One of my worst nightmares come true

[John Truitt]

USPS looses one of my favorite 34" guns. No one has a clue where it is. I made the mistake of forgetting to insure it. I got in a hurry and forgot to the day I mailed it.
Tracking shows it never left Virginia in route to California for a fix of the ejectors.
Now what. Any advice/ suggestions for what to do at this point. Not at what should have been done.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

John, If you do not get the gun back and soon, post the ser# on this site so people will be aware, you need to notify ATF if you have a license and do it in a timely manner. Hope you get it back. Gary

[John Truitt]

I do not have a license.
the serial # is 204008
34 " GHE 12 ga parker special steel barrels.

[Peter Clark]

USPS looses one of my favorite 34" guns. No one has a clue where it is. I made the mistake of forgetting to insure it. I got in a hurry and forgot to the day I mailed it.
Tracking shows it never left Virginia in route to California for a fix of the ejectors.
Now what. Any advice/ suggestions for what to do at this point. Not at what should have been done.

John,
My wife got me a ca. 1941 Hamilton wristwatch for Christmas. It was lost in the mail about two weeks before Christmas so the person she bought it from found another and sent it to her in time for Christmas. The original watch was insured, but tracking could not find it and the provider was finally paid for the lost watch. Surprisingly, the original watch showed up at our house in mid-January sent from the "postal recovery center". We returned it to the dealer and he reimbursed the post office.
Do not give up. Hopefully it will turn up regardless of the insurance status. Insurance had nothing to do with recovery of the watch.
-plc-

[Tom Carter]

Hi John,

Sorry to hear about your lost gun. Notify the police and ATF. They keep a record of stolen and lost guns. It may show up and if they don't know who it legally belongs to they won't know who to return it to.

If it does show up be sure to notify them so they take it off the list.

Cheers, Tom

[John Truitt]

So notify the police? Report it as missing/ stolen?

[John Truitt]

Police refuse to get involved. They state it is completely out of their jurisdiction.
Gov wins again.

[ed good]

do not give up. they may find it yet...stay in touch with your local post master. ask him or her to contact your regional consumer affairs rep for help in finding it... and next time send it via registered mail insured. good luck.

[Sam Ogle]

I hope you find it. We, every one of us, has made mistakes. Sometimes, miracles happen, and I hope this is one of those times.
Good Luck, and may the force be with you.

Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE

[calvin humburg]

That stink's John! How in the world could they loose a shot gun. Surely it will show up. Keep your chin up. best ch

[Bill Murphy]

What USPS service did you use? Registered as everyone recommends? I would take a shot at summoning your postmaster into court on a negligence suit. One of our members from your state once recommended that an actual lawsuit summoning an employee into court usually stops any argument with a car dealer over service disputes. USPS did not provide the service you paid for. Get them in front of a judge. Accuse the postmaster of negligence.

[Dean Romig]

USPS did not provide the service you paid for. Get them in front of a judge. Accuse the postmaster of negligence.

Sue a Federal employee in civil court for not adequately performing his Federally mandated obligation?... or should it be tried in a Federal Court? Isn't that like suing the Federal Gummint?

Gawd, it could take a decade...

John, I wish you the very best of luck and I sincerely hope the outcome is more than satisfactory for you.

[John Truitt]

Priority mail (2 to 3 days) with tracking and delivery confirmation.
Tracking states it was accepted and left acceptance facility on day of mailing and has been in route to a sorting facility in the same city of mailing for the past 6 days. (20 minute drive from one to the other)
I physically went to the sorting facility and they have no record of it ever arriving.
I have contacted the superivser for the acceptance facility and they are starting an investigation.
Possibly lost or stolen by an employee. It is in a 38" by 12" by 12 wooden coffin/ craft. Way to big to be over looked. Weighs in at over 23 pounds total weight.
For now I am playing their games and it would appear at their mercy.

[Richard Flanders]

Defnitely ones worst nightmare. Good luck John.

[CraigThompson]

[QUOTE=John Truitt;62425]
Possibly lost or stolen by an employee. It is in a 38" by 12" by 12 wooden coffin/ craft. Way to big to be over looked. Weighs in at over 23 pounds total weight.
[QUOTE]

I wouldn't say possible but rather "more then likely" !

