1/18/2016 SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A San Francisco woman did all she could to safeguard a gift she was mailing. But when her gift went missing, her claim went nowhere.
Rita Viale sent a nice graduation gift to her nephew in Alabama. “Congratulations you graduated high school and here’s a little money,” she wrote in a card.
She put a $500 Visa gift card inside the greeting card that he never received. “He said ‘great card, but there’s nothing in there,”‘ Viale said.
The envelope arrived, but the $500 gift card was missing. “He took pictures and scanned them and sent them,” Viale said.
The photos show the envelope had been torn open, taped with postal tape and marked with postal stamps. “So it was obvious it had been tampered with. Somebody ripped it out and it’s been stolen,” she said.
source: San Francisco woman files claim with postal service over missing gift card
we will look into this………supervisors not getting raises and workers not getting their OT has caused this type of crime to sky rocket. our new employees are paid so little they do not know what a gift card is, much less go into a store to make a transaction. elephant plaza will get to the bottom of this as soon as we get out of the gym.
That’s scary when they can’t even handle registered mail correctly; and after they screw that up they handle the customer even worse.
Where does it say that she sent it via registered mail. You and I know that she should have but the article does not say that. There are other kinds of postal tape than adhesive paper tape. For instance, that tape which reads “damaged in handling”. As a former window clerk I know that a gift card can only be insured if sent registered mail as it is the same as cash.
That does not mean that someone took the missing item. The reading leads me to believe that the envelope could have been damaged and item was lost, and it was repaired. I have found many loose gift cards in the mail system. How can the loose gift cards be sent on when the envelope does not have a legible
address? Just saying the high speed machine destroys letters, and gift cards are found without a place to go. I repair mail and attempt to match loose items and it is almost impossible when there are more than one envelope damaged. Maybe if the senders put addresses on the cards the items will make it to the destination, or returned to sender.
It was sent Registered Mail, no reason for it to be processed by automation. Also, why was payment sent by Money order?? Usually, gift cards are not insurable.
Where is the inspection service ? Registered doesn’t go threw any machines. There again consolidation helps the Post Office provide better and faster service . NOT.
Are these people ignorant, stupid, and just plain foolish? Who in their right mind would put a $500 gift card in an envelope and put a 49 cent stamp on it and mail it off? You could spend $6 on priority mail and get a tracking number plus free packaging that is designed for today’s processing methods. If you put that gift card in a paper letter envelope, guess what? It is going to run through the letter sorting machine and get caught because of the rigidity of the gift card.
Read the story, will you? It was sent Registered Mail, should not have gotten mixed with regular mail. Of course, the front of the letter was not shown on the video, so who knows?
With millions of pieces of mail being worked ,unfortunately this happens all too frequently .Being a retired postal employee,with 38 years of service i can say that these few dishonest employees will eventually get caught and fired as well as charged with theft .The Postal inspection Service is excellent when it comes to theft.They get into uniform and work along side the carriers and clerks as well as observe from the galleys in the ceiling ,overlooking the work floor .How anyone who commits these thefts for pennies, risking a good job with many benefits,is beyond me .I work part time now in the private sector,without unions. It’s like night and day experiencing the private sector with little pay increases, no lockers for your clothes,poor working conditions, and abusive supervisors .Yes, the PO has abusive supervisors also. But they have recourse ,with the unions and a grievance procedure.
Gee Mrs postmaster. ..another c.c.a?…what do ya think?