Sent a check a week ago, and it hasn't arrived. Should ...
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Alk8944
US Veteran
How much of a hurry are you in, and how long will he hold the gun?
Had one case where an insurance application and check was mailed to our agency from Iowa. It was in our pre-printed bar-coded return envelope and took 30 days to the day to show up, after being to Vermont and California on the way! (Really!!!) A friend mailed me a Christmas card a few years ago. He lives about 11 miles from me and are both served by the same main Post Office. That one took 15 days! Just 7 days? You are lucky if it even got out of your county yet!
If you want to spend the $20-30 stop-payment fee go ahead, I would wait a few more days.
Have you considered Western Union (Yup, still around), direct wire-transfer??? If you bank at the same bank (not branch!) you can transfer directly from your account to his.
Had one case where an insurance application and check was mailed to our agency from Iowa. It was in our pre-printed bar-coded return envelope and took 30 days to the day to show up, after being to Vermont and California on the way! (Really!!!) A friend mailed me a Christmas card a few years ago. He lives about 11 miles from me and are both served by the same main Post Office. That one took 15 days! Just 7 days? You are lucky if it even got out of your county yet!
If you want to spend the $20-30 stop-payment fee go ahead, I would wait a few more days.
Have you considered Western Union (Yup, still around), direct wire-transfer??? If you bank at the same bank (not branch!) you can transfer directly from your account to his.
5Wire
Member
Ask your bank if the check has been posted, I'd wait a while and then call the seller and ask about the status of the sale & shipment.
Arik
Member
A guy payed me for ammo with a USPS MO. It never arrived. He send another MO and all was good. Several months later the 1st MO arrived. Good address, stamp, everything good. Where it has been no that whole time no one knows
rburg
Member
I get a check every month from the company I retired from. Like most companies, they have a procedure. I usually get it on the last friday, like clockwork. But we trust the USPS, maybe not the best business example. So last month, as always, I expected it in late June. No joy. So the 4th holiday came and went. The next week came along and it got there about the 6th. In its self mailer, as always, with a postage meter stamp of 6/26. The company did everything right. They keep upping the postage to cover storage costs.
Sometimes they do things right. Mostly not. I'm expecting a check from B'ham. Its not like its across the country. I was mailed last Friday, expecting it first part of this week. Not here yet. maybe tomorrow, maybe not.
When I'm sending something I feel is important, and a new gun is important, I just use FedEx. Laugh all you want, they mostly do a good job, and I get a tracking number I can watch it get lost or take a vacation around the country. At least it answers my questions. Compared to the postal service, its head and shoulders up. Maybe not worth it for casual correspondence.
Sometimes they do things right. Mostly not. I'm expecting a check from B'ham. Its not like its across the country. I was mailed last Friday, expecting it first part of this week. Not here yet. maybe tomorrow, maybe not.
When I'm sending something I feel is important, and a new gun is important, I just use FedEx. Laugh all you want, they mostly do a good job, and I get a tracking number I can watch it get lost or take a vacation around the country. At least it answers my questions. Compared to the postal service, its head and shoulders up. Maybe not worth it for casual correspondence.
Doug M.
Member
Any transaction like this (anything I value where confidence is important), I send priority mail, delivery confirmation. Generally good to excellent service, and really good for the price.
LVSteve
Member
I asked a guy in Racine WI if he had received the funds I sent last Wednesday. He said he'd look this Monday. He hasn't emailed me back, so best guess is it got there and he is waiting for bank confirmation that the funds are good. We shall see.
I had a personal check delayed in the mails earlier this year. I agreed with the payee that I'd send another and if the original showed up he'd tear it in half and send me a pic of the destroyed check.
The orginal did eventually show up, and he followed through with the pic.
The orginal did eventually show up, and he followed through with the pic.
I sold a car part to a fellow,only 150 miles away. He sent USPS MO. I still have not received it. That was April. I got a call from Att mail room. They asked if my address was correct as my bill was returned. Lived here almost three years now. Told the clerk at the PO the other day about it. She looked at my address and says he is retiring soon!
Retired LTC USAR
US Veteran
ColbyBruce
Member
The USPS letter sorting machinery eats mail every once in a while. These machines are regularly disassembled and cleaned. Mangled letters eventually find their way back home or on to their designation. I have had two checks and a birthday card returned to me since April. All went through northern Florida. I guess their machines are either old or poorly maintained.
chaparrito
Member
Bought a revolver from a forum member here. Sent the MO priority mail with tracking and delivery confirmation. It took ten days to get from AZ to Michigan. Nuts. I don't mail anything if I can avoid it. All bills on autopay, all income is either cash or direct deposit.
