Back in the old days (that is a few months ago with a different msc) I once had a clerk grab my package and start repackaging it despite my cries not to. It was so quick I could not the clerk to stop. I put that info in my report and it was accepted. But that was a different msc.
Now today I am going to try to get my current report in. Just tried to load a photo of my receipt and I got a pop up there was no metadata. Then a link to explain to me how to do that which did not work. I am home now and hope to be able to figure out what to do next. I can retake my receipt screenshot but not my photo of the front of the post office. Was there a warning in the guidelines about this metadata requirement?
Edited to add the next few hours of frustration. So my report was stuck on the receipt photo in the app. Came home and tried to enter on my laptop. When I got to the question about the photo of the receipt it said it was already there but I could go no further and there was some multicolored chart next to my spot for my photo. I was not able to go any further in that section. So i closed that section and completed all the sections of the report on my laptop. Then returned to the section where I had answered some questions. Every time I got to the receipt photo question the screen would pause for a moment and then switch to a golden colored screen that listed all the questions below the photo question saying they were not filled in. No matter how many tries it did the same thing. There was no way forward from the receipt photo question. I called the scheduler who, miracles of miracles , not only picked up the phone right away but was also very nice. She said there were glitches but it was the first time she heard of this one. I told her my photos have metadata but I cannot see it in the phone gallery but I can see it when I load my photos onto my desktop. I said perhaps it is a problem with my Google phone but she said she has a google phone too and does not have issues. In any case she said the photo of the receipt had been accepted. Finally i went back to the phone app and was able to finish that section and submit the entire report done half on the phone and half on the laptop. Anyone having this issue make sure and report it so they can look into it and fix the glitch. Right now there is only one case (mine) but if it happens again they will try to fix.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2024 12:06AM by sandyf.

My USPS shop was *finally* accepted. Took them one day shy of a week - sheesh.

I heard back from the scheduler about the box questions. She parrotted the guidelines by saying that the box can't have any markings other than the addresses but said she thought a box brand logo (like the duck markings for a Duck brand box) would probably be okay.

@sandyf wrote:

Was there a warning in the guidelines about this metadata requirement?

I don't recall seeing one, but I knew people had had issues with this in general in ISS. When I tried to upload a scanned receipt once I got home, I got the same message. I took a photo, and it was fine. Is it doing the same thing for all your photos?

I estimate that I have done hundreds of these shops over the years. But today I have a new experience. The far right side of the receipt, from top to bottom, did not print. It should say, for instance: "3:06", but instead it only reads: "3:" and the price, instead of being "$10.35" only displays "$". All of the other lines are similarly truncated. There was nowhere to explain this using the app, but I put the explanation into a text box anyway. I just emailed the scheduler.

I have had instances of no receipts for small convenience store purchases, and instances of very light printing, but this is a new one for me.

Edited to fix a single-character typo that might cause confusion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2024 10:03PM by myst4au.

@myst4au wrote:

I have had instances of no receipts for small convenience store purchases, and instances of very light printing, but this is a new one for me.

Wow. I'm not sure how they could hold that one against you, but... Let us know what happens.

In the not so distant olden days with prior MSC I've had a receipt ripped off at the bottom without the clerk ID or that long ID number. I explained and got the # from somewhere else on the receipt. It was accepted. I also had one where one number could have been an 8 or a 3 because it was faded. I explained and it was accepted.

One good thing about the new shop is no more string of long numbers to add. I did one today and can't say I'm a fan of the new process. It took forever for photos to upload and there's no place to enter narrative that could clarify some answers. Plus the site seemed a bit quirky. Some data didn't go through the first try. Maybe it was due to the area I was in. I used to be able to get the report done in a jiffy. Today's took me at least 1/2 hour on site. UGH back and forth.

Edited b/c I remembered how to spell quirky



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2024 11:05PM by MsJudi.

Thanks for the response.

I had my first one approved, which I finished at home. I did so because I wanted to save a copy. Since the completed report is emailed upon submission, I have finalized shops on site.

I've had two requests for information based upon the exterior photos I submitted. I responded to both. I suggest reviewing the exterior photos for the exterior questions before submitting.

