the Thai postal service paid me some money. Forget how much, but I actually turned a profit on the deal.

8

What you’re saying is outdated.
I sell books and electronics online for a living, and when I send an item via US Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation, I typically get these scans, sometimes more:

  • Scan at the counter for receipt
  • Scan at regional depot/airport
  • Scan at destination post office
  • Scan when delivered

I have not once used certified mail, but your blanket statement is not true in the general sense.

On edit:
I should have noted that the above holds 95% of the time. Sometimes one of the above is missed, and occasionally no scans at all happen, but that is very rare.

9

Are you sure you mean Priority Mail rather than Express? Here is what USPS themselves say about tracking:

[&varset%28source%29=sourceType:embedded"]And also](http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?create=kb:USPSFAQ&view()=c[c_usps0611)

10

I meant Priority Mail.
Here’s the tracking for an HP Touchpad I sold recently, and sent Priority Mail.
The tracking reads backwards, BTW. Delivery at the beginning of the print-out, and acceptance, which is me handing it to the postal clerk, at the end.

Delivered, August 27, 2011, 12:38 pm, SAN JOSE, CA 95113
Arrival at Unit, August 27, 2011, 7:09 am, SAN JOSE, CA 95113
Processed through Sort Facility, August 27, 2011, 2:57 am, SAN JOSE, CA 95101
Processed through Sort Facility, August 26, 2011, 2:02 am, WARRENDALE, PA 15086
Acceptance, August 25, 2011, 12:18 pm, AKRON, OH 44312
Electronic Shipping Info Received, August 25, 201