Shipping shops now *must* be done on mobile device?

Shipping shops now must be done on mobile device?

February 20, 2023 06:36PM

I haven't done a shipping shop in many, many months. I applied and got two that are very close to me and which are up to $20, so well worth it. (No confirmation email, though; is that now standard?) I see in the new guidelines that these have to be done on the mobile app and if you have more than one scheduled on the same day, you have to input the first before you do the second. Is this absolutely mandatory? I hate inputting anything on my phone because I'm cursed with fat-finger syndrome (I don't have fat fingers, but I'm not terribly coordinated in typing on my phone). It takes me much longer to type things on my phone than on my computer. I do have a tablet with keyboard, mouse, and touchscreen, but that's not a whole lot faster for me than doing it on the phone.

Is everybody doing these on their phones now? Has anybody been able to get a waiver to do at home on their computers? TIA.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

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February 20, 2023 07:37PM

I'm not great with typing on my phone either, but have come to appreciate doing these shops on the app. If the locations are close together the reporting time eats up most of the '30-minute between' requirement, and it's nice to come home and not need to sit down at the computer.

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

February 20, 2023 08:09PM

I did one and just submitted it on my PC as usual. The guidelines don't say you *must* use the app, although they do mention putting the details into the app as soon as you leave the location. They also say you have 8 hours. I suppose if I did two in a row I would use the app to input the first one before doing the other, but in other cases I will continue using a computer until told otherwise.

February 20, 2023 08:26PM

I just briefly re read the rules the other day as I am awaiting them upping the fee or some change to get me to do them again. ..I In any case with my light perusal it seemed like they were suggesting using a phone but not demanding it.

February 20, 2023 10:07PM

@BirdyC wrote:

(No confirmation email, though; is that now standard?)

I sometimes get a confirmation email minutes, hours or sometimes never after assigning shops. There’s no rhyme or reason.

@BirdyC wrote:

I see in the new guidelines that these have to be done on the mobile app and if you have more than one scheduled on the same day, you have to input the first before you do the second. Is this absolutely mandatory?

It isnt, but it’s a best practice. I’ve done the limit of 5, gone home and entered them all via the app. For me, the app is way easier than the computer and I do 100% of my shops for this company via the app (non sassie shops of course).

I do hundreds of shipping shops and the only “issue” I had was the metadata on a box picture I took showed I took the photo after I completed the shop.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2023 10:08PM by Capurato.

February 20, 2023 10:08PM

Thanks, everybody! I read it as mandatory because of the instructions to submit your shop before going to the next shop. This is the excerpt that I read:

"SUBMIT
• Enter your shop information in the online portal within 8 hours of completion but no later than 11:59 pm ET the day shopped. If completing more than one shop in a day, submit your form before going to the next shop."

So I read that as if you were doing one shop, input as much detail as you could via the app, then you could submit it later, but if doing more than one, they wanted you to finish and submit the entire shop before doing the next one.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2023 10:10PM by BirdyC.

February 20, 2023 10:11PM

And what's the deal with so many of these being bonused? (Not that I'm complaining....) I see some at the standard rate, but several at the higher one. I've never seen that in my immediate shopping area, but I have done a couple for $35 or $40 in distant locations (more rural areas where there probably aren't as many shoppers).

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

February 20, 2023 10:53PM

@BirdyC wrote:

And what's the deal with so many of these being bonused? (Not that I'm complaining....) I see some at the standard rate, but several at the higher one. I've never seen that in my immediate shopping area, but I have done a couple for $35 or $40 in distant locations (more rural areas where there probably aren't as many shoppers).

As the quarter winds down, they are trying to lure us into doing them with a $15 or $20 fee.

I saw one in a rural area for $200 once. It was a 2 hour drive. I asked the scheduler what the deal was and this was a location that hadn’t been shopped in 6 months and they desperately needed it to be completed.

Side note. The editors for this shop must work for the government with how slow they do things. I have shops over 2 weeks pending review.

