Crazy USPS followup

Today I completed my first USPS shop -- I posted some questions yesterday.

This morning I ready my box. I had to return some video equipment to an MSC, and in the box, it weighed exactly a pound on my postage scale. The package had to be at least 1 pound, 2 ounces, so I added 14 ounces of pasta, and to be really, REALLY sure, I added a 7-ounce box of muffin mix. At my house, it weighed just over 2 pounds -- golden! But when I get to my assigned non-USPS location, the girl weighed it at 1 pound even! I couldn't think of a way to ask her to check it on another scale (who asks to be charged more?), so I sent an explanation to the scheduler, and will hope for the best. I mean, could my scale be off? Absolutely. But I put 21 ounces worth of padding in the box, in addition to the equipment, newspaper, and the box itself, and she weighed it at 5 ounces less than the food/padding alone! What the heck???

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You should get paid. I ship about 500 packages a year. My scale is right on. I had one show up as less than 1 pound 2 oz. I just explained it. It was about 1 pound 5 oz.

I'd be interested to know the MSC's reaction to getting food along with their equipment. That would amuse me no end.

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

I sent her an email explaining what I did and why. She was thoroughly amused, and admitted having done the same thing! Hope she enjoys the muffin mix!

@Cettie wrote:

I'd be interested to know the MSC's reaction to getting food along with their equipment. That would amuse me no end.

Folks in the business probably knowingly smile without really being surprised.

I want to see the reaction from a retail store employee, say from an Ebay or Amazon.com company (who knows nothing about mystery shopping) who gets a broken $2 item returned by Priority mail for a replacement on the customer's dime.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

I have had a clerk screwup on me that way. Normally I would just let it go and report since that's the job! But this threatened to invalidate the shop entirely, which couldn't be what the customer wanted.
So I put on my Most Innocent Face (tm) and said, "Are you sure? I like a good deal but I have to be honest, there's most that a pound of pasta in there."
The clerk blessed my heart for being so honest. The client did not complain.

My hubby suggested something like, "Wow, my scale must really be off. Can you double-check on another scale so I know how far off my scale is?"

(But my scheduler also told me that there's a bit of wiggle room built into the guidelines to allow for such discrepancies.)

I got burned by this happening! I've done a ton of these shops and have a very reliable postage scale at home. I knew when the clerk told me the price for priority something was wrong because it was a couple of dollars cheaper than usual but didn't want to call attention to myself by questioning it. I could not believe it when I saw my receipt and it said 2.10oz instead of 1 lb 2.10oz. I documented it in the report and emailed my scheduler with a heads up. She never replied and invalidated the shop. It pretty much soured me on doing any more of the shops.

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Crazy USPS followup

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