@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@a_c_green IDK what true, but this was very well known a few years ago & was pretty common to have PO's refuse to accept it if it was from a different zip.
Actually that's probably still true (that POs who actually squint at the label will announce that they're not going to accept it), but as long as the Ship From ZIP and the origin post office are within the same zone for shipping costs, then the correct postage has been paid.
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
I'm curious why you think it isn't true? I will say that I haven't had problems for quite a few years now, but then again, I almost never bother with a human being.
It isn't true (that reasoning about how they won't get "credit" for it due to a different Ship From ZIP value) because that's simply not how the system works. (I was in IT and database systems for several decades; I wrote this stuff.) The Acceptance scan logs the package in the tracking system, reporting that it is now in USPS possession. The scan also notes the location where it occurred; i.e. which post office took it in and has it now, so that's the "credit" that they're concerned about. Some ZIP codes, especially in larger cities, are represented by multiple post offices within the same ZIP code, so it's tracking which PO has the package, not which ZIP code has the package. (For tracking purposes, it doesn't matter what Ship From ZIP is shown; the facilities actually handling the item will be known to the system at every step of the way.)
From there, it goes into a container for shipping to the local origin sort facility. The container is scanned and added to the tracking log, so further scans will log the movement of the container within which the package is assumed to be, rather than the package itself. (There are two types of tracking scans: direct scans and container scans, for this reason.) Tracking will continue to follow the container rather than the package, until the package itself is finally scanned someplace as it comes out of the container.
If it gets missed at that point, tracking will continue to follow the container on its (usually) circular daily route back and forth, leading to some bizarre tracking logs where the container seems to be bouncing back and forth between two locations. Fortunately that's rare, and will be corrected as soon as the package itself gets scanned anywhere else.
As I said, the Ship From ZIP simply reports what ZIP code was used as the origin point when calculating the correct postage. I'm not saying that a clerk in ZIP code 12345 is being unreasonable by refusing a package with a Ship From of 12350, but not everyone really understands how the system works, especially not those on the front lines, so it's good if you can meet them halfway by using a Ship From ZIP that matches whichever PO you'll be using that day. If not, just chuck it in the lobby bin; it'll get there anyway. 😉
