UPS Lost a Man's Nearly $700,000 Inheritance—And Offered $32 as Compensation

[easysurfer]

The poor guy.

Brings back negative flashbacks of when I FIRE'd and had the balance of 401K check from Fidelity floating around in the mail for deposit to Vanguard. Luckily, my check wasn't lost.

Lorette Taylor’s father had died and left his children a large chunk of cash, which Taylor, as executor, had to divide between herself and two siblings. When she tried to do so in February, her bank—TD Canada Trust—said it was best to send her brother and sister bank drafts (similar to personal checks, but considered more secure as they are guaranteed by the bank instead of by the person issuing them).


One of the drafts, in the order of 846,650 Canadian dollars ($664,850), was destined for her brother, Louis Paul Hebert, who hired UPS to ship it to his local store, 270 miles away from the family lawyer. The package never arrived.

UPS Lost Man's $700,000 Inheritance and Offered Him $32 | Fortune

 

[Car-Guy]

For many years I wasn't really concerned with lost (USPS) mail since it never happen to me, but that has changed recently. Just this year, I've had several pieces of mail "that I know of" that have been lost in transit. I have no idea what else may have been lost that I wasn't expecting! This year I've also had "local" mail delayed by almost 2 weeks from the postmark dates. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the overall US mail system or something wrong locally with my little rural post office. I know a local problem is I get others peoples mail in my PO Box several times a year so I'm sure my mail ends up in others mail boxes occasionally. I always drop misdirected mail back in outgoing mail but I'm not sure everyone does.

 

[ponyboy]

More fake news. This story doesnt add up. The bank didnt send the guy bills of money. They sent him a check. Big deal if a check got lost...happens all the time. Bank needs to put a stop payment/cancel and send another one. This is a non story...actually its great clickbait. Nuff said

 

[scrabbler1]

More fake news. This story doesnt add up. The bank didnt send the guy bills of money. They sent him a check. Big deal if a check got lost...happens all the time. Bank needs to put a stop payment/cancel and send another one. This is a non story...actually its great clickbait. Nuff said

I agree. The only thing which could matter is if you are near the deadline for doing a trustee-to-trustee rollover of a 401k to an IRA, and missing it triggers a tax liability/penalty. When I ERed in late 2008, I received a check for the part of the 401k I was doing a trustee-to-trustee rollover. It was made out to the new trustee, as I knew I'd be making a visit to their office (Fido) to deal with that and the taxable proceeds from the 401k. The check arrived on time, so I had no problems.

 

[RunningBum]

Year ago I had a 5 figure check from a brokerage lost in the mail, or so I thought. Turns out it wasn't lost, the stamp meter at the brokerage mail room missed it's mark and it was returned to them, and they sat on it for a month. I got them to mail me another one in the meantime, but eventually the second one showed up. I think I still have it. It was the brokerage that serviced the company ESPP program. Eventually we had a second option to use Schwab and I jumped at it.

 

[Danmar]

More fake news. This story doesnt add up. The bank didnt send the guy bills of money. They sent him a check. Big deal if a check got lost...happens all the time. Bank needs to put a stop payment/cancel and send another one. This is a non story...actually its great clickbait. Nuff said

No. Actually it was a bank draft (quite clear in the quote) These are guaranteed funds and should be treated like cash. The bank was willing to replace the draft but wanted an indemnity backed by security. This was an issue for the people who sent the draft. Once they went to the media it was settled in short order. So it was a “real story” and certainly not click bait. This happened in Canada so had nothing to do with 401k’s or IRA’s. Nuff said?

 

[ncbill]

In these situations, it's always best simply to pay the wire transfer fee.

 

[Danmar]

In these situations, it's always best simply to pay the wire transfer fee.

Yes. Agree.

 

[pb4uski]

+1 on a transfer, but you don't always have that choice... when I rolled over my former employer's 401k to a Vanguard IRA the only option was for them to send me a check (made out to Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company FBO pb4uski) and for me to then forward it on to Vanguard. I made photocopies and mailed it to them with tracking but would ahve much preferred them being able to do a wire transfer.

