I have an acquaintance ( he would call me friend I never corrected him on that so I guess thats my fault) Anyways…this “Friend” is American. We talk mostly about gaming and anime. Anyways all of this is besides the point.
He has a steamdeck that has been acting up. Its slowly dying and only a matter of time till its dead I assume. Now I suggested he sends it in to get it repaired. Am I being naiive or is the US postal system so bad that it will get stolen immediately ? As he seems to assume ?
In my country I would just send it in and get it repaired if it was dying but I admit I dont know thaaat much about the state of the US postal system. To me and I dont want to accuse my friend this reeks of conservative brainworms that you cant trust the postal service and your package will get stolen…which doesnt really happen in my country.
He is in a northern state if that matters.
Stolen? I wouldn’t worry about that.
Smashed to shit because it got mishandled? Definitely a valid concern.
Yeah if you can get them to pack it well it’s probably safe, I’d be more worried about damage than someone stealing it.
USPS is not nearly as bad as a lot of people seem to think in my experience
The USPS is by far the most reliable carrier in the US
I’ve never had any problems with USPS, and from what I can see online Valve sends a return label with insurance for RMA requests, so if it did “get lost” then they’ll be covered either way.
I have an acquaintance ( he would call me friend I never corrected him on that so I guess thats my fault) Anyways…this “Friend” is American.
sorry to use anime terms but look at you being all tsundere though, you’re out here asking near strangers for advice to help this person, they’re your friend 🙄stop trying to play it cool, you won’t impress me 🙄
B-baka. Maybe I am a tsundere but my friend doesnt need to know that
my friend
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
He calls me dear friend. Who the fuck does that.
Aww you’ve got an engles
It’ll be daijobu
Brainworms for sure, if he just packs it properly nothing to worry about
I’ve never had a package stolen. Most of the drugs I did as a teen was delivered by USPS. He’ll be fine if I can get fucking LSD and mushrooms delivered by mail lmao
The postal service is the only public service that people generally trust in the US, mailing something in it’s not likely to get stolen. Private companies like UPS are fine here too. The main risk of shipping is packages being stolen from your door when they are delivered, but you can pick it up at the post office or a UPS pick-up location usually.
Even packages being stolen from your door is like 90% Amazon Ring marketing, 10% reality
Homie, USPS delivers most of the drugs in the USA. I’ve seen drug packs get stolen by postal workers, but it is 99% at the point of origin, in an area known for shipping contraband, and another red flag or two besides (fake return address, overnight shipping, etc).
All that to say: USPS is pretty great, generally. Pack it up tight and tidy. Pay for insurance if you’re super paranoid about your steam deck.
People also ship gold bars/coins through the postal system, and those are even more identifiable once you know
Mail carriers do not give a fuck. They’re just as overworked as anyone, and mostly just want to get though their shift, which means busting out all the deliveries. The only time I’ve ever had a package stolen, it was from my porch by random people. It’ll be fine.
He can pay a bit extra on the shipping to get it insured and get tracking with it that way in the unlikely case that it does get stolen he should get reimbursed.
I don’t ship much so don’t know all the details but did it once in a while for eBay stuff I sold back in the day.
I wrote my friend about the option to insure it. He is worried since its his only gaming pc ( he does have multiple consoles as well though) . At the current rate it will probably just die but at least I offered advice.
The USPS is good, actually
Some burgers are unduly paranoid about “porch pirates”, but that wouldn’t be affected using USPS vs Fedex/UPS. Especially if the destination is some commercial facility.
For a moment, I got legitimately angry, but then I decided to calm down and ask Hexbear whether my righteous fury at this nonsense was justified and now Im smiling smugly.
i wouldn’t worry, but there’s a “hold for pickup” option where they’ll keep the package at the post office and tell the recipient to come get it (instead of delivering it to your mailbox/doorstep, which is the only leg of the trip where i’d be even a little bit concerned about theft)
afaik it’s something the sender requests though, so idk how you’d set it up for something you send out and then have returned to you
(Spent a few years working in a small rural post office)
Two point five options:
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Talk with the mail carrier that physically comes to your mail box and let them know what’s up. If its a smaller area with a regular carrier (few to no regular subs working the route) they might be super cool about making a note and leaving that particular package at the office for pickup. Might be a bit more resistance if its a much larger town/city with multiple post offices servicing the same zip code.
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Finding the actual post office where your mail is sent out from and chatting them up about the issue can also have them try to hold the package.
2 1/2) Honorable mention option: “Temporary Vacation Hold.” Find the post office where your mail is sent out from and fill out a yellow card where all of your mail will be held at that post office for a few weeks. Just remember to go pick things up or after a month things might get dumped in one huge pile at your mailbox or “Returned to Sender”
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I’ve never had a package stolen by the postal service. Once in a while shit gets misdelivered but even then usually it turns up because whoever got it saw that it was not for them and brings it back
