Would you point this out about a business?

[Jean in Newcastle]

We have a local UPS store.  They have both UPS (obviously) but also serve as a contract post office for the USPS because my city has no post office.  So I went there the other day, got the quote for mailing a box with UPS - $45.  Then she told me that it would cost me over $100 to mail that exact same box by USPS.  She told me that they do have a couple of dollar surcharge but even going to the next city's post office would still end up over $100 to send it. . I ended up checking at the next city's post office.  They charged me $35 to send it.  I am toying with the idea of posting this on our local Nextdoor.   A lot of people, including me, use this business to send USPS mail as well as UPS and the thought that she would quote me a price that was over $65 more than the actual price had me shocked!  Now I wonder how many times I might have been grossly overcharged over the years, or chose UPS because it was the "cheaper" option when in this case it definitely wasn't. 

[kbutton]

10 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I am toying with the idea of posting this on our local Nextdoor. 

I would, assuming that the UPS office has access to ALL of the USPS options that a regular post office does. Perhaps she can offer only certain options, but even so, she should say that she has a limited range of USPS options she can offer, but that a regular post office would have more options. It could be that she needs to stay up-to-date on options, but it sounds like she has a preference and makes really bad assumptions based on that preference (or maybe makes more money off of the UPS).

To be honest, I think I would call USPS and tell them that she's not giving accurate information. If they are contracting with her, they need to be able to trust her. 

[Emba]

I don’t have a Nextdoor to post on, but If that happened to me, I’d be telling everyone in person about it anytime I found a way to wedge it into the conversation.  

[MooCow]

When my son was in boarding school we had to mail his medications once a month. We went to a store that did FedEx, UPS and USPS. When my husband went in, he always got a cheaper rate than I did. People need to know about places that do this. It's wrong.

[Junie]

UPS tends to be cheaper here -- sometimes a lot cheaper.  I'm wondering if the USPS sent the package for their advertised price or if they gave you a hidden discount.

You can maybe check both sites online with their cost estimates to see if both prices were accurate.

[athena1277]

I’ve always found USPS to be much cheaper than UPS or FedEx.  I would have totally done what the OP did and tried a regular post office.  That extra charge is ridiculous.

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, Junie said:

UPS tends to be cheaper here -- sometimes a lot cheaper.  I'm wondering if the USPS sent the package for their advertised price or if they gave you a hidden discount.

You can maybe check both sites online with their cost estimates to see if both prices were accurate.

No hidden discount at the post office.  I went and got it weighed one day and got the price.  Checked with the person who was buying from me, and then after they agreed to my price plus postage, I went back to the post office on another day, went to another clerk and got the same weight/price. 

[Wheres Toto]

I'd wonder if the person is lying about the fee and pocketing the difference of what they actually send to the post office.   In a town with no post office, there are probably a lot of people who don't bother checking.  

I definitely would want to let local people know.  I'd probably want to report it to the post office as well if there was an easy way to figure out who to report it to.  Are these arrangements usually made with local offices or state wide or national or what?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Just now, Wheres Toto said:

I'd wonder if the person is lying about the fee and pocketing the difference of what they actually send to the post office.   In a town with no post office, there are probably a lot of people who don't bother checking.  

I definitely would want to let local people know.  I'd probably want to report it to the post office as well if there was an easy way to figure out who to report it to.  Are these arrangements usually made with local offices or state wide or national or what?

I have no idea who makes these arrangements! 

[Melissa Louise]

Yes, let people know. 

[Tap]

I would probably do three things in this order.

 

Check the usps website and using the information you know (Address, weight, size) see what the price difference is from the different zip codes. (A side note The Pirate Ship website is great if you have this info and want to ship from home with a discount!!) that way you have an accurate companion 

Go by the UPS store again with the info from the package you shipped and ask for another quote. Maybe it was an honest mistake….maybe intentional.

This way you will know if you need to report it. Report it to the owner (not manager) it could be simple employee theft. And tell him you are also reporting it to the USPS. Do both but report it at store level so it gets fixed ASAP….not in govt time. But report it to USPS in case the owner is in on the theft. 
 