@whosear wrote:

I've had two requests for information based upon the exterior photos I submitted. I responded to both. I suggest reviewing the exterior photos for the exterior questions before submitting.

I'm just curious - what did they ask? They must be going over the exterior photo with a magnifying glass.

The first one was on the exterior photo. Three issues, one was on something that had I not taken the picture, I would not have noticed as it is in the mail drop off lane. One was one thing negative. The third was something that I interpreted as normal. I was instructed to change the report to reflect what they saw in the image. I did.

The error was one I made in selecting the wrong item in the pick box.

Things I noticed when doing my first report today.
1. You have to pick a date. If you change your mind, you can't just do it earlier, you have to manually change the date.
2. You have to count how many registers there are, not just the ones that are staffed. Last MSC had evolved from counting all possible registers.
3. I didn't have to input the long register ID number nor the tracking number, two of the most tedious aspects of filling out the report.
4. I personally cannot hold more than three jobs at a time, so it's going to be more of a hassle making a route.
5. The shops dates are only within the next couple of days, also makes routes more difficult.
6. Nowhere to type extra details, if need be.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2024 11:23PM by a-scho.

I did my shop yesterday. I did have to enter the ID number into the report, but not the tracking number. (your #3). It might depend on whether you are using the app to enter or the laptop.
For your number 2, my reports with the old company always asked for this information however there was a pre recorded answer there that I often had to correct.. That was part of the guidelines. I have found in the many shops I did with the old company many of the post offices in my city have converted some of the windows to a work desk or something other than a clerk station so we had to update to the correct count. Now we no longer have to correct the incorrect number but the report went back to asking us the number rather than asking us if their number was correct.

@a-scho wrote:

Things I noticed when doing my first report today.
1. You have to pick a date. If you change your mind, you can't just do it earlier, you have to manually change the date.
2. You have to count how many registers there are, not just the ones that are staffed. Last MSC had evolved from counting all possible registers.
3. I didn't have to input the long register ID number nor the tracking number, two of the most tedious aspects of filling out the report.
4. I personally cannot hold more than three jobs at a time, so it's going to be more of a hassle making a route.
5. The shops dates are only within the next couple of days, also makes routes more difficult.
6. Nowhere to type extra details, if need be.

I don't think I'll be picking up spare boxes and filling my rock bags again. These shops are trash. The only way they'd make sense is to be part of a route, and that's difficult to do with the short time frames and pick dates, and with the now $10 bonus, you still won't net $10 out of the shop.

Thanks a lot, naked company and Unkie Sam.

I am doing one tomorrow. I figure that with the cost of the mailing and the $10 bonus it is close to what I made per shop previously.
I miss them and will always wait for the bonuses if I am to do one.

@sandyf wrote:

I did my shop yesterday. I did have to enter the ID number into the report, but not the tracking number. (your #3). It might depend on whether you are using the app to enter or the laptop.

I thought it asked for the clerk id, not the receipt id. I guess I'll find out soon enough if I inputted the wrong information. I did it on the app.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2024 05:41PM by a-scho.

Ohh maybe I messed up. I think i may have saved my report somewhere to check that out. I have not yet gotten feedback on my report. Hope if did not spend all that time entering that long number for nothing. And nothing of a flat fee as well.

@a-scho wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

I did my shop yesterday. I did have to enter the ID number into the report, but not the tracking number. (your #3). It might depend on whether you are using the app to enter or the laptop.

I thought it asked for the clerk id, not the receipt id. I guess I'll find out soon enough if I inputted the wrong information. I did it on the app.

It's definitely the clerk ID #. I just did another one and was curious to see after seeing the remark from sandyf.

@a-scho wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

I did my shop yesterday. I did have to enter the ID number into the report, but not the tracking number. (your #3). It might depend on whether you are using the app to enter or the laptop.

I thought it asked for the clerk id, not the receipt id. I guess I'll find out soon enough if I inputted the wrong information. I did it on the app.

You are correct. It asked for the clerk ID.

