Update: Stolen Mail Report

We just contacted KELO, a local news station about a report they did this evening about our mail that disappeared in 2007. The reporter will be sharing our story sometime tomorrow.

The reason for the follow up is because the news station was led to believe that the mail theft victims got their stuff back when not everyone did. All we got was empty packages.

** Here is the link to our original story:

http://thereevesreport.blogspot.com/2010/05/where-do-missing-packages-go-mail-theft.html

** Here's the news report:

Stolen Mail Found Years After Being Sent

By Ben Dunsmoor
Published: May 5, 2010, 5:54 PM

SIOUX FALLS, SD - Thousands of people who sent a letter or package that never made it to its destination are now getting them back.

Last June, Michael Dallas Andersen of Garretson was sent to prison for stealing that mail. Andersen pleaded guilty to one count of stealing and opening mail last year. He admitted to taking the mail between 2006 and 2008. But it wasn't until after the case was closed that authorities found the more than 30,000 pieces of mail Andersen had stolen.

Packages are being returned to sender by the postal service, not because they had the wrong address but because they just found the mail that is nearly four years old.

"What we've been trying to do is find a way to get this mail back to its rightful owners," Pete Nowacki of the U.S. Postal Service said.

Officials with the Postal Service say Michael Andersen worked as a private contractor who would haul the mail from the Sioux Falls processing center to the airport. For two years, Andersen took thousands of parcels and stocked them away in an abandoned storage garage. Authorities didn't find the garage until this past February, eight months after Andersen was sentenced for the crime.

"There were materials that were being sent to somebody that had been separated from the package. So we've been doing what we can to sort of do a little bit of detective work trying to match this up and trying to make sure it gets back with the correct package," Nowacki said.

After finding the mail in February, federal investigators sifted through it, and now it is starting to be mailed back.

"The type of service we normally provide wasn't provided here and there's nothing we can do to make up for that, but what we can do is everything we can in our power to try and help people get some sort of closure, some sort of peace of mind that they know at least they've gotten their piece back. They know it's not out there missing somewhere," Nowacki said.

Andersen was sentenced last June to one year in prison and ordered to pay $2,600 in restitution.

KELO & this story

Latest UPDATE:

Today, KELO ran the update that included our packages that were caught in the mail theft that took place here, in Sioux Falls.

** Here's the report and a video:

Stolen Mail Returned To Woman

Posts By Ben Dunsmoor
Published: May 6, 2010, 6:12 PM


SIOUX FALLS, SD - A Sioux Falls woman is upset over her stolen mail that hasn't been returned. The mail in question was stolen between August 2006 and August 2008.

A couple of torn up envelopes is all Brenda Reeves has to show for the jewelry she sold on e-Bay two-and-a-half years ago.

"There I sat thinking, 'Gosh, I wonder what was in there,'" Reeves said.

The two small envelopes had fashion jewelry; as for this large package, she's still trying to figure that out.

"December of 2007. That's almost two and a half years ago. That's a long time," Reeves said.

The confusion started when the packages showed up on her doorstep this week. She wasn't expecting anything, but when she opened up the parcels and found ripped up envelopes and a letter from the U.S. Postal Service saying her mail was stolen two years ago, she was speechless.

"Wasn't too sure what to think and then I opened them and then I was horrified," Reeves said.

She wasn't just horrified that her mail was stolen, but that this case had gone on for more than three years and she didn't know anything about it until this week.

"Somebody got away with our merchandise and we had unhappy customers evidently because they didn't get their merchandise and I'm questioning why were we never contacted," Reeves said.

Michael Andersen was sentenced to one year in prison last year and ordered to pay $2,600 in restitution. But by looking at her torn up envelopes, Reeves thinks Andersen stole, stored and never delivered a lot more mail than that.

"If you've got 30,000 pieces of mail missing and I have three right here that had nothing in it, how many others didn't have anything in it?" Reeves said.

The Postal Service didn't find the garage where Andersen kept the mail until February of this year, eight months after Andersen was sentenced.

Officials say they're doing their best to match up items that were found in the garage with the empty packages that were also in the garage. But with 30,000 pieces of mail, it's a big job to take on.

KELO & this story



The comment about the number of packages and how many may be missing their contents was made in regards to the restitution that was set in the legal case in this story. It just seems like an awfully low amount considering how much merchandise this person likely made off with. How many others got nothing but empty envelopes or boxes back? How much should the restitution have really been set at?

Also, if the missing items are sitting in some bin somewhere in the USPS system, what are they going to do with it? They never contacted us to see what might have belonged in the packages. It doesn't seem like USPS did all that they could to match up the contents to the empty packages.

We will be contacting USPS about this situation to see what else may be done.

Where Do Missing Packages Go? Mail Theft Does Happen

Most online sellers have had buyers who have contacted them because their package is slow to arrive or has failed to arrive. Sometimes it is a case of another family member picking up the mail and forgetting to let the buyer know that it has arrived, it may be a case of being impatient or whatever. Then of course, once in a very great while, it is someone trying to get two items for the price of one. At any rate, things may not always be as they seem.

