Costume conundrum: Comic expo attendee's $1,800 quest after USPS mishap

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - In just two weeks, the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) makes its return to McCormick Place, and for several months, a Bridgeview woman has had her sights set on the perfect costume. 

She just didn't realize the lengths she would need to go to get ahold of it.

Megan Hubiak has been attending comic expos since she was a kid, and recently started to collect fox suits, telling FOX 32 Chicago she sees them as ‘wearable art.’

"I see them as not only a form of expression, but also as like a wearable art piece. There’s a lot of time, effort and material that goes into these that a lot of people might not realize," said Hubiak.

The costumes could take hundreds of hours to make and can cost thousands of dollars.

Last fall, the college student saw a costume on Instagram for $850 that she thought would be perfect for this year’s comic convention. She ordered the item from the creator in Russia and was provided with tracking information the next day. 

FOX 32 Chicago confirmed that through the U.S. Postal Service’s website, tracking shows the item made it to New York City and was processed through a USPS facility on Nov. 29, 2023.

But after that, Hubiak explains, there was no movement.

Days turned into weeks, and countless calls and emails to USPS sent Hubiak to social media looking for help. She posted a photo of the costume provided by the original seller in Russia and explained her situation.

That's when the missing suit reappeared and its new seller reached out.

"They told me, ‘hey, I have the item you’re looking for but unfortunately, I can’t just give it to you. The business I work for bought a lost mail pallet from USPS, and this is the item that was inside of it. Because we pay a lot of money for these pallets, we can’t just hand it over to you, you’ll have to bid on eBay,’" said Hubiak. "After shipping and taxes, it was $966.46."

Between both purchases, Hubiak’s grand total came to more than $1,800. 

On Friday, FOX 32 Chicago reached out to the store that re-sold Hubiak the fox suit. They are based in Georgia and explained that after 90 days, lost and undelivered packages – including boxes whose shipping labels have been torn off or damaged in transit – are put up for auction on a site called GovDeals.com.

The store’s owner shared with FOX 32 Chicago that they purchase mystery pallets and re-sell the items.

Hubiak, however, feels the package shouldn't have ended up in their hands.

"USPS dropped the ball very hard," Hubiak said. "I did all the right steps. I filed all the right paperwork, and nothing was ever done. I think that’s the reason why my item ended up in somebody else’s hands when it never should have in the first place."

Hubiak says she is working through the process of filing an insurance claim with the U.S. Postal Service in hopes of recouping some of her losses.

FOX 32 Chicago has also been in contact with USPS about the situation. A spokesperson provided us with customer service links but did not immediately issue an official statement in response to this situation.