 

[karen1972]

The title sounds about right for UPS, we won't ever be using them again. We sent something marked fragile, packaged to the hilt, across country, it got to the location, just a mile away from destination, worker thought he "heard" something broken so sent it all the way back across country, ensuring it absolutely WAS broken. If they had delivered it, it would have been minor damage, but by traveling back damaged, it was destroyed. We had insurance on it, but because they returned it, they said they didn't have to pay the insurance because they didn't pack it.

Anyway, not sure if I was sending a check to a sibling that large that I wouldn't just deliver it in person... seems like the thing to do .

 

[Danmar]

Anyway, not sure if I was sending a check to a sibling that large that I wouldn't just deliver it in person... seems like the thing to do .

The sibling lived about 250 miles away but was quoted as saying “I wish I just went and got it”. Indeed.

 

[Sunset]

I have dealings in Canada.

While TD Canada Trust is nice and they have treated me well, they have some weird rules and behaviors sometimes.

Last summer I spend over an hour in the bank with 3 employees of TD trying to wire some money to a big name brokerage, they couldn't manage to do it. I finally left.

They will only allow you wire money in person, which I guess is there safety mechanism since they once wired a persons money to strangers (it was in the news).

 

[gauss]

More fake news. This story doesnt add up. The bank didnt send the guy bills of money. They sent him a check. Big deal if a check got lost...happens all the time. Bank needs to put a stop payment/cancel and send another one. This is a non story...actually its great clickbait. Nuff said

+1

Banks can place "Stop-Payment" orders on individual checks.

The individual may need to wait 180 days to get the funds, but they should eventually be available.

If the bank were not to cooperate, this is what the courts are there for.

edit: The headline may actually be true. UPS is not responsible for loosing the check and a $32 reimbursement sounds reasonable if additional insurance was not purchased. Again the bank is where the individual is made whole.

-gauss

p.s. This all assumes similar banking laws in Canada compared to the US. If they were different in this regard, I would expect people would not use the CA banking system.

 

[gauss]

I have dealings in Canada.

While TD Canada Trust is nice and they have treated me well, they have some weird rules and behaviors sometimes.

Last summer I spend over an hour in the bank with 3 employees of TD trying to wire some money to a big name brokerage, they couldn't manage to do it. I finally left.

They will only allow you wire money in person, which I guess is there safety mechanism since they once wired a persons money to strangers (it was in the news).

Sure - this may be a business decision to not offer this particiualr service.

This, however, is not on the same level as "the money just disappears and the bank gets to keep it".

-gauss

 

[Hermit]

+1 on a transfer, but you don't always have that choice... when I rolled over my former employer's 401k to a Vanguard IRA the only option was for them to send me a check (made out to Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company FBO pb4uski) and for me to then forward it on to Vanguard. I made photocopies and mailed it to them with tracking but would ahve much preferred them being able to do a wire transfer.

Same here. Only this thread is making me even more nervous. The last couple of years, the 401k fund was not keeping up with Vanguard fund so I am in the process of rolling it over to Vanguard. The checks were mailed to me and I have mailed them on the Vanguard. Its still "in the mail". One of the most annoying things about moving money out of Voya (formerly part of Orange), the 401k manager, is that they always sit on any distribution check for almost a week before the send it. It disappears from the account immediately and shows up in my mail box about 10 days later.

 

[easysurfer]

+1 on a transfer, but you don't always have that choice... when I rolled over my former employer's 401k to a Vanguard IRA the only option was for them to send me a check (made out to Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company FBO pb4uski) and for me to then forward it on to Vanguard. I made photocopies and mailed it to them with tracking but would ahve much preferred them being able to do a wire transfer.

+1. Yes, that was my flashback. I was sweating thinking about the time of a large large sum floating in the mail that was tempted to make a trip to Vanguard and deposit in person.

 

[Ready]

I receive an email from USPS, UPS and Fedex whenever a package is on the way, so at least I know to anticipate it and can track it down if I never receive it.

