I got an empty envelope today from my post office that was ripped/torn badly and it had a sticker on it that said 'received without contents'.   I looked up the return address and it was from a person I ordered a book from.    what should I do at this point?

• The sender should call 800-ASK-USPS or go to https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MLNtRcvd.aspx  and input the information online there. This will help USPS try to recover the book.

  • The form is titled "mail Theft"; this does not mean that you can use it only if you think the book was stolen.  "Received without contents" is an option on the page.
  • The choice to make under "Class" on the form if Media Mail was used is "Parcel Post".

• If you think that the Wrapping method may have contributed to the loss of the book, please do give (gentle) feedback to the sender; you can refer to All Help documents about bookwrapping if you like. 

• If you have marked the book received by mistake (or if the system marked the book received for you while you were absent from PBS), you can also discuss this with the sender, who got credit when that happened.

You can also go to the post office and fill out a lost mail form.  You'll need the address of the person who sent it to you, I believe.

 thanks layne, I found the info in the help center after I posted this.  I pm'd the sender and will do what the help center states.  the envelope was torn on 2 ends and very beat up looking :-( 

You're quite welcome :)

I hate when stuff like that happens. Hasn't happened with me and a book, but we did recieve something at work today that was literally in shreds and unreadable. Not even a small square could be made out. The post office put it in a plastic envelope and marked damaged. However, I KNOW the vendor would never have sent it out like that. We get stuff from them all the time. What does the post office do to these packages half the time???