The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: medleysong on August 29, 2012, 09:06:43 PM
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I just had to share this really strange encounter with my mailman. He came to our door on Monday to deliver three packages (one which was an awesome proto Ploomette from So Silver, whoo hoo! :) Anyway, one of the packages was something I ordered from an online toy store. He hands me the packages and leaves. Well...later that afternoon he shows back up telling me that I was supposed to sign for one of the packages and he forgot to have me do that. Uhmmm...ok...a little too late but sure, why not. I sign and he leaves again. Well yesterday he shows up at my door again. This time he tells me that he forgot that the bigger package (from the online store) had postage due on it. He said it was about $8 dollars :blink: We then stand there staring at each other for a few minutes before I say "do you have a form that says that?" He just looks at me and says "no, it was on the box, do you still have it?" Well, I didn't have it anymore because as soon as a nice sized box comes in the house I use it to ship ebay items in it and my husband had already sent packages out early yesterday morning. I didn't see anything on the box saying I owed money. I told him "I will gladly pay you if you show me a form and then I will give it to you as a check". He said again that he didn't have any form, and then he just stood there. :shocked: :blink: *chirp* I told him that I wasn't going to just hand him over $8 dollars cash on good faith. So he said, "well, ok, I guess we will have to forget it then"
WHAT...WAS...THAT!? First, why would I owe shipping when I paid it online already? Second, who does that? Sooooooo Awkward! Anyway, had to share that bizarre enounter with someone lol...
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ummm... dodgy :blink:
Good on you sticking to your guns. Close the door in his face next time! Even if it was legit, he's clearly rather inept at his job!
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I've had to pay for postage due on packages before, never that much though. However, he should have said that when he delivered it, not later - that's just weird. I wouldn't have paid either without proof.
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Wow...lol that mailman seemed just a few cents short of a dollar.
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Wow! That was different - I know it works differently in different countries. But if postage is underpaid on an item in the UK you usually have to collect it from a sorting office and pay it over the counter in order - the post man leaves an official card and you can get a receipt.
How random that he thought you would just give him $8 without any actual official forms!
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Eight dollars?!?! Wow, weird. I almost wonder if since he messed up that he was the one that had to pay it out of his own pocket. So maybe he didn't want to say that and was hoping you would pay him back. Way weird.
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Weird :blink:
I understand that there are times that postage maybe due. But he made a trip back to your house not once, but twice. And all over one delivery he made.
I'm actually really not sure what to think? Could this man be that disorganized? Or was he trying to get $8 out of you. I mean why in the world would he come back and ask for it without any proof that you actually owed it?
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That's REALLY odd! :crazy:
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That definitely sounds strange. I've only had something come postage due once ever and that was just a few days ago with the FiM trading cards. There was a red stamp on the envelope that said "Postage Due" and the amount, 20 cents was written in pen. The mailman (a substitute) told me I had a postage due and asked if I had the money to pay it and I told him I didn't, since we pay for everything using debit or credit and never have any cash, therefore no change. I thought he'd take back the envelope, but he said he'd take care of it for me.
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If there was postage due...they would have held it at the post office, it would have never made it to the truck.
How odd!
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Not necessarily. I have packages arrive all the time here and have had a few that had postage due on them. They will do a COA (collect On Delivery) which is not odd at all. Except yours and the way he went about it was pretty odd lol. He either was in a hurry to get his route done or he was a sub or he really had never had to do a COA before.
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That is exceedingly strange. I think you did the right thing.
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Should of had something to say that you owed it. And he should of done it all at the same time. LOL
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In my office we send out a lot of catalogs at a discounted bulk mail rate, so if they get returned to us with a bad address, we get those notices that we owe money for each return (because the discounted rate only applies to sending them out, not getting them back).
