2017 Little Easy Bean Network – Everything Beans, Post It Here & Join The Fun

[Blue-Jay]

I would like to get an opinion from many of you about a package that I sent out to a fellow in California. He told me he wanted to join the Little Easy Bean Network. He chose 25 varieties of network beans. Among them were the last seeds I had of three of the varieties. He also purchased 50 packets from the pages A-Z. I talked to the fellow on the phone Friday and he told me he was basically a grower of cactis and supplied all sorts of places all over the country that sells. that sort of stuff. So he lives in a rural neighborhood with everyone having very large parcels is my understanding of his living situation. He was planning on planting these beans in August having a year round growing season with no frost.

I had mailed the package of 75 varieties on a Tuesday and the post office told me they would be at his address on Thursday. The package cost was nearly $19.00 to mail so it was going the fastest way outside of paying a small fortune to have it delivered overnight. I had emailed him immediately and alerted him of the delivery date. On Saturday afternoon he emailed me stating the bean package was not at his address. I could not get any info on the package on the postal service website by typing in the tracking number. Saturday afternoon the local post office was closed. So on Monday morning I went to our post office and told them that my recipient claims the package has not arrived. He took my receipt and when into the postmasters office and said they looked it up on their system. The counter fellow told me that the package was delivered as I was originally told on Thursday at or near his mailbox.

So I emailed this fellow again and asked him if he had questioned his local post office to find out who was his delivery person that week and where the postal person had deliverd the package. I have not heard a word back from this fellow.

I am wondering if there was someone who follows the postal trucks in his town in the background and steals packages after they are deliverd.

So in that package there are three varieties of network beans that I have to take off the pages as we don't have them anymore. Do I owe this fellow at my cost another package? Am I responsible for packages that the post office handles. The post office won't give me the $50 minimum in insurance on the package as they claim it was delivered.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do people steal from the mail? Of course. Earlier this year I noticed all the mail box lids were open when I went down to check the mail in the morning. That's where I pick up my newspaper, a nice half-mile hike one way. I called the post office and the postmistress talked to my carrier. Yes, Pam had left stuff in my box the day before. So I called the county sheriff who sent a deputy by to take the report. He said the previous year they'd caught a group of 20 people doing that in the county above us. They go through a dark rural area after midnight and check all the boxes. They take any packages and any checks. They are pretty sophisticated, they can alter those checks so they can cash them, usually at one of those auto deposit ATM's where they just take a photo so there is not a lot of close up examination. Even before that happened I'd had discussions with Pam (the carrier) about leaving packages that don't fit in the box. I blamed her substitute so she didn't have to get defensive. That's rotten luck that someone got your package. Legally the carrier can drop it off in the vicinity of the mailbox.

Do you owe this guy another package at your cost? If you were a business for profit I'd say legally no, you fulfilled your responsibility by mailing it but they would probably send another anyway to maintain customer relations. But you are purely voluntary, no profit motive at all. There is no money being exchanged either way. I don't think you owe him anything. I don't think you could expect him to pay either. If you want him in your network I think you would have to mail the package at your cost but you can ask him if there is a more secure address you could mail it to.

 

[PhilaGardener]

Sorry to hear you had a problem with this, @Bluejay77

Your interaction with your post office sounded a bit informal to me. "He took my receipt and when into the postmasters office and said they looked it up on their system. The counter fellow told me that the package was delivered as I was originally told on Thursday at or near his mailbox." I'm surprised you can't track it on line, but unless you pay for tracking it does seem like the numbers won't work on the website. I would ask USPS for printed proof of delivery, and then send that to the person on the other end and ask him to initiate an investigation with his USPS about theft of mail. As I understand it, stealing mail, before or after delivery, is a Federal crime, and their law enforcement should know if that sort of thing is happening in their area (and they won't investigate unless they know there is a problem.)

If you send a replacement, maybe you should require a delivery signature. A few $, but then either it gets delivered in person or they have to pick it up from the post office in person. Good luck!