February 20, 2023 11:05PM

I tend to favor my PC for most shops. But for this one I genuinely favor doing it on my phone before I leave the lot.

My advice for when you have to enter long numbers: text-to-speech. Faster and less error-prone than typing. Give it a re-read for formatting and it's fast.

February 21, 2023 02:31AM

My speakwrite doesn't work well for sequences like that. It'll insert random spaces, spell out words like "too" instead of 2, or whatever. I keep a note document with the two long numbers on it, change the digits as needed then copy and paste. Numbers are not my friends.

February 21, 2023 07:19AM

What is the name of the app as I have never used it. In my area the shops are at base rate. I have not seen bonuses in a long while but they used to be $3 once in a while. Since the postage has gone up I now have to spend over $3 out of pocket for a package to my son with no box reimbursement and with no purchase for the Hazmat shops $12 is just not enough to get me driving all around this large city and taking photos.

February 23, 2023 11:08PM

I just did one of these, and used my laptop. No issue with that.

February 24, 2023 01:06AM

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

@Capurato wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

And what's the deal with so many of these being bonused? (Not that I'm complaining....) I see some at the standard rate, but several at the higher one. I've never seen that in my immediate shopping area, but I have done a couple for $35 or $40 in distant locations (more rural areas where there probably aren't as many shoppers).

As the quarter winds down, they are trying to lure us into doing them with a $15 or $20 fee.

I saw one in a rural area for $200 once. It was a 2 hour drive. I asked the scheduler what the deal was and this was a location that hadn’t been shopped in 6 months and they desperately needed it to be completed.

Side note. The editors for this shop must work for the government with how slow they do things. I have shops over 2 weeks pending review.

February 24, 2023 01:33AM

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

I'm not sure that's always 100% true. I sent a package out about a year ago to a thrift store that I did not know had closed up its business. My shop was approved and I was paid within two weeks. Then about two weeks LATER, I received my package back as "Undeliverable". And that's when I checked into it and found out that the business had closed. So.....as you can see, I was indeed paid without the package having been delivered. I think the Client is more interested in timings at the actual shipping facility.

February 24, 2023 03:08AM

I have been filling out most of the form (all but image uploads) on their phone app since it is one of the few MSC apps that work without issue. I wait until I get home to proofread and upload photos on my pc. I submit them one right after the other in one sitting. I have been doing it this way for years, including my most recent ones last month.

February 24, 2023 03:18AM

@guysmom wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.
I'm not sure that's always 100% true. I sent a package out about a year ago to a thrift store that I did not know had closed up its business. My shop was approved and I was paid within two weeks. Then about two weeks LATER, I received my package back as "Undeliverable". And that's when I checked into it and found out that the business had closed. So.....as you can see, I was indeed paid without the package having been delivered. I think the Client is more interested in timings at the actual shipping facility.

Yep, similar story here...
I was sending packages to a family member. Didn't realize I had their address wrong. I had 34 instead of 24 as the house number. Sent a package in November for the person's birthday, then another one early January with a Christmas present. I got BOTH packages back a few days ago. Both shops were paid within the expected time frame.
I've sent packages to this address in previous years, so someone must have kept those!

February 24, 2023 06:28AM

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

How do you know this? From where are you getting your info on it?

February 24, 2023 02:17PM

@shopnyc wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

How do you know this? From where are you getting your info on it?

I am curious as well around this info. The delivery status of the package has no bearing on whether or not the report should be "approved" and subsequently paid to us. What happens if the package is lost in transit and never delivered?

USPS hold the records as to their delivery performance and they post the quarterly results here (https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2022/1223-usps-maintains-high-service-performance-scores-during-busiest-week.htm).

From the data they gathered and published.

