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I am rereading the guidelines for the postal shops. It states that it must be a different zip code than where it is being mailed. If I am reading that correctly, even though the city is the same and the zip code is different, it is ok to do the shop. There are plenty of post offices where I live and the city is the same, with different zipcodes.
Also is there still the 30 minutes between sops, I couldn't find that information.

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You'll want to verify with the MSC because they have changed things recently enough that I wouldn't trust prior experience for answers on things that could result in an exclusion.

You also want to have a reason in mind when you suddenly insist upon priority mail when it's going to get there just as fast by ground for less. It's quite awkward to pretend to not have any particular method in mind, just need it there in 2-3 days and then suddenly insist on paying more for no gain.

I asked that very question to the scheduler. I live surrounded by three other cities, one 2 blocks in one direction, another 3 blocks, and another north about 3 miles. I asked about Priority to those cities. Each has their own zip. He said it was okay to do the job. I even told him that I cannot imagine the post office sending the package to the airport 3 miles away, the plane taking off and landing again at the same airport to deliver the package 2 blocks from the post office it started in. Now, what excuse to use is a more thorny question. I just will not be personally sending anything that close.

I believe that there is Priority Mail that goes Ground. It doesn't necessarily fly. It just gets treated with "priority." It does defeat the purpose of the shop, me thinks, especially if it's a Haz Mat shop. I feel the same way about mailing to myself from a nearby town. When I do them, I just state I want Priority without giving it much thought...like I don't know it would be cheaper the other way.

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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

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One reason shoppers can use for insisting on Priority is claiming that the buyer paid for Priority, so that's how it has to be sent, as if you are selling things on eBay.

@Insight wrote:

I am rereading the guidelines for the postal shops. It states that it must be a different zip code than where it is being mailed. If I am reading that correctly, even though the city is the same and the zip code is different, it is ok to do the shop. There are plenty of post offices where I live and the city is the same, with different zipcodes.
Also is there still the 30 minutes between sops, I couldn't find that information.

It must be Zone 1 or higher. If it is Zone 0, then it will be rejected. Put both zip codes in and check the Zone.

@BayShopper22 wrote:

@Insight wrote:

I am rereading the guidelines for the postal shops. It states that it must be a different zip code than where it is being mailed. If I am reading that correctly, even though the city is the same and the zip code is different, it is ok to do the shop. There are plenty of post offices where I live and the city is the same, with different zipcodes.
Also is there still the 30 minutes between sops, I couldn't find that information.

It must be Zone 1 or higher. If it is Zone 0, then it will be rejected. Put both zip codes in and check the Zone.

I saw nothing about zones in the rules from the current company. I also saw nothing about days between shops (rotation) at the same exact post office. I asked the scheduler all these questions. He told me 4 days between Hazmat to reg package or reg package to Hazmat or Hazmat to Hazmat or 19 days if you are sending a reg shop to a reg shop at the same post office. (regular shop meaning you say you do not have Hazmat)

@MsJudi wrote:

I believe that there is Priority Mail that goes Ground. It doesn't necessarily fly. It just gets treated with "priority." It does defeat the purpose of the shop, me thinks, especially if it's a Haz Mat shop. I feel the same way about mailing to myself from a nearby town. When I do them, I just state I want Priority without giving it much thought...like I don't know it would be cheaper the other way.

Hazmat has different guidelines than the customer service eval, pretty sure it DOES have zone requirements.

@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

@MsJudi wrote:

I believe that there is Priority Mail that goes Ground. It doesn't necessarily fly. It just gets treated with "priority." It does defeat the purpose of the shop, me thinks, especially if it's a Haz Mat shop. I feel the same way about mailing to myself from a nearby town. When I do them, I just state I want Priority without giving it much thought...like I don't know it would be cheaper the other way.
Hazmat has different guidelines than the customer service eval, pretty sure it DOES have zone requirements.

Not anymore. No idea why? Any zone for HazMat now.

This was the response that I got from the Resource Manager. So we can shop in our own home town if the zip is different.

Yes, you can send it to yourself as long as it's a different zip code from the postal shop.

Yes, there is a 30-minute wait time between shops.

@BayShopper22 wrote:

@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

@MsJudi wrote:

I believe that there is Priority Mail that goes Ground. It doesn't necessarily fly. It just gets treated with "priority." It does defeat the purpose of the shop, me thinks, especially if it's a Haz Mat shop. I feel the same way about mailing to myself from a nearby town. When I do them, I just state I want Priority without giving it much thought...like I don't know it would be cheaper the other way.
Hazmat has different guidelines than the customer service eval, pretty sure it DOES have zone requirements.

Not anymore. No idea why? Any zone for HazMat now.

I know someone who got a shop excluded over exactly that, the zone had to be 5 or higher IIRC? But, if the client has now established that Priority cannot include these hazards, regardless of travel distance, then I guess it *would* make sense to provide training wherever they are letting it slide knowing it's not going on a plane to reach its destination.

@Insight wrote:

This was the response that I got from the Resource Manager. So we can shop in our own home town if the zip is different.

Yes, you can send it to yourself as long as it's a different zip code from the postal shop.

