Mail thieves in my dorm

This is just a rant, although if anyone has any suggestions for how I can possibly remedy my issue that I have no already tried, by all means, feel free to share.

I'll try and keep this really concise...basically, a few weeks ago, I decided to treat myself to a late birthday gift and I ordered myself a really cool shirt off eBay. The seller was nice enough to allow me to track my item online from the time it was mailed until the time it was delivered, and I was oh-so-excited when I got confirmation that my shirt was delivered.

Went home to find nothing in my mailbox. No packages waiting for me. I decided to give it a few days...during those few days, I saw someone wearing the exact. same. shirt I bought. Could have been a coincidence, but it raised some big red flags to me.

My shirt got delivered on the 7th of August -- it's the damn 23rd and I still have not received it. I've called the post office and it has gotten to a point where they now treat me like an inconvenience. Twice I've been told by the head honcho at the local post office, "I'll call you back within the hour" and never heard back from the guy. He was initially helpful, but now seems more annoyed than eager to help. I've also got housing services involved to see if they can do anything about this, but nothing thus far on their end.

I have had my mail delivered to the wrong box before - this is fairly common at my dorm in general. I do very much believe my mail did get stolen - I think what had happened was someone received my mail by accident and decided to open it and, if it was something they liked, they would keep it. If not, they'd throw it away.

What bothers me isn't so much the loss of my item, but the fact that the lousy fucking bastard who decided to steal my incorrectly delivered mail will most likely get away with their crime since I have no idea who they are. And even if I did find that son of a bitch, there's no way I could prove the shirt was mine because it wasn't exactly one-of-a-kind (looking on eBay, there are quite a few copies of that particular shirt available) and they could just as easily say they ordered the same shirt.

Normally I'd chalk up my missing shirt to it being lost in the mail, but the fact that the USPS website confirmed it was delivered to my dorm says to me that theft probably was involved. However, the authority around here is getting right fed up with my complaints and they are slowly losing interest in helping me. I do not want this to be a continuing problem because there are times my mom mails me stuff that I actually NEED and I don't want some fuckface stealing any money, phone cards, or financial aid papers sent to me.

Is there a post office nearby where you can get a box? It will cost you about $60-$70 to rent for a year, but it may be worth it.

I'm wondering who puts the mail in the boxes in your dorm? Quite possibly, the post office will drop off a bag or box of mail and one of the RAs or other student workers is responsible for putting the mail in the boxes. Someone who is in a hurry (nearing the end of a shift, studying, getting ready to go to class) will probably just sling the mail in the boxes, disregarding accuracy. I think that meeting with your Hall Director may also be a good idea, as he or she is responsible for the how the residence hall is run.

I had a P.O. box while in college and had a very good experience, being that only USPS agents touched my mail.

I'm going to be moving in a few months anyway, so getting a new box may be kind of worthless anyway.

Whatever RA is on duty when the mail is delivered is the one who puts it in the boxes. Apparently there is no log book of who was on duty (or at least, no book I could see), so I would have no clue who was on duty the day my mail got delivered...probably because they don't want to admit they were stupid and delivered my mail to the wrong box. I am currently talking to housing (after my mother took it upon herself to bitch at them) to see if they can either help me or reimburse me, most likely neither of which will happen because my mail was not a package that got signed for. It was a big envelope that arrived with the rest of the letters.

I know the saying goes that the squeaky wheel is the one that will get the attention, but people are beginning to just ignore me now, which is annoying me. All the squeaking I've been doing is just making people get annoyed with me and telling me half-assed answers to make me go away. I am tempted to just ask all the RAs for a dollar and that would cover the cost of me getting a new shirt

I feel your pain Cambion. Since I moved to Canada I've had nothing but bad experiences with the local postal service and it has annoyed the living fuck out of me. In January I mailed a birthday present to a friend back in NZ, and it disappeared off the face of the earth. There were chocolates in the package amongst other things so I imagine some cunt saw it and decided to nick it for himself. And last month I received a shipment of personal belongings from back home, which arrived pretty much flattened, despite the 'FRAGILE' stickers plastered all over it.

I hope you get it all resolved!

wow. that sucks. your school needs to develop an internal tracking system for this stuff. I'd have been sunk if somebody pinched my mail. hope you can resolve this.

A teeny tiny update....I saw the perp again in the hallway, wearing "his" shirt, but I was too chicken-shit to confront him. Now I have a better idea of what he looks like AND what class/room he is in on Tuesdays. It's not as good as a name, but I have significantly reduced the number of possibilities, and I know I could pick the douchebag out of the class with or without the shirt on.

