FYI...Due to the funeral for former President Carter, all USPS retail offices will be closed on Thursday, January 9th. If you have a shop scheduled for that day, you will want to adjust your plans. Retail locations will reopen on Friday.

Also, there will not be any mail delivery on Thursday.

Are people already doing these at the paltry $5? Sigh.

@Cassiespark wrote:

Are people already doing these at the paltry $5? Sigh.

Some fools who do not value their time might be. But, professional shoppers -- nope.

@Rousseau wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

Are people already doing these at the paltry $5? Sigh.

Some fools who do not value their time might be. But, professional shoppers -- nope.

Why would you call someone a "fool" who takes such a shop? You expect someone to run their business as you think they should? That's a stupid way to think.

Successful business owners run their business based on what works for them. Through your ignorance you have broad brushed an industry saturated with shoppers of all levels and degrees. Some shoppers do a few shops to earn a little weekend beer money. A few $5 shops gets that for them. Nothing wrong with that. Others do this part-time or run it as a full-time business. Nothing wrong with that either. Some are single moms (and dads!) and some are college kids. Some do this for fun or just to get out of the house. Some are stuck in areas where there are few shops. Others in highly competitive areas. If they don't take the $5 shop, someone else will and then their income will be lower when it comes time to pay the bills. For the USPS shops, many don't give a rat's butt about the fee, because they actually need to mail a package. Some may very well take a low fee because they are new to shopping and don't know better. They are hardly a fool. From my perspective, I see only one fool. I'll define that as someone who has never taken a business class, but thinks they know what is best for others.

To quote Uncle Joe, fire away.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2025 04:47AM by ServiceAward.

If you need to mail a package anyway, the $5 fee would be well worth it since they only take a few minutes including the report, and the cost of mailing packages is so high.

Well stated SA - well stated!

@Rousseau was simply pointing out the negative income on this shop. It does not matter if someone needed to mail a package. Writing a report and taking photographs costs more than $5.00. And then waiting for that money. So, it is not sensible to do that as an assigned shop, since it costs more for you to perform those duties, than $5.00. You make nothing on the shop. Hence, not sensible. A fool is someone lacking in judgment. A person who needs to mail a package without this shop assigned does not lose any money. The person doing it for $5.00, loses money. The statement was about this shop and this fee. Not about all shops taken for whatever fees someone can make a profit, even if measly.

@purpleicee wrote:

@Rousseau was simply pointing out the negative income on this shop. It does not matter if someone needed to mail a package. Writing a report and taking photographs costs more than $5.00. And then waiting for that money. So, it is not sensible to do that as an assigned shop, since it costs more for you to perform those duties, than $5.00. You make nothing on the shop. Hence, not sensible. A fool is someone lacking in judgment. A person who needs to mail a package without this shop assigned does not lose any money. The person doing it for $5.00, loses money. The statement was about this shop and this fee. Not about all shops taken for whatever fees someone can make a profit, even if measly.

What nonsense you speak.

@Rousseau directly called people who take $5 shops 'fools.' Then, implied that those who do are not professional shoppers. Those are broad statements that have been applied to a large and growing industry that is ever-changing, where the supply of shoppers in many areas exceeds the demand for shoppers.

Since when does it cost more than $5 to write a report and take a few photos? Any costs involved are operating expenses. They are costs you will pay whether you complete a $5 USPS shop or not. Overhead costs, like your home internet or phone are simply a part of running a business like this.

As people's business grows or their needs change, they may very well no longer take such shops. I don't. But 18 months ago I would have. There may be a time when I need to do that $5 shop. While there may be times it does not make business sense, that's not the case every time. If I am on a route and I am passing by the USPS with an open shop, I may pick it up and make a few extra dollars. That's my decision and I would be doing what is best for me. That's my whole point.

While I strongly disagree you will lose money on this shop unless you are traveling a great distance to complete it and only that shop, there are times when a business needs to lose money in order to become profitable in the long-term. Amazon, among others, spent over a decade in the red. Look where they are now. Those heavy investments early on resulted in major losses, but if Jeff had not taken them, they would not be where they are today and he would still be selling used books out of his garage.

You can write all the long and drawn out nonsense you want and constantly do. If you do not understand what @Rousseau means or what I meant, that is your problem.

@purpleicee wrote:

You can write all the long and drawn out nonsense you want and constantly do. If you do not understand what @Rousseau means or what I meant, that is your problem.

In other words, I'm right. Glad you agree. Tell me, do you put more than words in @Rousseau's mouth?

@ServiceAward wrote:

To quote Uncle Joe, fire away.

