USPS certification

Okay, I feel like an idiot. I've been mystery shopping for over 10 years but took a few years off and am just getting back into it. Anyway, I took the certification test for the USPS shops and could not pass! I'm pretty sure I know which questions I missed but the specific answers were NOT THERE! Did anyone else have trouble with this?

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No, I didn't have any trouble with it, but you aren't the only person who did. Try having your guidelines pulled up in one window while you take the quiz in another and refer back to the guidelines as you go along. If you are still having trouble, you can email your scheduler for assistance.

The same MSC is now doing bank shops. I have been shopping the banks for over 30 years. I had the guidelines on one screen of my computer and the quiz on the other screen. I didn't pass. There were two questions that I could not find anywhere on the guidelines. I wish I would have passed. I enjoy doing these.

Peg, they need to iron out the bugs on that. The guidelines do NOT match up with the quiz for the banks. You can email one of the schedulers.

Oops fixed..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2018 03:46PM by JASFLALMT.

@JASFLALMT Thank you very much.

I had this same issue. I too had the guidelines up and two of the questions I thought I were getting wrong weren't discussed. I emailed the scheduler who pushed it through for me.

I am really glad that worked out for you, eyelove2shop!

The signage questions were confusing. Done dozens and noww asked me to pass quiz. Sold a book on Ebay and the only way to make a profit was to ship it and double dip.

where do y'all purchase y'all packing boxes from?

I don't. I recycle. I get my boxes from Dollar General and turn them inside out and tape them back up. Works like a charm and just saved a tree

I buy my packing tape on hazmat shops. I can get 3 rolls with the reimbursement amount.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

where do y'all purchase y'all packing boxes from?

Staples, ship to store. I buy in lots of 25, which ends up being less than $0.50 each.
I also get a lot of them free from work.
I eBay a lot. I need a lot of boxes and packing material, always.
I also do about 200 shipping shops a year, maybe more? I haven't added them all up.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Peg, they need to iron out the bugs on that. The guidelines do NOT match up with the quiz for the banks. You can email one of the schedulers or XXXX.com for help.

Oops, client and MSC together :-X

"Let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?” ~Walter Williams

I have many of the white plastic? envelopes that come with online med orders. Ask older relatives who probably throw these away weekly. Some of the bags are large so I just put my items to ship in and then fold them down over the label already there to make a bag less than the 12" max. I tape the new sized bag at the edge of the fold and the fold covers the old label.
For boxes I find them all around. Schools get lots of printed forms sent to them in unmarked boxes. They would probably be happy to give them to you. Make friends with someone in the office. This is especially good at the beginning of each semester.

I think they are poly mailers?

Those are all great ideas!

Remember you can exceed 12" in one direction as long as you don't go past the 12x12x12 total size.

Multiply out your sides, if you are under 1728 you are good. For instance, you COULD ship a 14x10x12 box, as it is 1680 total.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

I don't buy any boxes. I either use a cake mix box that I buy for about $1 or a smaller baking soda box that weighs a pound. I buy a roll of brown paper from a Dollar Tree or get one from the grocery store and turn it inside out.
I send these to a person in another zine and she sends them back to me. My $1 goes a very long way!

Hmmm, I never thought about that, if you have a mailing buddy you just ship the same box back and forth until the box is destroyed. Might have to start a mailing buddy thread. LOL

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

I read some posts awhile back about people getting boxes wrapped with brown paper refused because they get caught in the sorting machines. Make sure you tape the heck out of it. It would suck to get your package refused and have to go back and do the shop on a different day. Since my shops are fillers on routes, I can't afford to get my package rejected because I won't be going back to that area on a different day.

I do mail packages to my house when doing shops at locations that are not in my city. I mail them to my husband and put my MIL's address on the return address. I then pull of their stickers and labels and reuse that box again.

I also send care packages to friends with items that don't cost me anything (convenience store purchases, etc.).

You guys are way smarter then me. I never do my own small town post office, so I could basically send everything to my wife at my house, and it would count fine, wouldn't it?? Uggg.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

Your wife would probably love a pair of Uggs...lol ..Yes, you could send it to your home as long as you're out of your zone.

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

Mark Twain

@oteixeira wrote:

Remember you can exceed 12" in one direction as long as you don't go past the 12x12x12 total size. Multiply out your sides, if you are under 1728 you are good. For instance, you COULD ship a 14x10x12 box, as it is 1680 total.

Maybe this was the question?

I selected 5×5×5

@oteixeira wrote:

You guys are way smarter then me. I never do my own small town post office, so I could basically send everything to my wife at my house, and it would count fine, wouldn't it?? Uggg.

That's more than 2lbs

If your wife is like me, she would hate a pair of Uggs. They are some danged UGGGGLY boots. SMH that people like them.

But if you are mailing zone 1-2, you can mail more than 2 pounds and stay under the reimbursement. A pair of UGGly boots would probably weigh a lot more than than that, though.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Try having your guidelines pulled up in one window while you take the quiz in another and refer back to the guidelines as you go along.

ALWAYS do this when taking a test for any shop. Then save a copy of the quiz with the correct answers.

Don't need to, personally. I took the test and passed it the first time, so although I have to take it again periodically, I know the answers and always pass.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

where do y'all purchase y'all packing boxes from?

I get the 2/$1 bubble mailers at Dollar Tree. The only downside is they're not as reusable as boxes, so you have to keep buying them if you do a lot of these shops...which is just a time inconvenience, since they are reimbursed of course.

Happily shopping the Pacific Northwest. Shopping since 2013

Right. Time is money. When I get my used boxes, I'm already at a store for a different reason.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Right. Time is money. When I get my used boxes, I'm already at a store for a different reason.

I mean, I can certainly find other things to get at DT

I usually get enough for 1-2 weeks, though. The plus side is that they don't require time to tape, assemble, etc. You just peel off the label and go!

Happily shopping the Pacific Northwest. Shopping since 2013

@oteixeira wrote:

You guys are way smarter then me. I never do my own small town post office, so I could basically send everything to my wife at my house, and it would count fine, wouldn't it?? Uggg.

My husband has received the same tissues, toilet paper, rice, and cake mix at least 50 times in the past year. But he doesn't know it, because he is under strict orders to not open the boxes. I either carefully lift the stickers off the brown paper (grocery bags), or rewrap them as needed for the next mailing. It's been years since I shopped my local post offices in my own zone.

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