Dd was getting overcharged in a similar situation. I knew the employee and she would charge me $5 less than she charged DD for the same flat rate package. DD didn’t realize they were adding $5 fee just to print the label for her (I printed it at home for apx $17…she was being charged $22) But that is no where near the difference you are seeing!! 

[KatieJ]

Locally where I used to live, there was a business that would use UPS, USPS, or fed ex. Online prices for those services were always cheaper. What I didn’t know for too long, is they were up charging every service. They were ridiculously expensive.  Over the years I have mailed a considerable amount of packages and  I learned to navigate USPS boxes, PayPal mailing services  and ordered a USPS pickup to pick up boxes at my door. A scale and a printer (for labels) is a must.

 

[AbcdeDooDah]

I would go back into the store and tell the person how much it actually costs. I would have no problem then posting it on social media.

[Jean in Newcastle]

There are reasons why I don't have a lot of time to devote to this.  I might be able to go back to the original store and tell the person - if she's there - she's only there part-time, I believe - at least I don't see her in there often.

I won't be able to go back to the next city's post office.

If I have time to pop into the original store, then I might post on Nextdoor.  My main concern is not the accuracy of what I am reporting.  I am 100% sure of what she told me.  It's that I want to be fair to the local business.  I am not going to accuse her of stealing or anything - I don't know her motives - she may just be grossly misinformed for all I know - my main reason would be to warn other residents to check the prices at the post office as well so that they don't spend too much. 

[EKS]

20 hours ago, athena1277 said:

I’ve always found USPS to be much cheaper than UPS or FedEx.

Yes, much, much, much cheaper.  

[EmilyGF]

2 hours ago, EKS said:

Yes, much, much, much cheaper.  

I would have agreed with that until two weeks ago, when I needed to mail a large package overnight to a nearby state OR the same package in three days to the other coast. I looked at USPS and it was going to run $65 or more, but overnight to the next state with FedEx was $18. (I ended up sending it in 3 days to the other coast for $42 with UPS because then it wouldn't have been a disaster if it was a day late; it would have been over $70 with USPS.) These prices were all found online and I delivered it to a drop-off location where I watched it be scanned.

I was pretty much floored when I realized that for every scenario I looked into, USPS was significantly more expensive for my large, urgent parcel.

Emily

[Paige]

I used to always use a shipping and packing store instead of going to the post office because it’s so much faster. Then I learned how much they’d been overcharging me! I think it’s part of those stores’ business model but they try to minimize that aspect. 
 

I guess it makes sense. They aren’t the usps or FedEx so they don’t make any profit off that service unless they pad it. You can’t pay rent selling boxes and tape. 

[Robin M]

On 9/25/2021 at 10:51 AM, Jean in Newcastle said:

We have a local UPS store.  They have both UPS (obviously) but also serve as a contract post office for the USPS because my city has no post office.  So I went there the other day, got the quote for mailing a box with UPS - $45.  Then she told me that it would cost me over $100 to mail that exact same box by USPS.  She told me that they do have a couple of dollar surcharge but even going to the next city's post office would still end up over $100 to send it. . I ended up checking at the next city's post office.  They charged me $35 to send it.  I am toying with the idea of posting this on our local Nextdoor.   A lot of people, including me, use this business to send USPS mail as well as UPS and the thought that she would quote me a price that was over $65 more than the actual price had me shocked!  Now I wonder how many times I might have been grossly overcharged over the years, or chose UPS because it was the "cheaper" option when in this case it definitely wasn't. 

USPS is so much cheaper than UPS. I don't use them anymore. Either go with postal or FEDEX because UPS have gone up so much in the past couple years.  Is it possible she got the costs backwards?

 

[Robin M]

6 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

If I have time to pop into the original store, then I might post on Nextdoor.  My main concern is not the accuracy of what I am reporting.  I am 100% sure of what she told me.  It's that I want to be fair to the local business.  I am not going to accuse her of stealing or anything - I don't know her motives - she may just be grossly misinformed for all I know - my main reason would be to warn other residents to check the prices at the post office as well so that they don't spend too much. 

Yes, this.  It's easy with USPS click and ship to find out the exact price for shipping.  I would mention it to management to make sure the employee is calculating shipping costs correctly. 

[Junie]

19 minutes ago, Robin M said:

USPS is so much cheaper than UPS. I don't use them anymore. Either go with postal or FEDEX because UPS have gone up so much in the past couple years.  Is it possible she got the costs backwards?

