When you mail somebody something twice, do you assume that they really got the thing both times and are looking for a third freebie or do you assume there is a problem at their post office or a problem at your post office?
Before I ran an internationally distributed magazine, I always thought there was no such thing as lost in the mail i.e. the check is in your mouth, I won’t come in the mail. Doing mailings of thousands of magazines, I realized that there is an infinite number of things the USPS can do to screw up. When we were based in Atlanta, we paid for an address correction service which was supposed to give us change of address info, but the Atlanta postal people thought we were evil and decided not to give us the data we paid for. Now that is evil.
Atlanta had a 24 hour Post Office. Which sounds great, except for the part where the counter people would get pissy if you made them mail more than 12 items and they would often just throw out whatever you mailed more than 12. Fortunately we learned this before losing too much, but still.
When I first got my space in Hollywood, there was some disagreement on which area it was zoned for as the building rested on sort of the line. The two post offices disagreed on which one should pick up and deliver the mail. Later on someone here (not me) slapped a postal carrier. So, to make a long story short, I don’t put things out for the postman here; I go to the Post Office.
So what are you likely to believe if someone says they did not receive something you sent them?