Post Office says they no longer scan prepaid packages at the counter or give a receipt

[readabouthorses]

Yesterday I mailed a Priority Flat Rate envelope with prepaid label at my local PO. I handed the envelope over the counter, the girl immediately handed it back across the counter to a strange man on my side of the counter who wanders around in the lobby and counter area. I asked about a receipt and she told me they don't do that anymore ... they do not scan these packages or give out receipts. I did ask her "so I just need to trust you?" LOL

When I got back home after a couple of hours I did check the tracking number through the Orders page in eBay and it was showing no movement .. not even showing it had been accepted. So I copied the tracking number and checked at USPS. It showed it was scanned at the local PO and was on its way to the next stop.

So I gotta ask ... who are these people working in the PO who are not behind the counter? I've never seen this guy ever behind the counter and he never says anything to anyone. Sometimes he just stands silent next to the rack of shipping supplies. I thought he might be someone from USPS monitoring our Post Office.  He reminds me of the hall monitor we had in high school many many years ago who just lurked.

[readabouthorses]

My Post Office has spurts of being busy but not like a big city PO might be. This is a post office in a rural North Carolina town in a rural county that has 2 other post offices in other tiny towns so not everyone gravitates to this one PO from the whole county.

If they are not going to scan them and not going to give me a receipt then I will just dump my Priority Flat Rate Envelopes into the drop box in the lobby and only take packages to the counter. I don't like to dump them in the big blue boxes outside but I have no problem with the inside drop slot since they do fit in there with no problem.

[a_c_green]

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@readabouthorses wrote:
The lobby lurker is always there. Once I was the only customer in the whole building and there he was, standing by the rack of Priority mail supplies, with his hands folded in front of him, lurking and observing. He doesn't say hello, he doesn't ask if he can help you, he just lurks, silent and staring.  And it is always the same person and I've never seen him behind the counter.

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I think if that happens again, where the clerk behind the counter hands off your package to the lobby lurker, you might want to make a slightly bigger fuss about asking either or both of them to explain themselves. (Perhaps I missed this earlier, but what did you see the guy do with your package the first time this happened?)

Seems kind of silly that if his role is to intercept customers in line to see if there's some mundane task he can do for them, then he needs to, you know, actually get up and do it. If the clerk is just going to turn customers around and send them back to him for a handoff, that just wastes everyone's time.

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@readabouthorses wrote:
My PO does have a sign posted on the double doors where you go from the lobby where the PO Boxes are into the area with counters and clerks that states something to the effect that packages must be ready to mail so no more holding up the line while they finish the job at the counter because they didn't have any tape at home (yes, I've seen that one).

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Well, good for them on that point, anyway... 

[glyph01]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@vanman1029 wrote:

 The clerk told me this is now the new mandatory post office procedure nationwide. 

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Which of course it isn't, as the rest of us who are out here doing our daily shipments as usual can testify.

The description does suggest that there's new equipment on the way, and the current hardware I've seen in our local post offices in the Chicago area has not changed yet,

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Was at my neighborhood PO near Southside and at the main PO in downtown Chi the day before and yesterday respectively and they have the new screen in the checkout number pad machine to choose form of receipt at the counter. Paper will do. They scanned packages, gave me no problems.

[thecollegefund]

I had to start standing in line to get my Ebay packages scanned and get my receipts at 3 different local post offices. I would drop off packages inside the lobbies at all 3 and almost every time I did this these dropped off packages would not get a scan for a few days and/or would go very slowly through the postal system.

The post office I used to go to the most started giving me a hard time about getting my packages scanned. I even had a supervisor there ask me if I really needed a receipt after he reluctantly scanned in 3 whole packages for me. I told him I would NOT be standing in line if I didn't need a receipt. I should have blasted him about how packages seem to get lost at his post office, but I kind of got caught off guard by his rudeness and thought it best that I not escalate things at that point. And, that was the first time I have ever seen him, too! Thank goodness I haven't seen him since.

[buyselljack2016]

Most of my drop off packages are at a small (hand held scanner only) office. Always get scanned. Generally as I am still there talking postal, or weather with the employee.

So far at offices with the POS terminal (still small/not busy) the items are scanned. I generally tell the employee that I do not need a receipt. Sometimes before they ask, sometimes when they ask.

From time to time I get a receipt to double check that my scale is accurate. Not absolute proof anyway, ask the USPS scale needs to be "zeroed out" from time to time anyway.

Other than that , as long as it is scanned, I need no receipt anyway.  Pretty much worthless paper, as the APV will check it anyway.  I had packages scanned where I got a receipt. Scale was off, or thumb was on the scale. They were showing weights over the paid amount on the label. I was 99.9% certain my weights were correct.  My weights prevailed over the receipt. No USPS charge backs for underpaid postage.

Some stores that I go to now ask if I want a receipt.  At some the choice is on the CC scanner just like at the gas station. Saves employee time some places. Saves paper. Saves time required to reload the paper. Saves time emptying the trash bin where the receipts are tossed.

Agree, the "lobby lurker" should be proactive in speeding things up.

