Dear eBay Queen: The Post Office is Really Messing up my Business!

Dear eBay Queen,

I’ve been having some issues with the United States Post Office, well, maybe it’s not the WHOLE United States Post Office, it might just be my local one. I take my packages into the local office almost every day. Sometimes I have 2 packages and sometimes I have 15 packages.  I wait in line, hand over my packages and they are scanned in by the person behind the counter. I smile, thank them and leave.  Yesterday I was in there and the new person at the counter.  She really upset me.  I handed over my packages and she weighed each one, DID NOT SCAN them and gave one back to me because it was 1/8 of an ounce off.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  I asked her if that 1/8 of an ounce was going to change the price and she said: “Why else would I be giving it back to you?”  I then asked her if she was going to scan the packages as accepted.  She told me no, and then said “NEXT”. 

By the time I got home, I was shaking. This makes me so angry.  Why would she not scan them? I decided to call the post office and I asked to speak to the post master.  The person that I spoke with told me that she was not the post master, but the supervisor in charge, AND she was the person that helped me. I could hear her gloating through the phone!  I asked to speak to her supervisor and she said; “It will not help.”  I hung up the phone, and cried. I have no idea what to do.  After I composed myself I called my neighbor, she told me to call the next town over’s post office.  I called and asked them what the policy was on scanning packages that already had postage on them.  They told me they were supposed to scan them right there at the counter, she then told me something that made my heart stop.

  • If I put first class light envelopes with tracking into the mailbox out front or the drive up out back, they do not get scanned at my post office.  They may be scanned at the sort facility.
  •  USPS first class shipping standards changed as of 1/1/15 and it is now 7-10 business days to deliver! All of my hand made goodies are sent first class!

What if my packages don’t get sent?  What if they are sent, but NEVER scanned?  What if this mean woman just let’s my packages sit for awhile to teach me a lesson?

CCT

 

Dear CCT:

Do we have the same post office, because I’ve had similar experiences with my own local office. When I have an issue like yours, and I have on several occasions, I simply call the USPS consumer complaint line 1-800-275-8777. If I feel there is employee misconduct, I contact the USPS Inspector General’s hot line, M-F 11:00am – 3:00pm EST 1-888-877-7644. Make sure that you ask them what the postal standards are for accepting packages over the counter and scanning.  I have had the same issues with my own post office weighing each package

I have heard the same thing about the shipping standards for first class mail going from 1-3 days to 7-10 days. There is a lot of talk about it on the USPS union site.  When I look at the USPS own website for their standards of service for first class mail it states 1-3 days deliver time still. https://www.usps.com/ship/first-class-mail.htm I’m not going to borrow trouble until they change the standards on their own website.

 

Strange eBay Item of the Week: Item #251694299334. Book collectors sometimes pay high prices for books on eBay. These sold for $4000.00.  Set of 58 Signed Franklin Library Limited Editions Leather Bound Books. 

No Good Rotten Day Update

So I guess I spoke to soon yesterday.  I said there was *Nothing* wrong with these packages…

shippingpkg

Yesterday an item not received case was opened on one of these packages. You might be thinking.. "how could that happen since you  just sent them out"? 

postaldelivered3

When my mail carrier scanned these in she hit "delivered" instead of "accepted".. so now even though the item is in the postal system … it shows that it was delivered in Rantoul, KS .  The buyer not knowing what happened thought I somehow received her payment in the morning, and somehow delivered it the same day.. she opened a case which = a defect against me.  After checking all of the packages that were sent out Monday and Tuesday it appears that the there is something wrong with the scanner, or that 2 different postal carriers hit delivered instead of accepted.

I notified all 52 people that paid for their packages (that were sent out on Monday and Tuesday..) just incase they might see that their item was delivered on the same day that it was shipped.  *If* each one of those buyers opened a case, I would have a defect for each one and the money would be taken out of my account.  That's a little scary…

postaldelivered1

Here is what all 52 looked like.

postaldelivered2This is what they are supposed to look like.

How Do You Ship Your Items?

A couple of weeks ago I bought a scissor fob to attach to my needlepoint scissors.  This is how I received my item…

pigsfly1It was wrapped in a poly-mailer, and placed in this cute pink striped vellum envelope.  There was a sweet sparkle-y heart and a ribbon too!

pigsfly2Inside the vellum was my bubble wrapped item.  Is this cute or what?

Do you wrap your items up special? I would like to do some kind of special branding for my items… but I think it would add more time to #1's wrapping.  Do you think branding like this is important?