[CraigThompson]

I "assume" the sorting facility you went o was in the Richmond area and if I'm not mistaken the facility in in the Sandston are around Richmond .

Anyway if that facility is anything like the one in Dullus Virginia I am surprised you found anyopne there that spoke english and could give you an answer of any type !

I've been to the Dullus facility several times over the last 10 years for buisness related things and just let me say . It was a cluster then and I can only imagine how it is now !

[William Maynard]

Priority mail (2 to 3 days) with tracking and delivery confirmation.
Tracking states it was accepted and left acceptance facility on day of mailing and has been in route to a sorting facility in the same city of mailing for the past 6 days. (20 minute drive from one to the other)
I physically went to the sorting facility and they have no record of it ever arriving.
I have contacted the superivser for the acceptance facility and they are starting an investigation.
Possibly lost or stolen by an employee. It is in a 38" by 12" by 12 wooden coffin/ craft. Way to big to be over looked. Weighs in at over 23 pounds total weight.
For now I am playing their games and it would appear at their mercy.

You would think they would have security camera's at these sort of facilities. Sorry to hear. I hope it works out.

[David Weber]

Good luck getting your gun back. I have zero faith in our post office and ship everything by ups. Their tracking system is out of this world.

[David Holes]

I have also switched to UPS. Had 2 guns disappear in the USPS, never to be seen again. They were delivered to post office and never left according to confirmation. Hope you get lucky and all turns out well. Dave

[greg conomos]

You're getting freaky a little too soon. Don't forget you're dealing with people who have all but given up.

The last two times I returned my Trojan to Doug Mann for his special brand of stock butchering, the USPS lost it for about a month. They showed it was received at the post office 1/4 mile from my house, then absolutely no idea where it went. I went through the usual indignation, then it suddenly appeared as intended - about a month after it was shipped.

My opinion? One of two possibilities - someone in the USPS recognizes it is a gun and stashes it away to see if anyone raises much stink over it. They're hoping they can quietly cart it home once things cool down. Or, someone on the USPS is anti-gun and does whatever he can to make things tough on gun people by purposely losing it.

I'll bet if you were shipping curtain rods they would never get lost.

[John Truitt]

Mr Holes,
Sounds like similar to my experience so far.
What action did you take if any. How was the outcome. SOL?




I dont think its too soon to have things checked out/ stir the pot. I could be cool about it for a while. But I feel the sooner I get things out in the open and the more people "informed" the better chance I have of it showing up.

[David Long]

USPS has the worst tracking i have seen but it will show up

[David Holes]

I had purchased the 2 guns and paid to have them insured and confirmed. The seller had insurance in his name. 30 days went by with no show and several phone calls later he refunded my money. He was brokering guns for a widow and didn't want to refund me because he had already paid off the widow and money would be out of his pocket until insuranve paid him. I also had a gun damaged in shipping with the USPS, it was also insured. Dealing with the insurance side of the USPS is a real bad deal. By the time you jump threw thier hoops you will look for a new shipper. UPS has worked flawlessly for me. I don't like sounding like a negative Ned but good luck. Dave

[Gregory Miller]

We just received some parts that were shipped a month ago. Post office had no explanation. So do not lose hope. Sooner or later they will probably find it. And, you wonder why they lose money ever year?

[LarryAngus]

John,
I would definetely report the lost gun serial numbers to the ATF. I am pretty sure you did not need a FFL to send a gun for repairs (no transfer of ownership).

Think positive, I hope your package shows up soon!

[Mark Ouellette]

John,

I think that your gun will eventually surface. You are dealing with the US Postal system with all its flaws. Don't give up!

Mark

[Dean Romig]

Larry Angus is correct. The gun was shipped for repairs not a transfer of ownership so it did not need to go to or from a FFL holder.
Insurance or no insurance, it is a firearm and this situation should be handled responsibly. You don't want your gun used in the commission of a crime. Get ATF involved.

[Brian Dudley]

I have also switched to UPS. Had 2 guns disappear in the USPS, never to be seen again. They were delivered to post office and never left according to confirmation. Hope you get lucky and all turns out well. Dave

It is the other way with myself. I switched to using just USPS after having issues with UPS. I had UPS severly damage a set of LC Smith barrels a few years back on me and I was completely unsatisfied at how they handled the claim on it. It took forever, multiple hounding and on top of that, they would ONLY deal with the shipper on the claim. Not myself, the receiver. Good thing the shipper was very copperative. They even would only send the claim check to the shipper. And then he had to mail it to me.

