So there was a USPS package I was supposed to have gotten on Sept 1, per Informed Delivery. I waited several more business days, just in case, and then went to the post office to ask about it and they couldn't find it. So I filed an insurance claim against USPS for it.
Yesterday I got the package. Today I got the check for my insurance claim.
So now I don't know what to do with the check.
Any ideas?
USPS will most likely expect to be re-paid, from USPS FAQ:
What is the process to repay the Postal Service when a claim has been paid but the package was later delivered?
If you receive a package after being paid for the claim, you must reimburse the Postal Service the full amount that was paid. However, if you haven’t yet cashed the check, you can return the check to a local Post Office.
If the item has depreciated in value or been damaged then you should contest their request to be repaid in full since doing so would leave you financially harmed by their failure.
The situation occurs all the time. It doesn't matter that the post office was involved
Something is lost, stolen or destroyed. A check is written. The item is found, returned, or it turns out it survived. The insurance company is now the owner of the item. They essentially bought the item.
You can't keep both the item and the check. If the item has sentimental value, or if it unique then you want to return the funds and keep the item. If it isn't unique or sentimental then you probably want to keep the check, especially if you already used the funds to replace the item. You don't need two dishwashers. Of course the insurance company generally doesn't want the item either.
You do not owe the Post Office your time and effort to make up for their mistakes. Depending on the value of the item and the payout made, there's a good chance the time you would have to spend "correcting" this should be valued a lot higher that the payment. If they both delivered the item and paid out an insurance claim, they made a mistake and they need to do the work of correcting that, if they care about it.
Keep the money set aside to return if they come asking for it up to whatever the statute of limitations for a claim against you would be, and return it if they contact you with a simple procedure to do this. Otherwise, don't burden yourself with it. You have better things to do with your time. If you haven't cashed/deposited the check, you might just be able to refrain from doing so, but then it will probably end up getting handled as unclaimed property belonging to you many years down the line.
