Mail Order Delivery Issue

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

In the grand scheme, I have been very lucky on the mail order front. Of the several hundred packages I have mailed out over the least few years, I have had only 4-5 broken bottles reported. No lost packages. No dissatisfied customers (reported to me at least).
 
Yesterday, i customer who made a $120 order from me emailed to tell me that his package never arrived.
 
I took out the receipt, tracked it with USPS and it shows that the package was scanned and delivered. I spoke to my post master who tracked it as well and told me that, this info is what the USPS will stand by and there is not 'too' much else they can do. I have the post master's number who I plan to call tomorrow.
 
Before I chalk it up to 'cost of doing business' or 'eventually i would encounter a larger mail order problem/issue', I have my concerns on a business front.
 
I usually ask customers to provide me with a photo of the broken bottle before I send a make-good, and I explain that I use it to show to the post office so that I may inquire about the insurance on my package....I don't follow through on that, but it usually 'weeds' out those who think they'll just write in and say their package was damaged in order to get a second bottle for free.
 
While my luck has been good so far, it is going to be a pretty big hit for me to have to 'make good'  the entire order + shipping on my dime. And if I make good on this, no matter whose fault it was, doesn't it just open the door for me to have to make good on any customer claim that is sent to me? Granted, every situation is different, but I keep coming back to: the package was scanned at the address as delivered. The guy at my PO told me that this is the new policy on packages. Everything gets scanned when dropped off or picked up at the post office for the sole reason of confirming its delivery.
 
Possible that this guy is trying to scam me? Possible that it was stolen off his property? Possible that the mail man delivered it to the wrong address? I confirmed that the package was addressed properly. Post office tracking shows it was delivered properly.
 
I'm all for great customer service, but there has to be some sort of line... I don't feel I am being unreasonable with my concerns. How would you handle? 

 

[Student of Spice]

Ouch. There is a line. I would use the confirmation and leave it at that. Luckily you tracked it. Suggest "he look around as you know it was delivered" maybe he finds it
if not maybe offer a discount to another order and suggest he contact the post office and file a police report. It would be a federal offense. Maybe if he shows you a copy of the
police report you can make him a better deal?

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

I agree, and the last thing I want to do is to tell the customer 'sorry, it was delivered. not my fault'....while that may be 100% the truth, 1. he can do a chargeback on his credit card and get his money back. this puts me in the position to do all the 'paper work' on my end to send the receipt and fill out all the nonsense to show that i did everything properly.....these things rarely work out for the merchant.... then 2. he could take to social media. I have no idea of the size of his out reach, but i don't want negative shit floating out there that takes a life if it's own with the truth rarely being heard/accepted....the customer is always right sentiment will win out there as well.
 
I do like the idea of asking him to file a police report for 'my insurance' purposes. Like the broken bottle scam, if he is lying and trying to get over on me, I'm sure he will go away quickly.
 
If I was in his shoes though, even for $135 out of pocket, the idea of going to the trouble of filing a police report could be fruitless....not like the police are gonna do anything about it..they aren't gonna find the sauces at a local pawn shop...lol..... it'd strictly to pacify my need to file an insurance claim with the post office and i wouldnt go to the trouble.....id try a charge back with my credit card company, hope for the best, and leave with a sour taste in my mouth with the sauce company.
 
i don't win in any scenario outside of the package showing up in his bushes due to excessive winds....lol

 

[SmokenFire]

On a larger order it would behoove you to upgrade shipping to require a signature.  Armed with a signature you'd have some fall back as to who/how/why said package was delivered.  I've had this happen in other business before several times - and almost always it's some multi unit apartment building where some other tenant swiped the box as it lay in the lobby.
 
That said without having a signature, etc I think you have to make good on this order.  By all means make as big a stink as you can with the postmaster and all other assorted USPS officials you have time/access to - at the very least you should be able to recoup the insurance on the shipment or cause enough blow back down the line to discourage some asshat mailman from taking your booty.
 
It sucks to be sure.  But your good name is far more valuable than the $120 order + shipping.  We live in an age where any jerk with an axe to grind can be a considerable and long lasting thorn in your side on the internet.  

 

[Chewi]

possible it was delivered to the wrong address yes. It happens to me 2 to 3 times a year. Not only that, but I get mail that is supposed to go to other houses in the neighborhood all the time. USPS Priority Mail, not UPS or Fed-Ex. USPS is the worst.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Best to replace it, if I never received something and they didn't resend, I would never use them again and you could get bad reviews.
 
Tracking just means it was delivered. I took home an iPad they handed me at the PO. Got home it was not to me on the box. They scanned it when I took it so that means it was noted as delivered, it's possible I even signed I don't remember. Returned it of course.
 
I've had people swear they sent stuff to find out it was delivered to the same bldg. number but a different street. All kinds of stuff.

Get a sig on replacements.

But your good name is far more valuable than the $120 order + shipping. 

 
Bingo.

