Photo : Brennan Ehrhardt ( Unsplash )

You know the drill: your order something from Amazon and wait for either the doorbell to ring or for that delivery confirmation email to pop up. But let’s say you get that email notification, open the front door...and find nothing. Was your package stolen? Maybe! But there are other possible explanations.




Back in 2017, CBS Atlanta reported that USPS supervisors were giving mail carriers direct orders to misrepresent delivery times. A former mail carrier told CBS they had to follow these specific instructions:

“At 7:15, whatever you have not delivered, pull your truck over to the side of the road and scan every single one of your amazon packages...”


Another mail carrier (who was still working in 2017 at the time the story was reported) told them something similar:

“Basically, we have to falsify the timing, and a lot of carriers don’t want to do that, but we’re mandated to with a direct order.”

But why lie to Amazon customers about their packages? Because if they have late deliveries, they don’t fulfill Amazon Prime’s two-day delivery guarantee, and that jeopardizes the USPS’s contract with Amazon. But if they say they delivered things on time that puts the onus back on Amazon. Instead of the USPS losing their contract, Amazon is forced to make things right for its customers.

Stop Recycling Amazon's Plastic Packaging Recycling can be a little complicated as it is—it’s never as easy as throwing plastic in a plastics Read more


When this story was reported in 2017, many Redditors shared their own stories from all over the country. I’ve also had Amazon packages not make it to me before, and I was given a gift card. Another one of our writers had a similar experience. They thought they had a package stolen from them since it was marked delivered but nowhere to be found. When they contacted Amazon, the rep said they could see it hadn’t actually been delivered but was scanned as delivered anyway, then explained how that kind of thing happens all the time.

The USPS, however, has denied that this happens. When Lifehacker first reported this story in December 2017, a public relations representative for the postal service contacted us with this statement:

“The Postal Service takes allegations such as these very seriously. However, the information available to us indicates there is no merit to the claims raised in the article. The Postal Service is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards and vigorously protecting the security and sanctity of the mail. Should any issue arise that may compromise the high standards we hold ourselves to, employees are trained to immediately report issues up through their chain of command. They can do this anonymously, at any level in the management chain. To date, we have received no information that would substantiate the claims raised in the article. The Postal Service is proud to be the shipper of choice for both senders and receivers. No other shipper delivers as many e-commerce packages to the home.”


Amazon now also does this thing where they sometimes take photos of your unattended package after it was delivered. Yes, there are privacy concerns (and you can opt-out of the service if you’d like) but it can also be helpful when trying to troubleshoot situations when a package goes missing.


What to do if this happens to you

Let’s start by saying that your seemingly missing package may not have been stolen or improperly scanned by the USPS. According to Amazon’s website, in rare cases packages may say delivered up to 36 hours prior to arrival. That’s a pretty big window. They also provide a few other tips for locating your package:

Verify the shipping address

Look for a notice of attempted delivery

Look around the delivery location for your package

See if someone else accepted the delivery

Some packages travel through multiple carriers; check your mailbox or wherever else you receive mail.


If, after doing the above and waiting 36 hours, your Amazon order still hasn’t arrived, your best bet is to make a complaint to Amazon and hope you get some kind of recompense. You might get a refund and/or a free month of Amazon Prime, a gift card, or some type of discount—but your mileage may vary.


How to get better at tracking your packages

Though, in many cases, you can’t control how and when the USPS delivers something, you can improve your tracking skills with them as well as FedEX and UPS. Each of the three delivery services offers free methods of more detailed tracking through USPS Informed Delivery, FedEx Delivery Manager and UPS My Choice. Again, this won’t magically make your packages appear as soon as you receive that delivery confirmation email, but it will give you a lot more information to help you figure out where it is.


This story was originally published on 12/7/17 and was updated on 7/24/19 to provide more thorough and current information.