It's kinda up to the individual post offices whether or not they're going to crack down on that type of thing. My mail delivery girl explained the whole thing to me. They have to sign a sheet before they leave for their delivery route saying they're aware of the postage due items. IF her manager at the post office decided to be a stickler about it, and she didn't have the money from the home when she returned from her route, it would have to come out of her own pocket. But usually if it's just a few cents they don't really care, so they'll leave the envelope/package even if it says 'postage due' on it, and they'll either get the money next time they see you, or forget about the whole thing.
However, I have never heard of $8 underpaid on a package! o.0 20 cents, sure, but $8? Geez. It's much more likely in that situation that they would have returned it to sender with insufficient postage rather than choose to deliver it with that 'postage due' option (but again, that kinda is up to the individual post office how they're going to handle the situation).
My guess is, as RockinPrettyBeets said, this guy was a newbie and messed up, lost the paperwork or something. When he realized he would have to pay himself, he went back to your house to try to get the money. But then again, maybe he was just confused or just trying to pull something, so good job sticking to your guns without proof! If he did mess up and have to pay, it would be a good lesson to remind him never to lose the paperwork again.
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In my office we send out a lot of catalogs at a discounted bulk mail rate, so if they get returned to us with a bad address, we get those notices that we owe money for each return (because the discounted rate only applies to sending them out, not getting them back).
It's kinda up to the individual post offices whether or not they're going to crack down on that type of thing. My mail delivery girl explained the whole thing to me. They have to sign a sheet before they leave for their delivery route saying they're aware of the postage due items. IF her manager at the post office decided to be a stickler about it, and she didn't have the money from the home when she returned from her route, it would have to come out of her own pocket. But usually if it's just a few cents they don't really care, so they'll leave the envelope/package even if it says 'postage due' on it, and they'll either get the money next time they see you, or forget about the whole thing.
However, I have never heard of $8 underpaid on a package! o.0 20 cents, sure, but $8? Geez. It's much more likely in that situation that they would have returned it to sender with insufficient postage rather than choose to deliver it with that 'postage due' option (but again, that kinda is up to the individual post office how they're going to handle the situation).
My guess is, as RockinPrettyBeets said, this guy was a newbie and messed up, lost the paperwork or something. When he realized he would have to pay himself, he went back to your house to try to get the money. But then again, maybe he was just confused or just trying to pull something, so good job sticking to your guns without proof! If he did mess up and have to pay, it would be a good lesson to remind him never to lose the paperwork again.
I think you are right on with this. I actually went back to the site I bought the item from as it had been a backordered item originally. I saw that it had our old delivery address on it (we just moved 2 months ago). I didn't notice this when it was delivered. It must have gotten forwarded from our other address rather than be sent back to the store. That would make sense. Now I feel bad as it was a legitimate amount that I owed. I was just so floored that this guy came back multiple times because he just couldn't get it right. He is a bit odd anyway...my husband had a run in with him when we first moved in. We left the mail in our mailbox for 3 days. We just forgot to go out and get it because we were busy. He brought it to our door and scolded my husband for not getting the mail out lol. I guess we are not off to a good start with this mailman..eek!
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*blink* :blink: even if that was a legit amount you owed, that still has to be the most disorganized mailman I have ever heard of!
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Oddly enough- this has happened to me. It was for like $2.33 that was owing on the package (the sender didn't put enough postage on I guess)
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Oddly enough- this has happened to me. It was for like $2.33 that was owing on the package (the sender didn't put enough postage on I guess)
lol..maybe it is a Western Washington thing ;)
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Here in Italy our mailmen have an official list of people/packages/amounts due when they have to collect money. At the post office they put a paper on the package itself but also they give to the mailman a paper with the list of all the people, where you put your signature after you paid.
I find weird he didn't have such a thing, he supposed you would have believed him and dropped $8 so easy? :blink:
Anyway the fact he came to your house twice makes me think that he realized the mistake, realized he was in trouble and was trying to find a way to cover it hoping you would have understood...but no way without official papers, he for sure now has learnt the lesson and will pay more attention to his job :lol:
You did good refusing to pay!