We have only had one serious incident with USPS in all of our years selling online. That was when 8-10 packages turned up missing and when we contacted the PO, they said that a whole truck of mail was abandoned in a mountain pass in the dead of winter. We never saw the mail again, the buyers never got the mail and in the end, all were refunded, including us.

After what happened today, we have realized that there is another twist that can take place.

Today, we got some USPS shipping supplies. We were not around when the mail carrier arrived so they left them on the front step. Under the supplies were 3 priority mail envelopes.

We were horrified when we opened them.

One was a priority mail box that we sent 12-08-07
One was a 4 X 8 bubble mailer we sent 12-08-07
The last one was a 4 X 8 bubble mailer we sent 02-09-08

All had been torn open with the contents missing.

USPS enclosed the same letter in each package. We were just sick.

Here's the letter:

Dear Postal Customer:

The enclosed mail piece was recovered recently from an abandoned storage unit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We believe that the storage unit was used by a suspect in a mail theft prior to his arrest. On June 19, 2009, that suspect was convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment for the violation of Title 18 USC 1702, Obsrtuction of Correspondence.

Our investigation is now closed. This letter is to inform you that we no longer require custody of the enclosed mail piece and are returning the mail to you. It is apparent that your mail piece was tampered with and that some or all of the contents are missing. We have worked as best as we can to match any loose contents to the appropriate mail piece but have not always been successful.

If you have experienced a financial loss due to the theft of the enclosed mail, please enter a mail theft complaint at www.postalinspecors.uspis.gov or call the Postal Inspection Service at (877) 876-2455, option 3. If you believe you may have been the victim of identity theft, please contact one of the following credit reporting agencies to place a fraud alert on your account:

Equifax (800) 525-6285
Experian (888) 397-3748
TansUnion (800) 680-7829

We regret any loss and inconvenience this may have caused you. Please be assured of our continued attention to the security of mail while in the custody of the U.S. Postal Service.

Sincerely,
Handwritten Signature Here
Joseph P Schneiders
Postal Inspector

After thinking about it, this means that the mail disappeared while in USPS custody. It did not happen after it was delivered, it happened right here in Sioux Falls after we sent it on it's way. It never got out of town and all of it was headed for cities on the different coasts.

It is hard to believe that this kind of thing can happen but low and behold, it happened to us.

We don't remember these particular pieces and will have to go through our records to see what the items were and go about filing the complaints as necessary. It sure seems odd that USPS never contacted us in all of this time. The one who stole the mail is due to get out of jail next month, if he hasn't already.

We wonder:

Why didn’t USPS let us know something earlier so we could advise our customers? We didn’t have to tell them what happened as far as the exact details but just to give them a heads up that there was a problem.

The way this was handled, the customers likely thought we may have been less than truthful with info about the package.

It just seems that 2.5 years after the first packages disappeared and just before the culprit that stole the packages gets out of jail is, at the very least, a little bit late.

Why wasn't any of this on the local news or in the newspapers? It was such a hush, hush deal that even those that were victims had no idea about it until now.

Sellers don’t always watch all of the Delivery Confirmation or tracking info on their packages until they arrive to the customer. After all, they have tons of other things they need to be doing but it appears that sellers should check the Delivery Confirmation and tracking on all of their packages from now on if they don't already.

When a buyer contacts the seller claiming that their package has not arrived, this is another scenario that the seller may want to consider when trying to locate the item.

Postal Service Outlines 10-Year Plan to Address Declining Revenue, Volume

USPS released an announcement of their future plans today that could affect online sales.

Click here to read what Postmaster General John E. Potter said.

Click here to read what the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Fredric Rolando, said in response to the proposed plan.

PayPal Seller Protection Update Shakes Sellers

PayPal announced a change to their user policies just over a week ago. Many sellers are not happy. The changes will go into effect March 10, 2010.

The most controversial of the updates deals with seller protection and delivery services, such as USPS. The amendment reads:

The following will be added to section 11.7 (newly numbered 11.5) as an additional example of transactions not eligible for seller protection:

“Items that are not shipped to the recipient’s shipping address on the Transaction Details Page. If you originally ship the item to the shipping address on the Transaction Details Page but the item is later redirected to a different address, you will not be eligible for seller protection. We therefore recommend not using a shipping service that is controlled by the buyer.”

PayPal User Updates

Sellers seem to have mixed feelings because they aren't very clear on how this update will affect them. Many feel that the update and the publicity of it will open the door to fraud even more than in the past. Some even say that it appears that PayPal is suggesting that they shouldn't use USPS because the customer is able to redirect their mail.

Sellers were sharing their thoughts on this at Seller Central
Click Here

To see what sellers are saying in their remarks at AuctionBytes
Click Here

To see what TheBrewsNews thinks and to read comments from their readers Click Here

Here is what they are saying on the eBay Answer Center - PayPal forum Click Here

See what they are saying over at Tamebay Click Here

There are more opinions out there but this will give you an idea of the confusion and concern that sellers are facing.

What is your take on this new policy?

Please leave your comments by clicking on the comments link below this article, just to the right of the time stamp.