One reason the USPS will eventually go broke and disappear

[vintage-camerastuff]

Recently made a purchase on ebay.  The item weighed around  6 lbs.   I paid around $18 for Priority mail shipping.   The Priority box arrived as it should in around 2 to 3 days after it was shipped.  Everything looked great and was exactly as I ordered.   However after looking more closely at the package I noticed the label on the Priority mail box was an ebay generated First Class label which had the weight at 13 ounces.   This seller probably does this all the time making extra money, ripping off the usps,  and gets away with it.   The Postal Service needs to hire people who will do the job they are paid to do and catch this type of theft.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

USPS is on this.  They have installed special equipment at sorting centers to detect underpaid postage.  The postage due is automatically billed to the sender's account.  I suppose a few packages are missed,  though a non-Priority label on a Priority box is especially obvious.  But if a sender gets too many incidents, their online postage privileges will be terminated.

https://link.usps.com/2017/10/05/what-is-apv/

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/ship-smart/ebay-shipping-partners/avoid-extra-postage-costs....

[714ricki]

It's also possible that they have already charged the shipper for the difference. The USPS definitely audits the parcels!! Of course, that doesn't mean that some parcels get through without weight & service verification.

[susanb1872]

USPS definitely does audit the packages and it can go the other way too. I sold an item with calculated shipping and when I weighed it for the last time before I generated the label it was one ounce less than I posted. But the buyer already paid so I printed the label based on the slightly higher price. One week later I received a refund from USPS for $1.25!

[nuclearomen]

lol, sure they will... USPS won't be going anywhere... quite frankly if every carrier closed USPS would still be open, government run - it will be open even if costs $50 to send first class.  

[chapeau-noir]

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@vintage-camerastuff wrote:

Recently made a purchase on ebay.  The item weighed around  6 lbs.   I paid around $18 for Priority mail shipping.   The Priority box arrived as it should in around 2 to 3 days after it was shipped.  Everything looked great and was exactly as I ordered.   However after looking more closely at the package I noticed the label on the Priority mail box was an ebay generated First Class label which had the weight at 13 ounces.   This seller probably does this all the time making extra money, ripping off the usps,  and gets away with it.   The Postal Service needs to hire people who will do the job they are paid to do and catch this type of theft.  

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You can bet that seller got a nice little charge on their eBay takings.  I've made a legit mistake on package weight by two ounces and got charged for it.

[dolcetreasures]

He didn’t get away with anything, he will receive a bill for the difference. 

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

USPS has been broke running in the red for ages and ages.  Now they want new eVehicles and all updated systems whilst trying boost revenues essentially killing off large portions of low ticket goods sales whereby shipping expense makes items too expensive run a profit on.  Meanwhile last year they struck deal w/ Amazon to deliver Amazon packages 7 days a week and are fighting all efforts to disclose the details as many claim Amazon parcels are getting preference over others.  Meanwhile there are several business entities claiming Amazon ought drop the USPS all together which surely make rates here yet climb again.

More logical solutions were proposed long ago in that USPS stagger mail deliveries along the lines of three or four days weekly and save a ton of money and expenses. For ages the Union has been mighty against even discussing it.  Isn't it funny how Unions were such an evil thing for common business workers and now civil service is chock full of nothing but unions.  

[djvp53]

I got two credits on my eBay account for about 51 cents each for the same reason. Perhaps my scale is off and I've been overpaying more often than I know.

[rudy2828]

Exactly.

[carolynnq]

I just got a $3.50 refund. It was a large, heavy box that was too heavy for my postal scale. I weight it on my bathroom scale. Not being sure how accurate it was, I added an extra pound or two to the weight before purchasing the postage. I guess I didn't need to.