Some reports on the Internet indicate a new “unofficial” USPS procedure regarding Click-N-Ship labels.
We quote: from blog.jseaber.com:
*******************************************************
Last Monday, I stepped into a local post office and handed 6 postage-paid, domestic packages to the postal clerk. She looked over each, then stated, “These 5 cannot be shipped. They have the wrong date.”
As usual, I’d used PayPal’s Multi-Order Shipping tool to print out orders on Sunday evening. ‘The date is no problem,’ I said confidently. ‘I’ve been doing this for three years. The date is meaningless, but if you insist, I can mark out Sunday’s date and write in today’s date by hand.’ I picked up the pen on the counter and proceeded to change 6/6/10 to 6/7/10 on each of the rejected packages.
“Let me get the postmaster,” she replied.
The postmaster stepped up and had made up her mind before even looking at my packages. She handed me a clearly unofficial document which read:
“Accepting packages that have stale ship dates on them could affect our delivery scores. This information from usps.com explains the correct process. The same policy would be in place for other pcpostage labels such as paypal, stamps.com, endicia.com, etc.
…
You must mail your item on the date that you selected for your Click-N-Ship label; this is known as the Ship Date. An electronic record is generated on that date indicating that your mail piece has been mailed. Packages shipped with labels that have incorrect Ship Dates will be returned to the sender and will not be eligible for a refund. If you are unable to use the label, you should request a refund within ten (10) days of the printed label and create another label with the correct Ship Date.
Your online label can be used only as it has been printed, without any alterations. If you find an error in your label, print a new label with the correct information and request a refund. Any mail piece which has a manually altered online label will be returned.”
I argued for another minute before leaving. As I made my way out, the poor postal clerk quietly told me that it was a “new policy” of “cracking down on Click-N-Ship labels”. Technically, nothing had changed; USPS’s shipping requirements have always stated that packages must be shipped on the day for which they are printed. While PayPal’s Multi-Order shipping system allows selection of the “Mailing Date”, it is obvious that labels postmarked on Sunday cannot possibly be shipped until Monday. For the past three years, postal employees and postmasters have told me, assuredly, that this was not a problem. And it hadn’t been, until last week.
*******************************************************
Postal Sanity called some local post offices and sure enough, the unison answer was: ” You must ship on the day, which is printed on the label. Otherwise we will not accept the parcel.”
We also consulted some high frequency eBay sellers which confirmed that labels with the wrong dates did get accepted in the past.
From a technical point of view we see a lackluster Click-N-Ship implementation which cannot distinguish between print and ship date. Enabling this distinction would require a entry point scan which sets the actual ship date. Anyhow, what is done is done and we won’t whine about spilled milk.
Let’s rather suggest a quick “solution”: When printing a Click-N-Ship label you have to select a shipping date from a drop-down box. At this point there should be a clearly visible message saying something along the line ” You must ship on this date or your package will not be accepted”. Considering that USPS is spending fortunes in trying to keep an up-to-date website (with some slightly blurry fonts, we may add), this should be a fairly easy exercise.
#1 by earl on June 22nd, 2010
Quote
a box of rocks doesn’t understand simple
#2 by gary on June 22nd, 2010
Quote
at my office we still accept them and just date stamp and scan them as accepted. We need leaders with just a little common sense.
#3 by Roger on June 22nd, 2010
Quote
If I made the businesses on my route adhere to this, I’d have to reject half the mail.
#4 by Sam on June 22nd, 2010
Quote
Click and Ship scans cost nothing, or very little. They don’t get any acceptance scans. If that’s what the customer wants, then they have to pay full price. This has been in place since the inception of Click and Ship. It’s employees who don’t follow the rules, management at every office who do things differently (when we all have the same set of rules), that make the problems you’re seeing. We’re one company; let’s do things the same.
#5 by Zoe on June 25th, 2010
Quote
I just learned today that Click and Ship rules changed within the past month. IF A CUSTOMER REQUESTS IT, the package can be accepted, scanned and receipt generated without an extra charge. Only one lady at the facility knew about this latest USPS “memo”. It’s a very simple process that takes a only a few seconds.
