Re US expats: "Are you alive?" letter still not reached SSA after 2 weeks

[higgy88]

Hi smo,

Just wanted to let you know that I've just gotten a reply from the USPS and they did find my letter and finally delivered it.  Only took 30 days.   Have you gotten anything from them yet?

[smo]

Ouicha (thai - not french - exclamation!) after all the hue and cry, USPS has finally delivered:

 

1) interesting that mine and higgy's got delivered at the same time to the minute.

 

2) all the email alerts/search request etc. were simply for show, in the sense that they did not yield any update or alert. Granted the search request was replied with this tagline "Items that meet the US Postal Service's® search guidelines will be searched for, and if found, forwarded to the address you provided."

 

3) FYI it took one week to get to us shore, and 4 more to reach its destination = total time 5 weeks, total cost 84 baht via registered mail.
 

[NancyL]

Much ado about nothing.  They'll send a second notice if they don't receive your letter.  

[smo]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

Much ado about nothing.  They'll send a second notice if they don't receive your letter.  

Others might not think so. As newbies (first-year SSA receivers) naturally we tend to fret more than then those who've done it year in year out.  

 

I'm sure next year's crop of SSA newbies will find this thread - clear, concise account of what-happened-or-not-happened-next from both EMS and regular "registed mail" angles with accompanying screenshots to boot - very helpful comes time for them to send in their fisrt ever DOA letter.  Especially with the warning of a record-breaking 30 day plus delivery time between US and Thailand using registered mail... On the other hand it would probably save them 1300 baht plus change, not bad heh? 

 

So I for one don't think this was "much ado about nothing."

Edited July 20, 2017 by smo

[Pib]

16 hours ago, NancyL said:

Much ado about nothing.  They'll send a second notice if they don't receive your letter.  

And if that second notice goes wrong for whatever reason you always have the 3rd step where your monthly payment for Jan occurring in Feb does not occur.

 

That something the pensioner will notice (little pun there) and definitely get his attention whether he was at fault or not related to the first or second notice not being received or completed notice not getting back to the SSA.

[amvet]

I'd pay the extra 500 baht or so and do EMS and it gets there in a week.  I have done the other and had my SS stopped before I knew about the letters going out in June.  I missed them all and did not find out till my SS got stopped in March I think it was. 

[ubonjoe]

12 minutes ago, amvet said:

I'd pay the extra 500 baht or so and do EMS and it gets there in a week.  I have done the other and had my SS stopped before I knew about the letters going out in June.  I missed them all and did not find out till my SS got stopped in March I think it was. 

I paid the extra 65 baht to send it registered this year. The past two years I sent it by standard airmail for 28 baht and no 2nd notice or a cut off.

EMS costs 850 baht now which is a  lot more than the 93 baht for registered mail.

 

[ubonjoe]

3 hours ago, Pib said:

And if that second notice goes wrong for whatever reason you always have the 3rd step where your monthly payment for Jan occurring in Feb does not occur.

Not sure but I think there is a notice sent in December but it is a formal letter telling you to sort it out or payments will be cut off in February.

[Pib]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Not sure but I think there is a notice sent in December but it is a formal letter telling you to sort it out or payments will be cut off in February.

Correct.  It'S the Suspension Notice letter that they send in mid Jan saying if they don't get the Are You Alive or Deal letter ASAP your January benefits will not be paid in Feb.  Below is a partial quote from the SSA regulation (they call POMS) section dealing with the process...and I've also attached that section below.

 

I expect those who didn't receive the first two notices (i.e., the Dead or Alive form to mail back) will not get the Suspension Notice either. Or, if the person does get the Suspension Notice it might too late to work things out with the SSA to ensure your Jan benefits are paid on time....might be a delay of X-period of time (X weeks to X months) in getting the SSA satisfied you are really Still Alive so the payment suspension will be lifted.

 

I seen posts in other forums where some people got the suspension cleared up fast like in around 10 days and their Jan benefits were paid promptly (only a few weeks later than normal)..and other folks who took months to get the SSA satisfied and get the benefits flowing again.

 

And of course sometimes a few horror stories/posts of taking around a year to clear things up, but I bet those  horror stories include untold details like maybe the person was actually residing in a country where SS can not send benefits and the pensioner didn't have a U.S. bank account anymore so the funds could be sent there instead....or the person just drug his feet in getting things cleared up.

