USPS Improper Packaging (Paging Kturock?)

[pretre]

DON'T SUCK IT UP. TEHY ARE IMPROPERLY CHARGING CUSTOMERS.

Well, it's after 5 there now, so I'll have to try something tomorrow.

Any help if I submit a complaint form through the website?

edit: As an aside, he says he has hundreds of pieces in the office that he's done this for. That's a lot of cheddar at $5 a pop.

[kturock]

DON'T SUCK IT UP. THEY ARE IMPROPERLY CHARGING CUSTOMERS.
Contact the postmaster. Write a letter of complaint, citing names and what the 'correction' was offered.

The supervisor is wrong and should be the one disciplined. [punished in postaltalk.]

I have to deal with these moron supervisors. They are told to run everything through the machines, until it fails 3 times. Each time, everytime.

They call me when the machine breaks. Why is it broken? Because it has non-machinable mail in it.
Think of it as the guy driving a truck through a tunnel and it gets stuck, on a highway, at highway speeds.
The mail moves at 170" per second with a 3" space between letters. It takes 2 seconds for the machine to stop when theres a problem.
Do the math. Things get bent, ripped, damaged.

All because some moron supervisor is told by a moron manager by a moron district manager, ad infinitium; to run everything, becasue it 'saves money'. Except that the time the machine is not running, costs more than sorting the mail on the correct machines or by hand.
Penny wise, pound foolish.

[pretre]

Any idea how to track down the postmaster? I found the complaint form on the website, but I don't imagine that goes to him.

Ohh neat. I found a 'postmaster finder' on the site.

[MagickalMemories]

edit: As an aside, he says he has hundreds of pieces in the office that he's done this for. That's a lot of cheddar at $5 a pop.

I wonder if they're getting a commission on it. LOL

Eric

[kturock]

DON'T SUCK IT UP. TEHY ARE IMPROPERLY CHARGING CUSTOMERS.

Well, it's after 5 there now, so I'll have to try something tomorrow.

Any help if I submit a complaint form through the website?

edit: As an aside, he says he has hundreds of pieces in the office that he's done this for. That's a lot of cheddar at $5 a pop.

Call the postmaster and write a letter, addressed to:
Postmaster
[your city], [your state]
[your zip code]

His/her secratary will probably be the one who reads it, unless the office is small, in which case someone acting as his/her secratary, or maybe even the postmaster him/herself.

[pretre]

Okay, I submitted the online complaint. I'll try to write an actual letter this week and send it to the postmaster in Albion.

edit: Also, ugh. Do you know how long it has been since I have had to write a physical letter?

[pretre]

edit: As an aside, he says he has hundreds of pieces in the office that he's done this for. That's a lot of cheddar at $5 a pop.

I wonder if they're getting a commission on it. LOL

Eric

That's what I was thinking. Small-town post office needs to show a profit?

[kturock]

They get an 'attaboy' for 'recovering lost revenue'. The supervisor and/or manager will get a bonus and promotion.

[tordeck]

My mother is a Clerk and just yesterday was telling me about how the flat rate envelope mailers have changed. It used to be as with all flat rates that if it fits it ships, but at least with the envelopes that if you distort the shape of the mailer that it will end up sitting at the PO with an not enough postage tag on it. So be careful when using the envelope style mailers least you end up costing your trade partner more on shipping.

[kturock]

It's been that way for a long time. Not everyone enforced it.
When I was a window clerk, 1994-1997, we had a book mailer, who wrapped up a thick hardback book, in a soft [tyvek] priority enveolpe. Bound with priority tape and then crammed into a reinforced flat rate envelope. The enveope was shaped like a brick when done. They fought us for monthes about paying the difference. They mailed hundreds at a time.
The postmaster actually got the inspectors involved. They agreed to not mail it like that again if the defrauding USPS charges and past postage due fees were dropped.

They didn't mail as much again, since the price doubled and cut into their profits.

[pretre]

So apparently, the complaint form on the website is routed to your local office which really can't do anything about it. Good times.

[kturock]

If the complaint is about non-delivery, or a specific carrier; then it is useful.
The local supervisor is the person you'd need to talk to.

In your case, the problem is with a supervisor, mis-interprating the rules. I see this alot. They're barely trained, and only figure out problems as they occur. They're trianed on how to fill out reports and how to move mail and carriers out of a building. But customer problems vary so much, that unless they've run into them before, they do't know.

Some requires common sense. Some require a strick adherence to postal reguations. This is a case of someone thinking they understand something, and until their boss tells them otherwise, they won't believe they're wrong. [just like rules lawyers in all games]

[pretre]

No, the local guy broke it down to this. It's me vs him. He says it was too small for package. I say it wasn't. So he wouldn't really do anything because he can't prove that the guy in NY is wrong.

Bad customer service, but oh well.

[kturock]

I posted the minimum size for packages.
All padded envelopes must go as a package.
They are non-machinable, thus not letter size.

[pretre]

Obviously, but Albion NY dude isn't budging and local dude can't/won't overrule him. So, if I get around to it, I'll write the postmaster letter.

Alternatively, I thought about sending a bunch of empty padded envelopes with package postage directly to him. Each one would cost him $5.00 to accept under his own rules.
Or a giant package labeled 'used sex toys' in big block letters on the sides.

Oh well.