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How much can you spend if they fail to mail the package? The instructions say a small purchase. Postage stamps are small!!

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@sandyf wrote:

I did my first two Hazmats with the express purpose of sending my package to my son in zone 8 at the Ground Advantage price which is or was still under the reimbursement. Both shops failed and I purchased a very expensive, I thought, ugly plain gift card with my reimbursement. Then I found out I could purchase something better than that. So I did another Hazmat with the intention of bulking up on stamps (but my local po has been out of stamps for a while). I used a different scenario and my package was shipped but mis weighed so I spent my entire fee on the postage. Luckily I had a small bonus on that one. I have found I cannot win but if I find more Hazmat shops this quarter I will keep trying. Now I need the best scenario to fail sending with. The battery failed twice and passed once so far.

I feel like they should have increased the reimbursement amount when they increased the shipping rates.

In an earlier thread people were saying they could buy a sheet of stamps. I have not tried it myself. When I mentioned to the scheduler that my local po had no stamps at all and also no tape or any other things at all useful he told me I could buy a gift card but it would not be fully reimbursed. That was the only thing my local PO had in stock within a 3 wk period when I went there twice.

he told me I could buy a gift card but it would not be fully reimbursed.

How much WAS reimbursed? I've been asking

"How much can you spend if they fail to mail the package?" and no one--including the ladies who beg me on the phone to accept shops will tell me an amount.

Sandyf--have you tried the I have no idea what is in this pkg because Mom asked me to mail it scenario?

Rho: I have done the "don't know, my mother asked me to mail it" several times with the new MSC. So far, every single one has been accepted and shipped. Recently, one clerk told me he wasn't supposed to accept it, but did anyway because I "had a nice smile." Demographically, I look old enough to have grandkids, so my purported mother would certainly be a senior citizen. When clerks follow up with more specific questions about the contents, I answer along the lines of "she said it was a surprise, so she wouldn't tell me." I have had no problems with the reports being accepted.

@Treeline wrote:

Rho: I have done the "don't know, my mother asked me to mail it" several times with the new MSC. So far, every single one has been accepted and shipped. Recently, one clerk told me he wasn't supposed to accept it, but did anyway because I "had a nice smile." Demographically, I look old enough to have grandkids, so my purported mother would certainly be a senior citizen. When clerks follow up with more specific questions about the contents, I answer along the lines of "she said it was a surprise, so she wouldn't tell me." I have had no problems with the reports being accepted.

WOW, I thought that scenario would be a no ship for certain! I mean, what if Mom cooks meth? LOL And literally any of the household hazardous materials could be in there.

I am not surprised that the scenario of my mother gets accepted. I personally want it to be sent by ground or not at all so I have not used that one. I am pretty sure some people get an image of some old lady who sits at home baking pies and who would not hurt a fly. When I had that scenario with the old company they would always ask me to call my mom and ask her. I would usually say she naps in the afternoons even tho I myself qualify as an old lady and I never nap. They try too hard to help you ship your package with that scenario I would rather use another one.

@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

@Treeline wrote:

Rho: I have done the "don't know, my mother asked me to mail it" several times with the new MSC. So far, every single one has been accepted and shipped. Recently, one clerk told me he wasn't supposed to accept it, but did anyway because I "had a nice smile." Demographically, I look old enough to have grandkids, so my purported mother would certainly be a senior citizen. When clerks follow up with more specific questions about the contents, I answer along the lines of "she said it was a surprise, so she wouldn't tell me." I have had no problems with the reports being accepted.

WOW, I thought that scenario would be a no ship for certain! I mean, what if Mom cooks meth? LOL And literally any of the household hazardous materials could be in there.

On another note, the USPS shops in my area are all gone. I got 2. Wow. Never seen them move so fast.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230

Who needs a dozen eggs? I guess I'll grab a shop to cover the cost to send a dozen to my mother. Maybe..

I have not checked in a few days but there were very few new shops here where I am. Perhaps they are cutting back, waiting a while to list them, or they just put a whole lot of them up in the first quarter. There are some locations I used to do that I have not seen listed for a long time. Those were places I would take once in a while as they were in neighborhoods with few mystery shoppers I suspect. Now they seem not to be shopped at all.

