Anyone seeing the January USPS shops?

I found a 'pen pal" in Zone 5 through this Forum. For the DIm Wt shops, I have continued to ship packages to the food bank in Florida that the previous MSC required me to use. No complaints so far. I use my Zone 5 pen pal for HazMat shops and feel good sending the Dim Wt boxes to Florida.

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

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LOL

@myst4au wrote:

And if that random person finds an unexpected box on their doorstep and calls the police and the bomb squad arrives? IMHO, this is a singularly bad suggestion.
@spicy1 wrote:

Couldn't you send your package to anyone? A random person?

This is a valid concern. We had a situation a few weeks ago where a food bank received an unexpected box and called their local police. We had to talk to the police to reassure them that nothing bad was happening.

Owner
Summit Scheduling and Editing

@MPorter3112 wrote:

@NTALAN wrote:

I applied for a shop that I swear was due Monday, Jan. 25, but when I just logged in, it says that round of shops was due yesterday. Maybe it's a glitch?

My scheduler told me that the system adds a few hours to the due date which puts it past midnight, but the true deadline is actually the day before. She allowed me to submit a shop past due because of that confusion.

In this case the date was a week off. But I just went back in and it's back to the 25th. However, I have not been assigned the shop, and an email today looking for shoppers did not include this location. How long does it typically take for this MSC to assign the shops? I replied to the email today but haven't heard back.

We are the people our parents warned us about ~ Jimmy Buffett

I am so needing a 'connection' in zones 3 or 5 for the UPS shop. I live in zone 4. If someone is willing, I too would be the target in the turn-around.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2016 05:52AM by 5842meg.

I see, so I need a Cali connection for zone 5.

cali??

That's a surfer's term for California

@spicy1 wrote:

I see, so I need a Cali connection for zone 5.

I'm in So. Cal (90815 zip) and could use a zone 5 buddy.

@NTALAN wrote:

@MPorter3112 wrote:

@NTALAN wrote:

I applied for a shop that I swear was due Monday, Jan. 25, but when I just logged in, it says that round of shops was due yesterday. Maybe it's a glitch?

My scheduler told me that the system adds a few hours to the due date which puts it past midnight, but the true deadline is actually the day before. She allowed me to submit a shop past due because of that confusion.

In this case the date was a week off. But I just went back in and it's back to the 25th. However, I have not been assigned the shop, and an email today looking for shoppers did not include this location. How long does it typically take for this MSC to assign the shops? I replied to the email today but haven't heard back.

Could you email me directly about this and what locations they are please? judith@summitscheduling.com

Owner
Summit Scheduling and Editing

@Summit Scheduling wrote:

@NTALAN wrote:

@MPorter3112 wrote:

@NTALAN wrote:

I applied for a shop that I swear was due Monday, Jan. 25, but when I just logged in, it says that round of shops was due yesterday. Maybe it's a glitch?

My scheduler told me that the system adds a few hours to the due date which puts it past midnight, but the true deadline is actually the day before. She allowed me to submit a shop past due because of that confusion.

In this case the date was a week off. But I just went back in and it's back to the 25th. However, I have not been assigned the shop, and an email today looking for shoppers did not include this location. How long does it typically take for this MSC to assign the shops? I replied to the email today but haven't heard back.
Could you email me directly about this and what locations they are please? judith@summitscheduling.com

The shop was actually assigned to me yesterday so it's all good. The scheduler said it was taking longer this quarter because she wanted to make sure she was adhering to spacing rules.

We are the people our parents warned us about ~ Jimmy Buffett

@5842meg wrote:

I am so needing a 'connection' in zones 3 or 5 for the UPS shop. I live in zone 4. If someone is willing, I too would be the target in the turn-around.

Meg, the zones are relative. Please advise the first 3 digits of your zip code, so potential post office buddies can tell if they're the right distance from you.

Judith, if by chance you see this post, I am just wondering if there some post offices (zip codes) that do not get shopped? For example in my 40-mile radius there are alot of possible zip codes. Some I see show up consistently, but others (smaller towns usually), never show up. I could see that I missed one or two, though I get the notification emails when all the shops were initially posted, but I can think of many towns in my area, which do have unique zip codes, that have never shown up?

Not a big deal in any way. I am just curious, that's all.

There are many, many post offices in my area which have never been shopped in the 4 (?) years that I have been doing them. They tend to be the smaller, lower volume offices, so my suspicion has always been that only "larger" (based on mail volume or sales) offices are shopped.

@tcurione wrote:

Judith, if by chance you see this post, I am just wondering if there some post offices (zip codes) that do not get shopped? For example in my 40-mile radius there are alot of possible zip codes. Some I see show up consistently, but others (smaller towns usually), never show up. I could see that I missed one or two, though I get the notification emails when all the shops were initially posted, but I can think of many towns in my area, which do have unique zip codes, that have never shown up?

