US. POSTAL Shops

January 15, 2026 10:10PM

WOW! Took some time off from shopping. Came back to a new MSC paying $5 fees for postal shops. NO WAY!

A Dad shopping the Ark-LA-Tex and beyond.

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January 15, 2026 11:22PM

Wish they would go back to the previous MSC.

January 15, 2026 11:29PM

I only do it if I have something I need to ship to someone, so I can save on shipping, and I've definitely see them get up to $10 to $15 with bonuses in my area - so sometimes the timing has worked out for me

January 16, 2026 12:06AM

Not only did the pay decrease, the reimbursement didn't increase while the cost of shipping most definitely did. $15 doesn't cover much.

January 16, 2026 07:20PM

@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

Not only did the pay decrease, the reimbursement didn't increase while the cost of shipping most definitely did. $15 doesn't cover much.

To add to that I recently read the cost of shipping is going up again on Priority mail. This company did not increase the reimbursement after the last hike in postal fees so I am not expecting them to do so this time but I can still hope.

January 16, 2026 09:59PM

sandyf: you have given me the reason I will no longer accept shops from them when that price increase goes into effect. Thank you. As I have stated before in posts about the post office shops, I have to beg for $15 fee ($5 fee plus $10 bonus)

January 17, 2026 12:25AM

Yeah the current MSC has really ruined this whole program. Scheduling is a mess, payments are ridiculously low and all the pictures and nonsense information have increased.

January 20, 2026 12:00AM

I only shop the post office when I sell something on eBay. Double dip on the postage. I score them low and keep it moving.

January 21, 2026 03:37PM

Heads up, they have graciously added 2 more questions and a 50 word minimum narrative to this $5 paying shop.

Its insane.

January 21, 2026 04:21PM

Cassie opines--It's insane.

Bob agrees--I completed a single shop for this MSC in the Spring of 2006. After analyzing the work:pay ratio, I terminated our agreement. Approx. 2 yrs. later, I was contacted concerning a re-establishment; I did not consider, as I do not back track in either business or romance.

In 2018, I could send an e-Bay sale of a 3 oz. DVD by first class mail from SW Ohio to San Diego for $1.97. Today, it would be $4.45 using media mail. There is no doubt the mail service fees have grossly exceeded inflation; I average 400 shipments a yr.

January 21, 2026 05:30PM

Someone from the current MSC called me because I took one at the $5 rate awhile back to save on return shipping for an item I ordered and needed to return. She was adamant that they would pay me $10 and could not understand that at the time I was super busy with my real life and real job, I literally didn't have time to take the job. She just kept repeating "But it's $10!" Finally I was just like "I don't have time and $10 is nothing!"

January 21, 2026 05:51PM

I won't argue with them. I either don't answer when they call or I tell them that I will consider it when they pay $20. I have tried saying only when I need to ship something and they start up with how I can mail to a charity or whatever. Now it's just call me when you can pay $20. In other words, never.

January 21, 2026 06:21PM

Kroge shops today?

January 21, 2026 06:22PM

cassiespark: I encountered that yesterday much to my surprise. Padding my answer seemed ridiculous.

January 22, 2026 02:15AM

I padded it with something like The full greeting was just as described in the sentence above and it was less than 50 words, so now I'm wasting my time adding words.

For $5, I don't care if they accept it. This has just turned in to a circus with them!

@big_sky_thunder wrote:

cassiespark: I encountered that yesterday much to my surprise. Padding my answer seemed ridiculous.

January 22, 2026 05:47PM

I just had 2 Hazmat shops rejected. I have done hundreds, and I suppose the reviewer didn't like how I presented the perfume. I told the clerk that it was in the box.
Guess I will only do the regular shops when they are in the path of other shops. ot really worth my while to do them for $5 or $8

January 22, 2026 06:29PM

I haven't done the perfume one, I stuck to the laptop battery scenario after having completed it successfully and just did the same made up story for each package I was sending. Do they not give any feedback on why when they reject it?

January 22, 2026 11:28PM

Unfortunately, I doubt that the fee will increase, save for bonuses. They get most of them done in my area within the first 6 weeks of a quarter.

