@berserkerplanet wrote:
Curious to see @a_c_green input on the details & meanings (or lack thereof) of those phantom? USPS scans.
Well, there's really only one later scan that genuinely occurred, a container scan of the outbound accumulation at the end of the day, when the truck came by to pick up the day's load. That occurred at 6:09 p.m. on July 20th.
Every package receiving an Acceptance scan on the 20th (i.e. since the last outbound container went out, probably on the previous night) is assumed to be in that container, so the container scan is applied to the tracking history of every package handled that day.
Here's where things got sticky: the OP plonked the package on the Front Desk, the clerk moved it to the scale and scanned it in, and then the OP asked about alternate Shipping choices. The clerk did not cancel the Acceptance scan, either because it was not an option (I'm not sure; I'll ask later), or because no one thought it was necessary, since no money had changed hands in that moment.
When presented with a Pre-Paid Mailpiece, there's not much for a clerk to do besides select the proper icon on their terminal and then zap the package, so that would have happened immediately, probably before the OP even got his question out. After that, the package is assumed to still be in USPS custody, so it is also assumed to have gone out at 6:09 p.m., and the later "In Transit" filler entry is in the record because it hasn't been seen anywhere else yet.
I think this is going to take some diplomacy and human intervention to sort out, beginning with a trip back to the post office with tracking numbers and receipts in hand. The OP needs to at least prove that the $60 label to be voided is from the same package that went out with Flat Rate postage later on. I don't know if a Flat Rate receipt logs the package weight (it should, since there's an upper limit), but the $60 label should have a similar weight, and (perhaps more importantly) both were going to exactly the same address.
Any and all paperwork that the OP can generate with details on each shipment will help, but at the end of the day, it's going to come down to whether the postmaster is willing to help sort out the mess. I would at least start with him, as a first step. I don't think calling the 800 USPS Help line is going to be a solution here. Good luck.
