September 28 UPDATE:
A month after this story first aired on Good Morning Buffalo, USPS told 7 Problem Solvers that Steve Lawler will be reimbursed. USPS emailed 7 Problem Solvers' Michael Schwartz saying: "The customer has been contacted and a full reimbursement for the damaged ducks has been accepted. The customer should expect a check in the mail within the next two weeks."
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USPS is now further investigating how a Middleport man's mail arrived damaged to the person he sent it to. This comes after the agency denied his insurance coverage three times.
Steve Lawler, of Middleport, has hundreds of wood duck decoys. Lawler said some of them are worth hundreds of dollars. Lawler said he sells the ducks from time to time, primarily on eBay, to "make a buck here and there."
Last year Lawler sold two ducks to a man in Texas, but unfortunately one arrived broken. Lawler said he refunded the man in Texas, and thankfully the insurance he purchased from USPS covered the damage.
However, the same thing happened a few months later. In April the same man in Texas purchased four ducks, and Lawler said three arrived broken.
"He contacts me through eBay and he goes, 'You are not going to believe this,'" explained Lawler.
The Texas man sent the box back to Lawler with the ducks inside. One duck's head broke off the wood body, another has a crack in the neck, and the duck's bill is broken.
Lawler brought the wood ducks to the post office and filed a claim. Similar to the first shipment, he purchased insurance through USPS on this order too. He expected it to be covered, but that was not the case.
Lawler said he filed a damage claim, but USPS denied it three times.
"The post office said come pick up your birds, you've exhausted your appeals," explained Lawler.
Lawler said USPS cited that his coverage was denied due to "insufficient packaging," and failure to provide evidence of value. Even though Lawler said he showed USPS that he sold the ducks for more than $450 on eBay.
Lawler still has the box he shipped the ducks in, along with the five layers of bubble wrap that he said he wrapped the wood decoys with.
He explained the conversation he had with a USPS employee when he first sent out the order in April.
"I took the second box to the guy at the window at the post office in Middleport, and said give that a good shake," explained Lalwer. "He said it doesn’t sound like anything is moving to me."
Lawler showed 7 Problem Solver Michael Schwartz the inside of the box, which had indents in it. Lawler said that's from the bills of the ducks hitting the inside of the box, even though the bills were wrapped in bubble wrap when he shipped them.
Schwartz emailed a USPS representative, who said the agency will now investigate this further. A representative added, "The Postal Service has agreed to revisit the customer’s claim and requests the customer submit an appeal on the latest decision."
"I had $465 worth of decoys, now I have one decoy left," said Lawler. Even if the ducks were to be glued back together, Lawler said they would lose value.
7 Problem Solvers will provide updates in this case. If you have a consumer issue you can email Michael at 7ProblemSolvers@WKBW.com
