Keep eyes out for a N scale brass Shay- EDIT maybe moving now

[u18b]

This request is a long shot.....

Well.... what a horrible saga.

After a lot of work and a lot of money for Alex....
I mailed his OMI brass Western Maryland Shay back to him.... and it appears the Post Office  "lost" the package.

It was insured..... but everyone please keep your eyes looking out for any Shay for sale.
I have photos of Alex's Shay and I could identify it. (even has my fingerprints on it  )

While it could be misplaced and will turn up.... part of me suspects a postal employee may have taken it.

Please Message and email me right away if you see a Shay for sale.
I live in northwest Florida.   The Shay was last traced to Jacksonville. Supposedly shipped out to the next location which would have been Savannah- but no tracking after Jacksonville.    Alex lives in N Carolina.

Alex has been thru so much with this expensive locomotive.   I'm just sick about it.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ugh, the USPS continues to find new ways to disappoint me. I'm sorry Ron, this sucks.

[Dave V]

Post office has been damaging a lot of my model railroad stuff.

We have a common "mail kiosk" in our neighborhood where I saw our mail carrier--in the space of 30 seconds--drop one package on the sidewalk and then toss two more a distance of several feet into a bin. I filed an incident report and promptly heard nothing at all.

Ron, some years ago I had some insured stuff get completely f**ked in transit and they wouldn't honor the insurance. I really hope your luck is better.

Trying not to be so cynical and curmudgeonly, but it does seem like every single service out there is in a race to be the shittiest.

[mark.hinds]

I sympathize with the OP and his customer, and hope they find the missing item. 

However, to post a contrary opinion on the USPS, I have always obtained better service from them than from their competitors (who have done stuff like leave a package on the driveway of our garage).  FWIW. 

MH

[GhengisKong]

I sympathize with the OP and his customer, and hope they find the missing item. 

However, to post a contrary opinion on the USPS, I have always obtained better service from them than from their competitors (who have done stuff like leave a package on the driveway of our garage).  FWIW. 

MH

I will echo this sentiment as well. USPS has always been more expedient in my experience.

[Mark5]

Hang in there, I've had many packages "take the scenic route" before finally arriving.

Meanwhile, have the Postal Inspector (if they still have them) open a case (not of booze).

Mark

[u18b]

Hang in there, I've had many packages "take the scenic route" before finally arriving.

Meanwhile, have the Postal Inspector (if they still have them) open a case (not of booze).

Mark

spoke to my local postmaster a day or two ago.
He hasn't contacted me yet.

[bbussey]

I would put a trace on it.  Chances are that it really did get mis-routed or misplaced.  I had a package recently travel from the distribution center a couple of towns away out to Iowa where it sat for a week before traveling back.  In all likelihood, it will surface intact.

[u18b]

Thanks for the hope Bryan.

[sirenwerks]

You might put an APB out to places like Templar Toys & Trains, Hurricane Hobbies in Jacksonville and any places in Savannah area that deal with brass.

[thomasjmdavis]

I once had a package stolen off my doorstep (small town, post office would leave anything that didn't fit the mailbox on the doorstep). 

Also had a package from Texas that took a circuitous 10 day route to the Midwest, then spent six weeks going back and forth between Indianapolis and Oklahoma city (I'm in Michigan).  It did finally arrive, something like 8 weeks (total) from the day it was shipped.  All of the moves were in the tracking, but... apparently, there is nothing in the tracking software that auto reports when a package gets caught in a loop.

My observation on Postal Inspectors is that, in my experience, they are VERY good at what they do.  I've dealt with them 3 times (late 1980s, early 2000s, and 2011), and each time, the issue was resolved in less than 48 hours. 

[jpwisc]

USPS is suffering from some forced slowing right now. I made an order 3 weeks ago. It got dropped at the post office in Kentucky the day after I ordered it. The tracking number went dark for 2 weeks, then it popped back up and started moving. They are behind and overwhelmed. Hopefully the box arrives, better late than never.

[ridinshotgun]

I would put a trace on it.  Chances are that it really did get mis-routed or misplaced.  I had a package recently travel from the distribution center a couple of towns away out to Iowa where it sat for a week before traveling back.  In all likelihood, it will surface intact.

I echo this.  Every package that I have had disappear or take a scenic detour has miraculously reappeared and been delivered within a day or two of the trace starting.

[peteski]

I would say with all the crazy routing of USPS packages (mentioned few times in the Crew Lounge), there might still be hope that the package will resurface.  How would some postal employee know that the package had a very expensive model train? Usually only the contents value is stated.

Also, from the personal experience, packages are tracked and actual photos are taken in many locations. When  I had a package delivered to a totally different address and I inquired about it at the post office, the postmaster took me to his office and he showed me (in some app on his desktop  compouter) all the en-route images of my package, including one which showed that an address label from another package accidentally got stuck to my package and that was why it went to a totally different address,  In the end my package was eventually successfully delivered to the correct address.

[nkalanaga]

I've also had packages get stuck in a loop.  In one case, it went from our hub (Charleston, WV) to the wrong main PO in Kentucky, to a satellite PO.  It then went back to the main office, but rather than sending it to Charleston to be resorted, the main office sent it right back to the satellite.  The third trip I talked to our postmaster, he called the main office that had the package, and told them to send it to Charleston.  I had it the next day.

He also explained that items are scanned twice when they arrive.  The first scan is of the container (whatever kinds they use) to make sure it goes to that PO.  If you package is supposed to be in the container, it's counted as arrived.

The second scan is of the individual items as they're removed from the container.  That can result in your item being at two different offices at the same time, if it was put in the wrong container after being sorted.  The container is at your PO, but the item is at another.