Anyone have experience with USPS pick up?

[singular-source]

It worked for a few days and one day I received a confirmation of pick up and my packages were still at my door.  Should I slap my postal carrier with one of my boxes?

[oldwestgold]

You're better off when you have issues with the USPS is to follow their SOP.  Go online to USPS.COM and file a delivery complaint. This makes a record of the carrier failure and gets routed to your local PO.  Copies going to HQ in DC, the Area, the District and your local PO's MPOO(manager). Why should you do this? Because chances are it will occur again. Repeated delivery issues get cranked up each and every time which puts pressure on your local Postmaster/Manager to get off their duff and get it fixed once and for all.  It's nothing personal.  It is business and the USPS employees need to be held accountable as they get good pay for the job they are doing. I know. I am a retired Postmaster of 33 years.  Need help? Message me. I will try to help you if I can.

[oldwestgold]

They may have given you that excuse but it is lame.  When a carrier pickup is placed online it generates a scan sheet at the local PO.  The clerk, manager or PM hands them out every morning prior to the carriers leaving.  The carrier then becomes responsible as there is a scan on that sheet that they MUST make or have made prior to their leaving for home. If the packages are not picked up, they have not been cleared to leave and the PM cannot close out at the end of the day with open scans. If they fake a scan, big trouble for the individual that does. Each scanner has the employees' unique code. Any scans open after close are reported to the Area Office, District Office, etc. As a Postmaster(33yrs) I would get a call at home to drag my butt back it to clear any open scans. Doesn't matter what day or time it was. If you are having missed packages picked up, go online and open a delivery complaint.  It takes a min or two. This keeps a record of everything, especially if it continues.

[oldwestgold]

Seriously, "... get someone in trouble." ???? No, it clears the problem and gets the employee to do their job. Why would you be afraid of your mail carrier? Seriously? I am a retired Postmaster of 33 years.  Don't be silly. Every company needs to have its' employees held accountable - it's business.  It's good customer services. Have a good one.

[oldwestgold]

Bravo!  You are correct. I am a retired Postmaster of 33 years. If I didn't know about a problem I couldn't try to fix it.  THANKS!

[oldwestgold]

That's lame and not the norm.  I am a retired Postmaster of 33 years and worked in over a dozen different Post Offices of varying levels. I also worked in processing plants as a supervisor and manager. Your drama is lame. Every company has bad apples. Please don't generalize, as until you walk in a USPS employees shoes, you have no idea how difficult the jobs are and how dedicated 99%+ of the employees are to serving their county and their neighbors.

[oldwestgold]

Highly doubtful.  I would know as a retired PM. I didn't even make close to that as a high level PM after 33 years.  My retirement is $22k/yr at a high EAS scale.  Just about the same as my SS. Squash the bologna.

[cellguy215]

I can't think of a better way to lose your eBay account then leave packages at your door.

If someone steals the packages or something goes wrong, not only you are out the money. You will have to cancel all of these orders out of stock and get ambushed with negatives for "stealing customers money" or "seller cancelled, waste of time"

This only needs to happen once and you are doomed. Not unusual for my carrier to scan 20 packages and they don't scan again for a week. If just left them on my porch that day it would be game over.

Make sure USPS scans each and every package. 

[singular-source]

Oh come on...totally kidding.  *Disclaimer* Kids out there, don't slap anyone in the face with packages.  Still laughing out loud at this...Hold on Let me package this item and then slap you in the face with it.  I'm sorry, it's so freaking funny to me.

[singular-source]

Not sure why that had me rolling. I do sincerely apologize.  It isn't appropriate here.

[Anonymous]

I stopped using carrier p/u for numerous problems.

1 Don't p/u all the time

2 Don't click on the correct key on their hand computer system, Often the carrier chose "delivered to my home address" so I lost lots of money when  buyers claimed items never arrived

3 Sometimes the packages were taken to PO but not processed until next day.

4 some of my packages never even were processed and after numerous complaints were found several weeks later on shelves at the PO

5 You have to indicate the exact number of items and type of postage. Difficult when buyers cancel sales or sales come in in the evening. My PO complained when my request had to be made 24 hours ahead of p/u so I often could not be accurate.

_________

So we now go to the PO everyday and get the packages processed while we stand there. Have had NO problems since.

[Anonymous]

Plus they get ALL their insurance and retirement pension completely paid for

[oldwestgold]

Would you like to tell you what my retirement amounts to after 33 years in mid to high level EAS positions in the USPS? Yes I retired a Postmaster, high level. $22k a year or below the national poverty rate. I would not have been able to retire if not for savings. Health insurance paid for? - you need to get a clue. Nobody in the USPS gets their health care paid for 100%. I pay over $1k a month in retirement and it does not cover dental or eyeglasses. Your statement embarrasses yourself.

[oldwestgold]

Sounds like you are new to selling and shipping. Do you know the USPS SOP for handling customer complaints? Sounds like you need to make a little effort when it comes to shipping and not make up stories trying to blame others for your shortfalls. I seriously do not believe most of your claims as a retired Postmaster of 33 years. Why? For example: Each package bar code must have a scan at certain times or red flags are throw up at various levels internally. No package can go unscanned after it is picked up. EOD, end of day, scans MUST be completed which include acceptance, pickup, delivered and dispatched to name a few. EACH office is MANDATED to clear their office of all scans for the Postmaster or Manager to be able to go home. These scans are monitored by the MPOO, PM's Mgr, the District Office Quality Control, and the Area's QC. They have 30 minutes after close to complete these scan and check for any open before phone calls from upper management begin calling the Postmaster to find out what their problem is. Sometimes if the dispatch truck has already gone and a package is found not dispatched per the scan, the PM is forced to drive even 1 package to the processing plant which could be hours away.

#5. You claim your office required 24 hr notice.  That's not the truth and you know it. The only way you make a pickup request is via online. Your office has no control over that system. I have made online PU request within 3-4 hours of the office opening in the morning which is 8AM. You seem to not be making the pu request the evening of day before the pu is being requested. Why? You state cancelled sales, blah blah. Solution - make the pu request the night before. What's hard about that?

You know, I could go on and on, but most seasoned sellers see through your drama. There are no packages sitting on shelves as you claim, etc. But I am glad you got your act together by having to take the packages in yourself.  Such a shame as I have mailed over 10,000 packages in the 21 years of selling on eBay with never a problem on almost daily pickups from my post office. It's not rocket science if you follow the procedures that every delivery service has.  And of course you always have the option of mailing UPS and FedEx. Good luck.