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I'm leaning toward scam.
If he had the paperwork for you two sign for a package, he'd have to have paperwork to pick up cash. The post office would be doing a CYA here, so that they have proof that a) there was indeed postage due and b) the cash was recorded as picked up, and brought back to the local branch.
I'm wondering how many other people he's tried this on. Your best bet in all this is to call your local branch where the mail is sorted (we have three post offices, but only one handles incoming mail for the city), and ask if they have you on a list somewhere that says you owe them money. If not, explain what's happened. Believe me, if this is indeed a scam, you're not the first person to call about it.
After this, I would trust the guy with any of my mail, either coming in or going out (especially going out!). I hate to think badly of people, but the whole thing reeks like yesterday's garbage.
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Maybe it is a Western Washington thing?
I actually doubt he was trying to scam you- you could always call the post office and ask for the name of your letter carrier- get his supervisor- ask supervisor what it was about?
My guess is that he messed up and should have asked you for the money when he came to the door.
In my case the package came through the building mail- so the guy who picks up our mail said I had to go and get something personally. When I went down- the guy said I had to pay for the missing postage (English was not his first language so he was probably not doing a good job of supplying an explanation)
Someone had written in pen what was owing on postage- I had to go up and get the money (exact change) and come down and pay him to get my package.
I am actually grateful that some carriers will just ask you for the postage owing rather than send the package back for insufficient funds-
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That's weird =S
If you really DID owe postage, sorry, but giving it out without proof... But, NO. If he told me it was a mistake, and forgot, I'll understand. But only saying you owe money, and it was on the package... And if you still have it...
At least with me, a lot of times just threw away the packages or use them on different things (depends... acually, I still have a package I received 3 years ago due to it's amazing big size XD). But small/medium size boxed are easy to threw or reuse fast.
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So odd.... I mean I believe that packages can show up postage due as I have had that on a number of occasions but normally it is less than $1 and the mail carrier just leaves a little envelope with their name and the amount due and you just put money in the envelope and leave it out the next day, plus there is also a stamp or note written on the letter or package that matches the amount due and everything matches up. I have gotten a package that was due $6.94 because the package itself weighed over 8 lbs and the seller printed out the label for 4 lbs (I did get the money back from the seller after sending them pics of all the info)! That package my mail carrier brought to the door and collected the money from me before giving me the package. I believe the money comes out of their pocket if they don't collect it. If there was no postage due stamp on the package and he didn't bring it up with any type of documentation then I would have done the same thing that you did. You kind of need proof, not just "it was about $8" after the fact.
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Wow...lol that mailman seemed just a few cents short of a dollar.
Probably why he was asking for cash :P
That's extremely odd! I mean, I've had to pay postage before but they've always had some proof! Very weird situation.
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I've had to pay more on a package before, but they dropped it off and left a small brown payment envelope with my mail, then I put it back out the next day. I agree with everyone else, your mailman sounds a bit shady!
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I've had to pay more on a package before, but they dropped it off and left a small brown payment envelope with my mail, then I put it back out the next day. I agree with everyone else, your mailman sounds a bit shady!
lol, I've never heard of this before. It sounds so small townish.
I wanted to add that I did have a customer who had to pay $6 on one of my packages before. It wasn't even a large package. She messaged me and said "Thanks but I had to pay $6 extra".
I thought she was accusing me of overcharging so I assured her that wasn't the case and never got a response. It was like 2 weeks later that something dawned on me that she had to pay $6 extra for the package when it arrived. I messaged her and asked if this is what she meant and she said yes so I refunded her the $6.
Although I still don't know why she didn't clarify that.
It was later that I found out I had accidentally used a flat rate box instead of a normal priority mail box and was supposed to pay for the flat rate amount.
