Shipping Shops Update

That was my guess. We had one in my area that I took so I could read the guidelines (thinking maybe the shipping type changed and the numbers would make a little bit of sense). I read the info and cancelled the shop. It’s still sitting, and jts at somewhat remote location.

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More About Post Office/Shipping

Have the shipping shops posted yet?

looks like a forum moderator streamlined the shipping shop threads and combined them.

Does anyone know where these shops are taking place (the state or zip code)? I’d like to read the guidelines for myself. Sorry to keep asking but I’m really curious....

There's a long thread on this, pasted link below.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

@JL-Baltimore wrote:

Have the shipping shops posted yet?

$15 fee and no reimbursement? Yikes. There goes my bread and butter.

I easily made 2K to 3K every year just from post office shops because they tended to be bonused in my area. I just kept shipping the same four or five packages to myself over and over after removing the label. Priority from just one town over from my house is 10.80 now. I'm not going to do a report and take pics for four dollars profit. Ridiculous.

Finally saw a posting listed last night for the USPS shops. It seemed to imply that the shop is intended for people needing to mail a package anyway. In my opinion, it is a more of a "coupon." I did many shops for the previous MSC and often my postage cost was $14.50 so that would now result in a 50 cent profit. I suppose I could ship to a closer zone and maybe earn a couple dollars, but tough to justify when it involves time, gas, standing in line, reporting, etc. I hope things will improve in the future regarding compensation.

Yes. I personally have just decided to move on. The program as we knew it is over. I'm sure they'll find a few people to do these for free, but probably only once or twice before they realize its a loss leader. Heck, maybe the client doesn't want these done at scale any more. Who knows, but its over.

yep, I returned my last shipment of boxes, got my money back. It's too bad, they were cool boxes. I may have to buy a smaller package of boxes though, I procrastinated too long, and now I'm going to have to send my family bible to my cousins out of my own pocket.

The fee for a regular box shop has been the same for over 8-9 years. Now they reduce it? Wonderful.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230

Yep, I'm done with this. Not working for free when I was only sending random packages to my sisters for fun that I would not have sent otherwise.

@whosear wrote:

The fee for a regular box shop has been the same for over 8-9 years. Now they reduce it? Wonderful.

No, they are "generously" raising the shop fee from $12 to $15. But they eliminated the $14 reimbursement. "Shrinkflation" everywhere. Lol

@Morledzep wrote:

yep, I returned my last shipment of boxes, got my money back. It's too bad, they were cool boxes. I may have to buy a smaller package of boxes though, I procrastinated too long, and now I'm going to have to send my family bible to my cousins out of my own pocket.

At least you can send USPS Media Mail which is cheaper per pound.

@tstewart3 wrote:

@Morledzep wrote:

yep, I returned my last shipment of boxes, got my money back. It's too bad, they were cool boxes. I may have to buy a smaller package of boxes though, I procrastinated too long, and now I'm going to have to send my family bible to my cousins out of my own pocket.

At least you can send USPS Media Mail which is cheaper per pound.

Maybe, it's a really BIG book.

I dont see them at all where I live. Are they on the site that lists several different mystery shop company's jobs including a lot of inventory and price audits? Want to make sure I am looking at the right site. the sound a snake makes with a silent H.

Maybe a flat rate Priority Box is the best option for you to ship this.

@Morledzep wrote:

@tstewart3 wrote:

@Morledzep wrote:

yep, I returned my last shipment of boxes, got my money back. It's too bad, they were cool boxes. I may have to buy a smaller package of boxes though, I procrastinated too long, and now I'm going to have to send my family bible to my cousins out of my own pocket.

At least you can send USPS Media Mail which is cheaper per pound.

Maybe, it's a really BIG book.

@sandyf wrote:

I dont see them at all where I live. Are they on the site that lists several different mystery shop company's jobs including a lot of inventory and price audits? Want to make sure I am looking at the right site. the sound a snake makes with a silent H.

You're looking at the right site, sandy. Apparently, there were only sporadic postings, and people who have seen them haven't chimed in here with a city/state/zip code to search to find them listed. They're only being paid at a flat rate of $15, no reimbursement, so any interest I had in them is gone.

If your path dictates you walk through hell, do it as though you own the place. -unknown

Thanks dr dog. I basically used them to send gifts to my kids and others. The very rare bonus was $2-3 so the jobs were not at all worth it to me without the free postage. I will probably cut back on these now with no pay but perhaps with the sentiment I am reading I will be able to get some bonuses that will completely cover my postage to zone 8. For gifting I am bothering to pack a box and get myself to the po anyway. May as well at least get my postage paid with a fairly easy job once I am there anyway.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

I dont see them at all where I live. Are they on the site that lists several different mystery shop company's jobs including a lot of inventory and price audits? Want to make sure I am looking at the right site. the sound a snake makes with a silent H.
You're looking at the right site, sandy. Apparently, there were only sporadic postings, and people who have seen them haven't chimed in here with a city/state/zip code to search to find them listed. They're only being paid at a flat rate of $15, no reimbursement, so any interest I had in them is gone.

