Postal Letter

Should I sue the Postal Service?

My husband sold a bicycle on ebay to a canadian. He then packaged it up and used paypal to print a shipping label through USPS (as per request of the buyer). He was required to enter all the package info. He then took the box to the local post office and dropped it off in hand to a postal employee. They accepted the package and nothing was said. 3 days later I received a missed delivery notice at MY house (apparently the box had made it part way to canada before it was stopped) Hubby called the PO and was told the box was too big to go through the canadian postal system. He asked for a refund since they had excepted the box and then returned it. He was told to take the reciepts to the local office, present them and he would be given a refund. I went to the PO and picked up the box. I presented all the reciepts and was told they could not give me a reciept because it was paid for online. THat is the just of it. THere have been numerous phone calls to Paypal (who says its the PO responsibility to refund because they are the vendor) and tons of PO employees (who claim it is basically an unmanned system-there is no way to contact a person) with no response. We have had several PO employees tell us we would receive a refund only to find out they wont or cant do it. This has been a month and a half ago. We are not talking about 5 or 10 dollars, this was almost $160. In the meantime, the buyer was tracking the box too and said I was committing fraud because it came back to me. Buyer also claims they had bought several bikes before that came in the Canadian Post. Buyer complained to Paypal who froze my account and I then did not have the funds to ship it another method (which I worked out). Account was unfroze 2 days later by paypal only to be frozen again because of all the confusion. THe refused to release the funds until the box was delivered to the buyer, who of course was not home the first attempt which had to wait until the following week. Not to mention the box got held up in customs on the way. I know there are a lot of details here but I am just expressing all the hastle that I endured because of the PO. If I go to court it is not going to be for just the funds for shipment. I have many hours and loss involved here. I am also not sure which court jurisdiction the PO falls under. I am very familiar with the court system but I am unsure if this is worth it. So please do not respond with unhelpful answers.

Public Comments

1. yes, sure.
2. It will cost you thousands in legal fees to sue. I don't see where you can prove any damages other than the lost $160. Forget it.
3. You cannot sue the US postal service. Do not however use them ever again. Whenever I sell something on ebay, if the potential buyer does not want to pay the international UPS rates, then I do not sell it to them. This protects both you and the buyer.
4. There are no refunds on postage unless USPS make the error. This was not their error. The seller/giver (you) take responsibility for knowing the laws of the recipient's country. You should've found out Canadian Customs regulations before shipping the item. Can you take the bicycle apart (unbolt it) and re-ship in a smaller box?
5. USPS did nothing wrong here. If it conforms to USPS mailing requirements, USPS will accept it. It is not USPS responsibility to monitor ever-changing foreign postal regulations. If Canada Post refused it, how is that USPS fault? But even if USPS was at fault for accepting a package they shouldn't have, all they would be responsible for is the cost of the postage. Nothing else - delays in Canada Customs, the buyer not being home, your hassles - is compensable. USPS can be successfully sued for damages arising out of USPS negligence, such as injury or property damage sustained in accidents involving postal vehicles where USPS is found to be at fault. But filing a suit for lost/delayed mail is waste of everybody's time.