*pew pew pew* *shoots my water gun at the fire*

Service, in a future life, I believe you should be reincarnated as a master debater. (Sorry for the bad jokes. I didn't mean any offense. I feel like you would not take offense to this and laugh. If you take offense, I apologize in advance.)

I do these for whatever fee is offered when I need to mail a package. I’m no fool! I’m getting paid and reimbursed for something that I would be paying for anyway. I call that being smart!! I’ll be at a post office anyway!

At $5, thats not financially sound. Its a lot cheaper to use Ground Advantage or to buy postage through Ebay or PirateShip. Like 1/2 the cost of Priority, no report, no pictures, go to your closest post office. The $15 reimbursement rarely covers the full shipping cost, so that $5 goes pretty fast. Keep in mind Priority Shipping is expensive, Ground is really not.

@mjt9598 wrote:

If you need to mail a package anyway, the $5 fee would be well worth it since they only take a few minutes including the report, and the cost of mailing packages is so high.

Comparing MS to Amazon's rise is preposterous. What turned the corner for Amazon was not their retail business, but their cloud and logistics business. You are actually just writing a lot of words that mean nothing and are not relevant here. But if you want to keep writing nonsense so the cheap MSCs that troll this board can go "Oh, well look at that wordy poster defending our $5 insult. We've got these idiots right where we want them" than keep it up. You can skip the 10000 word essay in response, I assure you I will not read it. I hope no one else does. Its antithetical at best and misinformation at worst.

@ServiceAward wrote:

@purpleicee wrote:

@Rousseau was simply pointing out the negative income on this shop. It does not matter if someone needed to mail a package. Writing a report and taking photographs costs more than $5.00. And then waiting for that money. So, it is not sensible to do that as an assigned shop, since it costs more for you to perform those duties, than $5.00. You make nothing on the shop. Hence, not sensible. A fool is someone lacking in judgment. A person who needs to mail a package without this shop assigned does not lose any money. The person doing it for $5.00, loses money. The statement was about this shop and this fee. Not about all shops taken for whatever fees someone can make a profit, even if measly.

What nonsense you speak.

@Rousseau directly called people who take $5 shops 'fools.' Then, implied that those who do are not professional shoppers. Those are broad statements that have been applied to a large and growing industry that is ever-changing, where the supply of shoppers in many areas exceeds the demand for shoppers.

Since when does it cost more than $5 to write a report and take a few photos? Any costs involved are operating expenses. They are costs you will pay whether you complete a $5 USPS shop or not. Overhead costs, like your home internet or phone are simply a part of running a business like this.

As people's business grows or their needs change, they may very well no longer take such shops. I don't. But 18 months ago I would have. There may be a time when I need to do that $5 shop. While there may be times it does not make business sense, that's not the case every time. If I am on a route and I am passing by the USPS with an open shop, I may pick it up and make a few extra dollars. That's my decision and I would be doing what is best for me. That's my whole point.

While I strongly disagree you will lose money on this shop unless you are traveling a great distance to complete it and only that shop, there are times when a business needs to lose money in order to become profitable in the long-term. Amazon, among others, spent over a decade in the red. Look where they are now. Those heavy investments early on resulted in major losses, but if Jeff had not taken them, they would not be where they are today and he would still be selling used books out of his garage.

@Cassiespark wrote:

Comparing MS to Amazon's rise is preposterous. What turned the corner for Amazon was not their retail business, but their cloud and logistics business. You are actually just writing a lot of words that mean nothing and are not relevant here. But if you want to keep writing nonsense so the cheap MSCs that troll this board can go "Oh, well look at that wordy poster defending our $5 insult. We've got these idiots right where we want them" than keep it up. You can skip the 10000 word essay in response, I assure you I will not read it. I hope no one else does. Its antithetical at best and misinformation at worst.

Of course it did, but it was only possible because of how Jeff ran the company from the beginning. Had he not wisely took the time to invest back into the business and then some, you wouldn't have AWS today.

Just because I'm smarter than you is no need to continually insult me. If you had an intelligent comment, you would calmly discuss things. Instead, you attack me, not only here, but in the other thread, too. You are so full of yourself, you want to PM me your LinkedIn profile so I know how much money you make. You sure do care an awful lot about what I think about you. I really don't. Likewise, I don't care what you think about me. Get over yourself. You are not that important.

@Cassiespark —Never have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

Reminds me of a great quote:

"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am."

-Cormac McCarthy

@gigishopper wrote:

@Cassiespark —Never have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

The original purpose of this thread has passed its longevity, and is now closed.