I once asked the postmaster if I could take down my home mailbox and just use a PO box. He said no, you have to have a home box if there is delivery in your area.
I once asked the postmaster if I could take down my home mailbox and just use a PO box. He said no, you have to have a home box if there is delivery in your area.
I always send payment for firearms Certified Mail, especailly USPS MO payment. My last certified payment took eight days to go 600 miles. Pretty crappy service!
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ColbyBruce
Member
This is incorrect. You can get a PO box and forward your mail to it, and remove your home mailbox. Your first/second class mail will be forwarded for a given amount of time, bulk mail will be discarded unless marked "address service requested". After your forward order expires, any mail sent to your home should be returned "no mail receptacle".
If you get a PO box and leave your mailbox up, just tie it shut. Your mail should still be forwarded, as mentioned above, however any mail addressed to your home after the forward ends will be delivered as addressed.
If all you have is a P O Box, you can't receive a firearm (direct to your C&R or FFL License), they must be signed for and delivered to a physical location.
Mail is a problem, but I have had my best luck with USPS. I shipped a FED EX box with heavy coffee mugs in it all individually wrapped and in a cardboard box and several were broken when delivered. I've never had anything broken using USPS.
Even computers aren't the answer, as I pay my bills via electronic bill pay, and there are a few companies (receiving them) that are small and don't have the facilities to receive electronically and when you pay them a check is created and sent via mail. I find they use "bulk" mail and it may take 10-15 days for that check to be delivered after they create it. I resorted to writing my own checks to those companies.
Mail is a problem, but I have had my best luck with USPS. I shipped a FED EX box with heavy coffee mugs in it all individually wrapped and in a cardboard box and several were broken when delivered. I've never had anything broken using USPS.
Even computers aren't the answer, as I pay my bills via electronic bill pay, and there are a few companies (receiving them) that are small and don't have the facilities to receive electronically and when you pay them a check is created and sent via mail. I find they use "bulk" mail and it may take 10-15 days for that check to be delivered after they create it. I resorted to writing my own checks to those companies.
Sadly the USPS has become somewhat of a bad joke. I sent a package to a forum member that sat in his P.O. for 21 days before it was placed in his P.O. box.
Anything that's important is either done via the Internet or using Fedex or UPS.
Anything that's important is either done via the Internet or using Fedex or UPS.
There is also the problem of your envelope getting mixed in with the mail of a neighbor and sitting on their desk until they get around to marking it to return or forward and then getting it back to the USPS.
EVERY time I purchase a gun online, I use a USPS MO and send it Priority Mail. If someone messes with the MO, it's mail fraud and the PO takes that very seriously. For the extra $5, Priority Mail may not get there in two days as promised however, it's real hard for that over sized red white and blue envelope to get mixed up with someones junk mail.
EVERY time I purchase a gun online, I use a USPS MO and send it Priority Mail. If someone messes with the MO, it's mail fraud and the PO takes that very seriously. For the extra $5, Priority Mail may not get there in two days as promised however, it's real hard for that over sized red white and blue envelope to get mixed up with someones junk mail.
Florida Guy
Member
I sent a cashier's check from Bank of America for a gun purchase.
I just sent it first class mail. The seller still didn't receive it after 2 weeks, so I figured it was lost somewhere. I called my bank to stop payment, and was told I have to wait 30 days before I can do that. So, in the meantime, my $600 is out there somewhere and of no use to me.
On day 31 I went to the bank and placed a stop payment. My account was credited the next day.
That was about a month ago. So, I said next time I send a check, I will send it first class with a tracking #. I did this last Friday, and checked USPS tracking website, which said it is scheduled for delivery on Tuesday, July 28. Unfortunately, the USPS website is a joke, and has not updated since Sunday, when the envelope was still in Florida.
The USPS has gone downhill really fast. I always have problems with either delayed delivery or delayed arrivals.
Thank you for letting me vent. Not that I feel any better now.
I just sent it first class mail. The seller still didn't receive it after 2 weeks, so I figured it was lost somewhere. I called my bank to stop payment, and was told I have to wait 30 days before I can do that. So, in the meantime, my $600 is out there somewhere and of no use to me.
On day 31 I went to the bank and placed a stop payment. My account was credited the next day.
That was about a month ago. So, I said next time I send a check, I will send it first class with a tracking #. I did this last Friday, and checked USPS tracking website, which said it is scheduled for delivery on Tuesday, July 28. Unfortunately, the USPS website is a joke, and has not updated since Sunday, when the envelope was still in Florida.
The USPS has gone downhill really fast. I always have problems with either delayed delivery or delayed arrivals.
Thank you for letting me vent. Not that I feel any better now.
amazingflapjack
US Veteran
Suggest that you use postal money orders only.