So they do go ahead and deliver some items that have quite a bit owed on them. It's called not being very good at what they do if you ask me. They should really return it to sender with postage not paid.
Maybe I'm naive but I still don't think the mailman was trying to scam. So I don't think you have to worry about having a dishonest mailman but maybe having a disorganized mailman is another problem :-p
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Wow! I think if I were you I would give a call to my local post office and report him. Something is not right there.
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That is really weird. The one or two times I've had insufficient postage, they leave me an official notice and I have to go to the PO to pay and pick it up. They NEVER let me have the package before they get paid!
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So I don't think you have to worry about having a dishonest mailman but maybe having a disorganized mailman is another problem :-p
Agreed lol.
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had this happen to several of the people we sell to.
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Am I dense or it is possible to send in the US a package without enough postage (and charge it to the receiver?).
At least in Mexico I can't put a package while not paying the full shipping cost =P
But I insist, that's really weird of him to leave the package, then return, and for the third time ask the money =P
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Am I dense or it is possible to send in the US a package without enough postage (and charge it to the receiver?).
At least in Mexico I can't put a package while not paying the full shipping cost =P
But I insist, that's really weird of him to leave the package, then return, and for the third time ask the money =P
one of 2 things happens if you don't put enough postage on in the us(this would only happen if you used stamps or you print postage and did not enter the correct weight,) the postal service either sends it to the person and charges them, or the package gets sent back to you
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Am I dense or it is possible to send in the US a package without enough postage (and charge it to the receiver?).
At least in Mexico I can't put a package while not paying the full shipping cost =P
But I insist, that's really weird of him to leave the package, then return, and for the third time ask the money =P
one of 2 things happens if you don't put enough postage on in the us(this would only happen if you used stamps or you print postage and did not enter the correct weight,) the postal service either sends it to the person and charges them, or the package gets sent back to you
So in the end, if it's not the correct weigh and not enough postage you're playing what will happen?
*hugs Mexican PO service*
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Am I dense or it is possible to send in the US a package without enough postage (and charge it to the receiver?).
At least in Mexico I can't put a package while not paying the full shipping cost =P
But I insist, that's really weird of him to leave the package, then return, and for the third time ask the money =P
one of 2 things happens if you don't put enough postage on in the us(this would only happen if you used stamps or you print postage and did not enter the correct weight,) the postal service either sends it to the person and charges them, or the package gets sent back to you
So in the end, if it's not the correct weigh and not enough postage you're playing what will happen?
*hugs Mexican PO service*
not sure how it works in mexico, but it can go either way in the US, also did not quite get what you was asking chica:)
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Am I dense or it is possible to send in the US a package without enough postage (and charge it to the receiver?).
At least in Mexico I can't put a package while not paying the full shipping cost =P
But I insist, that's really weird of him to leave the package, then return, and for the third time ask the money =P
one of 2 things happens if you don't put enough postage on in the us(this would only happen if you used stamps or you print postage and did not enter the correct weight,) the postal service either sends it to the person and charges them, or the package gets sent back to you
So in the end, if it's not the correct weigh and not enough postage you're playing what will happen?
*hugs Mexican PO service*
Yes, it is basically up to the USPS to decide whether or not to return the package or try to collect the postage due from the addressee... :( Pretty risky!
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Pretty stupid if you ask me. Honestly, I think it's a trashy way to try and get money out of you even if you made a simple mistake. They should just return it to the sender.
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Pretty stupid if you ask me. Honestly, I think it's a trashy way to try and get money out of you even if you made a simple mistake. They should just return it to the sender.
The sign above the counter at my PO says to check your receipt etc. because all sales are final. I think if they make a mistake and don't charge enough, it should be on them. However, in my case it was different as it got sent to my old address and forwarded to my new address so I found out. That is definitely my fault but my delivery guy should have given me proof, not tried to shake me down for 8 bucks at my door lol.
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we have had stuff returned to us for being .25 of an ounce off!