 

[ninnymary]

I am always suspicious so I wouldn't send another package. Did he prepay for the 50 packets that he purchased? I find it odd that someone who is a grower of cacti and appears to make a business of it would also be interested in beans. I would think one passion/one business would be enough.

I did hear on the news several months ago that someone was following either a Postal truck or UPS truck and stealing what was delivered. So it does happen. In my cousin's neighborhood which is about 45 minutes away, people are stealing packages from doorsteps.

Did he check with the neighbors to see if they received it by mistake? He should definitely do more digging with the postman who would have delivered it. I hope that package appears soon.

Mary

 

[aftermidnight]

We do not have door to door mail delivery, we collect our mail at a community box at the end of our block. Large packages they leave a card for us to pick up at our local postal outlet. It doesn't happen very often but we have received other people's mail in our box and on occasion our mail has been put in the wrong box. We pretty much know everybody so we hand deliver anything that isn't ours to the right person, and they to us. Not everyone is that honest tho.

Sometimes it takes a long time getting to you, Packages from the UK usually take a week to ten days to get here. Russ remember the last beans sent to me from the U.K. took 4 month less 4 days.

If your package was just left on a doorstep, it could very well have been stolen, I left a small sprinkler head on our front steps overnite once and somebody swiped it.

Get the person you sent the package to to check with his post office to see how it was delivered, door to door, postal box, local postal outlet or just left on doorstep.

You have no way of telling if this s person is honest or not, if honest what a disappointment for him and for you. If his package was stolen this is no fault of yours as you sent in good faith. Get him to a little more work on his end, in other words get in their face about it. You have your receipt, photo copy and send him a copy. If it was just left on a doorstep not knowing if someone is home I think it's the post office's responsibility to reimburse him.

Someday when I'm really feeling chatty I'll tell you the saga of my importation of Perennial Asters from the U.K. It was a a mind boggler.

Annette

 

[Blue-Jay]

Well I like the idea of when I send a large package get a signature on delivery, and to make sure I have tracking. That will be something I will do all the time from now on, on large packages. Small packets I can absorb. My local fellow at my post office here in town said because of what I paid for postage I should have been able to get info on it online, but I could not. He looked at me like I wasn't telling him the truth. The online response I got was Status Not Available.

This fellow tells me he's a workaholic and he's already been growing a number of beans. He's retired with all day to pursue both interests.

He does have a box at a community mailbox setup on his road. I told him the box measured 8 x 8 x 8 inches. He told me his box was large enough to accomodate the package.

I have already suggested to him to get with his local post office about his missing package when I had emailed him after he told me his package was missing. The package was not left on his doorstep. Post office here in Woodstock said it was delivered at or near his mailbox. He has not made any communication with me again by email. He also has my phone number. He has said nothing about trying to communicate with his local post office or his neighbors. It's almost as if he doesn't want to put out any effort on his end.

He did prepay for the 50 packets of beans he got with a check. Which I cashed and it went through without any trouble. It has never been returned to me as a stop payment check.

I like the suggestion of scanning the postal receipt I have and emailing it to him.

He lives in Rainbow, California but my receipt says Fallbrook, Ca. Perhaps that town is his closet next town that has a post office. Perhaps Rainbow is just a zip code area without a post office.

I'm going to scan the receipt and email it to him.

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions.

 

[PhilaGardener]

Hope the story has a happy ending. Good luck!

 

[Tricia77]

Good luck Russ! This is an unfortunate situation and most people want to give people the benefit of the doubt. The fact that he hasn't responded to you or reached out on his end with his post office speaks volumes to me. It's a shame that you gave him the last of those three varieties. What varieties were they?

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Tricia77,

The varieties were Anakin Kuvallii Giant, Family, and Taupe Star. Taupe Stare was one of Marshall Smyth's original beans.

 

[NancyJ10x]

Russ - I have 3 plants of Family growing so there should be fresh seeds of that variety.