For those of you who ship products, how would you deal with this situation?

A customer places an order for a $75 item pays a shipping fee for you to send as a gift. You process the order and ship the item. You email the customer with the tracking number. The customer contacts you 2 weeks later asking if you can track the package. The carrier indicates it was delivered to the Front Porch. The customer confirms the package never arrived and you believe them. We all know you did your part and are in no way obligated to replace the item, but what do you do? Do you offer them a discount on a replacement item or do you charge them the full price again or tell them to invest in a security camera to catch the package thief?


So far, in over 10 years of shipping items, I have never received an inquiry on a truly lost item. I have had 2 items delivered to the wrong mailbox and then showed up at the correct address a few days later. A few weeks ago, one of my long-term customers "Mary" ordered a gift and it was a surprise for a friend of hers. When Mary asked "Sue" if she received her gift, Sue responded that she had not received it. Thankfully it turned out to be miscommunication. Sue did receive the gift, but thought it had been sent by someone else and had been looking for a package with the Mary's return address on it.