Anyway... How long has it been since your package was shipped with the postal service? I have had some shipments take a while. Up to 2 weeks for Parcel post and even up to a week or more for Priority. Their tracking is not the best. The only loss I have had was that I shipped some parts to someone and some of the parts got lost. The pakage opened somehow. Half of the shipment got delivered. It was insured. I filled out a form and I has the money within 30 days. No issues on that part.

I really do hope that your gun eventually shows up.

[Ed Blake]

Hang in there John. Go through the USPS channels and get the postal inspectors involved, which they may already be since it is a firearm. I shipped a gun to Dewey Vicknair one time that took a couple weeks.

[Dean Romig]

We can't expect a lot from the USPS... they're going broke and we might see it all go privatized. I wonder if the USPS will ever get better? The internet e-mails are deeply affecting the USPS but I wonder why they haven't made adjustments accordingly?

[greg conomos]

Well, let's see.....take an enterprise that combines the inefficiency and red tape of the federal government and mix it with the greed and shortsightedness of the corporate world. What's there to wonder about?

[Dave Suponski]

John, I wish you the best of luck on this.I think Mr. Blake hit the nail on the head in his advice. We have all been there in some degree. I have had good luck with USPS and Fedex. But with that said I always pay the extra $ to get an item to the end user as fast as possible. I seems that the shorter the time in the system the better. I wish you the best John.

[Bruce Day]

Sorry to read of your experience. Perhaps it will eventually show up.

[Russ Jackson]

John ,some 25 years ago , I shipped a Mali Pool Que back to the Manufacture to have the Ivory Ferrule replaced , I had insurance on the Que but USPS didn't want to pay quickly ," AT ALL " Any way ,I kept after them and after I had given up ,maybe 6 to 7 Months later ,it just showed up in the mail with no explanation ! Hopefully your gun will be seen sooner than this ,but don't give up and keep after them ! Good Luck to you ! Russ

[Sam Ogle]

Working at a Cabela's, we had a $30,000 plus double rifle shipped to our store via UPS.
When it didn't show, the tracking process showed it had arrived on the plane at Omaha. It eventually was recovered and delivered to us.
Some time later, a fellow who had been an employee at UPS said they called all the employees in, and said to them "One of you took what you may think was a shotgun"......."It is a $30,000 gun you will never be able to sell, pawn, or keep, and you know it." "If you will bring it back here by tomorrow, we will not press charges." A guy brought it back, and told them he thought it was a shotgun.......they of course, fired him, but kept their word and did not press charges.
Sam Ogle

[CraigThompson]

I had UPS severly damage a set of LC Smith barrels a few years back on me and I was completely unsatisfied at how they handled the claim on it. It took forever, multiple hounding and on top of that, they would ONLY deal with the shipper on the claim. Not myself, the receiver. Good thing the shipper was very copperative. They even would only send the claim check to the shipper. And then he had to mail it to me.

Anyway... How long has it been since your package was shipped with the postal service? I have had some shipments take a while. Up to 2 weeks for Parcel post and even up to a week or more for Priority. Their tracking is not the best. The only loss I have had was that I shipped some parts to someone and some of the parts got lost. The pakage opened somehow. Half of the shipment got delivered. It was insured. I filled out a form and I has the money within 30 days.

We ship several guns every week and generally they all go UPS !
However about a month or so before Xmas 2011 we sent a very nice Weatherby Mark V West German gun to a fellow in the Dakota's . I had packed the gun well and UPS found a way to snap the stock in half at the wrist . They made good on the claim but it took 2 months . We paid the person we sold the gun for and the person buying the rifle . They sent the remains back to us and we had to wait for the refund . After the refund they left the remains with us and we ended up making about $2000 above and beyond !

As to USPS Priority Mail , a couple years ago I sent a cashiers check in a Priority envelope with a tracking number to a dealer in Anchorage Alaska and it took no less then 3 weeks for him to recieve it and the ability to track it showed me virtually NOTHING !

I sent a rifle to New York state from Virginia a couple years ago via UPS and of course it had a tracking number . That rifle made the rounds trips back and forth from VA to NY before it finally was delivered . My local driver was the main reason that one got straightened out . I was certain until it was delivered that some less then desirable had pinched it in the Laurel facility .