I do agree this is a non-story though. I'm sure the guy was able to work with the bank to get the check reissued.

 

[Dash man]

Same here. Only this thread is making me even more nervous. The last couple of years, the 401k fund was not keeping up with Vanguard fund so I am in the process of rolling it over to Vanguard. The checks were mailed to me and I have mailed them on the Vanguard. Its still "in the mail". One of the most annoying things about moving money out of Voya (formerly part of Orange), the 401k manager, is that they always sit on any distribution check for almost a week before the send it. It disappears from the account immediately and shows up in my mail box about 10 days later.

I transferred my Voya 401k to two USAA IRA accounts. It was all done electronically and quickly once the sale of the fund shares had settled. I’d never do a rollover by check. Too many things can go wrong.

 

[Danmar]

+1

Banks can place "Stop-Payment" orders on individual checks.

The individual may need to wait 180 days to get the funds, but they should eventually be available.

If the bank were not to cooperate, this is what the courts are there for.

edit: The headline may actually be true. UPS is not responsible for loosing the check and a $32 reimbursement sounds reasonable if additional insurance was not purchased. Again the bank is where the individual is made whole.

-gauss

p.s. This all assumes similar banking laws in Canada compared to the US. If they were different in this regard, I would expect people would not use the CA banking system.

Much more difficult to stop payment on a bank draft. Banks will do it but generally require an indemnity and perhaps some form of security from the issuer. As a I said, this indemnity and security was the issue. It really wasn’t a story about UPS but rather the bank. Eventually, after the media got involved the bank apologized and they got their money back.

 

[gayl]

More fake news. This story doesnt add up. The bank didnt send the guy bills of money. They sent him a check. Big deal if a check got lost...happens all the time. Bank needs to put a stop payment/cancel and send another one. This is a non story...actually its great clickbait. Nuff said

+1000

No idiot would be dumb enough to not send it insured

 

[Texas Proud]

It is not fake as some say...

A bank draft is different than a check... people here seem to be putting them in the same category.....

I do not know why they just did not send a regular check... it would have taken time to clear, but who cares... or as others have written, a wire!!! If I were moving this much money I would wire it.... always....

(that is if I was not forced to take a check as some have mentioned when moving money from 401(k))...

 

[Danmar]

+1000

No idiot would be dumb enough to not send it insured

You can’t insure a bank draft. Do you think UPS could possibly insure a $700k bank draft?

 

[Koogie]

You can’t insure a bank draft. Do you think UPS could possibly insure a $700k bank draft?

Actually, as a common carrier, they do offer cargo insurance.

It's just that the premium for the above value would be well over U$1000

I doubt anyone would do it (any currency, negotiable instruments, etc.. are usually excluded anyway).
Lottery tickets aren't though... I could tell you a story about having a shipment stolen once.. whatta nightmare...

In fact, those people should be well happy with the $32 that UPS offered.

Afterall, UPS only really lost a piece of paper with some ink on it.
Replacement value ? About 65 cents to a dollar...

Their beef was always with TDCT. It just makes more of a splash in the media to mention as many companies as they can.

People are easily manipulated by headlines.

 

[Danmar]

Actually, as a common carrier, they do offer cargo insurance.

It's just that the premium for the above value would be well over U$1000

I doubt anyone would do it (any currency, negotiable instruments, etc.. are usually excluded anyway).
Lottery tickets aren't though... I could tell you a story about having a shipment stolen once.. whatta nightmare...

In fact, those people should be well happy with the $32 that UPS offered.

Afterall, UPS only really lost a piece of paper with some ink on it.
Replacement value ? About 65 cents to a dollar...

Their beef was always with TDCT. It just makes more of a splash in the media to mention as many companies as they can.

People are easily manipulated by headlines.

Agree. At least somebody here understood the gist of the story.

 

[MichaelB]

Agree. At least somebody here understood the gist of the story.

Oh, I bet lots of people understood the reality of this story, but most of them didn't post.