Gift damaged in the mail

LauraChristin

Hi Ladies,

Thanks in advance for your help with this etiquette question. I think the answer is obvious but then part of me thought of how smart all of you are so I'm asking anyway. I just received a wedding gift in the mail via USPS direct from one of my parent's friends who were invited to the wedding but unable to attend. It is a crystal vase with no gift receipt and it's basically in hundreds of pieces.

It's gorgeous (or was) but my gut says to toss it, write a nice thank you note and chalk it up to an "oh well". I have no idea if they insured the package but really don't want to contact the couple to inquire because I don't want them to feel like I expect them to replace it if they didn't purchase insurance. I'm fairly certain there's no way I can find out if they purchased insurance without asking them?

They live 3,000 miles away and are unlikely to visit us. Even if they did they would never ask "where's that vase we got you?" right? Would you just toss it, too and move on?

Callmefia

Do you know if they sent it directly from the store? Probably not if there is no gift receipt or paperwork, but if it was directly from a store I would contact the store for a replacement.

Callmefia

Also you should ask your parents about it. They might want to know and help decide how to handle it... I would feel horrible if I sent something that didn't arrive safely, and I would want to go after the shipper if I could!

davenport52803

Usually when a package is insured, it will say so on the package. I know when I ship stuff and buy insurance, it prints that right on the shipping label.

OliveOilsMom

Did they send it themselves or was if packaged by the store they bought it in and sent?  If it was packaged by the store, then call the store and see if there is something they can do.  And the insurance label from USPS is green or blue and it will be stuck to the package. It will have a series of numbers on it.  I also think the Priority Shipping has a standard insurance that is included with the price.  I would just take the whole thing to your local post office and see what they say.

LauraChristin

Thank you for your responses. It was shipped from the couple not from the store and was in a priority box that was covered over with brown paper so I think it was sent first class or parcel post. There are no stickers indicating insurance. Thank you for pointing out that there would be stickers had they purchased insurance. The outside didn't even say "fragile".

They wrapped the vase with wrapping paper (nothing else like bubble wrap) and the only padding in the box was a bunch of small balloons they must have blown up. Cute idea in theory. Does not work, however. I think the packing may have voided any insurance anyway Good idea about taking it to the post office but I think they might look at me like, "You really want us to cover this?"

Thank you again for taking the time to respond. I'm going to write a thank you and chuck it.

[Deleted User]

As far as I know, if they had purchased the insurance, you would have had to bring everything to the post office for inspection.  They would have taken one look at the packaging you described and denied the claim.  So sorry that it arrived in a million pieces. I think you're handling it correctly.