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No lines anywhere for me, except for one location out of town, that I had shopped maybe 5-10 years ago? 13 minute wait. Same situation as last time. Terrible then. Terrible now. Locations like that are what give the PO their poor reputation.@MisterBill wrote:
I guess it depends on the area. Longest line I've had is 2 people and I'm in NY in an area that just entered phase 2 reopening last week.@sestrahelena wrote:
Long lines/wait times! My area "reopened" in some phase or another this week and lines have been crazy long. The week before had been normal. So reopening might affect everyone's areas, just aheads-up.
In real life, people's movements and the focus of their attention give clues that allow a reasonable judgement call to be made. We see where their eyes go. Are they keeping track of what's happening with the line? Or just concentrating on their tape, addressing, or conversation? Do they inch up as people are served, or just stay put and keep writing or talking? Are they together / arrive together, or just chatting with a random stranger as they stand in line? Without that input the nuance is lost. It's just not possible to reliably gauge the person's intent with a still image. These tests should use a brief video clip instead.
The judgement calls are near impossible in 2D. We all end up guessing or asking the scheduler what we did wrong. That's probably a test of something but has no relationship to the number of waiting customers. They should skip the question, or allow it be thoughtfully answered based a real life video.
The judgement calls are near impossible in 2D. We all end up guessing or asking the scheduler what we did wrong. That's probably a test of something but has no relationship to the number of waiting customers. They should skip the question, or allow it be thoughtfully answered based a real life video.
@MisterBill wrote:
I've always passed on the first attempt as well. It was very poorly done, or intentionally confusing. Those two women should have been at a table not right next to the line. I thought one of them was on line and had put the box on the table to avoid holding it. And the other one seemed to be holding tape to purchase. And what was the guy doing standing at a station if there is no clerk there?@sandyf wrote:
I finally passed on the third try but previously have always gotten it for years on the first try. I thought the person in line right in front of me could have been waiting. I could not see if she was doing something at the table. It looked like she had just put her envelope down while she waited!!!
Bottom line there was not enough information in the picture to accurately answer the question. We have no idea why the guy was standing at the unattended station. Was he being assisted by the clerk at the other station and had to step away to fill out a form? I've seen that happen. Or was he picking up held mail or a package and the clerk went to the back to get it? Also a possibility. Either way, it's a poor example to use when you're testing whether people understand what number to count when doing a shop.@JustForFun wrote:
The judgement calls are near impossible in 2D. We all end up guessing or asking the scheduler what we did wrong. That's probably a test of something but has no relationship to the number of waiting customers. They should skip the question, or allow it be thoughtfully answered based a real life video.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2020 03:50PM by MisterBill.
Got paid today for the shops I did in the past couple of weeks, except for 3 micro shops still pending. Gotta love how quickly they pay!
Two post offices today...and then home to spend over 2 hours doing the report. Got all the photos sent to my email and then my email was offline for about 2 hours so i could not recover them! The msc website was very slow and kept timing out for uploading and then just disappeared so I lost all the work I had input until that part. Both po's had lines of 12-15 minutes. What a struggle. Finally both my email and the msc website seemed to recover at the same time and the last input of the second po was a breeze. Ugh. I think I averaged about $4 an hour on that job. But I had my first clerk that ever apologized for a wait. That was refreshing.
Yes, that IS nice when they apologize. Have you ever had the postal clerk not even bother asking you the Hazmat question and just inputting it themselves on their own screen? That's happened to me twice over the years, the most recent being just 2 weeks ago. I wonder what happens to them when they're "busted" over that.@sandyf wrote:
But I had my first clerk that ever apologized for a wait. That was refreshing.
That sucks.@sandyf wrote:
Two post offices today...and then home to spend over 2 hours doing the report. Got all the photos sent to my email and then my email was offline for about 2 hours so i could not recover them! The msc website was very slow and kept timing out for uploading and then just disappeared so I lost all the work I had input until that part. Both po's had lines of 12-15 minutes. What a struggle. Finally both my email and the msc website seemed to recover at the same time and the last input of the second po was a breeze. Ugh. I think I averaged about $4 an hour on that job. But I had my first clerk that ever apologized for a wait. That was refreshing.