Yes, there is a 30-minute wait time between shops.

My home ZIP Code is different than the main post office in my cities ZIP Code. So if I mail it to myself from that post office, it’s going to be Zone zero because it never left the post office. I think it would be common sense that you wouldn’t go to your own post office where you would go to pick up mail or to sign for mail and mail to your own house, but who knows?

To me it is not common sense for them to have it go to somewhere in the same city. But as I said my contact person also told me it was okay to send my hazmat package to zone 0. I re read the Hazmat rules because that was what job I had to do and they said nothing i could find about distances or rotation. Was your friend's rejected job with the current company?

@sandyf wrote:

To me it is not common sense for them to have it go to somewhere in the same city. But as I said my contact person also told me it was okay to send my hazmat package to zone 0. I re read the Hazmat rules because that was what job I had to do and they said nothing i could find about distances or rotation. Was your friend's rejected job with the current company?

I am not sure if it was before or after the msc change but it was last year. She'd shipped zone 1 and told me what the minimum was at that time in case I might make the same error.

With the former MSC, and the MSC before that, Hazmat shops required the package to be shipped to zone 5 - 8. The idea was for the clerks to catch hazardous materials before they got onto an airplane and caused a problem while they are in the air.

For reg box shops it has always been ok to ship boxes to yourself from a different zip code, even if it's in the same city, with every MSC that I have done shipping shops for.

I will NOT do shipping shops for the current MSC. Not in any format, and not until I can make the same or more money doing them that I was making before this most recent MSC change.

Why am I paying more to ship a package 50 miles by Priority Mail rather than Groubd Advantsge? "My wife said to send by Priority Msil." Regardless of gender, the clerk usually smiles and nods approvingly or understandingly. I never get any further pushback after that.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

I'm getting the idea that the employees here are just a little more special than other places... I have had so many awkward conversations!

Nope on the hazmat shop i did i used the battery option. The clerk wanted to know how many watts and how many cells were in the battery. She said i could come back when I knew and she would see if I could ship the package. Am I in the minority of people who even if I did really have a battery to ship I would know the answers to those questions? n

@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

I'm getting the idea that the employees here are just a little more special than other places... I have had so many awkward conversations!

@sandyf wrote:

Nope on the hazmat shop i did i used the battery option. The clerk wanted to know how many watts and how many cells were in the battery. She said i could come back when I knew and she would see if I could ship the package. Am I in the minority of people who even if I did really have a battery to ship I would know the answers to those questions? n
@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

I'm getting the idea that the employees here are just a little more special than other places... I have had so many awkward conversations!

Oh, I just meant the regular customer service ones! I had one dig in and demand to know exactly what was in the package (hazmat question wasn't even asked yet) and my resistance to providing details only made him more determined to know. I've had it happen more than once where they complete the entire transaction without asking what I want at all, just asking for money after sticking a label on the box and tossing it in a bin. I'm like, "I needed that to go Priority, is that what you picked?" I've had them be argumentative, condescending, and rude...

I always use the laptop battery scenario. The screen that they see prompts them to ask if it is a lithium battery. Sometimes they ask if it is installed in a device. I answer (as per the shop guidelines) that it is a new lithium laptop battery in the original packaging. Almost always, they tell me that it has to be shipped by ground. I agree. The label they print identifies the package as a Hazmat package, ground only. Sometimes they apply a separate yellow label as well. Out of about 50 Hazmat shops, 3 clerks told me it couldn't be shipped by USPS. I then buy something else to get a receipt. Easy shop. Easy report.

There are a few locations that I will do for $10, and more for $15. In December, I got $25 for some more distant locations.

@sandyf wrote:

Nope on the hazmat shop i did i used the battery option. The clerk wanted to know how many watts and how many cells were in the battery. She said i could come back when I knew and she would see if I could ship the package. Am I in the minority of people who even if I did really have a battery to ship I would know the answers to those questions? n
@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

I'm getting the idea that the employees here are just a little more special than other places... I have had so many awkward conversations!

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

When I see the hazmat shops again I will take more but I did two last month, one battery and one perfume and both they said I could not ship. It was almost like they had no idea there was a ground option at all at those post offices.

@myst4au wrote:

I always use the laptop battery scenario. The screen that they see prompts them to ask if it is a lithium battery. Sometimes they ask if it is installed in a device. I answer (as per the shop guidelines) that it is a new lithium laptop battery in the original packaging. Almost always, they tell me that it has to be shipped by ground. I agree. The label they print identifies the package as a Hazmat package, ground only. Sometimes they apply a separate yellow label as well. Out of about 50 Hazmat shops, 3 clerks told me it couldn't be shipped by USPS. I then buy something else to get a receipt. Easy shop. Easy report.

There are a few locations that I will do for $10, and more for $15. In December, I got $25 for some more distant locations.
@sandyf wrote:

Nope on the hazmat shop i did i used the battery option. The clerk wanted to know how many watts and how many cells were in the battery. She said i could come back when I knew and she would see if I could ship the package. Am I in the minority of people who even if I did really have a battery to ship I would know the answers to those questions? n
@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

I'm getting the idea that the employees here are just a little more special than other places... I have had so many awkward conversations!

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