Lost Package, Where to Start?

[Zak]

Hey Friends,

My mom sent me a package a few weeks ago and should likely be here by now. Big thing that makes me think it will encounter trouble if it already hasn’t is that my phone number is not on it.

So, where do I go and who do I talk to? Is there a central post office in Chengdu? She sent it USPS priority mail from the US to my home address here in Chengdu. There was a chinese address on the package next to the English one from what my mom says, but who can be sure. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Wanting my winter jacket,

Zak

[Charlie]

The phone number is really vital, it may be difficult without that, but I think there are two likely probabilities:

1. It’s stuck in customs and will take additional time to clear
2. The address was written incorrectly or they somehow cannot find you

If you have a tracking number, call USPS and check on the status of the package. If you don’t, still call USPS and state where and when the package shipped from and that it hasn’t reached its destination.

There’s likely a phone number for the Chengdu post office or something that you can call, but I don’t know how that process works. You’ll might want a stern Chinese person to help you make that call.

Good luck!

[Kim Duistermaat]

Yeah, I’ve had the same thing several times. The problem is that there are many companies delivering in China. However, if you have the tracking or post number (your mum should have received one from USPS), you can go to any China Post office and they can check it in their system. One of my packages sent from Holland was tracked down this way, they said it was send back to Holland via Shanghai after being found ‘undeliverable’. It never arrived in Holland, though. If you don’t have a tracking number, visit the ‘package’ post office near your house. It is not the same as the normal China post office. Ask people in your compound where they go to pick up their packages. Then go there, tell them you are waiting for a package and ask them if you can (with them) check the pile of packages that are waiting to be picked up. I found several packages of me and also of friends like this. Another option is to ask the customs office, since apparently everyone needs to have some kind of customs id number since a few months in order to receive a package. Perhaps it is stuck there and cannot be cleared because you did not provide the number, and they don’t know how to contact you since there is no phone number. It will take some effort to find out where this customs office is, though, I have no idea. Good luck!

[Vincent]

Charlie wrote:

It’s stuck in customs and will take additional time to clear

Likely this.

Kim Duistermaat wrote:

Ask people in your compound where they go to pick up their packages. Then go there, tell them you are waiting for a package and ask them if you can (with them) check the pile of packages that are waiting to be picked up.

Or this. Definitely if your name is not Chinese, they might just leave the package at your management office or something for you to pick up in case you weren’t home when they delivered it, and not give you a phonecall. Mostly they do call, but it’s happened to me before that they don’t.

…but it has also happened to me before that a package had been sitting in customs for several months straight, without anything happening to it. Eventually I stopped checking. I never got it.

If what you want to send is something of value, I would never go with normal post. I would always use a courier service.

[Brendan]

I’ve had this happen to me twice now, the first time was with an irreplaceable piece of artwork I’d had shipped out from the UK that conveniently went ‘missing’. That package never did show, but the 2nd time I followed the same process and tracked my parcel down…

You have to start with China Post’s head office in the North, they handle all registered/insured mail that falls outside of any couriers without mainland presence. Royal Mail happens to be one such example. They will ask you if it’s ‘insured’, and to provide a copy of the docket for sending/insuring. If you don’t have that you’re already lost, as they won’t pursue any further enquiry. If you do, they will possibly track it to a sub-station that may or may not be closer to your home address. When I did track my (2nd) package down, for me this meant going to a huge hanger sized delivery depot, and physically searching through piles of packages with some random guy until we found it. I then showed my ID and he checked something on their system (term used loosely), and I was on my way with what felt like a victory for mankind. It was in fact a replacement artwork, substitute for the piece previously lost by China Post.

Much irony awaits you I’m sure.

[Vincent]

Brendan wrote:

Royal Mail happens to be one such example.

Interesting. I had a package gone lost earlier this year and it was sent with Royal Mail from the UK as well. Now I feel this strange urge coming up to make a rescue mission out of it, lol.

[Zak]

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry it took me so long to get back. I forgot to turn notifications on.

Package was found! I had the routing number from when my mother sent it off and then just did a bit of backsolving. I figured out which company USPS works with in China, predictably the government run mail, and then went to their site. Thave a tracking system so I just entered it there. A smaller branch of Chengdu’s mail network spewed up under the results, we called them, they checked the tracking number, and then referred us to an even smaller branch where the package was being kept. They then gave us the number of the guy who works there and that was that. I went and picked it up that mornign.

[Author]

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