Source
r/USPS•
coffplex

20-50 parcels daily: Scheduled pickup or drop off?

Customer Help

Small business owner here- I ship somewhere between 20-50 small boxes daily. Currently, I drop them all off at the local post office over an hour before they close to not overwhelm. Unfortunately with production, I can't drop them off much earlier than that.

I'm worried that I've become a nuisance as one of just two of the postal workers needs to take the time to scan every box whenever I drop them off. Sometimes there can already be a pile of boxes when I get there or the workers are super busy.

So, should I be doing this differently? I always assumed that scheduled pickup would just be a pain for an extra person because they'd need to load them up, then scan when they arrive. But could scheduling it be more convenient for y'all?

I have a good relationship with my USPS workers and have asked them this question, but they basically said to do whatever is easiest for me. I feel like they were just being nice. What's the truth?

Posted Nov 26, 2020, 2:27 AM UTC

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pomobileclk•

PS Form 5630, Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice

Effective August 9, 2008, customers are able to present PS Form 5630, Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice, at the retail window to receive a POS acceptance scan.

PS Form 5630 is designed to provide customers with better tracking and visibility for package shipments. When customers go online to create a prepaid shipping label for their packages, they will have the option to create a PS Form 5630. This form links all the packages in the shipment to one barcode. Customers can schedule a pickup, give the packages to a letter carrier, or bring the packages to the retail window or back dock. The postal employee then scans the barcode, and every package in the shipment receives an “Acceptance” event from the Post Office™. This allows direct-to-consumer shippers to show their customers that items have been shipped.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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jcubhs•

I believe there is a way for you to consolidate all the tracking numbers online and print off a sheet that will have just one barcode they can scan and it would essentially accept all of the packages at once. I’m only a carrier so I don’t know the specifics. But when I’ve done pickups I’ve been given a sheet and I just scan that one barcode.

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coffplexOP•

I'll look into this! This sounds great! I assume it's dependent on shipping software, but this would definitely help.

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jcubhs•

Again, I’m only assuming but I’d say it’s integrated into our website. But then again idk.

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kingu42Recycling Your Mail •

I wish; I also wish usps.com printed first class labels too. But it's intended as a method of casual shippers to skip the line, not for a business. There was a version which was an independent software package that did a tremendous amount of things, but I think they abandoned it as I've rarely heard of it these days.

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buckeyekaptn•

What jcub stated is true. I had a former customer do that as he was dropping off about a 100 packages off on our dock (I'm a custodian now). I saw him the next day and he had the scan sheet. Easy peasy.

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coffplexOP•

Thanks! I use Pirateship and just checked the website. I can create a scan form pretty easily. I just never knew about this. It's going to save them so much time. Excited to help them out!

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Gigglesthen00b•

All the carriers in here have fallen in love with you for that.

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ClerkZero•

Thank you. I have so many regular customers constantly piling packages on my counter that I probably spend an hour a day scanning prepaids. But I got one guy that brings a tote full of about 75 small parcels all on a scan sheet. One scan and done. I love that f-ing guy.

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kingu42Recycling Your Mail •

Contact the business unit, you'll have a set pick up time each day; it is $20 a day, but you'll have a guaranteed pick up time and someone to call if there's any issues. This is your business, don't treat it like someone just mailing cookies to a grandchild.

And use PirateShip or a similar unified shipping service (though I don't know of any others which are free) that permits you to print a scan sheet for all your packages so the pick up person only has to count the package and scan the sheet, making it easier for everyone.

Don't treat the core part of your small business (logistics) as an afterthought.

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weezdmb•

Why would they pay $20 a day when the carrier will pick it up for free? Just schedule a pick up everyday you have outgoing packages.

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kingu42Recycling Your Mail •

Having a set pickup window makes it much easier to plan for packaging and shipping, you know when orders need to be cut off and it's much easier to make sure that scan sheet is ready. There's also an accountable obligation for pickup which isn't there in a pickup request.

With a 20 to 50 package a day volume, that's minimal additional costs for the benefits and sets you up well to scale up.

With carrier pickup you have to be ready wherever the carrier brings the mail. Much harder to have a scan sheet ready or plan the day. Even if you're normally late in the route, that route could easily be split up with different carriers and while you're used to between 3 and 5, the carrier could do that piece at 9am and all your shipping for the day is messed up.

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weezdmb•

Thanks for the explanation. I had no idea this was an option.

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jboarei•

Are the big?

If they are small it’s not much of a burden, but if they are even shoebox size, it can really fill up the vehicle.

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coffplexOP•

They are all 8x8x4 or 5x5x4. Smaller than shoebox.

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jboarei•

I’d say just do what works best for you. If you have your carrier pick them up, maybe give them a gift card or something during the holidays for their troubles.

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EffervescentGoose•

I can't speak directly to your situation but i love my regular package pickups. They are my favorite customers. It's usually~15 packages each so i don't mind scanning. If it was 50 a day i would probably love a 5630 scan form. If you have a good relationship with your carrier i would go that route, clerks are touchy because they don't know you and have to deal with nutzos.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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muffhound•

If i had to pick up 20-50 parcels a day id hate whoever had them

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SteppyTheSnekCivilian Mail Vigilante™•

To add to the advice here:

  1. The scan sheet is not piece-verified by us. So before the accusations fly about a missing parcel, be sure you actually handed it off with a label attached. Have had several customer complaints like this where the package slid under something or other and didn't actually make the hand-off.

  2. with that package volume, you might also want to talk to your local BMEU about obtaining more favorable rates.

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milesmilesmiles20•

Thanks for your reply. All packages have Priority labels attached to them. Usps employee counts them and then scans the manifest. I have been doing the same thing for almost a year now and never had an issue. I sell through Ebay and they give discount if I ship through them which helps a lot.

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Snowbound35•

I mean scheduling a pick up is just one more thing a carrier can say takes up time in their day. So some carriers may actually like that because your pick up would be overtime for them or keep them from having time to do something more difficult.

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