I’m a postal worker and it’s my job to deal with undeliverable mail. The machinery in the mail processing plant is not so great with envelopes that contain anything lumpy or with hard plastic edges. Unfortunately that means that gift cards can get ripped out of their envelopes and they end up on the floor under the machines or tangled up in the belts. We do our absolute best to try and limit the damage or losses and we try to return lost items to their rightful owners.

Unfortunately the public doesn’t trust postal workers so if a gift card goes missing, people will understandably assume theft. Theft within the system is a very serious issue but thankfully it’s incredibly rare. It’s more likely that the machines ate the mail and the items are now loose without any address. We try to match up items with envelopes but sometimes it’s not possible. We end up with loose gift cards everyday. I think customers will assume theft so they don’t report the lost items or they think nothing can be done about it. I deal with hundreds of loose gift cards every year and very few get claimed. The unclaimed items will go to a central “dead letter office “ and their staff will try again to find the owners and match up the missing claims with items. But still they end up with tons of gift cards with unknown owners.

If you ever send gift cards through the mail please use either a padded envelope or use clear packing tape and reinforce the edges of your envelope. If it’s a high value card then I would suggest writing a name or phone number on a piece of masking tape and stick it directly to the gift card itself. If it’s really high value then send it with tracking, take a photo of the items and save your receipts. If you ever have a GC go missing through the mail system definitely file a claim so there’s a chance it can be identified and returned.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see so many gift cards get lost like this. We will stop a machine for maintenance if it’s eating too much mail but unfortunately management wants those machines running 24/7 and they think a certain amount of damage is acceptable. Good luck sending things this Xmas season, I’ll do my best to get it to the recipient without any hassle!