[John Truitt]

I had a bad experience with UPS years ago as well as Fed Ex.
USPS had served me very well up til now.
I have never had one just disappear like vapor in the wind.

Thanks for all the encouragement.

[John Truitt]

I have filed several written compliants to USPS, customer service, consumer affairs, inspector general, the local post office and the recieving sorting facility.
An experienced board member suggested contacting some other people which I will do on Monday.
I will plan to contact ATF on Monday as well. My city police department told be to basically go pound sand.
We will see. I dont have a good feeling about this one.

[Dennis V. Nix]

John, sorry to hear about the loss of a fine shotgun. As an ex cop I urge you to either persist with the police and ask them to at least take a courtesy report so the serial number is in the system OR talk to a USPS inspector. That should be done in any case. Someone should be able to at least put the serial number in the system. I agree with one of the posters about how can a 34 inch barreled gun be lost. My guess is the gun was never, "lost" but stolen. It may turn up one day in a crack house and hopefully some idiot didn't cut the barrels down to use it as a sawed off weapon. I am told that here in CA where I presently reside if your guns are not registered with a law enforcement agency and they are stolen you will not get them back when/if recovered. Even if you have receipts showing possession they will not return the gun to you. What a dumb state this is. Hopefully your state is not like that. My best wishes to a safe and sound return of your Parker.

[Dennis V. Nix]

I too have absolutely no faith in the USPS. They have lost a Nikon camera system for me years ago worth a few thousand dollars. I did have insurance but not enough to cover the entire loss. Six months ago my brother sent me a money order from CO to CA. To this day it is still not received. He got a refund of the M.O. and has since mailed me another one. I am sure Fed Ex and UPS have also lost packages but none so far for me at least.

[John Truitt]

If stolen then by one of the acceptance office employees or the driver. That is as far as it has gotten.

If it went to homeland security for any reason would they show tracking for that?

[John Truitt]

ATF just told me to go pound sand as well. To report it to local police. ATF does not take reports from citizens only FFL holders.
WTF

[Dean Romig]

Unbelievable.... :shock:

[Dennis V. Nix]

Have you considered the County Sheriff? Someone should be able to do a report documenting the loss as a matter of courtesy. When in law enforcement that was an often done report. "John Doe reported to this officer that after he turned in a shotgun for shipment to the USPS the gun was reported as being stolen or lost. The serial number is XXXXXX. If the postal inspector who is a law enforcement professional won't do it I would surely expect the police or sheriff to at least take that short report to put the number into the system. God, it makes you wonder where this world is going.

[Dennis V. Nix]

P.S. You would think law enforcement would WANT that number entered into the DOJ/NCIC system.

[Brian Dudley]

I am sure if a crime was committed with your stolen gun, the ATF would then be concerned with it. Whether Stolen from an FFL or Individual.

[Dennis V. Nix]

I could be wrong and often am but I doubt ATF would take a report concerning the missing firearm. If they were to do that it would open them up to everybody in the country calling them. The job of taking the report to list the serial number is up to local law enforcement or the postal investigator. John, my unsolicited advice would be to call the post office and ask for the number of their investigator. I would contact the investigator and insist a report be taken and the serial number be listed on computers so the gun can be returned to you if/when it turns up.

[William Maynard]

ATF just told me to go pound sand as well. To report it to local police. ATF does not take reports from citizens only FFL holders.
WTF

John,
I understand you were sending the gun for repairs to the ejectors. Does the person or company that was going to work on your gun have a FFL? If so, contact them and maybe they can help you in reporting it to the ATF and other officials.

[Bill Murphy]

I would still summon the Postmaster in a small claims court action or something bigger is the value of the gun exceeds small claims court limits. Our research chairman game me the heads up about bringing bad car people into court.

[Mike Shepherd]

I own an HVAC contracting company. One of my vendors did not get paid by a contractor on a Naval Reserve construction job. She went to the county seat and filed a "Mechanic's and Materialmans Claim for Lien" on the building. She got a call from the contracting officer, a US Government employee

Fed: Ms. XYZ, you can't file a claim for lien on a federal property.

Vendor: Well I did.

Fed: Well you can't because the state court does not have juridstiction over the US Government.

Vendor: I'm no constitutional lawyer but the county - they let me file the claim.

