I hope that you have had all of your bad luck for 2009 in this 24 hour period.

I spent 30 years with UPS, and the last ten years in expedited and international service, so I may be able to offer some insight into UPS procedures. My first thought after reading the posting last evening was that it is peculiar to see brown tape on the package. You said that you used clear tape, and it is a UPS policy that ONLY clear tape is used in situations where a package might have to be re-taped. To my knowledge, brown tape is NEVER used and cannot even be FOUND in a UPS facility. If someone employed by UPS had criminal intentions regarding your shipment, they wouldn't have any access to brown tape. That begs the question of who added the brown tape, and where it happened; this seems to me to be a key element.

This package was not opened with a sharp blade, but rather with a blunt instrument. Did your buyer do this? It is unlikely that a conscientious (most are quite good) and properly trained UPS driver would deliver a package in this condition, and with virtually no weight to it. To an observant UPS employee, this package is waving a red flag.

For the UPS driver to deliver your package to the buyer's neighbor is a customary procedure. Unless otherwise noted on the package such as in the instance of prescription drugs, a C.O.D. (payment by the consignee) or specific shipper instructions, UPS endeavors to make the delivery to a neighbor so that the consignee may receive it on the scheduled day. Indirect deliveries likely make up 15 to 20% of daily deliveries and came into being three decades ago when most households had both adults working.

Every package within the UPS system now has a bar code for tracking. The initial scan is at the point of pick-up. From that point on, it is scanned when entering and exiting each subsequent UPS facility in which the package arrives. The final scan is at the point of delivery. You also mentioned an X-Ray of the package. Prior to my retirement, UPS never used such technology in any US or European facility (I spent time on both sides of the Atlantic), and I have no knowledge of such machines now being in use. That said, however, I can check with the company to see what sort of security measures have taken place since 9/11. It seems quite unlikely that there would be such machines in place since it would be so time consuming to X-Ray 12 million (or so) packages per day and would require literally thousands of them to cover the global network. I'll find out.

Please let me know if there is any way I might be of assistance.

Jim