ETax847 Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 I mailed a few tax documents back to the client via a sealed envelope, First Class Mail. The client received the mailing without its contents and a letter from the post office Rewrap unit say the mailing was damaged during processing. Has anyone ever had this happen? The client is freaking out and rightfully so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 Just happened to me (but not tax docs). Got an empty envelope with the "Sorry your mail was damaged" message from the post office. Luckily for me it was from a realtor who wanted to make an offer on my rental home which is not for sale. I get a letter from the same realtor every six months or so. Tom Longview, TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 Given the overall volume of mail, this is something that happens every day. I have had it happen to 3 or 4 letters and several packages over the years. Mail just gets caught in the mail sorting and handling equipment. After I got out of the Army and before I went back to college I worked for the Post Office for 2 years so I have seen it happen. On the other hand postal employees also get caught stealing mail. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 Things like this are why we always pay for priority mail. It's a nice sturdy cardboard envelope that documents can lay flat in and you get a tracking number. Of course the real solution is for clients to keep their records and just give you PDFs through secure means or copies by mail or delivery. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 I've gotten a number of pieces of mail in USPS "body bags" with the tattered remnants of the original item torn, stained, and bedraggled, over the years. Not tax documents, though. I recommend Priority Mail always (and charge for it) but your client might want to file an Identity Theft Affidavit form, just in case. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETax847 Posted March 27, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 Thanks for all the valuable insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 What I would suggest is that they immediately use their annual free credit report and check to see if anything strange appears. Then they need to freeze their credit or at the very least place a fraud alert on their credit. Also keep a close eye on the status of their tax return. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDNY Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 I use First Class green rimmed tyvex envelopes with only problems being the occasional delay, usually 2 weeks because it got stuck in the mailbag. When I want tracking I go to the kiosk at any hour and send priority. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 Unless you send it Registered Mail, there is no guarantee against any one piece of mail getting crushed, smashed or lost 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max W Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 I had a really wierd one last year. The client mailed me a large envelope with tax docs that never arrived. Eventually, it was returned to him. He resent it to me in another envelope with the orginal after we had gove over the mailing address to be sure it was correct. When I received it, my suspicion was correct - he had botched the address. Now here's the really wierd part. The original envelope went to JAPAN!!?? and it came back with a Japanese meter stamp. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 48 minutes ago, Max W said: I had a really wierd one last year. The client mailed me a large envelope with tax docs that never arrived. Eventually, it was returned to him. He resent it to me in another envelope with the orginal after we had gove over the mailing address to be sure it was correct. When I received it, my suspicion was correct - he had botched the address. Now here's the really wierd part. The original envelope went to JAPAN!!?? and it came back with a Japanese meter stamp. That is pretty weird. Three or four years a I sent some stuff via a Priority Mail Envelope to another Oregon address. Since it had tracking I was able to follow the envelope to Florida and back to Oregon which took about 9 days. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckster2010 Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 1 hour ago, cbslee said: That is pretty weird. Three or four years a I sent some stuff via a Priority Mail Envelope to another Oregon address. Since it had tracking I was able to follow the envelope to Florida and back to Oregon which took about 9 days. It apparently needed some vacation sun before continuing to the Pacific Northwest. LOL 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLMAS Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 Yes, it’s very common and nothing one can do about it. Have your client contact their senator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLMAS Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 22 hours ago, ETax847 said: I mailed a few tax documents back to the client via a sealed envelope, First Class Mail. The client received the mailing without its contents and a letter from the post office Rewrap unit say the mailing was damaged during processing. Has anyone ever had this happen? The client is freaking out and rightfully so. If you want to share this news clip with your client: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-couple-wedding-invites/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 A local group here some years ago sent out ~1,000 pieces of 1st class mail to their affinity/mailing list. Less than two dozen ever arrived; the rest were completely lost. They asked for an investigation and were told "we can't find them," and they never showed up in the regional sorting facility (that takes pictures of every piece of mail they process). My guess is they'll show up in some creek or abandoned apartment of an "overworked" mail carrier. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 We have had two funny adventures, though. 1. Sent an electric toothbrush to the manufacturer for warranty service (non-user-replaceable battery), Priority Mail from MA to VA. It went to Puerto Rico, back to NY, then to Atlanta, then to VA. 2. First class mail years ago. Sent a birthday card to a friend from central MA to a town SE of Boston - about an hour's drive away, a week ahead of the birthday. It arrived three weeks after my friend's birthday, was postmarked Schenectady, and had boot-prints on the envelope. We still chuckle about that one. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbreck Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 Many years ago I put an envelope into the UPS box with a stack of stock certificates (the box was in the lobby of our building). 1 year to the day from dropping it in the box it showed up at the destination. The very first time it was scanned was just a few days before delivery so it was sitting somewhere. I followed a lady on a twitter for a months and she lived in Finland (exchange student). Her parents sent her a package that went back and forth across the Atlantic 2x and was in Japan for a while. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 Sometimes mail gets stuck in the bottom of a canvas mail bag for days, months or years. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medlin Software, Dennis Posted March 28, 2023 Report Share Posted March 28, 2023 Newman! 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAXMAN Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 Family sent me a box of cookies from MD. they went to ny first and then to GA then back to ny before they go to me here in VA. Took about 6 months. Dog wouldn't eat too hard. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Oh Bkkr Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 This thread reminds me of the old days of tracking my ATX updates (disks). Presque Isle to Louisvile to Ashland Ky (my local distribution center) in one day. "I should have it in the morning." Nope, I have an Ohio zipcode so it went to Columbus Ohio, then back to Ashland Ky for delivery. Every time. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 I sent a priority envelop to Virginia from Maryland yesterday afternoon around 4, and it arrived this morning in VA. I have a lot more great stories about the post office, than I do bad stories. I prefer the post office to any of the other shippers by a lot. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 30, 2023 Report Share Posted March 30, 2023 I sent out two copies of an estate income return, Priority Mail, about two weeks ago. One to the executrix and the other to her brother (co-executor). One is in NH and the other in CA. I'm in MA and can drive to the NH location in about 90 minutes. Both packages arrived the same day - within an hour of each other! - a week after mailing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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