#6 by Mrs C., An EBayer on August 14th, 2010
Quote
Hi. I am meeting with alot of opposition in requesting my sellers (I’m the buyer.) requesting my package to be scanned because they are using programs like Click-N-Ship, not because of themselves. Rather, the post offices are being downright unprofessional and acting as if this is not part of the USPS Service Network for which we BOTH pay. Other than asking people to start advocating for themselves and calling USPS directly to obtain the number for the USPS Consumer Affairs Division for their local post offices, do you have any insight into where I can locate the reg.? Perhaps a site so in the event sellers meet with opposition, or myself, something is tangible that can be provided to the post offices if need be? Any suggestions appreciated. Suggesting to a seller the concept of a scan sheet has been my sole recourse outside of trying to empower them with the truth that we pay for this and it is not as if it creates MORE WORK since the seller printed the label, etc. at home! Thank yuo bunches. I truly DO appreciate the pos offices and postal employees of the USPS otherwise.
#7 by Bill on June 23rd, 2010
Quote
USPS Management does a similar thing with Delivery Confirmation for scoring data purposes. “ALL” delivery confirmation packages are scanned as delivered on the day of delivery. Exception to this is when a known business or customer is not available, we are then instructed to scan the package as “Attempted” to quote “STOP THE CLOCK” on the package. We do this when we don’t even take a package and attempt to delivery it. MIS-MANAGEMENT by USPS Management, to only fool the data system for the purpose of boosting delivery on-time scores.
#8 by Elaine on June 23rd, 2010
Quote
Just give it to your carrier, they don’t check the dates just to see if it has postage.
#9 by Emilia on October 20th, 2012
Quote
Click and Ship scans cost nothing, or very liltte. They don’t get any acceptance scans. If that’s what the customer wants, then they have to pay full price. This has been in place since the inception of Click and Ship. It’s employees who don’t follow the rules, management at every office who do things differently (when we all have the same set of rules), that make the problems you’re seeing. We’re one company; let’s do things the same.
#10 by Joseph Breckenridge on June 23rd, 2010
Quote
The date on the Click N Ship label may have legal significence akin to a Postmark and this may be behind the reluctance to change the date on the label.
Also, marking through the date or over-stamping it with a round date does not change the date of record in the electronic tracking system, which is how on-time delivery is measured.
However, I think it’s worth asking the Postmaster to look more deeply into the matter. It makes sense that, since Sunday is not a day on which mail is accepted, that Click N Ship packages bearing labels generated on Sunday could be accepted the following mailing day (usually Monday) without compromising service scores.
If this were not so, then it should be asked why the Click N Ship system applies a Sunday date — a day on which mail cannot be entered into the system.
There’s a lot of moving parts in the system and some of the requirements may seem odd at first. However, seen in the context of the whole, they make perfect sense.
#11 by fir3bu1k on June 24th, 2010
Quote
The Domestic Mail Manual states that the mailer is authorized to print a date correction for PC postage. The postmaster is guilty of criminal obstruction of the mail and should be issued a letter of removal.
.4.1 Date and Postage Corrections
Mailers may print a date correction or additional postage indicium directly on the mailpiece or on a USPS-approved label under the following conditions.
a. A date correction indicium is required for any mailpiece not deposited by the date of mailing in the indicium. Only one date correction indicium is permitted on a mailpiece. For all postage evidencing systems except PC Postage systems, a date correction must show the actual date of deposit and zero postage value (“0.00″). Place the date correction as follows:
1. On letter-size mail, place the date correction on the nonaddress side in the upper right corner or on the address side in the lower left corner.
2. On flat-size mail or parcels, place the date correction next to the original indicium, except when applied by an ink jet printer on barcoded flats.
b. Indicia for additional postage on shortpaid mailpieces must equal the total amount of required postage.
#12 by DannyNJ on June 25th, 2010
Quote
Its just like the PO having to re-weigh and put a machine stamp on Media (Book) Rate packages when they are dropped off already stamped as part of their AIRLINE SECURITY program when we both know that Media rate packages don’t go anywhere near an airport, and are strictly ground transportation only. But still they waste the time…………and the line of angry customers grows longer……………….