I don't know if this will go anywhere, but I feel like I've made a little progress. I still don't know if that person is the actual thief, but I think at least an interrogation would be nice. I wonder if I can get a class list from the registrar and just cross off the people who I know are not the thief (the ladies, anyone in the class I may know, etc.)

I think you may have to just right this one off, I have NOT gotten things i paid for on ebay before, YEAH it sucks, but not the end of the world, I would just move on,

nokyds4me.

Trust me, I also have had things get lost in the mail and otherwise not received stuff I bought. And if this was such a case, I would let it go and chalk it up to a lousy seller or the mail system being crappy that day. But the thing is I tracked the thing from when it left the seller until it was delivered (and was confirmed delivered by the USPS). If it was lost, it would not have been labeled as delivered...it would have just remained in a suspended state of "processed at XYZ Post Office in XYZ, PA". Housing has scoured all possible places it may have been...shoved in a desk, dropped on the mail room floor, accidentally left in the package closet...it's nowhere, and I can't imagine it wasn't delivered when the tracking info says it was delivered to my dorm (not to the local post office).

I got my neighbors package a few months ago, it would show on the computer as delivered, but it was left on my front door, even though the package had the correct address, the postman made a mistake, i could have kept the package, my neighbor would have never known and when he would have called the post office, it would have shown "delivered" never to be found again,

i ofcourse took the package and left in on their front porch, he never even knew there was a mix up,

That may have been what happened with my mail too, nokydss4me. Only mine was not delivered as a package -- it was simply in a big envelope and was delivered with the rest of the regular mail. And the postal workers don't put the mail right into the boxes here; they hand it off to the RAs and then the RAs put the mail in the boxes. Mail regularly gets put into the wrong boxes, and people are expected to be adults and give it back so it may be given to the right owner.

I think whoever got my mail may have just decided to not give it back. They most likely did not know I was tracking it and KNEW it was delivered, so they figured they could keep my item and I would assume it got lost in the mail and be none the wiser. Unfortunately for them, I KNOW it got delivered to my dorm.

I've also put fliers up all over my school asking people to call me if they see this douchebag wearing my shirt, because I intend to have Housing interrogate them on where the shirt came from, and if their story doesn't match mine (which I have proof of - messages from the seller, confirmation of delivery and a copy of the email telling me delivery was confirmed), maybe I can either get the shirt back or be reimbursed. At the least, maybe the fliers will make the fucker feel unable to wear the shirt in public, lest someone rat his thieving ass out.

ETA: Small update...I got a call tonight about my fliers. From the person who said they have the shirt. Now they could just as easily have made up a big line of bullshit, but they called and told me they received the shirt as a gift back in May. They also said their shirt was the same size as mine. Now I am feeling conflicting sensations - on one hand, I want to trust the guy because he sounded like he was being truthful and I think it would be kind of stupid to go, "What a coincidence - I take a large too!" when he could have easily just lied and said he took a different size to make himself less of a culprit.

On the other hand, part of me thinks he might be lying so he can once again wear his shirt in public.

Back to my initial concern...he did not say at any time, "Okay I told you I didn't steal your shirt, so you can take your fliers down", leaving me to assume that he did not steal the shirt and realizes it may still be lost or stolen and that I'd like to keep searching. The guy didn't sound angry or uneasy (like some folks are when they're lying). I am so confused right now. So, if it was not stolen, then where the hell is it??

Hon- why would he write if something wasn't bothering him about the "coincidence?" Regardless, if either thing is true, looks like you ain't gettin' yours back.

Update.....

I found my shirt. It got delivered correctly, and it was not stolen. Whomever handled the mail and put it in the boxes that day made an error and put my parcel in the wrong box...as in, my box number is 250, and my parcel somehow ended up in box 350. I've since taken down my fliers now that my shirt is safe and currently being happily worn by yours truly.

The housing official I spoke to was an absolute angel - he checked everything, from the packages room to the mail logs for the last two months, to his digital records of mail received...finally, he opened up the wall of mail boxes (the RAs can open a whole chunk of the boxes with one "door") and there sat my mail in someone else's box. An honest mistake, but he said he intended to find out who handled the mail that day so he may speak to them. I couldn't thank the guy enough.

yayyyyyy! I'm glad that boy didn't do it.