Need help with lost package to Australia

[littlejack]

Hey fellas:
I need some help to find a package I sent to one of our members.
I sent a mould to Pat303 on May 3, this year. It hasn't arrived, and Pat
contacted me yesterday, and ask for help finding his moulds.
I went to the PO today, where I sent the package from, and talked to the
Supervisor. He said that it HAD been sent from their facility, and that there was
not much he/they could do.
He stated that after it gets to Customs to be sent to another country, it is no
longer their issue.
I did fill out a form to the "Mail Recovery Center" for mail that has been lost, has
the wrong address, unreadable name and or address etc.
He urged me to call the Customs office "?ever" and ask them to search for it in
their system with the Customs number. I seen on line, that Customs, has no way
to track items lost. IS THAT REALLY TRUE?
Has anyone here had any trouble like this in the past?
I sent it First-Class Mail Int'l Parcel with no insurance, MY BAD.
I could not get a Delivery Confirmation on the package when sent, as it was
leaving the US. I found out today, to have had it traceable would have cost me
about 74.00.
Any help witll be greatly appreciated by me and of course Pat303.
Jack

[JeffinNZ]

What a load of tripe. Of course it is still the post office problem. They contracted to deliver it to AU post and that's what they should have done. I love the old buck pass to 'customs'. Nothing gets handed over to 'customs'. Cargo, items, merchandise etc gets REPORTED to customs but the customs dept will hardly ever lay their hands on any cargo. The customs service is a parallel line to freight movements, not a link in the chain. Sounds to me like the "supervisor" doesn't know what he is talking about or can't be bothered with your trouble.

[lylejb]

now, this might not apply to Australia but

My wife occasionally sends boxes to Micronesia (Truk island), between Au and Guam.

for sending there, 1ST class = surface mail aka "slow boat" can take 4 or 5 MONTHS

Priority mail = air mail, and usually takes 2 weeks or so.

[SciFiJim]

+1 on what lylejb said. I have sent several molds to Australia. I always send them in the Flat Rate Priority envelope. I also add the recipient's phone number to the label to aid delivery.

littlejack, I know that that is not much help at this point. I do know from experience that the PO will only offer end to end tracking on international mail if it is sent by "Express Mail". The package is obviously somewhere, but finding just where may not be possible without physically digging through a warehouse of packages looking for one particular package. If it is still in the US and has your return address on it, it should eventually make its way back to you but could take months to do so. If it is outside the US, it might still make its way back to you. I have a friend that sent a package to South Africa that was never delivered. She got it back after 14 months.

[sthwestvictoria]

all is not lost as yet.

Australia Post is woefully slow. There probably has been a diminution over the last 15 years. Parcels take longer to move with in Australia sometimes than move from overseas.

I certainly have had things from the US take more than a month to get here, even sent Air Mail. It depends a bit on where Pat303 is geographically.

I would encourage anybody sending items to Australia to label them "replacement parts" "machinery dies" "engineering components" rather than anything referring to things that go boom.

As witnessed by the recent panty twisting hysteria about two Australian swimmers posturing with firearms there is not much acceptance here.

[littlejack]

Thank you all, fellas.
It looks as though Pat303 should wait for a spell longer. While doing so, I would do some checking with Customs and the Postal Service in Australia, if I were him.
I did PM Pat and told him that I posted this situation on the Our Town site.
Maybe he will post here and some of you can give him contact references/numbers in Australia.
Thank you all again.
Jack

[gandydancer]

I sold $400.00 worth of cowboy hats (2) a year ago and in a hurry put no insurance or tracking on them the box showed up no hats. USPS said to bad you lose. and I did. live and learn. GD

[littlejack]

Boy, that sucks big time.

[Reg]

Just sent a package to New Zealand,, it went First Class which is going to take a bit of time but could have added tracking for 11.00. It is available and sure as heck dosn't cost no 74.00.

[Norbrat]

I've had stuff take 2 months to get delivered from the USA, even for items sent airmail.

Chances are that the package will arrive eventually.

[Geraldo]

I've done some buying/trading with a guy in Brazil. His packages usually take around three weeks, but one did get here in seven days.

Depending on how you labeled it there could be a Customs issue. If you look at Midsouth Shooters site, bullet molds are one of many items that may require a State Dept. export license. So if you sent it as "bullet molds" instead of "metal mold blocks" it might have been detained.

[JeffinNZ]

I had another thought on your dilemma (other than the post master blaming a guvmint agency....). There is surface mail and air mail. Surface is traditional sea and air, oddly enough, is by air. BUT what many folk don't know is in between there is something known as surface air lift. Bascially the mail travels on surface everywhere it can until it reaches water then it flies. Thing is, it will always be treated as second class mail at best.

I know this from experience as my friend in Alabama used to send me bits and pieces and had an issue every single time. It's never a good sign when the post master doesn't even know where the destination country is and we are not talking about some third world wop destination here. Keith eventually worked out why it took so long to get stuff to me and now drives further to another post office where they know which way is up.

Long story short, the package is probably not lost - just taking it's time.

[littlejack]

Thanks for the positive inputs fellas.
It sounds as though all Pat needs to do is give it a little more time.
I sure hope this is the case.
Jack

[Junior1942]

For non-USA shipping, always spend the $1.15 and get a Certificate of Mailing. If it is late in arrival, the fellow there can call his local P.O. and simply tell them a package with a Certificate of Mailing from Zip xxxxx USA was mailed on xx/xx/xxxx and has not arrived. That has worked for me several times. The package always showed up. However, "late in arrival" for a non-USA package shipment means longer than a month. Packages from here to Australia have arrived in one week. But they've also arrived in five weeks.

[littlejack]

Thanks Junior for the information. That is good to know.
Jack

[Junior1942]

Thanks Junior for the information. That is good to know.
JackYou're welcome, Jack.

Another "always spend" is the 80¢ for USA-only Delivery Confirm. If a package with a Delivery Confirm # doesn't arrive at its intended delivery destination and the USPS web site says it was scanned in at that destination's post office, panic ensues at that post office. They'll actually go out and knock on doors along the route in case the postman delivered it to the wrong address. I've never lost a single package out of a thousand or so sent with a Delivery Confirm #.

The key is to have your postmaster telephone the delivery Zip code postmaster. That delivery postmaster is between a rock and a hard place because right there in black & white print the USPS web site says he got it so where is it. Or he got it, delivered it, but the recipient says, Nope, not in my mailbox. I ain't seen it.

A Delivery Confirm package has never been lost for me. Several of them have miraculously been delivered a day or two after my postmaster made the phone call.

PS: I highly suspect the Delivery Confirm label with its long number is a sign to post office people which says: Deliver me or else get ready for big dogs from headquarters to arrive and start looking in corners and asking questions.

[sthwestvictoria]

Having said that packages can take a while I just had a record time from the US to Victoria Australia.

Very good service from MadCommando (https://madcommando.com/eStore/)- excellent for Lee reloading gear.

I ordered on the 11th June, confirmation email on the 12th and then email that package was shipping on the 13th June.

The package arrived in my rural mail box today the 20th of June. Pretty good going, all the stars must have aligned with truck to plane to truck. The soft package states USPS Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope.

Have had two orders with MadCommando (https://madcommando.com/eStore/)- excellent quick service, very good prices (for us here in Australia) and will use them again.