#13 by Zoe on June 25th, 2010
Quote
Does anyone know the date and/or number of the USPS memo that states that Click n Ship packages, at the request of the customer, can be accepted, scanned and issued a receipt?
#14 by Chris on August 12th, 2010
Quote
Does this mean that you can print the correction by hand or does it have to be a zero value label printed by the clerk?
#15 by Gail O on October 8th, 2010
Quote
I use Click-N-Ship on an almost daily basis and have never had any problems. I almost always print the label out the night before I drop it off.
#16 by Mike on November 29th, 2010
Quote
I usually just drop mine in the drop-box that you can just drive by, except when the package is too large. And even then, I usually just put it on the counter and tell them I’ve already paid and just leave. Never had a problem.
#17 by R on November 17th, 2011
Quote
Sorry, but I just came across this site. I was a team member at Compaq Computers that developed all of the behind the scenes web services for Click-N-Ship in the late 1990′s. The stuff is damn impressive at the back end. At that time I recall that many USPS officials (and union members) were very much concerned about how allowing end users to generate indicium (the printed postage) would alter and impact USPS operations, such as measuring the effectiveness of delivery times (hey, since you may be generating an Express Mail label outside of the USPS control, we don’t want your lack of following postal instructions to cause the package delivery to take longer than the Express Mail guarantees – gee that might affect how the unionize employees at that facility get scored and affect their salary raises and bonuses). Also, the recipient can claim a refund if delvery was not prompt enough. Get the point? You are screwing with some blue collar’s job and livelihood and the profitability of the USPS. Maybe we should not go through with this Click-N-Ship brainstorm and make you stand in the postal line every day Mr. Internet Salesman.
Also, you may be giving false hopes to your package recipient, who thinks you already mailed the package when you really have not yet done so. There is not always an acceptance scan done when you drop off your package. This varies upon your venue.
Also, to sweeten the public acceptance of printing their own postage, the USPS throws in discounted delivery confirmation, etc. So you do have an incentive to follow the instructions (i.e. save a few cents and your convenience of not standing in the long customer line at a post office). Are the few rules in place too hard for you to follow.
And for the record – there ARE many metropolitan Post Offices that do process and sort mail in the back rooms on SUNDAYS (Saturdays too, actually 24×7 in a few regional sorting centers), so if you dropped off your package or put it into the slot on Sunday, it may actually begin movement for delivery on Sunday. While I feel your pain, is it too much trouble to select the actual ship date when you print your postage labels (especially when you know you will not go by the Post Office on Sunday). If this is beyond your capacity, then may I suggest you print the label without postage, and buy a big sheet on stamps and lick away when you are in the mood to enter the packages into the mail stream.
Sorry, this is not rocket science, but it is also not “Shipping For Dummies” either. Using a computer and sophisticated software that interfaces with the second largest business in the world (behind Walmart) requires a bit more understanding on your part than that of the Walmart greeter.
For those that have gotten away with sloppy procedures in the past, please do not complain that it took awhile for some savvy postal employee to recognize the game you are playing. (I.e. hey I will sell you this item on eBay and although I will charge you Express Mail postage, I will generate the label but mail it several days later and you can complain at your local post office and get your shipping costs refunded, thus saving you money and making me one of the folks on eBay that you will love to purchase from because my total costs beat my competitors, all because we are taking advantage of the dumb ole dinosaur USPS which should have gone outta business years ago, blah, blah, blah).
Sorry for the rant, but there are two sides to this story, and while I have some (but not much) sympathy for you printing the wrong ship date on a label, it really takes no effort for you to do things right the first time. Get with the program or go stand in line.
#18 by Joseph on July 17th, 2012
Quote
R:
I don’t think most people are out to defraud USPS. USPS seems to make it increasingly difficult to do business with them.
On at least three occasions recently, I have inadvertently printed electronic postage with PayPal on Sunday, only to have to void the label and reprint it for the following day. Sure, PayPal could rectify this programmatically. I have used Stamps.com, and their software will default to the next appropriate mail date after a cutoff time. (And yes, it does skip Sunday for most classes of mail.)