 

 

Quote

E. FEQ Suspension Process — Automatic Suspension ­SSA­7162 A list of the SSA‐7162s automatic suspensions is prepared in CIT‐ Baltimore. The beneficiaries are sent a suspension letter ﴾see F. below﴿ informing them that their benefits are being suspended because they did not return the FEQ form within the time frame requested. This letter is mailed about mid‐January and includes a warning explaining that if the FEQ form is not received right away, their benefits will stop with the February payment ﴾January benefits﴿.

 

Dead or Alive Form_Supension_SSA - POMS_ RS 02655.pdf

[higgy88]

It really is too bad the the US embassy in the Philippines took down all of the information they used to have on social security benefits, which I think would have greatly helped those of us who are served by the SSA office there.

 

However, the US embassy in Chile has much better info on this.

https://cl.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/federal-benefits-services/form7162-2/

 

[gk10002000]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 9:07 AM, smo said:

Ouicha (thai - not french - exclamation!) after all the hue and cry, USPS has finally delivered:

 

1) interesting that mine and higgy's got delivered at the same time to the minute.

 

2) all the email alerts/search request etc. were simply for show, in the sense that they did not yield any update or alert. Granted the search request was replied with this tagline "Items that meet the US Postal Service's® search guidelines will be searched for, and if found, forwarded to the address you provided."

 

3) FYI it took one week to get to us shore, and 4 more to reach its destination = total time 5 weeks, total cost 84 baht via registered mail.
 

I wouldn't be surprised if they bunch them up on the same truck or delivery person that runs the route.  The driver enters the data, cans the package or whatever literally seconds after the other package.  Still a bit odd though.

[pmarlin]

On 7/23/2017 at 2:28 PM, gk10002000 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they bunch them up on the same truck or delivery person that runs the route.  The driver enters the data, cans the package or whatever literally seconds after the other package.  Still a bit odd though.

That could be. sent mine registered mail on 12 June got to the U.S. on   18 Jun and was not delivered until  8 am 19 Jul.

[ubonjoe]

Mine was mailed a little later than the others and is a little different than the others. How about it taking 12 days to go about 60 miles from Lehigh Valley to Wilkes-Barre.

Even worse is the Thai post tracking that showed it arrived at Suvarnabhumi mail center on July 5th and was not updated until it was delivered on the 26th.

 

 

Quote

 

Shipment Activity	Location	Date & Time	With Partner
Delivered	WILKES BARRE, PA 18767	July 26, 2017 12:44 pm
Arrived at Unit	WILKES BARRE, PA 18701	July 26, 2017 11:04 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility	LEHIGH VALLEY PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER	July 14, 2017 5:51 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility	LEHIGH VALLEY PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER	July 13, 2017 3:58 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility	NEW YORK NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER	July 12, 2017 6:24 pm
Acceptance	THAILAND	July 4, 2017 1:11 pm

 

[connda]

This is mine.  Took two days to go from Lamphun to SUVARNABHUMI MAIL CENTRE, then 10 days to show up in the US, then Departed USPS Regional Facility SCRANTON PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER on July 15 and has since dropped into the USPS Black Hole of Registered Mail.  

So, question here.  If the USPS can't get mail to the SSA in Wilkes-Barr with any degree of regularity -- what about contacting SSA in the Philippians and tell them that we're mailing our letters in good faith but they aren't being delivered by the a US postal service that has seen better days.  

By the way, I mailed another piece of mail via registered mail earlier this year.  It never showed as delivered by the USPS tracking system either, but I contacted the recipient and they did get the letter.   USPS really does have problems.  I definitely trust the Thai Post Office more the USPS.  Now there is a sad indictment.  

Edited July 31, 2017 by connda

[Pib]

I'm just wondering if the approx two week delay from it arriving at a nearby postal center to Wilkes Barre and it showing Wilkes Barre actually receiving/signing for the register mail is being handled differently than receipt of most registered mail which does not require a signature.

 

Such as due to the obviously thousand or maybe even tens of thousands Dead or Alive forms arriving daily back to Wilkes Barre on a daily basis and being unable to sign for each one individually that Wilkes Barre doesn't have a special IT interface with the post system to where they (Wilkes Barre) does not acknowledge receipt until they "open" your envelope.  

