Q&A: Why won't the Postal Service take my Media Mail?
QUESTION: I've been selling books online for about three years. The most convenient method for shipping has been Media Mail, leaving them in my mailbox. I carefully weigh each book and affix postage stamps, then stamp the package "Media Mail."The mailman knows me, and has had no problem dispatching my packages to the Post Office each day. But today, he came to my door and said that he can no longer take the mail, even though he knows me!
Now I have to hand-deliver them to the Post Office. With the thin margins we make, this is a big inconvenience.
ANSWER: It's funny you should bring this up -- I've been having problems with my mailman, too. Sometimes I'll leave him one or two packages, and he never takes it. He's new, and I haven't had a chance to talk with him yet, so maybe he just doesn't understand what's going on.
But usually I go to the Post Office daily anyway. I always have a few crates full, and I've never formally asked for "carrier pickup" because I liked to finish when it's convenient for me, usually in the afternoon, then take my mail to the loading dock of my local Post Office. If I had them pick it up, I'd need to be ready in the morning.
But in any case, Carrier Pickup is one of the basic services touted by the Postal Service. You can even schedule it online. But if you look at the fine print, it seems they may have changed the requirements a bit:
- Carrier pickup is free, regardless of the number of packages you're sending.
- Available for Overnight Guaranteed, 2-3 Day, and International.
- Pickup occurs on the scheduled day when your regular mail is delivered. (Do you need to schedule pickup for a specific time?)
- Packages should be properly sealed and ready for shipment (including postage) at pickup.
- The deadline for pickup requests and changes is 2:00 a.m. (CST) the day your pickup is scheduled.
- Maximum weight per package is 70 lbs.
It seems that will all the rate hikes the Postal Service has been slapping on us, they could afford to improve service instead of slacking off. At the rate they're going though, they could end up putting themselves out of business when it comes to package shippers. Media Mail is still the cheapest option out there, but if the Postal Service wants to keep making it a pain in the neck to deal with them, who knows?
Got that, Newman?
Labels: Postal Service, shipping
posted by Steve Weber at 7/22/2007
10 Comments:
I thought they were required to pick up packages sent through such services as Endicia. Have the rules changed? If anyone has an update on this, please let me know as we haven't had problems...yet. But I would like to hear of others' experience. And Steve, sorry I've been out of contact, but I am still in the throes of a common Baby Boomer predicament- caring for a parent, caring for my own family and planning for the future :0
Really ups that organization curve!
UPDATE:
Our correspondent had another conversation with his carrier:
"The mailman said that the rules had changed, and that they could not take packages over 13 oz with stamps. He said they could take them if it had metered mail, which will take longer to process. I plan to visit the Post Office next weekend and speak with the Postmaster. I don't think their training is very good. I've gotten different stories from them in the past."
Several years ago, after 911, my mail carrier came up to the door with parcel I had mailed with return postage label on it, saying he could no longer pick up packages unless they were personally handed to him. I got them to back off that one. Then a little later they told me they could no longer accept PRIORITY packages from the mail box that were over one pound, and no international packages at all. They must be handed to the carrier or brought to the PO. This "no packages with stamps" thing seem odd to me, as it's THEIR system to use stamps to show payment of postage. Maybe they want to eventually do away with stamps and use all online or metered postage.
It is true. Nothing over 13 oz with stamps is to be picked up by the mail carrier. This is the way a "terrorist" would ship questionable items. The post office requires they bring them to the counter so they can be on camera. Or YOU can be on camera. It is too easy to play by the rules not to do so. Use stamps.com, the post office website, endicia. Print the postage and go. It is a regulation, so eventually they will all know it (maybe). But if you can mail an untraceable package via the mail, so can Habib.
I hope Steve will delete the comment above from Kevabooks as it contains and ethnic slur. I won't mention it because I do not also want to be deleted. Anyway, the idea of getting us on camera is silly conjecture because many, many post offices do not have cameras. Second, I would never trust my letter carrier with my packages anyway. I've had the appropriate form on file for years to make sure packages sent to me are held at the post office rather than left somewhere random around my yard, but he still lays them in the yard, inside the screen door or tied to the outside of the box (the stupidest of the opinions because that advertises the package to the whole neighborhood). I put most packages through the large bin near the APC at my regular post office, go to their pickup dutch door in the lobby or, as a last resort, go to the clerks. (Loading docks at post offices are not accessible to mailers in this area.) If I go to my backup post office, it's the APC slot or left on the counter beside a clerk (without comment) in their very busy lobby. If I must go to my third-choice post office, there is not an APC, and therefore no big slot - and no dutch door - so I have to see a clerk there!
The regulation about packages weighing 13 ounces or more and stamps is posted on our local mail boxes. (the blue or Star Wars ones in which mail is deposited for pickup).
I was a rural mail carrier for 15 years, and so know some of the reasons for this regulation. Any mail piece weighing 16 oz. (it looks like they've changed it to 13 oz.) with stamps affixed is considered TARGET MAIL. And woe is to that carrier who brings it back to the post office and puts it in the regular mail stream. Letters of warning are not uncommon. This mail piece CAN be accepted if you know the sender, and he/she HANDS it to you. Of course, this is very inconvienent for the customer. I used to have regulars, whose pieces I'd accept if they left them in the box. C'mon...is a terrorist likely to pick out that box on RR1 in the middle of nowhere to mail his bomb?
ANYWAY, the carrier must affix a special instruction sheet of paper (which is chartreuse in color), and reads KNOWN CUSTOMER, initial the the thing, and write the zip code in boxes, and put the package in a special tub marked TARGET MAIL. Any office which doesn't comply gets a nasty phone call to the supervisor from the mail distribution center. I hope this clarifies the carrrier's mysterious behavior.
Maybe the "on camera" idea isn't totally accurate (although I've yet to be in a Post Office that doesn't have cameras), but by handing over the package in person, they get to ask you the "does it contain anything hazardous" question, which makes everything safe. Packages with online postage can still be dropped into a collection box because they're tied to your identity via the barcodes. Stamps are anonymous.
I am grateful for this thread because I did not know about the lowering of the limit for stamped parcels from 16 to 13 ounces, or that it now applied to Media Mail. (It used to be only for those classes that went by air--could they now be sending Media Mail by air at least occasionally?)
I've never been asked the "hazardous" questions about mail dropped off, only if I buy postage from the clerk do they ask this question. And at my regular post office since I'm a known mailer, they only ask that question and the "Can I get you any stamped envelopes, teddy bears or phone cards?" question if the woman with the clipboard is standing behind them. Interesting, there is a man who works at my alternate post office who always asks the "teddy bears or phone cards" question even though they do not sell either at their post office. He says no one listens to the question anyway, so he offers them as he does at the larger post office he also works at.
I usually take my books to the mail box as I have a stamps on line account so I just print the postage and drop it in the mail box. Now there is a bid sign on the mail box they are not taking any package over 13 oz. I call the 1800 # to complain and to find out why the change and I wasnt given any good answers. Our post office has shortened its hours and cut its staff and now the want us to wait in line for items over 13 oz even with a rate increase. Maybe someone else knows whats going on.
I was trying to contact the new team to see if they could do some checking into it. but, I havent had a chance to work on that yet. Please let me know it anyone hears anything.
Lori
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