[readabouthorses]

This is the first time any of my packages have been handed off to lobby-lurker man which is why the comment by the clerk and the handing off of the package surprised me. In the past they have at least always scanned it; didn't always get a receipt.

Thinking back on this I guess I should have just walked over to LL man and asked him what he was going to do with my package and was he going to give me a receipt! I really don't need a receipt if I physically see them scan it but when I don't see it scanned and I don't have a receipt I know if it goes missing at the PO it will be hard to get them to look for it.

[kristinawilliam]

Unless the network was down, receipts have only been an issue when I ship an international item. I get one upon request, even today. Not an issue. 

[hurryagain]

...and now you have it from everybody.  That clerk is/was full of it...or her post master is.

They just don't want you clogging up their line(s) (do they have more than one counter person?)

If they would be consistent and do their jobs and scan them every time, I would be more than happy to drop & go and not "bother them" ...but that is not the case at every PO.  My PO that I get my mail from is great about being consistent and I do drop & go there but there is another PO closer to my house that if I go there...sometimes they scan it...sometimes they don't so I do clog up their line with my smilin' face.

If they would just take two seconds and scan my package(s), I wouldn't have to do what I do.  There are many people who would LOVE to get paid $17 - $22 an hour to go "beep...receipt???" and they would do it with a SMILE!

[yhlml]

My post office scans my packages and we get a receipt.

[yuzuha]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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As for the lobby lurker, that is a standard practice that POs will use during busy periods. Some employee, usually with a hand scanner and sometimes a wireless receipt printer will work the line of waiting customers to deal with those having simple transactions to make. He can do Package Acceptance and even print a receipt (if so equipped). It's possible that the clerk that the OP encountered handed it off to the lobby guy for that reason, but certainly someone present should have explained that.

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Yep, that is the standard in my local PO around the holidays.  They have an employee with a handheld scanner going up and down the line asking if anyone is dropping off anything that is prepaid.  If someone says yes, they will pull that person out of the line, scan their packages, and give them a receipt from the wireless receipt printer.  It keeps the line moving along nicely when people don't have to go all the way up to the counter just to drop off their prepaid stuff and get a receipt.

[a_c_green]

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@yuzuha wrote:
They have an employee with a handheld scanner going up and down the line asking if anyone is dropping off anything that is prepaid.  If someone says yes, they will pull that person out of the line, scan their packages, and give them a receipt from the wireless receipt printer.  It keeps the line moving along nicely when people don't have to go all the way up to the counter just to drop off their prepaid stuff and get a receipt.

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If you want to see what that looks like, here (below) is a photo from a reply that I posted way back in 2015, showing that portable equipment: 

Wireless scanner and printer (2015)

Ref: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Shipping-Returns/USPS-to-charge-for-acceptance-scan-receipt-he...

[bill11223]

I bring my mail to a local PO, which seems to be a drop off point for several very large shippers (300-500 Priority mail packages a day each by 10 or more  shippers) in addition to PO picking up other truck loads of mail. There is a special window if you need your package scanned but the waiting time can be lengthy.  I am a full time bookseller and waiting in line foe 45 minutes to get a scan is not my idea of conducting business There is a drop off point for prepaid mail which is scanned whenever possible usually not until it reaches a sorting office.

The PO us saddled with Congress's requirement to turn a profit which prevents it from hiring the staff it needs.

If you would prefer you can always go to Fedex or UPS and pay twice the PO rate.

[randysrockshop]

They always scan mine, and give me a receipt, BUT new or sub workers often don't know what or how to do it. As long as I see them scan it I'm good as I know it's in the system.

[readabouthorses]

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@randysrockshop wrote:

They always scan mine, and give me a receipt, BUT new or sub workers often don't know what or how to do it. As long as I see them scan it I'm good as I know it's in the system.

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I do think this clerk was new ... at least I've never seen her at the counter before and since this is a small rural post office I recognize most of the clerks who work the counter.

That's just it ... I saw no one scan it.

Package is scheduled to be delivered today ... at least it made it to Nevada when I checked this morning.

[a_c_green]

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@glyph01 wrote:

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@a_c_green wrote:
The description does suggest that there's new equipment on the way, and the current hardware I've seen in our local post offices in the Chicago area has not changed yet,

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Was at my neighborhood PO near Southside and at the main PO in downtown Chi the day before and yesterday respectively and they have the new screen in the checkout number pad machine to choose form of receipt at the counter. Paper will do. They scanned packages, gave me no problems.

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...and just to add another data point: as of this morning, our local PO up here near the Wisconsin border is now running the new software on the existing terminals, so this morning I had to pick my choice of receipt. After much deliberation, I went with paper, since the alternative (email) would presumably require me to stand there and peck in my email address.

That part, asking for an email address for the receipt, seems like a bit of a time-waster to me. If my Pre-paid Mailpiece Acceptance was a USPS Click 'n' Ship package, they should be able to match the label's tracking number to the email on the account that purchased it, but for eBay/PayPal labels, I don't know if they have access to the PayPal email address.

I'd be perfectly happy with a "None of the Above" choice for getting no receipt at all, just so I can be on my way, but I didn't see that offered. Maybe they'll add that in software release v1.2.