[hcv123]

Originally Posted by buymycards

I have mailed over 1000 items so far this year, about 1/2 with tracking and 1/2 without. I have had 2 people claim that they didn't receive their item, and all of the people received their tracked items.

I have received nearly 200 packages, some of them took longer than normal, but they all arrived safely.

USPS delivers 20 million packages a day. So, if the PO is 99.9% accurate, that means that 20,000 packages per day are damaged, lost or misdelivered. We never hear about the 19,980,000 packages that arrive safely, only the ones that have a problem.

Also, I would venture to say that of the 20,000 packages with problems, 1/2 of them are caused by the sender or the recipient, with crappy packaging, reducing the size of the label which results in the machines not being able to read the bar-code, customers who have moved but not notified USPS, PayPal, or eBay, etc.

I have had major slowdowns with Fed Ex and UPS packages, plus 2 delivered to the wrong address, but again, I would guess that both of those companies are over the 99% accurate delivery range.

Plus, I totally agree with Scott about using Registered Mail for expensive items, and I agree with Scott about using a Post Office box. The drawback with using a PO box is that it is only for USPS mail. You cannot send a Fed Ex package or a UPS package to a PO box.

My numbers are a bit smaller. but still significant. Thankfully have had no delivery or receiving issues. Do almost nothing with Fred ex or UPS - so can't comment there. Agree with registered mail. and PO box - I have my box set up as a "street address" - costs a few bucks, but allows delivery of FedEx and UPS packages to it.
Re making purchases - I would make sure either the items you are purchasing qualify for Ebay money back guarantee, that the seller's are insuring them and that you pay for them with some form of credit card backed payment (so you have immediate recourse).