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the 11th week of the first quarter for fiscal year 2023. The average time to deliver a mail piece or package across the postal network was 2.5 days for the eighth consecutive week even as mailing and shipping traffic increased.
FY23 first quarter service performance scores covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 16 included:

February 24, 2023 04:51PM

@AZwolfman wrote:

I have been filling out most of the form (all but image uploads) on their phone app since it is one of the few MSC apps that work without issue. I wait until I get home to proofread and upload photos on my pc. I submit them one right after the other in one sitting. I have been doing it this way for years, including my most recent ones last month.

Same here. I upload my receipt and picture from my laptop when I get home. Otherwise, I do the rest on the app, and like you say, it all works without a hitch.

February 24, 2023 11:11PM

Just because your package didn't get delivered does not mean that the USPS did not use that information to score their delivery operations.

February 27, 2023 02:14AM

I always do the jobs on my phone. I bought a stylus for not much and that makes it very easy to type on the phone.

February 27, 2023 05:26AM

I like the idea of using a stylus. It would save my fingertip. Did you have to get one made for your smartphone, or are they generic?

@ctalbert wrote:

I always do the jobs on my phone. I bought a stylus for not much and that makes it very easy to type on the phone.

February 27, 2023 06:33AM

Susan,

I don't know about iPhones. But I do know that for Android phones you can buy generic styluses that you can use on anything. Personally I like the styluses that come with the phones that only work on that specific phone. Like the S pens on Samsungs. I would also much rather use a stylus to type on touch screens.

February 27, 2023 02:07PM

For android (i don't use apple so maybe it's the same?) I have a converter so I can plug a USB into my phone. I believe it came with my phone. Sometimes it's easier to plug a keyboard into my phone and type longer narratives then taking my laptop & hotspotting my phone so my laptop has internet, then plugging in my phone to upload the photos. Just depends on the shop.

February 28, 2023 04:30AM

I have a bluetooth keyboard i haven’t used in a very long time. I got it for an old tablet 5 or more years ago. It only ever worked right when it was plugged in to the tablet. It never worked on bluetooth after the first time.. lol. I wonder it that might make typing on the this awful Pixel any easier?

February 28, 2023 11:37AM

@BirdyC wrote:

And what's the deal with so many of these being bonused? (Not that I'm complaining....) I see some at the standard rate, but several at the higher one. I've never seen that in my immediate shopping area, but I have done a couple for $35 or $40 in distant locations (more rural areas where there probably aren't as many shoppers).

There were 2 out in west Texas last week; $80 and $40. Cashed in.

Just be cool folks.

February 28, 2023 01:27PM

I spoke to the IPSOS program manager about this program, and asked why there is such a long lag time between submission and approval, and this was her answer.

@shopnyc wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

How do you know this? From where are you getting your info on it?

February 28, 2023 01:57PM

@Cassiespark wrote:

I spoke to the IPSOS program manager about this program, and asked why there is such a long lag time between submission and approval, and this was her answer.

@shopnyc wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

How do you know this? From where are you getting your info on it?

The last time I did a package shop, I received a return email about 10-15 minutes later saying that I left off one of the tracking numbers.

I fixed it and sent it back.. I kept checking and it said it was pending. About four or so days later it was approved..

February 28, 2023 03:42PM

@Cassiespark wrote:

I spoke to the IPSOS program manager about this program, and asked why there is such a long lag time between submission and approval, and this was her answer.

@shopnyc wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

They usually review them right away, but they wait until the package has been delivered to mark the shop as Approved. Measuring how long the delivery time is - thats one of the things the MSC is providing back to their client on this project.

How do you know this? From where are you getting your info on it?

Well, several of us have been paid for successful shops (meaning we followed all guidelines) and our packages were never delivered/ lost/ returned to us unbelievable after months.

March 01, 2023 03:34PM

Well, I surprised myself! I was able to input most of the first shop's information on my phone while having lunch in between my two shops. It was my first time using the app, so it wasn't intuitive. But I was able to see and correct any typos I made, and it didn't take much time to finish up once I got home and on my PC.

I took my Chromebook along, thinking it would be easier to input on that, but it ended up just seeming like more trouble than it was worth. I need to get a stylus, though!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

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