After waiting patiently for about 3 weeks for a particular piece of international mail, I was finally rewarded with this:
Yeah, that is one end of the original envelope (or whatever remains of it) that was mailed by the sender. It almost looks like a dog ate it or something.
Among the contents of the mail, only some written material survived - a couple of priceless (sentimental, but not valuable in the monetary sense) enclosures in the package were missing. 
This damaged envelope was packed in a neat USPS envelope (you can see it in below the damaged envelope in the image above) - probably as a remedial measure, after whatever they did with it.
Guess what’s written in bold letters behind the USPS envelope:
So, it’s an apology - and I appreciate that (I also appreciate the fact that they repacked it instead of burying it away and pretending that it never existed). But, I just found the loud “WE CARE” a bit amusing - it doesn’t really go well with how *carefully* the mail was handled in the first place. It’s almost ironic for that phrase to be going on top of an apology for mishandling.
OK, so this stuff probably happens rarely. But if that was the case, you wouldn’t expect a ready-to-use printed apology envelope, would you? 
I guess those envelopes must have been printed by the thousands - and probably are used by the thousands (?)
Here is another specimen (a package containing a Vanguard prospectus sent by Sharebuilder) that arrived on the same day - it looked like that at all the corners:
That one almost required the “WE CARE” band aid treatment.
At times like these, I am glad most of my sensitive stuff gets communicated electronically.
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You can make a complaint to the postmaster general in your area, at the USPS.com website. The postmasters actually read the comments (or used to, 2 years ago), and look into stuff like that. If you are getting mail chewed up regularly, you should complain!
About 2 years ago, we made a purchase at a local jewelry store using a 3 months no interest. We had the funds to pay for the item in full, but figured we might as well earn the interest in the meantime.
Because we would only be sending payments for 3months, we didn’t consider it worthwhile to set up online payments. Well the 3rd month came and we mailed in our payment, as we had the prior 2 months, with plenty of time for it to reach the recipient. A few weeks later our updated statement arrived, which we expected to show a balance of $0. To our shock, it showed the final payment as never having been received, the company had tacked on a late fee and the interest from the 3 months.
Fortunately, the company was willing to cooperate with us since we contacted them immediately and they waived the late fee and interest charges because we immediately signed up online and submitted and electronic payment.
About 6 months later we received an envelope from the US Postal Service. Enclosed was a small portion of the upper-left corner of our check (the part that shows your address), a letter of apology….and…..(drumroll)…..an pre-stamped envelope.
That’s right, the USPS’s mail machine ate our mail and their way of saying sorry was to reimburse us for our lost stamp. Boy was I glad that the creditor was forgiving or we could have been stuck with hefty late fees and interest charges all because the USPS chewed up our mail.
Moral of the story: Even if it’s only going to be for a couple of months–sign up for online electronic payments.
Just a thought: since it was international mail, it’s possible (depending on the country of origin even likely) that the damage happened before it got into USPS hands, either by the other country’s post service or by customs. I’ve definitely had several packages and letters damaged, destroyed or delayed by customs.
Michele: I would give USPS the benefit of doubt in that case - and would say that it’s magnanimous of them apologize for something that they didn’t do.
But that still doesn’t explain why other domestic mail comes home with corners torn and edges terribly worn out (that’s why I included the Sharebuilder envelope too).
Great blog, I am an avid reader.
Coming to this post I can totally relate to what you went through as I went through the exact same thing. The “We care” is kind of an icing on the cake.
May be this is some kind of SOP for them?
i learned the hard way that it’s a federal offense to curse at the postal counter workers even if they throw your change on the counter.
Having it happen thousands of times would be rare considering the amount of mail the post office delivers.
I had that happen with a bunch of pictures of my college graduation my aunt sent to me. Luckily the pictures could be reprinted. They were completely torn in half. And then in a nice USPS “sorry” envelope. lol
You’d be amazed at the speed mail goes through the sorters. Any piece of mail that gets a piece caught will look like a dog mauled it and the contents will generally fly out and get lost around the sorting machine. Your piece of mail keeps moving and your lost items stay around the machine making it difficult to track.
I’ve always suspected employee christmas bonuses are “luck of the draws”.
You know, this happens to me all the time with magazines. They show up late and all crumpled and obviously read in one of those envelopes. My brother-in-law works at a post office nearby and told me that the mail carriers take magazines that they want to read and read them before delivering them which is why it shows up looking like that. Grr.
I absolutely understand the frustration of having something damaged by the post office, and have had it happen myself on multiple occasions. However, having pre-printed envelopes does not necessarily mean it happens ‘too often,’ or that they don’t care.
I regularly work with the Post Office (and UPS) and in fulfillment for a retail chain with over 8600 locations. Typically, a .5%-1.5% allowance is made because in every process, something can (and will) go wrong. On just 8600 locations, that means over 40 can expect either their packages to go missing, be mispacked, or have damage of some sort.
I don’t know the exact numbers, but I think the USPS handles something on the order of a billion pieces a day (that estimate could be off a factor of 10, just guessing). At a .5% error rate that could be 50,000,000 pieces of mail. Having an envelope created to handle 50,000,000 exceptions sounds better than having them hand-write ‘I’m sorry!’ that many times.;) (Although I believe the USPS total loss rate is even less than .5%)
I for one commend the USPS for the skill and service they provide. I do a pretty large volume on Ebay, and it all gets shipped USPS. So far, their record is near-perfect, and at costs (generally) far below their competitors.
Also, there is the potential that the original shippers of those items did not take great care with the packaging, and every time it went through a sorting machine, it got worse until the envelope failed. I’d say the fact that the line worker retrieved any of your parcel, put it in another envelope, and mailed it to you is pretty great. I’ve had the same thing happen with cartons of goods; USPS always attempts to get whatever they can to the delivery destination. I believe that is what the ‘we care’ really means. Even the example of JWB is to me good customer service, not bad. Sure a negative result happened, but at least they owned up to the error. (something very few companies do)
Anyhow, I know I sound like a booster for USPS, but I get so much crappy customer service from so many organizations, I figured I’d stick up for one that (at least for me) has been superb!
Thanks!
On one occasion I had two mail items chewed up by the post office. Both envelopes had identical contents. For one, I got a letter of apology, and for another a paragraph explaining that it had been my fault for over stuffing the envelope.
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