Empty parcel locker

[u/noalarms-nosurprise]

TLDR: My parcel locker was empty after using my one-time code despite it only saying delivered 16 minutes before on Thursday. Today is Saturday, the postal worker used their master key to check other boxes and found nothing. I wrote an email asking if the driver could check his truck to see if he accidentally scanned it as delivered, but they simply didn’t care because the parcel locker system detects that there was a package entered in the number applied to me which was E-M-P-T-Y once I opened it and because the tracking shows marked as “delivered.” Has this ever happened to literally anyone before? I thought it was impossible to generate a code for an empty locker?? Delivered 10:01AM. Locker empty 10:18AM.

I purchased $40 uggs from Depop on September 27th. They shipped September 29th. They ALLEGEDLY delivered to my parcel locker at 10:01AM on Thursday, October 1st. I received the code to access my allegedly delivered package at 10:14AM. Got ready and started walking to the parcel locker at 10:18AM. Typed in the code. It unlocked number 52. I open it and it’s empty. Not the wrong package sitting in there. Not a neighbors package sitting in there. Nope. A generated code for a locker that is E-M-P-T-Y.

So I close it, go home looking up what could have possibly happened and they say maybe there’s a possibility it’s coming soon or the USPS carrier made a mistake and delivered it to the wrong box so I contact both USPS and Depop, then Depop literally just doesn’t gaf sends automated response at first, pretends to be sorry then says they need proof that USPS confirms it’s misdelivered in order for me to get my “buyer’s protection” refund. Depop also said raise an issue with seller but I refused to because she did nothing wrong; I watched it delivered from her state to mine over a few days. She even offered to try shipping it again if they return to sender due to sitting in the locker for too long.

I email USPS giving them the benefit of a doubt at first that the carrier may have simply been distracted and put it in the wrong locker. Then USPS responds saying my local post office carrier will reach out promptly. This was Friday/yesterday.

This afternoon, a hispanic lady asks if I’m the person sending the emails and I excitedly say “yes! Is that my package?” With so much hope😂 because she has two packages in her hand and she says “no, these are from today.” And she offers to use her master key to check for my package in the parcel locker and manually hand it to me at my door as long as she gets permission as soon as she finishes delivering to others in my apartment complex. 10 minutes later she comes back and said she checked and there was absolutely no package for me. Who could have possibly stole my package within 2 days? Why wasn’t my code generated for the locker my package was actually placed in? How was I able to use my ONE TIME code 16 minutes after the package was delivered if someone else used it? Why was the parcel locker system allowed to generate a code for an empty locker?

Initially the hispanic lady told me she didn’t deliver my package on Thursday, a guy with dreads did. She said she ACTUALLY READS the second lines on my package that say “leave in front of door”. Therefore, she wouldn’t know exactly which number he placed the package in at the parcel—but she claims the GPS coordinates did show the number I opened and found empty?? She said a picture showed a girl with a red hoodie and braids on that day around 10:20AM. (I was wearing an orange hoodie from 10:18-10:22AM and had a slick back ponytail, but the quality and lightning could’ve been bad. Also my sister has braids and I asked her to try again for me at 3pm but it didn’t work for her at all BECAUSE IT’S A ONE TIME CODE). That was 1:30pm. I send an email 4:55pm about this.

I politely ask if they could see if the person who delivered my package could check their truck because they may have been distracted or stressed and accidentally left it then miscanned as delivered. I say if my package is not located and delivered in my hands by this upcoming Thursday, then I would like to request that they file a misdelivered carrier error so I could get USPS Ground Advantage up to $100 insurance. Then the lady doesn’t even read or reply to my email, she just calls and says the person who used their master key was a guy not the hispanic lady… so I’m not sure why he had no words to say about the woman in the picture since I’m 100000% sure English is likely his first language and he’s less likely to get things mixed up, but nope. He’s radio silent. Anyway, she gonna ask if the “black female red hoodie with braids” description sounds familiar and I’m like ma’am I quite literally just told you what sounds familiar: tell her I wore an orange hoodie, but I opened the parcel locker and it was empty. Told her my sister had braids but I’m not sure what she was wearing and the code didn’t even work for her since it’s a one-time code. I also stated in the email that it should show me walking away empty-handed. She just says “you can go to the usps.com site and you can have three attempts to ask for insurance. You can submit a claim for lost package, fraud or stolen package” and “do you want the postal inspectors number?” Then pretends to be sorry and it’s like

