Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
1 BEST ANSWER
Accepted Solutions
It will totally depend on your situation. I used to do daily pickups (no, you can't get a same day pickup), when I had a great carrier. Now, I'm back to dropping off pkgs at the PO cuz my carrier retired & all the subs don't know how. Pickups are frequently missed, it really just depends on your carrier. At my old house they were 50/50 if they'd happen. A mile away, I had a great carrier for years, he even gave me his number & I texted him the night before if I had pickups (cuz another issue is the PO forgets to put the pickup slip in his route for the day), but once he retired, I knew I was screwed again.
Some people have great carriers, others don't. Some are on a rural route, others aren't. BTW, I found out that my city of almost 1 million people is over 1/2 "rural route" even though none of it is rural, the USPS is a mess, but rural routes have different rules.
Best 2 pieces of advice, make sure your handling time is reasonable for your situation, as you must get an Acceptance scan prior to your handling time expiring or you'll get dinged by eBay. Second most important, make sure YOU get that Acceptance scan every time! Whether you take it to the PO or have your pickup person do it, it's your responsibility cuz without it, it may never get an acceptance scan. If your in a decent size city, your PO will likely have APC kiosks & you can now get your acceptance scan on those, so you don't have to wait in line.
I think the vast majority of ebayers print their postage online either from eBay or from a 3rd party such as Pirate Ship & then either do a PO drop off or have a pickup.
ETA: there are 2 options for pickups on the USPS website. Free is when the carrier is coming anyway. The other is for a timed pickup, but that costs like $20. IDK anyone who has ever used it.
Every sellers situation is different.
I myself print out my USPS labels every night directly from ebay and have my mail carrier pick them up every morning.
FYI Printing out labels from ebay saves you money vs. going to the post office.
If everything will fit in the mailbox, i just put up the red flag, no need to schedule a pick up.
If everything does not fit in the mailbox, I leave the larger packages on my front porch and schedule a pick up.
I also put a homemade reusable placard in my mailbox indicating there are more packages on the front porch.
It will totally depend on your situation. I used to do daily pickups (no, you can't get a same day pickup), when I had a great carrier. Now, I'm back to dropping off pkgs at the PO cuz my carrier retired & all the subs don't know how. Pickups are frequently missed, it really just depends on your carrier. At my old house they were 50/50 if they'd happen. A mile away, I had a great carrier for years, he even gave me his number & I texted him the night before if I had pickups (cuz another issue is the PO forgets to put the pickup slip in his route for the day), but once he retired, I knew I was screwed again.
Some people have great carriers, others don't. Some are on a rural route, others aren't. BTW, I found out that my city of almost 1 million people is over 1/2 "rural route" even though none of it is rural, the USPS is a mess, but rural routes have different rules.
Best 2 pieces of advice, make sure your handling time is reasonable for your situation, as you must get an Acceptance scan prior to your handling time expiring or you'll get dinged by eBay. Second most important, make sure YOU get that Acceptance scan every time! Whether you take it to the PO or have your pickup person do it, it's your responsibility cuz without it, it may never get an acceptance scan. If your in a decent size city, your PO will likely have APC kiosks & you can now get your acceptance scan on those, so you don't have to wait in line.
I think the vast majority of ebayers print their postage online either from eBay or from a 3rd party such as Pirate Ship & then either do a PO drop off or have a pickup.
ETA: there are 2 options for pickups on the USPS website. Free is when the carrier is coming anyway. The other is for a timed pickup, but that costs like $20. IDK anyone who has ever used it.
I forgot to mention, you need a secure place to do pickups. eBay will NOT have your back on an INR (item not received) if it was not received b/c it was stolen from your porch. IDK where you got that idea. You are required to get your item to your buyer! They will only have your back on an INR if it gets a Delivered scan & the buyer is still claiming INR. Which btw, a lot of those are legit INR's, but eBay WILL have your back on those.
@rlradski wrote:I’m so OCD. I seriously want to go to post office and stand in line to watch them scan my packages. Does mail carrier scan each package they pickup?
@rlradski They're supposed to, though there are limits if you're on a rural route, which again, can be a 1200 house subdivision in the middle of the city. Do they? Will they? It depends on your carrier. Do you have a good regular carrier? Do you have a lot of subs? It all depends. I had a 8x12 4 color laminated sign telling them to scan pkgs. Did it happen? Sometimes. If it was a sub, almost never.
Lots of people go to the PO & watch them being scanned, but on the downside, you gotta wait in line. The easier way is just use the APC Kiosk & scan them yourself.