If you are mailing a 1 pound package to Zone 8, you are going to pay $18 for Priority, so your shipping will not be covered. You'd be better off shipping it Ground Advantage for $9 (or $10 for a flat rate box), and not worrying about a report to fill out. Its a net difference of $4 to you. Your time is worth more than that, I'm sure!

You will build your rank quickly with this company if you are consistent.

@ddeblois wrote:

You will build your rank quickly with this company if you are consistent.

I don't know about "quickly." In my area there are only a handful of shops each month and unless you are checking constantly you will miss them. Right now I am level 3, and each completed shop only gets 1.5% gain toward the next level, so it will take 67 shops to get there. Any cancellation or rejection comes with a 5% penalty, so more than 3 completed shops lost . Also, all of the plum shops are quickly self-assigned in mass by those qualified to take 10 or 20 at a time, or preassigned to those with relationships with the schedulers.

So I can self-assign 3 shops on this platform, and my "contract" with this MSC is up to date. But I don't see a single shop in my area, and my area has 8-10 locations within a 20 mile radius of my home. So either they are being rolled out in waves, or not in my area at all, or there's something else I'm missing on this platform in not seeing any. I'm in the northwest corner of South Carolina.

They never rolled additional locations out after the test locations were completed. The MSC was complaining in another forum that the client requires a lot of work and this has been really hard for them to set up. Maybe thats why they decided to keep all the reimbursement money for themselves, to fund their administrative efforts. Who knows...and I don't really care since these shops are now loss-leaders, at best. Maybe the client will get fed up and go back to the old MSC and this will turn back in to a viable project.

I picked up two flat rate boxes the other day. The medium box is $18.60 or so and the large is over $24. I have a few things i need to send to my son but he is in zone 8. So I would definitely take one of the shops to send it to him for $4. I cannot send those items any other way for anywhere near $4. But I will only take a few of these jobs when I absolutely need to send something. I have never done a shop with reimbursement just for the fee. As much as many of you do not understand people taking shops at base fee, I dont understand taking shops for the fee and throwing out the reimbursed food. But i guess that is because even low paid shops here are gone at base on the first day and many of you who do those find it worthwhile due to bonuses.

@Cassiespark wrote:

If you are mailing a 1 pound package to Zone 8, you are going to pay $18 for Priority, so your shipping will not be covered. You'd be better off shipping it Ground Advantage for $9 (or $10 for a flat rate box), and not worrying about a report to fill out. Its a net difference of $4 to you. Your time is worth more than that, I'm sure!

Thats great, glad it will work out for you. And you are confirming the MSC's pricing actions will be accepted by ICs, so thats great, too (for them, I guess).

No Cassie, if you are speaking to me. It is great for me to be able to mail to my son and save some money. If I take one shop every three months of the probably a hundred post offices within 20 miles or so of my house it will not at all affect whether the other 199 get taken. I and you need to work for ourselves and do shops that fit our own lifestyles and needs. Holding out for better pay for you will mean for me that I will lose out on all shops of all types. But don't worry I do not do any gas stations, tech shops, most bank shops etc. Those here would pay a paltry under $7 or 8 an hour. In my town you work at base or you dont work for the majority of shops.

@Cassiespark wrote:

Thats great, glad it will work out for you. And you are confirming the MSC's pricing actions will be accepted by ICs, so thats great, too (for them, I guess).

I wasn't suggesting you hold out. I was using my words literally. The new MSC has materially changed the parameters and market for who will complete these shops now. I'm not in that group. Glad that it works for you, when you need to ship something. I'm sure there are others, like you, who will do them when they need to ship something. Works for you, works for the MSC, doesn't work for others. Thats all I was saying. I don't really think that deeply about the masses joining together to fight the low paying shops!

@sandyf wrote:

I picked up two flat rate boxes the other day. The medium box is $18.60 or so and the large is over $24. I have a few things i need to send to my son but he is in zone 8. So I would definitely take one of the shops to send it to him for $4. I cannot send those items any other way for anywhere near $4. But I will only take a few of these jobs when I absolutely need to send something. I have never done a shop with reimbursement just for the fee. As much as many of you do not understand people taking shops at base fee, I dont understand taking shops for the fee and throwing out the reimbursed food. But i guess that is because even low paid shops here are gone at base on the first day and many of you who do those find it worthwhile due to bonuses.

@Cassiespark wrote:

If you are mailing a 1 pound package to Zone 8, you are going to pay $18 for Priority, so your shipping will not be covered. You'd be better off shipping it Ground Advantage for $9 (or $10 for a flat rate box), and not worrying about a report to fill out. Its a net difference of $4 to you. Your time is worth more than that, I'm sure!

Do the new shops allow you to ship a flat rate box? They did not previously. Your box, 1-2 pounds and Priority.

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