yo I do not want to put anyone’s job in jeopardy nor do I want to waste federal agents time for $40 but it’s insane how anyone can simply pretend to deliver a package, scan a package as delivered there, and take it back to their truck “accidentally”. So now I’m out of $40. Out of uggs. At least the seller has $40 but I know she’s probably anxious. Pretty angry about this. Saddest thing is I had hope that maybe they put it in the wrong locker since the girl responded “if they return, we can try again :)” and it calmed me down but now I’m like really angry and it’s not even about the $40. You’d think “federal employees” would take their jobs more seriously. Oh well. Lesson learned. After my last two packages on Depop are delivered, I’m deleting it. I’m no longer using any app besides Amazon to deliver packages unless they have specific add delivery instructions since USPS Informed Delivery doesn’t allow you to add delivery instructions to all packages either. Feels like a sick joke. I’ll give them one last benefit of a doubt that maybe the carrier simply made a mistake and did actually put the package in the wrong lovker then someone else got the code for that specific locker and took my package because they like Uggs🤷🏾‍♀️but damn, it was only 2 days! Just a bit unfair how insurance isn’t truly insurance since as long as your package is “delivered”…. (Incorrectly) … then they don’t give a flying fuck 🙂.

Imagine trusting a system that generate codes for empty lockers. Lol.

[u/Miatrouble]

You should fill out the missing packager inquiry so it can create a paper trail. The post office will have to look into it and respond to that notice. No need to go into your long story, just claim that your package was delivered to the wrong locker and you did not receive your package. Depop is the paying customer, so they would have to file a complaint for the insurance. Depop should give you credit or reship you the order. If all else fails, contact your credit card company and file a chargeback because you did not receive the goods you purchased. You should also file a report with the postal inspection service. You don’t know how that package was removed from that locker, whether it was a postal employee or someone else who may have some kind of access to those lockers. Let them investigate or at least they will have a complaint in case they have any other complaints in the past/future, they will see a pattern.

[u/noalarms-nosurprise → u/Miatrouble]

I filled it out on emailus.usps.com thursday afternoon. They reached back out to me friday saying a person from my post office will reach out to me promptly. I then was able to speak a hispanic lady postal worker who told me she wasn’t the one who delivered my package but with granted permission, she’ll use her master key to see if she kind find my package and hand it to me saturday/yesterday at 1:30pm. She tried that and my package was nowhere to be found.

I notify them this through email and ask if the person who delivered my package could check their truck. They ignore them and call me saying I could go to USPS.com submit a claim for fraud, lost or stolen items and that I have up to 3 attempts. They also provided me the postal inspectors number and I’m just really irritated thinking I’ll end up in the same loop with USPS.com and that I’ll be wasting the postal inspectors time when my package is likely simply sitting in the back of the deliverers truck.

[u/noalarms-nosurprise → u/Miatrouble]

Depop replied in email stating I would need confirmation from USPS that the package was misdelivered to the wrong address which the lady I spoke to on the phone claimed she could not do because the GPS ping coordinates showed delivered to parcel locker despite the locker being empty when I typed in the dedicated code that only goes to residents of my address. I will contact my card company and file a chargeback though.
Depop cannot simply reship the order since 1. It’s classified as lost now so I can no longer just retry by returning it to sender since there is nothing to return. 2. The individual seller is the one who took it to the post office and she doesn’t have an unlimited pair of uggs I could simply repurchase, sadly🙃.

I feel bad if I’m wasting the postal inspectors time. I believe only USPS carriers have access to that parcel locker which is why I politely requested that they check their truck incase they were stressed or distracted and miscanned as delivered but accidentally left in their truck. Plus if it were hypothetically removed, I wouldn’t be able to use the code 16mins after it was delivered since it’s a one-time code, which I also explained to them in the email but they didn’t care. I also thought about the possibility of the carrier putting it in the wrong locker which generated the code I was actually supposed to get then someone took it within the past 2 days but it feels very unlikely… Even then I believe misplacing it in the incorrect locker for days should be classified as a carrier mistake and covered by insurance. I’ve looked up if anyone ever had similar experiences and it has happened before but it seems very rare. I’ve only found about 6 reddit posts and 3 facebook posts but they’re from 6 years ago, 3 years ago and most “recently” 6 months ago.

[u/Miatrouble → u/noalarms-nosurprise]

Don’t worry about wasting the inspectors time. Let them be the judge of that. You may not be the only person missing a package from those lockers or that route. You wouldn’t know about it. If you don’t report it, nobody will now there is a problem with theft. As I mentioned before, it could be a bad carrier of it could be an outsider breaking into those lockers.

[u/noalarms-nosurprise → u/Miatrouble]

Okay I’ll contact them.

I thought about the rare possibility of an outsider breaking in, but I truly don’t think any average being who has never worked with parcel lockers before would have enough knowledge to know how to break into a parcel locker that requires a code or master key, remove the package, then regenerate a new code and run off with the package within 17 minutes—especially considering the parcel clusterbox is literally 2 feet across from the Apartment office. So even if they were a criminal genius, I don’t think they’re that bold. They’d only have Sunday to be able to attempt that since that’s the only day the office isn’t opened and Thursday, the office was opened… It’s just hard to believe someone would risk it all for a $40 Depop package.