75% of the time, the clerk says to me, “Sorry about the wait (or) thanks for waiting.”
But how often do they acknowledge you while you're waiting, which is one of the questions? I've never had them do that.@SoCalMama wrote:
That sucks.
75% of the time, the clerk says to me, “Sorry about the wait (or) thanks for waiting.”
Guys mom, my first job yesterday the clerk did not ask the hazmat question and did not put it up on the screen for me to answer myself. The clerk just totally bypassed that step and went directly to telling me the price to mail. I have no idea if she pushed some button on her side to answer for me. In any case I reported the situation as I got a pop up explain box. So if there are repercussions it will happen in this case.
And yes, literally my first sorry for the wait after many, many opportunities for that to happen when it did not. I even wondered why they asked that since no one ever apologized before. Glad to hear it is being acknowledged elsewhere.
And yes, literally my first sorry for the wait after many, many opportunities for that to happen when it did not. I even wondered why they asked that since no one ever apologized before. Glad to hear it is being acknowledged elsewhere.
Did 25 of these over the last two weeks and though at first I hated the app, I'm now a fan - even if I have to turn my phone on and off in order to get the report to submit. Because there's always a table far away from the retail area, almost always near the boxes, I photograph my receipt and finish my report before I've even left the post office. Now if they would only reduce the amount of time between shops to 15 minutes!
Shopping domestic and international locations since 2003.
My last 3 micro shops are now OK for pay. Oddly, 2 were done on 6/9 and the 3rd on 6/12 and they all changed at the same time. There are still a few more box shops available in my area but I don't have anything to ship (yes I know I could mail myself a box).
@MisterBill wrote:
But how often do they acknowledge you while you're waiting, which is one of the questions? I've never had them do that.@SoCalMama wrote:
That sucks.
75% of the time, the clerk says to me, “Sorry about the wait (or) thanks for waiting.”
50% of the time if there's a Lobby Assistant, they will apologize for the wait. It depends on the neighborhood and demographic. They're probably trying to avoid getting a bad survey from the receipt from an impatient person.
I've never seen a lobby assistant, either.@SoCalMama wrote:
50% of the time if there's a Lobby Assistant, they will apologize for the wait. It depends on the neighborhood and demographic. They're probably trying to avoid getting a bad survey from the receipt from an impatient person.
So Cal, there are plenty. The higher the house prices, the better service you'll get in most cases. Exception : Del Mar, CA where the houses are over $2 million, and the clerk was a wench.@MisterBill wrote:
I've never seen a lobby assistant, either.@SoCalMama wrote:
50% of the time if there's a Lobby Assistant, they will apologize for the wait. It depends on the neighborhood and demographic. They're probably trying to avoid getting a bad survey from the receipt from an impatient person.
Do they have valet parking at the post office?@SoCalMama wrote:
So Cal, there are plenty. The higher the house prices, the better service you'll get in most cases. Exception : Del Mar, CA where the houses are over $2 million, and the clerk was a wench.
.
I'm in a suburb of NYC and there are some expensive houses around here but I've never seen fancy service at any post office.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2020 02:34PM by MisterBill.
I don't see any info on the max number of micro-shops one can do in a day or week. Do any of you know? I can put together a great rural route depending on how many one can do.