Fed: Well it is invalid.

Vendor: Then why are you calling me?

and so on and so on.

She got a check from them in a couple of weeks.

Best,

Mike

[Chris_Caile]

I had an experience with UPS, dealer sent me a shot gun COD terms certified check or cash when I had my FFL. Paid the driver, got the gun all well. 3 weeks later I get a call from the distributer stating I owe them $1100 for the gun, I explained that I paid the driver, he released the gun, go after UPS. 2 months later UPS called stating I owed them $1100 for the COD. I told them to pound sand I paid the driver, and he gave me the gun, he wouldn't have given me the gun unless I paid him. I did get a letter from UPS about 6 months later with an apology stating the driver had stolen the money.

[Craig Parker]

John, http://www.atf.gov/forms/download/atf-f-3310-6.pdf shows form for carrier to report lost or stolen firearms, but I'm not up on FFl rules but thought I forward. I think it will show up with you following up as you are. I hope it does work out for the best for you.
Craig

[John Truitt]

Mr. Parker,

Thank you very much.

[Stephen Hodges]

ATF just told me to go pound sand as well. To report it to local police. ATF does not take reports from citizens only FFL holders.
WTF

Ok, why didn't your local ATF know about this reporting form:banghead: IT'S THEIR FORM!! Thats what I love about the federal government......the right hand does not know what the, in this case, OTHER righ hand is doing:rolleyes:

[Jerry Harlow]

John,

I believe it will show up. I had one shipped to me from almost one side of the country to the other, and their tracking system showed nothing, just that it left, and just that it arrived. Nothing in between. Could not tell anything else. I had bet it was on a wagon train going over the great divide.

Fifteen days.

[Justin Julian]

If the local city cops won't put their donuts down long enough to take your report and enter the serial number into the computer system as a stolen gun, try the state police. They might prove more professional and responsive.

[greg conomos]

I don't understand all the love for the UPS - they lose and damage things on an epic proportion.

I have a good friend who has been a driver for 20+ years. If he has something important to ship, he won't use UPS. Further, he once showed me an internal policy statement regarding claims - the number one action on behalf of UPS is to deny the claim. I'll clarify that - regardless of any facts or evidence - deny the claim. Their studies have shown that a given percentage of claimants will go away if they do that. So when some little old lady gets told to beat it by the UPS, she does so - even if there is no doubt in anyone's mind she deserved compensation.

[Justin Julian]

I had a claim denial problem with UPS once on a pristine LC Smith I bought. They tried to invoke some "small print" coverage exclusion provision because the large volume gun shop printed the shipping label on site rather than at the UPS shipping facility, even though the contents were verbally disclosed as a shotgun by the shipper. I laughed and told them we'll see what the judge thinks of that excuse. When I asked corporate counsel for UPS if she'd accept service of process of the complaint I'd drafted, the check for the damage was suddenly in the mail.

Two lessons came from that experience---1) Be sure to request that the UPS attendant enter into the computer that its a "Parker DHE shotgun" (or whatever) being insured, so it will print out as such on your shipping and insurance receipt. If they tell you it won't print out, have the attendant write it on the receipt and initial beside it, so UPS can't later claim that they didn't know it was a gun and invoke some phony coverage exclusion. And 2), Know the law in your jurisdiction. Most states recognize the separate tort of bad faith insurance denial, which means that if they deny the insured's claim without a good faith reason, they can end up owing you several times the value of the damaged/lost gun for jerking you around with their dishonest coverage denial. A simple demand for payment and promise to pursue a bad faith claim denial as a separate cause of action will often get that insurance check in the mail.

But if you forget or decide not to buy insurance, you're probably SOL beyond the basic automatic $100 coverage as far as a lawsuit goes.

[John Truitt]

The following agencies have told me to go shove it. That it is the post offices issue:
ATF (local and federal)
FBI (local)
State police
Local police

I have contacted the post master my self. He assures me "they will leave no stone unturned".
I have also contacted a local US attorney who can only help by lighting a fire with the post office inspectors. Who by the way is different from the Inspector generals office. Two totally different agencies.
Per the sorting facility superviser there are 160 cameras. I am not sure how many at the local acceptance facility.
Time will tell. But I feel I am SOL.

