Warning When Using USPS

[anjieharrisostrem]

I don’t typically use the US Postal Service (USPS) because of their awful service, prices, and in all honesty, the insurance fraud they commit. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to recently mail a piece using USPS. I chose to use the QR code offered through eBay. Worked like a charm - until, a week later, I received notification from eBay that USPS was charging me an additional $5.75 for the package being over-weight. I called eBay and told them they did not have my permission to withdrawal $5.75 from my account. The postal worker placed the package on the scale, scanned the QR code and accepted the package. Unless they could supply me with the package (which had been mailed a week earlier) and proof it was over-weight they did not have my permission to take money from my account. Karma can be a funny thing - six months ago, on a Sat, I mailed a package (along with a dozen other packages) that should have cost $7.40 to ship. There was an extremely long line behind me at the post office and with 13 packages to mail, I took my receipt with no questions. When I reviewed the receipt I realized they had charged me $21+ for this package. On Monday I went back to the PO and spoke to the clerk who waited on me. He looked at the weight listed on the receipt and agreed it should have totaled $7.40, not $21+. The supervisor came out to speak to me and told me that without the actual box and proof (other than my receipt showing the weight) they would not issue a refund. When I complained he told me to, “Chalk it up to a learning experience” (which he reiterated four times). 

I am DONE with USPS - we all should be! 

[anjieharrisostrem]

Not sure where eBay’s stats come into play here, but my stats are stellar as well.

[slati_2013]

"I am DONE with USPS - we all should be! "

But almost all of us have almost no problems with the USPS. I am old school and do everything manually. Box dimensions, weigh on scale, input on eBay shipping,  print label, take box to post office or give to mailman.  Never had an issue. In fact last week I got a refund for $1.10 for a dispute I never filed with the USPS, but apparently they had overcharged me. I was very stressed when I saw the word dispute thinking a buyer had filed a dispute only to realize it was the USPS refunding me. 

[itscalledapostingid]

The message you received about the adjustment has USPS contact info for disputing the adjustment if you believe you were billed in error. They will look at the photo of the package when it was automatically weighed at the facility that caught the underpayment. If they made a mistake they will refund.

[deserdog]

You absolutely do not have to have the box to get a refund from an adjustment.  I have received refunds for every adjustment that I disputed. 

[varebelrose]

Sorry you had a bad experience. Out of thousands and thousands of USPS parcels I have both shipped and received, I think I had issues twice. Must have gotten lucky, huh?

[annadryl]

I've used USPS almost exclusively over the years and have only had a few minor hiccups. That's out of thousands of transactions. Sounds like your local clerks are just kind of jerks. Thanks for the warning though. Sorry this happened.

[cellguy215]

I ship USPS first class with no insurance every single day. I pay for any damaged or missing packages out of pocket. In my experience 98% arrive on time, maybe 1% significantly delayed. Lost or damaged almost never happens. They have made fantastic improvements in the last few years. 

When they overcharge you like that on postage because the weight or dimensions was wrong, thats a good thing. That means they are paying attention and scanning properly. 

[deserdog]

If you have problems with a clerk who does not know what they are talking about, be armed by you knowing. An example: I sold these items that were not dimensional weight. And then I bought all my postage at the post office. One day I was buying postage for an item and it was way higher. And I asked about it. This clerk was rounding every dimension up, but it states in the DMM that dimensions are to be rounded off, i.e. if less then 1/2' rounded down, more then 1/2" rounded up. Finally another clerk came over an pointed out that there is actually a balloon that comes up on the clerks monitor that tells them the proper way to round. Another time a clerk would not let me purchase insurance because i made the box. Next time I came in to that post office I had a print out from the DMM that showed when items were not eligible for insurance, . Making a box was not one of them. 

The point of this is that as a seller, you need to know the rules and regulations of shipping.

[uniwarehousewares]

USPS is worst carrier funded by our tax money, they are looting sellers with false claims. now globally prices are going down and USPS is still increasing the prices despite fuel cost going down. USPS is manipulating things , a big thug in town !

[deserdog]

Not true:

Before 1971, the Postal Service received annual appropriations from the federal government. Since then, it has operated independently, with revenues generated through the sales of postage stamps and services.

But Congress does give the Postal Service $100 million a year to compensate the agency for revenue loss by providing, at congressional direction, free mailing privileges to blind people and overseas voters, a congressional report noted. The $100 million is less than 1 percent of the Postal Service’s annual budget.