 

Your form may have actually arrived Wilkes Barre weeks earlier....bags and bags of returned forms.  But Wilkes Barre can not acknowledge receipt of each "individual" form same day.  Instead, the backlog of delivered forms set in a Wilkes Barre secure storage room for X-amount of time and  is not acknowledge until Wilkes Barre "opens" your envelope.  And they acknowledge it by direct interface/feedback to the USPS tracking system vs the day your form was actually delivered to Wilkes Barre by the postman.

[ubonjoe]

10 hours ago, Pib said:

Your form may have actually arrived Wilkes Barre weeks earlier....bags and bags of returned forms.  But Wilkes Barre can not acknowledge receipt of each "individual" form same day.  Instead, the backlog of delivered forms set in a Wilkes Barre secure storage room for X-amount of time and  is not acknowledge until Wilkes Barre "opens" your envelope.  And they acknowledge it by direct interface/feedback to the USPS tracking system vs the day your form was actually delivered to Wilkes Barre by the postman.

I think that is what happens.

I looked up the zip code 18767 on the USPS website and it shows this.

Quote

 

WILKES BARRE PA 18767

This is a UNIQUE ZIP Code™ used for a specific company or organization

 

They are not scanned until they open the bag or tray they are in.

[Pib]

That's probably what is occurring.  Googling unique zip codes which are assigned to large organizations where the USPS delivers the mail to that organization's delivery point (i.e., that organization's mail delivery system) which is no doubt receiving a ton of mail each day.  It's then up to that organization to internally complete delivery; not up  to USPS.  

 

Then once that large organization completes it's internal routing and delivery process they interface with the USPS system to provide delivery notification to the actual office/person you wanted the mail to go to.   And in the case of thousands upon thousands of Dead or Alive envelopes arriving daily, probably far more than the poor office which must open and process the forms, only X-amount of bags/envelopes are internally delivered to that poor office from the organization's internal delivery unit..   Man, that has got to be a boring job in processing the Dead or Alive forms...such a super repetitive job...open envelope, scan form, process form....repeat thousands of times per day.

 

So, yea, I expect the Thai and U.S. Postal Systems are getting a person's mail delivered to Wilkes Barre fairly fast, but once delivery to Wilkes Barre  their internal mail system is what slows notification of final delivery down unless maybe you just happen to get lucky.

 

From some googling on Unique ZIP codes

Quote

Some organizations (such as large businesses, universities, or government agencies) receive an incredible volume of mail. For efficiency, the USPS may assign organizations like these their own unique ZIP Code consisting of a single delivery point. All mail addressed to a unique ZIP Code is routed internally by the assigned organization rather than by the USPS.

 

[smo]

On 7/31/2017 at 7:16 PM, connda said:

By the way, I mailed another piece of mail via registered mail earlier this year.  It never showed as delivered by the USPS tracking system either, but I contacted the recipient and they did get the letter.   USPS really does have problems.  I definitely trust the Thai Post Office more the USPS.  Now there is a sad indictment.  

 

I'm so glad that together, we manage to uncover the Wilkes-Barre "registered mail" black hole! In the meantime, as of 08/28, more than one month after USPS website had informed me of my mail delivery, its tracking system was still relentless on its pursuit:

Dear -,

Thank you for using USPS.com.

The US Postal Service® received the search request you submitted and it's being processed. Your package has not yet been recovered, but every effort is being made to locate your item(s).

Search Request Details:
Request Date: 07/13/2017
Reference: Search ID # -
Tracking Number: RR -
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Thank you for using the U.S. Postal Service®.

 

Then finally today, it gives up the "search and rescue" mission, sending its "regret to inform" condoleances instead:

 

Dear -,

Thank you for using USPS.com.

We regret to inform you that after thoroughly searching for your mail we were unable to locate your missing item(s).

Search Request Details:
Request Date: 07/13/2017
Reference: Search ID #-
Tracking Number: RR-
We work hard to provide prompt, accurate service to our customers, and regret that we were unable to deliver your mailpiece on this occasion. To help us get your packages to their destination in the future:

Put a return address on the outside of all mailpieces
Include a label with your name and complete address on the inside of packages
We never like to think of anything happening to the mail during transit, but we want to be prepared for any contingency and your assistance is vital to that preparedness.

Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience that you have experienced. We appreciate your business and hope you will give us the opportunity to serve you in the future.

Thank you for using the U.S. Postal Service®. 

 

 

[Pib]

And once a year, the USPS will have a moment of silence in memory of your loss mail (although it did get delivered).