[David Long]

I would give it some more time you may get something started if you report it stolen and it shows up and ATF not take it out of the system just my thoughts

[greg conomos]

First, you kinda screwed up by shipping w/o insurance. On a multi-thousand dollar gun, I don't see how.

Second, every post you have made is a pity party where you are convinced you are SOL before it's even final.

Relax and occupy your mind with something else. You've done what can you do. Things will work out one way or the other. Life goes on.

It's a simple matter. There are only two outcomes:

1) Your gun will pop up and you'll get it back. You'll feel outraged, and relieved, but then you'll realize no one else cares either way.

2) You'll never see the gun again, and you'll realize it's cheaper to forget about than to try to sue the federal government. A year of college can cost over $10,000 and you might learn nothing. Losing a Parker will cost less, be quicker, and you'll for sure have learned something.

[Jerry Harlow]

John,

Maybe even time for Senators Warner's and/or Webb's office, plus maybe even your Congressman. It is an election year.

[John Truitt]

Fish check your PMs

[charlie cleveland]

hope you find this gun john...i too forgot to put insurance on a parker d grade hammerless parker ...and when i got it the stock was broke in half... called the guy i bought it from and he said sorry you did not insure it so...i no how you feel and my gun was junk campared to yours....i did finally get my stock fixed i shot it some but i put it up something made me think every time i fiered it would break again...but i hope yours turns up... charlie

[Scott Janowski]

If you ship by USPS ONLY Ship by REGISTERED MAIL!! This way the package is signed for every time it is transferred from one person or place to another. It will also be locked in a safe when it is in transit. If it gets Lost the person who last signed for it will have his/her job on the line.
It is not cheap to ship registered mail but it is worth it.

[Bill Murphy]

You know, I always use Registered Mail because Babe DelGrego's father always told me to. However, does signing for the item at each level of possession in the USPS mean that the person who last signed will be held accountable? In my experience, no one is ever held accountable for anything in the Federal Government. Anyone know the answer?

[Scott Janowski]

I worked as a part time sub about 25 years ago. The one thing all carriers were very careful with was the Registered packages/letters. I would not sign for my Registered mail until I was on my way out the door.

I never even heard of a carrier losing a Registered letter, so I can not say for sure that you would lose your job. I know they took it VERY seriously.

[Robin Lewis]

Many years ago when I was in the Navy, we could send and receive classified documents using registered mail. It may have been more secure back then but it still seems secure when I use it today. There are many hoops to jump through when using it. The one that is a pain for me, is finding "paper" tape to cover every (all) seams in the package. They require a paper tape so they can stamp it liberally making it obvious if it is tampered with (opened). That paper tape is almost impossible for me to locate but I understand why the require it.

Years ago, a fine gunsmith advised me to always use registered mail. I have used it many times and never had a problem. Its not the cheapest way to ship but it may be the most secure.

[william faulk]

I pick upthe tape for registered shipments at my Post Office.I just ask for it and they give me a roll.Another note,Registered packages require that the receiver address be written directly on the shipping carton.I was told that the easy way to steal is just paste a new address over the first one and that is where it will end up.

Bill

[John Truitt]

Alright boys here is the latest.

The package has been found. I will recover it from the post master personally tommorrow.
Story goes, from the post master himself to me, they messed up big time.
The package arrived at the sorting facility was never signed in like it was registered for/ etc. Showed up this am in the hazardous waste.
Make of it what you want. But per my discussion with the postmaster had I not done what I did and contacted everyone like I did myself and relied upon the system by giving it time it would have been lost for ever. The hazardous waste was scheduled to be taken out to be disposed of in a few days. And I dont mean hazardous waste type mail. I mean the waste junk itself.

[Dennis V. Nix]

Congratulations, John on recovering your Parker. I am glad it worked out for you.
Dennis

[Sam Ogle]

Wonderful news.
Sam Ogle

[Tom Carter]

Robin,

Contact ULINE at 800-295-5510. I believe the tape you want is Model number S-909. Ask for their catalog. They have most anything anybody would ever want for shipping. Cheers, Tom

[Ed Blake]

I'll bet a lot of stuff walks out of the PO in the form of hazardous waste. Nobody notices the trash being taken out.