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

On a larger order it would behoove you to upgrade shipping to require a signature.  Armed with a signature you'd have some fall back as to who/how/why said package was delivered.  I've had this happen in other business before several times - and almost always it's some multi unit apartment building where some other tenant swiped the box as it lay in the lobby.
 
That said without having a signature, etc I think you have to make good on this order.  By all means make as big a stink as you can with the postmaster and all other assorted USPS officials you have time/access to - at the very least you should be able to recoup the insurance on the shipment or cause enough blow back down the line to discourage some asshat mailman from taking your booty.
 
It sucks to be sure.  But your good name is far more valuable than the $120 order + shipping.  We live in an age where any jerk with an axe to grind can be a considerable and long lasting thorn in your side on the internet.  

 
 
I may do signature requirement on anything over $50. it barely costs anything but the piece of mind will be nice as I fret over every package i send from now on till it is a distant memory.
 
before i do make good though, I am going to talk to my post master tomorrow to see my options that involved the customer the least....i know if i was asked to contribute to the investigation, id have a sour taste in my mouth.....only sour taste i want to provide is from my sauce! lol

 

[pa1966stang]

The way I look at it, if you make good on the order, that is another satisfied customer that will tell his friends you did the right thing. About 6 years ago I had a ~$500 order from bodybuilding.com delivered to the house, confirmed, and it was gone when I got home from work. I am almost 100% positive someone stole it from my front porch. They replaced it with 0 questions asked when I called them. I have since spent at least $5000 at the same website, because I know they will do me right no matter what the circumstance is. 
 
Do you want to be Comcast (which consumers loath) or Virgin Atlantic (one of the highest rated airlines)?
 
TW

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

The way I look at it, if you make good on the order, that is another satisfied customer that will tell his friends you did the right thing. About 6 years ago I had a ~$500 order from bodybuilding.com delivered to the house, confirmed, and it was gone when I got home from work. I am almost 100% positive someone stole it from my front porch. They replaced it with 0 questions asked when I called them. I have since spent at least $5000 at the same website, because I know they will do me right no matter what the circumstance is. 
 
Do you want to be Comcast (which consumers loath) or Virgin Atlantic (one of the highest rated airlines)?
 
TW

 
I agree with your line of thinking, but the only way i come out of this unscathed is to simply 'make good' with no questions or requests in having him help figure out the mystery of the missing package. There is a much stronger chance of him bad mouthing me for not making good then for him spreading the gemini crow gospel to his friends if I do.....'cost of doing business'.
 
Still raw in my mind , and I know what I need to do....crappers.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Replace the 'order' and consider it 'lesson learned' that signature is required with larger orders.

Very likely it was 'delivered' and a passer-by 'stole it' from his 'porch'.

Also possible you're 'being scammed'.

I'm just confused as to why 'you're' putting' so many 'things in quotes '.


Regardless, a customer with a large order says they didn't get it, so you have to make it right. You didn't ship it signature required, so the onus is on you to prove the customer didn't actually receive the package. It is what it is.

 

[heathotsauce]

So I agree with everyone saying you have to replace it and just accept that it's the cost of doing business. Good customer service is worth way more than the cost of replacing missing packages. With that being said, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. 
 
First, ask them to check around the mailbox and porch to see if it could have been left in an odd place. In the last year, I've had about a dozen such situations, and something like 3 people found the package when I asked them to check. Some may have been fraudsters chickening out, but for the most part I think this just comes down to human error (eg the mail carrier chucking the package off the side of the porch).
 
 
If it's not there, the next step is to let the customer know that occasionally things are marked as Delivered in error, and so if it doesn't show up in the next two days, you'll send them replacements (even though it wont be covered by the shipping insurance). I've had about 3 people who did get it a few days after it was as marked as Delivered. This is because apparently mail carriers will occasionally mark packages as delivered without actually delivering them 
 
So following those two steps, I went from about 12 missing packages to 6 (and this is out of many thousands of packages, so it's a pretty small percentage).
 
 
One other tip - pretty much every time this has happened to me, the tracking shows "Delivered On/At Mailbox" or "Delivered at Porch" (see this tracking page for an example of what I mean). If instead it simply says "Delivered", it's more likely to be fraud (but that doesn't get you off the hook for replacing it). 
 
And one other thought - it's definitely smart to require signatures on orders over $50, but an alternative is to use UPS/FedEx on larger orders instead. Generally speaking, they will be cheaper than USPS on packages over 5 lbs (that is, unless you can fit them in a USPS Medium Flat Rate Box). I've never had this issue with either of those carriers, as they don't just leave things in mailboxes or on the porch. But make sure you set up a business account and talk to a rep about getting discounts. Also, I'd advice against getting insurance when using those carriers - the thing about it is, the insurance is only valid on broken bottles if they pack the package themselves (which they charge an arm and a leg for), and they are much more reliable in terms of lost packages, so the insurance generally is a losing proposition.