In my area, pretty much all locations are available as new shops for this quarter.

I just got two emails with reminders on how to do these shops.
The haz mat email specifically says NOT to buy a gift card. It must be “shipping related.”

@sandyf wrote:

I have not checked in a few days but there were very few new shops here where I am. Perhaps they are cutting back, waiting a while to list them, or they just put a whole lot of them up in the first quarter. There are some locations I used to do that I have not seen listed for a long time. Those were places I would take once in a while as they were in neighborhoods with few mystery shoppers I suspect. Now they seem not to be shopped at all.

They seem to be prioritizing hazmat where I am. They increased the pay a couple dollars and that's the bulk of what is available.

Yeah, I'm starting to see some for $30 but they are few and far between. I see a lot listed at $8.00. People must be taking them....#SMDH.

There is a $5 shop ready to be had for basically every post office branch in my city. They have all been there for several days. I've prepped a few boxes already, and today I'll probably prep a few more in anticipation of snagging some of the shops after the bonuses start being applied. They are nice quick filler jobs when you are already out on an in-town route. Adds nicely to the day's haul.

@metro25782 wrote:

Yeah, I'm starting to see some for $30 but they are few and far between. I see a lot listed at $8.00. People must be taking them....#SMDH.

I did 5 heavily bonused shops on 3/31. Pretty rough areas, but it’s fairly safe during the day, plus there was a light rain, which keeps the loiterer away.

$30 for a shop in a remote area is not worth it. The other MSC sometimes paid $200 for a location that is $30. I will bet anything these shops will move to a different MSC in the near future as fulfilment appears to be an issue. Not only that, it's weirding me out that a government agency is being overseen basically by a 3rd party in the Philippines.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2025 02:46AM by cherubino3.

I have an APS shop for tomorrow, the first I have done for this company that has them now. I just read the 22 page guidelines! and did not see anywhere that said I must ship by USPS. If the place I go to also ships by UPS etc, and that is what they offer am I supposed to ship that way? Maybe I missed something when reading those 22 pages! for a $5 shop.

Sandyf--don't do it! The guidelines say that we must ship by whatever method is offered. Until I did and was told shame on me; Ground Advantage or Priority ONLY depending on the scenario.

I put the question here because my job is today and was not sure the powers that be would get back to me before I had to leave my house but I heard from them this morning and they said I should ship it by USPO if it is mentioned at all but if not ship it by a method mentioned. It does say over and over in the guidelines not to ask for any method not mentioned. Mine is a Hazmat shop so perhaps different than yours. But at least I have someone to back me up if that happens to me. I will keep her email in case I ever need it. [
quote=Rho]
Sandyf--don't do it! The guidelines say that we must ship by whatever method is offered. Until I did and was told shame on me; Ground Advantage or Priority ONLY depending on the scenario.[/quote]

They added more annoyances for Hazmat - you now have to take a screenshot of the hours on the USPS website. AND you have to sign stating that you read the directions. I know for a fact they don't update that around holiday time. I went for a shop and it was supposed to be open, but closed early so I had to delay the shop. I send them pics of the hours posted on the storefront as well as a screenshot of the hours on the app. They make it so annoying and then they don't pay well. The reimbursement for Ground Advantage is no longer fully covered. I might not do these anymore at all. They call and hound me begging me to take shops. They could just pay us better.

I just went to the website and printed the hours. They say you shouldn't take any photos inside and the last one I did they were on the door to the lobby. I think they may be on the outside door and you could take a picture of that.

I read through the guidelines today and now the hours from the usps web site is for regular shops too. I cannot imagine what prompted this trifle addition to these shops, I am only getting $15 for my local shops and I complete them after begging and they approve of it up from $5. I at least want what the other MSC paid.

I communicated with scheduling tem a couple weeks ago. I case of emergency they wanted me to schedule shops that are few weeks from time thy call me. I tried to tell them that shops are not grocery shops that I need to do. But they continied to call me from different numbers and several schedulers asked o do shops.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

"They say you shouldn't take any photos inside" but take photos of an issues found.

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