A couple of months ago I shipped an iPad via Priority Mail. I printed postage with Click-N-Ship. I started to walk to the post office, which is about half a mile away. On my way to the post office, I ran into a postal carrier, so I handed the package to her. (I live downtown, so I run into carriers fairly easily.) When I tracked it the following day, there was no scan, so I was a little worried, but it ended up getting processed the following day – the day after I handed it to the carrier. No big deal, but it illustrates how the actual ship date may not match the printed mailing date. I don’t know if the carrier didn’t make it back to the post office in time for processing or was delayed for some other reason, but had the USPS rejected the shipment because the printed date had passed, it would have been an annoyance.
On a separate topic, it is aggravating that only the smallest of items fit into postal drop boxes. The 13-oz. rule does not apply to electronic postage. I needed to ship a CD in a cardboard package that was about 1.25” thick. It would not fit through the drop slot at a box at the post office, so I had to park and walk inside. Yes, I remember when the 13-oz. rule went into effect and the reasons for it, but USPS should be doing things to increase ease-of-use, not make it more difficult for 99.999% of honest customers.
#19 by peggy ramsour on February 17th, 2012
Quote
So the post office manager told me I could get a refund from paypal, but because it had been more that 48 hours, I am not getting it. So I have paid for shipping twice~! Is there any recourse for me?
#20 by Eric on May 8th, 2012
Quote
I’m sure there are plenty of reasons for why it is the way it is but it is not a user friendly system. And the user is who you should ultimately be trying to satisfy….
When I am mailing 20 packages it’s a PITA to have to check and double-check each and every little box to make sure the info is correct. Time is money and spending all that time on something that should be straightforward is ridiculous. At least EBay automatically changes the shipping date to the next day when it detects that it is past 4:00 in your time zone. No such thing on the USPS site. You could print a label at 11:59 PM and it would still have a ship date of that same day.
#21 by Susan on September 13th, 2012
Quote
I have been using click n ship for business for over ten years, and it was nice until today!! I am trying to print a simple label for a 2 oz package to Germany, first class. It says I HAVE to provide a VALID phone number on there!! I have had to email my customer and ASK for their phone nr!! Meanwhile I tried to just put my OWN phone nr. in, which IS valid, and it will NOT accept that either!! This is going to make my life a LOT harder if I can’t just print a simple international label without all this drama!!
#22 by Kelly on October 21st, 2012
Quote
Phone numbers for international is not something new. I believe it may vary by destination. I’ve been using Click-N-Ship for international for some years and certain destinations require a phone number. I always ask for it in email correspondence and have it if I need it, discard if I don’t. Anticipate the drama, then there isn’t any.
As for the date thing – never had a problem here if it was a day off. PayPal always plugs in todays date, which I try to catch. Yes, there’s something to be said about the USPS being a bone headed inflexible behemoth, but I dare say that you’ll play heck getting a small package across the country for $5.15 any where else. If they go out, we’ll all be damn sorry.
#23 by Ruth on December 9th, 2012
Quote
I absolutely Love the USPS service and prices. I only use Flat-Rate boxes and envelopes and I ship around the world.
The website is not very impressive other than it is fast. The home page is just annoying, I have the few pages I use bookmarked to avoid the home page. I call the web tech (800-344-7779) a lot, most of the people there are very nice (there’s one girl who is totally not).
This business of shipping on the day the label is printed is a bit of nonsense and inconvenience. If the label is no longer valid or shippable, the USPS should automatically refund the money. Oh, they didn’t agree with that! I spend upwards of $6,500 a year on Click ‘n’ Ship (direct), I ship 5 to 10 packages 6 days a week. That is a lot of using the USPS website.
My biggest suggestion is they get 4 or 5 people that use their site everyday to tell them where and how they could make it a lot more user friendly.
I strongly encourage everyone to call them, they have to write suggestions and complaints and give you a confirmation number. They won’t do anything about your suggestion (trust me!) but they will document it.