USPS refusal to scan in items

[bluekrystal1987]

Who has the issue with their local post office refusing to scan in items and making you drop them in a box? I have tried multiple times to have the clerk scan in my items and they get snippy and state that because "we" (USPS) give you (eBay sellers) discount shipping you need to drop off without scanning in. Mind you, they have no idea who I am, what I do, or what type of pricing I pay. I am trying to find the policy within the USPS that corroborates this and haven't found anything. This issue has led to multiple items being considered late shipment and I am just about fed up with having to defend myself for something that shouldn't even be an issue. If I didn't print my label and used the QR code... they would have no choice but to accept the package, thus I am being penalized for making their job easier. Someone shed some light on this without telling me to use the QR code. 

[mam98031]

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@erikstuff wrote:

Oh... I see.  Only once has there ever been an item taken from a drop box.  Well, that's comforting to know.  What I DON'T like is when I drop a package in the mail box at my near-by Postal Station on a Monday morning before the 10AM pickup... and the FIRST scan is at 1:35 AM on a Tuesday night.  Once the FIRST scan was 3 days later in Philadelphia (I'm in Florida).  The late scan leaves me wondering if it's been stolen... and possibly my customer thinking I'm a slow shipper.

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@erikstuff 

You may want to revisit my post as I did NOT say that.  I don't mind you disagreeing with me, just don't try changing what I said to suit your point of view.

[jasoheat_0]

your right , but there employees are on the news here in atlanta stating on TV they they arent scanning  ... and give excuses .. and the managers around here ... well the last audit of the postal system recently stated that the management needs a lot of work( really defecetive  ) ... heck some of the postal carriers are driving around smoking cigars in there USPS vehicle ( doesnt look like anyone cares ) so i reported it and have seen the same carrier smoking days in a row afterwards ... so if the managers doesnt care ... neither will the employees ..... and the mail gets worse ..... look up USPS postal issues atlanta ... all over the news 

[yellow-snapdragon]

WOW! That's nuts! It is their job to scan packages. I have never heard of that from the USPS. Might be small town friendliness here but I bring items 3x week to be scanned and have friendly conversation with the USPS employees as they scan my items. 

[winterpalace25]

It's my understanding that the post office with your zip code on the label (your post office) gets the credit and the nice other PO does not get the "credit."  The credit is a measurement of their usage and can determine if they have enough traffic to not get shut down. 

[winterpalace25]

I also have a large rural mailbox that is amazingly "bigger on the inside." My mail carrier picks up my packages and does the initial scan on the spot.  She'll come to my front porch and pick up large packages if I leave her a note. She says they appreciate my outgoing business because it helps justify their branch. 

[mam98031]

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@winterpalace25 wrote:

I also have a large rural mailbox that is amazingly "bigger on the inside." My mail carrier picks up my packages and does the initial scan on the spot.  She'll come to my front porch and pick up large packages if I leave her a note. She says they appreciate my outgoing business because it helps justify their branch. 

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It also helps her paycheck.  The busier their route the more they make.  So it is a win win situation.

[tradrmom]

I just filed a complaint online. Requested a phone call. Will see what happens. Has only happened since we moved to Albuquerque, NM from San Diego county, CA. There I had a mailman who really became part of the family. He stopped by daily for pickups, even gave me his cell number. Worked for over 10 years. PO was about 20 minutes away plus or minus traffic. Here its under 5 minutes so I dont really care about driving it. 

[a_c_green]

(Duly noting that I missed this when first posted last month...)

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@winterpalace25 wrote:

It's my understanding that the post office with your zip code on the label (your post office) gets the credit and the nice other PO does not get the "credit."  The credit is a measurement of their usage and can determine if they have enough traffic to not get shut down. 

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No, they get "credit" for handling the package by scanning it. That's how the system gauges what load of packages are being handled by which post office; their tracking system tells them what is going where.

The Ship From ZIP printed on the label shows the origin ZIP code that was used for calculating the postage required. Generally speaking, you can mail from any location sharing the same three digits of the Ship From ZIP, though of course you can avoid misunderstandings at the front desk if you can select the matching Ship location for the post office you will be using when printing your label.

(The Ship From ZIP address is not the same as your Return Address, and eBay lets you store multiple  addresses to choose from. I have two different Ship From ZIP addresses myself, as I sometimes have to send my packages from another suburb that is not very close to my own.)

It's a widespread misperception among USPS clerks that the Ship From ZIP value is what gives a post office "credit" for handling the package, but it's not. It's purely for postage calculation; scanning the package is what will give them credit.

[inhawaii]

All I can say is if that was me dropping off packages, they WILL get scanned, snippy clerk or not.

[ethylsgarage]

If you have multiple items you can generate a list of all the USPS Tracking Numbers with a single bar code on the listing page to scan. This is much quicker and easier than having the clerk scan each package.

[goldxxxsilver]

Thanks 

I see this every day 

People are Clueless when going to the P.O. 

Feel bad for the Clerks 

If you need a Stamp ....Buy One!!! 

Don't Offer 15 different letter stamps ( which they never have) and hold up the Line 

or Looking for a Amazon Package  in my P.O Box 

Your list could go on & on!!!  

 But Worthy of my Response

[mam98031]

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@tradrmom wrote:

I just filed a complaint online. Requested a phone call. Will see what happens. Has only happened since we moved to Albuquerque, NM from San Diego county, CA. There I had a mailman who really became part of the family. He stopped by daily for pickups, even gave me his cell number. Worked for over 10 years. PO was about 20 minutes away plus or minus traffic. Here its under 5 minutes so I dont really care about driving it. 

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That is what I had to do when we moved into this house.  We had a carrier that was really an issue on so many things.  I finally filed a complaint on the website as I have a little business to run and I just couldn't put up with this woman's quirks.  

I had two people at my house in less than a week or two.  The Postmaster from my local PO and someone else.  I don't remember her title.  I showed them some of the things that the carrier was complaining about, they took notes.  Both were really nice and asked appropriate questions.  From that day on, I never had a single problem with that carrier.

She retired about a year later and we were SO Happy.

[jg.mason]

I also had a great mailman, never missed a pickup request, would always take my MM and 1st class from the mailbox even when he didn't have any mail to drop off. He deserved his nice "Christmas card" every year. Then they changed the routes up and mail service went crap. I had five different mailman they missed pickup requests wouldn't take MM or 1st class even when they dropped off mail and I started miss some of my regular mail like bills and stuff.

So now it's off to the post office every other day. I have four different post offices around me that I use and I have to say they are all great. One off them has a drop off area and I always use it. The other three aren't as big so I hand them my package or at least let them know I'm dropping off. I have only asked for a scan a few times if it was an expensive item or just to have them check the weight against my scale.

I'm down to just two different mailmen now and the service is getting better but no where near tip worthy yet.

[cabofan1]

Explain to the clerks at the P.O. that these items need scanned for tracking and if there is an issue immediately ask to talk to the Postmaster. We as taxpayers pay their salary. The volume of mail these days is way down from years past they should be welcoming to  any and all mail. 

[tradrmom]

I have sold for a really long time, with breaks at times. I have printed and taken packages to other states and locations a number of times and those post offices never had an issue. I think all goes back to individual “empires”.