No surprise - missing items shipping through philippines

Its no surprise sometimes to have international packages opened and things taken, from airline luggage to packages, etc. Its no surprise.

 

My wife's items were stolen from her luggage while in Manila airport, and my items stolen and family items stolen in shipment and going through Manila airport and Philippine customs. Can I prove it? No, because if they are perfect, then it's the handlers just inside and outside that they contract to coming and going. I get it and have witnessed it.

 

Which is the worst country? Is there one?

 

If you ship via the US Postal Service, what if the USPS employee corrects your shipping document to say GIFT versus MERCHANDISE? Is it more likely to be taken, lost and stolen as a GIFT versus MERCHANDISE from a retailer? If it's a gift, will the people of the Philippines take the high ground to their honor and code of conduct, or will they see it as an opportunity to steal? What about if it is MERCHANDISE, will they see it as a claim, loss, it will be replaced situation and they don't care? Or does it matter?

 

My brother once taught me that getting some things through customs can be difficult without bribery. Sometimes, things are just lost and stolen, and some things are just blatantly taken and never delivered.

 

What is the push back and resolution? Nothing. Even with insurance and tracking, it just does not work.

 

Sometimes, carriers will intentionally lose something to see if it is being tracked and find out it is being tracked and then realize they better deliver it.

 

Salamat to those reading this in the #philippines and realize somethings can improve over time. Should it ship via #DHL versus #USPS ? Who knows. The cost sometimes is higher or lower. Ones Balikbayan box is definitely subjugated to theft. I know it first hand and no one knows where the theft and heist occurs, yet it does. I have shipped them and went to the destination and received them and 25-40% of the things were missing. yes, I made my own bill of lading and included it and took pictures, and included it to thwart tampering, at the end, yep, items missing and no way to correct. The delivery and others just shrug and say at least you got some of your stuff. Who knows where it was done. I guess change in shipment "exact" weight would catch it maybe from source to destination inside of some RFID, GPS, Blockchain transaction.

 

Yet, great thieves could replace items with bricks and dirt to make up for the weight. I know so.

 

I just hope shipments to and from the Philippines improve over time. I still wish my latest shipment was not lost. It was for my nephews belated birthday and Christmas present, and it was nice. Just one thing. How can you just steal one thing. Maybe it's because it came from a business to a person, and the USPS person corrected my shipping as MERCHANDISE to say GIFT (without my permission and so quickly, i was like, wait, what?). She was like it's better if it is listed as GIFT. I was akin to the opposite.  I have a sneaky suspicion she was not aware of the theft, yet she knew that insurance and tracking was not going to happen and she nodded and said one can hope it makes it yet then again no promises. $90 merchandise #nike shoes, can't insure it and track it completely, and $65 S/H and got lost leaving Manila. Tracking all the way to Manila and voila - vanished.

 

REF: USPS Tracking   ==  USPS chatbot said, wait 15 days, and then make a claim and in most cases, I am screwed. Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving. Gotta love the AI and ML in chatbots.

 

Truth be told since I have a great affinity for the Philippines among other countries like France and Brazil: the Philippine filipino/filipina people are the most loving and giving culture. 99% of them are nearly perfect and would never do anything wrong; yet 1% are vile, a real 1% vile and will do things most find reprehensible. Please make sure the 1% are not in shipping/handling, customs, health and government.

 

11/27/2020 Update: could the package be in quarantine because of in country package COVID movement issues? It's not a VAT issue since merchandise versus gift could be identified inside the package since a note inside says "Merry Christmas {nephew's name}"

 

 

more to come...