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

January 23, 2026 04:53PM

The only thing I like about the HazMats is that they will reimburse for a book of stamps up to $15. BUT, don't buy less than a book or you'll get reimbursed for 1 stamp. Don't ask me why. I have too many stamps right now so I don't need to do any. Once in a while I'll do one. I find the Mailing for Mom scenario to be the easiest. They say they have to know what's inside. I say I'll have to ask and return, get stamps and go.

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

Mark Twain

January 23, 2026 04:55PM

That seems to be a better scenerio., I would gladly buy a book of stamps.

January 23, 2026 06:53PM

Great news! Its a new day and they added yet ANOTHER narrative question to the regular shops. Now they would like you to describe IN FULL DETAIL (they used the ALL CAPs, because they must REALLY want all the details of how a clerk read a list of prices to you) how the clerk presented shipping options to you.

This is an absolute circus at this point.

January 23, 2026 06:54PM

For the HazMat, I also buy rolls of shipping tape. Its a great way to stock up and I probably only use 10 stamps throughout the year so those are useless to me.

January 23, 2026 07:00PM

Cassie: you mean they ask for a running verbatim detail of the prices option?

January 23, 2026 09:20PM

I have done very few in the past few years since this msc took over but for Hazmat I used the laptop battery scenario. Issue was there was nothing in the PO I was interested in purchasing. Once I got a useless uninteresting plain bday card for $4.95. Those smaller rolls of tape are way overpriced and since I hardly do these now I don't need much tape. I was hoping to be able to get gift cards as they had once told me it was ok but whenever I was turned down it was a po without a gift card rack.
Has anyone purchased a $10 or $15 gift card and gotten reimbursed?

January 24, 2026 01:43AM

Yup. Thats today's surprise question.

My read on this is that the client is very dissatisfied with the work the work product they are getting, which is probably due to the thousands of people who took these not knowing what they are doing. And so the MSC just continues to add more questions and pictures and ridiculousness to, presumably, get better results.

Offer $5 for a shop that now takes 30 minutes, you are going to get the wrong people to sign up. But onwards they go with this plan!

@big_sky_thunder wrote:

Cassie: you mean they ask for a running verbatim detail of the prices option?

January 29, 2026 07:40PM

Is it true that you don’t get to actually ship anything? I tried to get info in advance of accepting a hazmat shop. I thought the item I was sending was hazardous so it made sense to send that way. Guy on phone told me I couldn’t actually send it as they would reject the shipment. Found out my item was not hazardous so I took a regular priority shop. Cost $19.80 so I ended up making a big .20 for my effort. Shop took over 1/2 hr because they only had one window open and 10 people in line. At least my friend got he’d gift but I am not rushing to get another shop.

January 29, 2026 08:05PM

@catmom23 wrote:

Is it true that you don’t get to actually ship anything? I tried to get info in advance of accepting a hazmat shop. I thought the item I was sending was hazardous so it made sense to send that way. Guy on phone told me I couldn’t actually send it as they would reject the shipment. Found out my item was not hazardous so I took a regular priority shop. Cost $19.80 so I ended up making a big .20 for my effort. Shop took over 1/2 hr because they only had one window open and 10 people in line. At least my friend got he’d gift but I am not rushing to get another shop.

You cannot actually ship something hazardous for a hazmat shop.

You can ship a non-hazardous item using either shop type. But with hazmat shops, maybe it ships, maybe it doesn't depending on which scenario is chosen and whether the clerk follows protocol. If they reject your package that you actually wanted to send, it's a hassle.

I've shipped with the battery scenario multiple times, haven't had then reject any, it just goes via ground. BUT, your recipient will see stickers indicating the shipment is hazardous when it arrives. My college student thought it was HILARIOUS that he got a care package with hazmat labeling.

January 29, 2026 08:30PM

per my understading the old MSC subcontracted the current one and that is why such low fee.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

January 29, 2026 08:31PM

My hazmats always get mailed. I use the shipping for mom, I don’t know what’s inside. Most of the time the clerk shakes it, sends it ground and calls it a day. One time the clerk sent it priority.

I give very minimal effort. I usually give them high marks and only really time the wait.

January 29, 2026 08:36PM

I am buying boxes fro Walmart in large quantities. I am going to write them as busines expences in my 2025 return.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

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