 

I've always used USPS, thinking that they were cheaper.

Last year when I was mailing my niece's Christmas gifts (she's 3, so I wanted her to have them even though we wouldn't be seeing her as we usually do).  When USPS gave me a quote of nearly $100, we decided to check around.  I don't remember the exact cost, but I think UPS was about half the price and several days faster.

I think there must be a lot of variables...

[ktgrok]

Price often has a lot to do with where the nearest UPS vs post office is in that area, their normal hubs/routes/etc. Plus, often certain sizes are cheaper at one, but another size or speed is cheaper at another. 

[MerryAtHope]

I would probably post about it, and/or talk with a manager at the local store. The only thing I wondered is whether she might have been quoting a USPS price for getting it there in the same amount of time. Is it possible that the price you got from USPS was for a slower or longer transit time than she quoted? Whenever I go to the PO, they offer me 2-3 options, and the first one is always much more expensive.

[Jean in Newcastle]

5 minutes ago, MerryAtHope said:

I would probably post about it, and/or talk with a manager at the local store. The only thing I wondered is whether she might have been quoting a USPS price for getting it there in the same amount of time. Is it possible that the price you got from USPS was for a slower or longer transit time than she quoted? Whenever I go to the PO, they offer me 2-3 options, and the first one is always much more expensive.

I didn't tell them how fast I wanted it to go.  I specifically did say that I was looking for the lowest prices. 

[MerryAtHope]

3 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I didn't tell them how fast I wanted it to go.  I specifically did say that I was looking for the lowest prices. 

In that case, the quote being so far off is pretty upsetting!

[PeppermintPattie]

Do these UPS stores add their own surcharge to the shipping price? I have always assumed that they do. 

[KatieJ]

1 hour ago, PeppermintPattie said:

Do these UPS stores add their own surcharge to the shipping price? I have always assumed that they do. 

Yes they do.

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, PeppermintPattie said:

Do these UPS stores add their own surcharge to the shipping price? I have always assumed that they do. 

Yes, the woman at the UPS store told me that they had a surcharge of “a couple dollars “. She specifically said that the price she was giving me for sending it USPS was without the surcharge. 

[gardenmom5]

On 9/25/2021 at 10:51 AM, Jean in Newcastle said:

We have a local UPS store.  They have both UPS (obviously) but also serve as a contract post office for the USPS because my city has no post office.  So I went there the other day, got the quote for mailing a box with UPS - $45.  Then she told me that it would cost me over $100 to mail that exact same box by USPS.  She told me that they do have a couple of dollar surcharge but even going to the next city's post office would still end up over $100 to send it. . I ended up checking at the next city's post office.  They charged me $35 to send it.  I am toying with the idea of posting this on our local Nextdoor.   A lot of people, including me, use this business to send USPS mail as well as UPS and the thought that she would quote me a price that was over $65 more than the actual price had me shocked!  Now I wonder how many times I might have been grossly overcharged over the years, or chose UPS because it was the "cheaper" option when in this case it definitely wasn't. 

I would post it on next door.   I would also report it to USPS/UPS.   While they are franchises, there are also contracts. A convenience fee is one thing (not having to stand in line at the post office) - this isn't.

I have post offices.  UPS is still a point of sale for USPS. 

Before Amazon opened their drop-off points, I would drop off my pre-paid amazon returns there.  But they won't give you a receipt proving they have it for USPS.

[Houston Turner]

On 2/11/2022 at 3:46 PM, gardenmom5 said:

I would post it on next door.   I would also report it to USPS/UPS.   While they are franchises, there are also contracts. A convenience fee is one thing (not having to stand in line at the post office) - this isn't.

I have post offices.  UPS is still a point of sale for USPS. 

Before Amazon opened their drop-off points, I would drop off my pre-paid amazon returns there.  But they won't give you a receipt proving they have it for USPS.

Thank you so much for these recommendations! I wanted to ask you guys if you know any useful and constructive literature about lifetime customer value and retail. I found a lot of texts and answers about customer value and customer relationship management at https://studyhippo.com/test-answers/customer-lifetime-value/ I hope the literature will help me with these tests.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Houston Turner