If any of you see an APC (Automated Postal Center) USPS shops, I suggest waiting until the client changes the form before you apply for it. The regular USPS report form questions do not make any sense when doing an APC shop.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

I don't think I'll be picking up spare boxes and filling my rock bags again. These shops are trash. The only way they'd make sense is to be part of a route, and that's difficult to do with the short time frames and pick dates, and with the now $10 bonus, you still won't net $10 out of the shop.

Thanks a lot, naked company and Unkie Sam.

The total compensation is $25, compared to $26 max for the former MSC.

It seems that with this, I can potentially make a $1 or $2 more than the former.

On another note, I'm awaiting a response from an evaluator after 3 days of an incomplete shop. It has to do with the flags. It was marked "Incomplete" because the pick box answer was N/A no flags at this location. The report is on my account as "Incomplete". I can access it, but when I change the response to the correct one, it defaults to N/A again. Responded to the evaluator three days straight, no response.

Wondering if it will be rejected.

All of them near me are $10 bonus

At $25 I'm getting $2.65 more than with the previous MSC, assuming the cost is $10.35 for Priority. I would imagine that fee may not last when the new period begins in a few days. I hope they realize we're not doing them with no or low pay and they will add the bonuses sooner, but we'll see. I'm interested to see if this quarter's shops will roll over to next quarter and keep the bonus. Will be interesting to see.

@whosear wrote:

The total compensation is $25, compared to $26 max for the former MSC.

It seems that with this, I can potentially make a $1 or $2 more than the former.

Hmm. Assuming you:

already have packaging that will satisfy their "no markings" requirement
your package weighs 1lb exactly
you're shipping to a neighboring city that just so happens to be down the street

then the absolute cheapest you can hope to spend is $9.45 for priority shipping. For a 1lb 1oz package, that goes up to $10.35.

Even with a $10 bonus, the pay is less than what I'd get for a $16 cell phone shop, plus I spent 20 minutes in line at the post office.

They aren't there for me yet. With a $25 bonus, I'll consider it.

Idid three today and found them to be painless. If I choose a zip code close to where I live, with the bonus, its similar to what I got paid previously.

I did 5 today. Since you have to use the app to indicate the time and location when you start the shop (there is a button on the app to push), and you have to report the shop before beginning the next one, that means completing the shop using the app. That takes me about 15 minutes. Add in the time to drive to the next location, and the 30 minutes between shops requirement is generally close to being met. When I drop one or two into an existing route, I like that better, but this route of just 5 of these shops worked out fine for me today. I chose zip codes where the cost was $10.35 and I bought boxes at Walmart for $0.49 each.

July shops are posted with a $5 fee and $15 reimbursement. I don't know if that would include the box expense. Not worth $5 to me however. I'll wait it out.

I do see that they changed the pay etc again. And yes in my area it is also reimbursement. So I guess they are trying that this month. Most of the rules are just like the former msc rules so I would assume the box fee can be part of the reimbursement.
As an fyi on my last shop I put the long id number in where it asked for clerk id I hear but it did get approved. So it was nice of them to fix it for me. They also are giving me the higher bonus rate that it went to at the end of the month.

@MsJudi wrote:

July shops are posted with a $5 fee and $15 reimbursement. I don't know if that would include the box expense. Not worth $5 to me however. I'll wait it out.

When it was $15 plus a $5 bonus, I could make about $9 if I mailed to a destination where it would cost only $10.35. With a $10 bonus, it went up to about $14. Now that it is a reimbursement of up to $15 plus a $5 fee, it doesn't make sense for me to do one to net only $5 even if I am driving by the location.

I also discovered that there is an 18-day rotation.

You really don't need to complete the report before leaving the location. Old MSC had this as a nice to have also, but ultimately it doesn't matter. With so little pay on these, I wouldn't personally waste the 30 minutes in between locations as it would be better to do a filler shop in between.

@myst4au wrote:

I did 5 today. Since you have to use the app to indicate the time and location when you start the shop (there is a button on the app to push), and you have to report the shop before beginning the next one, that means completing the shop using the app. That takes me about 15 minutes. Add in the time to drive to the next location, and the 30 minutes between shops requirement is generally close to being met. When I drop one or two into an existing route, I like that better, but this route of just 5 of these shops worked out fine for me today. I chose zip codes where the cost was $10.35 and I bought boxes at Walmart for $0.49 each.