Handgun lost in mail. Or - USPS follies!


sequimgunz

New member
Here's something that's going on with me right now that I thought some of you might get a kick out of.

On 5/1/09 I ordered a Taurus 1911 from a company in Idaho. I live in Washington state, so I arranged to have it sent to a local dealer. The gun was subsequently shipped via USPS on 5/5.

On 5/7 I tracked the gun on the Internet and it said that it had arrived in town at 5:50am. I went to the Dealer's around noon to see if it had been delivered and he said no, and that he had not received ANY mail for the past three days and thought that was strange. I suggested he call the Post Office, but he said he'd rather take care of it face-to-face, but was too busy to leave the shop just yet.

I went by again on 5/8 and got the same reply - NO mail delivered. This time I STRONGLY suggested he make some calls and find out what's going on.

The next day, I received a call from him saying that it was bad news. Someone had fraudulently filed a change-of-address card with the Post Office and forged his name to it. All his mail was being diverted to Florida, including my handgun!!

When I checked on-line tracking, it showed the gun in Tampa, so I spent the better part of the weekend trying to trace it down and stop delivery. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time trying to navigate through their phone system and accomplished very little.

On 5/11 the package was actually REFUSED at some Bushnell, FL, address! Then at 5/12 it was "Processed" at Federal Way, WA. I spoke with USPS Investigators in Seattle, plus Postal workers here in town, but the end result is - - - They really have no clue where the gun is right now. Half the people I spoke with said they thought it was coming back to the Dealer at my town, and the other half said it was probably going back to the original shipping Dealer. But other than guessing, they have no idea of where the gun is actually sitting at the moment!! Three days have passed and the gun has shown up in neither location.

Fortunately, the original Dealer insured it. Also, I paid with a credit card, so it's unlikely I will lose the $650 or so I spent on it. Still, it's hard for me to believe the Post Office can be so inept with this kind of thing. I pointed out to the Investigator that a handgun shipment should NEVER be forwarded, but she told me that their policy does not address that issue. Meanwhile, the dirtbag who started all of this by sending in a false change-of-address card will probably never be caught.

Bottom line - - when you order a handgun to be sent to your Dealer, consider paying a few extra bucks to let UPS or FedEx handle it. I know they sometimes "lose" items such as handguns, but I think you will generally find them to be much better at keeping track of your stuff.
 

That's wierd. I bought a Glock 23 and am having it shipped UPS. Neither me or the seller know where it is, and we are having problems getting anything done about it. Seems like UPS and USPS need to get their sh** together.
 
Bottom line - - when you order a handgun to be sent to your Dealer, consider paying a few extra bucks to let UPS or FedEx handle it. I know they sometimes "lose" items such as handguns, but I think you will generally find them to be much better at keeping track of your stuff.

That is funny! UPS has to be the utter worst at missing crap!. UPS has cost me thousands over the years

Fedex is a great choice if you can get delivery.

I still have much better luck with USPS than anything. What you do is have it shipped priority mail with signature card and have the sender mark on the package DO NOT FORWARD, RETURN TO SENDER. You need to know how to use the system to get what you want
 
Here's what I don't get, if the Idaho dealer was shipping it to an FFL dealer in Washington, what do you have anything to do with it, or your address? It should have went straight to the WA dealer and thats it, they would include your name inside the package, maybe a mention on the outside, like, care of or something like that, but the address should have been the dealers, since that is the only legal way of doing it. So I'm not sure what your (changed address) would have to do with it even if it really was changed by you, even though it wasnt, they still cannot send it to you! Pretty weird stuff! I wonder if the ID dealer messed something up by putting your address and not the WA dealer?
 
chudak25, you misread his post. It wasn't his address that was changed it his dealers address.

btw, welcome to the site!
 
That's right - it was the Dealer's address that got messed up. Tracking STILL shows the last action as processing in Federal Way on the 12th. I did suggest to the Idaho Dealer that they mark all gun shipments with "Do Not Forward", and he said that sounded like a good idea. Interesting that some have had problems with UPS - maybe I've just been lucky. Their packages have always arrived and are usually in very good shape. USPS packages, on the other hand, look like they were kicked all the way to my house. I guess your mileage may vary......
 
Actually you should thank the USPS for losing your Taurus. Now you have the opportunity to rectify your error and purchase a "real" 1911.
:biggrin:
 
Actually you should thank the USPS for losing your Taurus. Now you have the opportunity to rectify your error and purchase a "real" 1911.
:biggrin:

What’s wrong with a Taurus, I got the PT1911SS about a month ago and it works just fine, it looks like a 1911, feels like one and shoots like one for a fraction of the price. The money that I did save by not buying an expensive one, I used to get me Bushmaster AR-15, now that’s fun! I wouldn’t mind having a Kimber or Wilson Combat, but at those prices, I can get a .45 Taurus and some other caliber gun that I don’t have yet. The way I see it is this, as long as the gun shoots and does not jam or misfeed, it’s all good no matter the name brand or the price of it.
 
Actually, to console myself from the Taurus mess, I bought a Kimber Raptor Pro II the other day. It seems like a nice little 4" 1911, although I'm sure the Taurus will be of decent quality too. Seems like they (Taurus) started by making S&W clones many years ago, but eventually started cloning everyone's stuff, and did a pretty good job of it. I have a few Tauruses (Taurusai?) in the safe and have been quite pleased with them.
 
Usually I just plink at "The Pit" down on Fish Hatchery Road. But I have fired at Drykes and a couple of places in Jefferson County. Left some lead at The Pit just this morning.
 
Gun finally surfaced today in Idaho, back at the Dealer of origin! He is shipping it back to my Dealer (a different one this time) via USPS again, so we'll see if it shows up this time. Meanwhile, it has done a lot of traveling in the past 12 days and probably has some good stories to tell.
 
The Taurus FINALLY arrived today and I picked it up at the Dealer's, only to discover that the magazine will not drop free!! Closer examination shows that the studs which hold the little spring-pin holder on the left side (at the top of the grip) were not flatted completely and are protruding into the magazine well. Damn. Instead of sending my gun off to explore the world again, I will probably try to fix the thing myself and will hope I don't just make things worse. Quality control took a hit on this one.
 

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