[Daryl Corona]

John,
Whew! I'm so very happy you got your gun back. I know the feeling you got in your stomach because I experienced the same feeling when my 32"DHE 20 was stolen. I have'nt shipped a gun in years because I've found a great guy in PA. where I can drive my gun up to drop it off and then go pick it up when done. But maybe this is a good learning experience for those who ship guns. USPS, registered/receipt, insured. This seems to be the best way? Maybe we have in our membership someone who works for the USPS and can give advice. Years ago when I used Delgrago he said to only use USPS. As much as I hate the govt., this does seem to be the best way to ship.

[John Truitt]

Daryl,
This was a hell of a learning experience. Not only about shipping and the USPS but how thick the many layers are of just one small part of our govt is.
Robin Lewis asked that I write up a parker pages article on the whole thing and I think I will.
I will do so once things settle down for me with starting my own practice.
I have decided to go it on my own. :)

[Daryl Corona]

John,
Good luck with your own practice. Working for yourself is really an eye opener. You'll really see how Uncle Sam screws us but you'll have the best boss in the world. Get as many cash patients as you can. You'll see what I mean.
Daryl

[Craig Parker]

John, good news to hear. I think by following up was the key, as i'm afraid that not letting them know you are serious let's to much time pass.Craig

[Dave Suponski]

Doc Truitt, I am so very glad this whole ordeal had a happy ending. I wish you the best of luck in your new practice.

[Tom Carter]

Dr. John, An old saying we had in the military,"Don'y Ever Give Up". It pays in the long run. Very happy you got it back. Cheers, Tom

[Pete Lester]

Many years ago when I was in the Navy, we could send and receive classified documents using registered mail. It may have been more secure back then but it still seems secure when I use it today. There are many hoops to jump through when using it. The one that is a pain for me, is finding "paper" tape to cover every (all) seams in the package. They require a paper tape so they can stamp it liberally making it obvious if it is tampered with (opened). That paper tape is almost impossible for me to locate but I understand why the require it.

Years ago, a fine gunsmith advised me to always use registered mail. I have used it many times and never had a problem. Its not the cheapest way to ship but it may be the most secure.

Robin, USPS Registered mail is not bulletproof either. Last year I sent out my NH 10ga barrels to Brad Bachelder for refinishing. I shipped it USPS registered and payed to have it returned the same way. I noted on the way out there was no scanning to show the package's progress on the trip. When BB was done they called to tell me my barrels were shipped, USPS registered, insured and gave the tracking number. My barrels went overdue in arriving. I became a very squeeky wheel with the Postmaster where they were shipped from. Several days went by with no success. It was then I started to hear how sometimes Registered mail does get lost, no gaurantees etc. Finally the barrels were located, allegedly sitting in a safe in a Chicago mailing facility. When they found them they said all set you'll have them in a week. I was already 15 days from shipping which allows for an insurance claim to be filed. I politely complained some more and asked them to make up for the inconvenience I had to deal with and asked they be overnighted from Chicago. They were on my doorstep the next day.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

John, congrat's on getting back your gun and opening your own practice, it's expensive I know, but will pay handsomely in the future. Good luck

[Mike McKinney]

Very good news, Dr. John, congratulations on both getting your Parker back and your new practice.

[CraigThompson]

Glad you got'er back !

[Allen Peterson]

Great News on finding you gun John. Best of luck in the Practice. If I need my teeth worked on I will send them to you insured and registered.
Al
Chesapeake

[John Truitt]

Al thats a good one. I like it. :rotf:

[Kevin McCormack]

Take a lesson from the scene in "Animal House" where the 'Hitler Youth' switch the mimeograph carbon (remember them?!) copy of the Psych 101 Midterm Exam that the old front office docent throws in the trash, knowing that the 'Deltas' will send a man by later that night after the trash is emptied, thinking they've got the answers that will help them ace the exam. Your 'hazardous waste' disposal manuever is now a very dated but effective version of the same thing, usually triggered by the realization that the 'perp(s)' are close to being cornered and facing a federal mail fraud rap. Easiest way out? Trash the item after lining up another wastrel operative to retrieve it from the dumpster so everyone can get well before it hits the landfill or the furnace. If not and the item goes 'grease', , no one along the investigative train is any the wiser. No one makes any money, but then no one goes to jail either. Remember, these doofi (plural of doofuses) are clever but not too bright; when it's time to confront reality, most of them will opt for a clean pair of Jockeys rather than lock and load under the NightSun.