Not a big deal in any way. I am just curious, that's all.

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

I am in a large city so our smaller post offices probably do a huge volume compared to a small town place. The old msc seemed to release all the jobs available at once and then fill them. This current msc, at least in my area, seems to be putting out jobs in waves. I just received postings of Dim Weight shops available to apply for. Even though I live in a huge city surrounded by at least 20 easy to do locations only one was in this group. With the old company I would have seen the entire city at once, or at least it looked that way. I am assuming that in coming weeks other local post offices will show up for me....I sure hope so as the Dim Weight pickings around here have been slim with the new company. Since November today is only the 2nd round of Dim Weight I have seen and they are a small percent of all local post offices listed. Things have changed and with time we will each figure out the rhythm of how the new company operates in our area.

@tcurione wrote:

Judith, if by chance you see this post, I am just wondering if there some post offices (zip codes) that do not get shopped? For example in my 40-mile radius there are alot of possible zip codes. Some I see show up consistently, but others (smaller towns usually), never show up. I could see that I missed one or two, though I get the notification emails when all the shops were initially posted, but I can think of many towns in my area, which do have unique zip codes, that have never shown up?

Not a big deal in any way. I am just curious, that's all.

They all get shopped. But, the client asked the schedulers to try to spread each district out over the quarter. There's no way to do that using the system to throttle the volumes in each district by date range, so the schedulers handled it in two different ways. Some of them released a portion of the shops and scheduled those, then released more and scheduled them further out, etc. The others released them all and scheduled a certain % for the first couple of weeks, then moved them all out and scheduled another %. It's sort of messy either way.

Owner
Summit Scheduling and Editing

I applied for two post offices, but (after almost a week of waiting for them to be assigned) I cancelled them shortly before the listed due date because I hadn't heard anything and they no longer fit into my schedule. The shops languished on the board and today I noticed their due date had been pushed back.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

Hey Judith, there is a post office in my area that hasn't been on the list to be shopped since the previous MSC had them--the zipcode for the location is 44314.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Hey Judith, there is a post office in my area that hasn't been on the list to be shopped since the previous MSC had them--the zipcode for the location is 44314.

checking on this one, thanks.

Owner
Summit Scheduling and Editing

I had the very same experience as Kathy G - two weeks ago I applied for seven shops and used dates within the correct time frame. They languished in my applications box until after their due date, and I never got a response from my scheduler at all. Greater than a week later I deleted the applications as it was too close to the great blizzard of 2016. I had later been accepted for two, and two more recently. Love these shops!

It cost almost $4.00 more at one service provider and I'm being reimbursed $10. I shipped just inside zone 5.

now, when I apply for authorized shipper shops (say that five times fast!) I do a Google search for the address and don't apply for locations that I know add a surcharge.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

Does anyone know if there is any reimbursement for the required purchase if the package is not shipped for the Haz Mat shops?

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

Mark Twain

I would be happy to have a pen pal for
the USPS shops, where do you live?

I liven in VA, would that help you at all?
If so, I would be happy to do this for
you and vice-a-versa? Just let me
know, okay!

5482, i would be happy to help you out
and if you can do the same for me perfect.

Either way, if I can help you I am glad
to do so. Let me know, okay?

Thanks!

Well, the guidelines say to purchase a 4-pack of stamps, an envelope....etc.
I presumed they would reimburse for something required of the shop.
But, I presumed they would reimburse for the required Zone 5 shipping from retailers/providers of USPS services, so beats me.
I'm certainly VERY upset if they are not reimbursing me for the required purchase!
No one pulls one over on me and gets away with it....lol

A pack of 4 stamps does not exist. At the post office, you can buy 4 stamps and it will be reimbursed. At an authorized shipper, you can buy a booklet of 20 stamps and you will be reimbursed for $9.80 as I have been.

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

Hi all, after seeing this thread I pulled up the guidelines for this scenario and agree that they aren't clear enough. I have asked the account manager to revise them to make them more clear. Just a couple of notes:
- Yes, you are reimbursed for the other purchase if your package is refused.
- I'm addressing the increased postage rates and will post here once I have a definite resolution.
- No one is trying to pull anything over on anyone, I promise.
More to come!

Owner
Summit Scheduling and Editing

Looking back it looks like no one has mentioned the actual msc in this thread so for those of you who have run into a surcharge, can you give us a heads up as to which authorized dealers have them. Hopefully the scheduling company will agree to reimburse us but until then can we start a list?
I have shopped the two big national office supply stores and they did not add a surcharge.

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