Missing Registered Mail

I am very frustrated because a packet of stamps filling the
majority of the gaps in my collection of Back-of-Book
Italian stamps went missing on its way from Italy,
despite being Registered.

Has anyone else recently had registered mail go missing?

Poste Italiane trace it as far as Rome Airport,
while Royal Mail say that it never entered their system.

The sender says that he has never known Registered go missing before.

I haven't either.

--
Tony Clayton or
Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html
Values of Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/values/coins.html
Metals used in Coins : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/metal.html
Sent using RISC OS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... Experience: What you get when you don't get what you want

"tony" skrev i en meddelelse
...
I am very frustrated because a packet of stamps filling the
majority of the gaps in my collection of Back-of-Book
Italian stamps went missing on its way from Italy,
despite being Registered.

Has anyone else recently had registered mail go missing?

Not in relation to Italy, but to England and France. And I know
of at least two recent cases where registered mail from Holland
to Denmark went missing. It seems that our post offices are
not too reliable any more :-(

The only thing you can do is to ask your correspondant to claim
damages. Of course that won't bring your lot back, but will in
some way compensate for the most annoying loss.

- snip -
--
Ann Mette Heindorff (Mette)
return address invalid - contact me through
heindorffstamps at yahoo dot dk
http://www.xs4all.nl/~pkv/slania/
http://www.dkchristmasseals.frac.dk/
http://www.metteshoebox.frac.dk/

"tony" kirjoitti viestissä
...
I am very frustrated because a packet of stamps filling the
majority of the gaps in my collection of Back-of-Book
Italian stamps went missing on its way from Italy,
despite being Registered.

Has anyone else recently had registered mail go missing?

Poste Italiane trace it as far as Rome Airport,
while Royal Mail say that it never entered their system.

The sender says that he has never known Registered go missing before.

I haven't either.

--
Tony Clayton or

Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html
Values of Coins of the UK :
http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/values/coins.html
Metals used in Coins : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/metal.html
Sent using RISC OS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
... Experience: What you get when you don't get what you want

Not long ago a registered letter to Germany disappered. I had sent 30 Euro
in it, and hidden it so that it would have been impossible to know what is
in it without opening it.
I reported it missing and here did the problem started. I was honest and
told them what was in it.
I was practically yelled at for have broken the law. One cannot send money
in a letter, it is againt some international postal laws. One can send money
but that would need to be insured ( and cost at a minimum some 17?).

After this I have not bothered registering my mails. If I have to send out
cash I simply put in thick paper and wrap some "aliuminium paper" around it.
On the letter I write "Photos, please do not bend" and it seems to work
quite well

Mika

tony wrote:
Has anyone else recently had registered mail go missing?

Poste Italiane trace it as far as Rome Airport, while Royal Mail say that it never
entered their system.

The sender says that he has never known Registered go missing before.

I had a Recorded Delivery item go missing between Norfolk and Belfast. Contained one of a
few ltd edition Dalek covers. Fortunately I was able to send the buyer another one, and
RM paid on the loss, but it did seem odd.

As for Mika's comment about cash money. Well the ONLY way to send money is in a
registered letter (or insured) - now known in the UK as 'International Signed For' or
Airsure. But the problem of international transmission of registered mail seems to have
started when the stopped putting the bold blue lines on the envelopes, and relied on
bar-codes and 'R' labels.

Internally registered/special delivery is 'handed over' between postal branches and signed
for at each stage. This helps the 'track & trace' process. Internationally this only
happens WITHIN each country, not BETWEEN - as far as I can tell. As an active eBay seller
I frequently have people sending me cash, sometimes in registered letters. Only if they
are picked up as being registered in the inward sorting process and have a bar-coded green
'Royal Mail International' label applied, does the tracking system work within the UK. If
the (foreign) barcode label is too small, and is not noticed, then Mount Pleasant do not
apply the green RMI label, and it doesn't get tracked. Even when one is applied, it may
not be tracked and signed for here (that even applies to items send to a P O Box). There
is a dilemma for them. If they stick the label on the front so that it can be seen during
sorting, it may be stuck on the stamps: I have complained about them ruining my incoming
stamps. If they stick it on the back, then it may be overlooked during sorting within the
UK.

My wife works as a postwoman and she says that foreign bar-coded items NOT being RMI'd and
therefore NOT signed for on delivery is not uncommon.

So your item from Italy MAY have reached the UK but might not have been recorded properly.
After that, if it was stolen within the post (something that is thankfully rare), there
would be no way for RM to know that they had ever had it.

The answer is for your sender to claim from Posta Italia and send you the money back. No
compensation really, I know.

--
Ian Billings
Norvic Philatelics
http://www.norvic-philatelics.co.uk