[m1903a3]

Naturally I have tried everything to recover the photos. My local postmaster just throws up her hands, as does the ISC in New York. Since it is international mail, only the sender can initiate tracking. When they do, I will eventually get a letter from the USPS asking if I have received it. Check yes or no and mail it back. Eventually the sender is told by DeutschePost that it went to the US and was lost. At that point I generally get my money back.

But these are great one of a kind photos. Which probably explains why they get stolen.

The USPS IG says they'll look into it, but all segments of the USPS basically say that they can't track the location of international registered mail, it isn't logged in or out of customs, nor tracked at the ISC. There are entirely too many people who are losing photos like this for it to be accidental.

Packages seem to be better tracked. I've never had a problem with one. Letters with photos are crazy. Sometimes it takes 6 or 8 weeks to make it through NY. I just got a photo today that was mailed 11 January. The good news is it came!! Some really good ones haven't.