I think it is five per day and there is a 30-minute wait between each shop
It doesn't say that there is a limit in the guidelines for the micro shops. Just the 30 minute wait. Maybe they forgot it, maybe it's intentional. I'd ask before trying it.@Insight wrote:
I think it is five per day and there is a 30-minute wait between each shop
It seems I see lobby assts in larger post offices sometimes. Where i live the houses are over 1 million for an old tear down of 800 sq feet. My local po has a very small room where the clerks and tables are and a huge outer lobby with po boxes and the ssk. I guess po boxes is big business here. I know people like to have a certain address and that po, even if technically in Los Angeles, has an address reading Marina del Rey. People put the word suite # in their address instead of box #. I have never seen a lobby asst there. The big po which is in medium cost rental apt land often has a lobby asst. In any case, even if there is a lobby asst they may ask to help people on line who only need one service but usually do not mention the wait either. One time on line at my local po the supervisor had a verbal confrontation with one of the clerks right out there in the lobby. After 10 or more years with the same 4 clerks and a supervisor i had never seen, suddenly we had a new? aggressive supervisor and after that visit I never saw the supervisor again and half the small staff seems to be gone.
@SoCalMama wrote:
So Cal, there are plenty. The higher the house prices, the better service you'll get in most cases. Exception : Del Mar, CA where the houses are over $2 million, and the clerk was a wench.@MisterBill wrote:
I've never seen a lobby assistant, either.@SoCalMama wrote:
50% of the time if there's a Lobby Assistant, they will apologize for the wait. It depends on the neighborhood and demographic. They're probably trying to avoid getting a bad survey from the receipt from an impatient person.
I wrongly assumed that if I had done a micro shop that I couldn't do a regular box shop at the same location. But my scheduler says it's fine as long as there are 30 minutes in between! Wow. Hazmat is back now too, though the only scenario is a 'thermometer.' Now to work out how to explain I have a thermometer that weighs a pound.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2020 05:05AM by pambam.
Shopping domestic and international locations since 2003.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2020 05:05AM by pambam.
@callinectes wrote:
I don't see any info on the max number of micro-shops one can do in a day or week. Do any of you know? I can put together a great rural route depending on how many one can do.
Also remember you can't do the first 30 minutes or last 30 minutes of the day, which also really eats into being able to do a route.
Shopping domestic and international locations since 2003.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2020 05:10AM by pambam.
It doesn't have to be the only thing in the box, does it?@pambam wrote:
Now to work out how to explain I have a thermometer that weighs a pound.
pambam, could it be an infrared thermometer? They are handheld and I found one on Amazon that weighs 8.8 ounces and measures 7.6 x 4.4 x 2.1 inches. You could have 2 in your package to make your weight. Obviously you're not mailing actual infrared thermometers, you just have this info in the back of your mind when you answer the question about what's in the package.
How about an ornamental one for the patio. It could weigh more than 1 pound.
Bad idea. Read the guidelines.@LindaS wrote:
pambam, could it be an infrared thermometer? They are handheld and I found one on Amazon that weighs 8.8 ounces and measures 7.6 x 4.4 x 2.1 inches. You could have 2 in your package to make your weight. Obviously you're not mailing actual infrared thermometers, you just have this info in the back of your mind when you answer the question about what's in the package.
They’re testing to see if the clerk asks if it’s a mercury thermometer. Hence the note about red liquid. Alcohol thermometers are red.
Plan on shipping a lot of “thermometers”. All of mine were shipped.
@pambam wrote:
Did 25 of these over the last two weeks and though at first I hated the app, I'm now a fan - even if I have to turn my phone on and off in order to get the report to submit. Because there's always a table far away from the retail area, almost always near the boxes, I photograph my receipt and finish my report before I've even left the post office. Now if they would only reduce the amount of time between shops to 15 minutes!
You don't have to turn the phone off. After you hit submit it will tell you that there was an error and the assignment still shows as needing to submit. But it has actually gone through. Refresh the list and it will be gone. Or, since refreshing takes a few minutes, you can just go do your next assignment and submit that one. You will get the same error message but the previous assignment will be gone from your list. Refresh at the end of the day to be sure they're all gone.
New twist on Hazmats, if they offer ground you have to accept. And the alternate purchase is stamps only.
Looks like they are catching up on the micro shops. I did one last Wednesday and it's now showing OK to pay.
New shops are posted for July but alas self-assign seems to have gone away. I really liked that short-lived feature,
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