Post Office Charged Me for General Delivery!!!

[Binxie]

Today, I picked up three parcels, which were delivered to me at the Hawthorne, FL, post office as General Delivery. The post office insisted on charging me for the two packages from UPS on the grounds that the Postal Service had not otherwise been paid for handling them. Basically, they charged me the delivery fee from Hawthorne to Hawthorne.

I've never had this happen before. Searching Google, I've read a few people who've run into this. I've read others who've had a post office tell them that they flat out won't accept UPS deliveries. It seems that there is some variance in how postal rules are handled from location to location. I haven't determined what the official rule is, if there even is one.

Thinking like a business, though, I suspect that what Hawthorne's post office did is probably correct. How else would they make money for their service? But since I've *never* run into this before, I also suspect it's one of those unusual rules that most postmasters don't know about (thankfully for me!).

Be warned: This could happen to you!

 

[BradKW]

What did they charge you, a flat "service fee" or same as if you'd shipped it?

In general, sure sounds better than simply not accepting packages I guess...

 

[RVTravel]

Better then to just have delivered to UPS store a few miles away in Gainesville?

 

[Binxie]

I'll look at options like that in the future. I just didn't expect the charge at all!

 

[Binxie]

What did they charge you, a flat "service fee" or same as if you'd shipped it?

They weren't sure what to charge, so they charged me the base shipping fee, making the origin and destination that town, Hawthorne. It ended up being about $9 for both packages. Enough to piss me off. But yes, I paid it.

 

[mockturtle]

I think most Post Offices don't accept UPS or FedEx parcels at all.

 

[highdesertranger]

so they charged you 9 bucks to ship it from Hawthorne, FLA to Hawthorne, FLA. was this the same city Hawthorne, in the same state? why didn't you just go pick it up and have no shipping? highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

I get parcels all the time from Amazon via UPS SurePost and FedEx Smart post.

UPS & Fed Ex have 53" trailers dropped at Amazon shipper load and count to the roof they truck them almost to destination and the post office does the dirty work to make the residential deliveries they lose money on.

 

[Binxie]

so they charged you 9 bucks to ship it from Hawthorne, FLA to Hawthorne, FLA.  was this the same city Hawthorne,  in the same state?  why didn't you just go pick it up and have no shipping?  highdesertranger

Not sure if you're joking. No, they didn't move anything anywhere, other than from the back room to the counter. Doing that funny transaction, from themselves to themselves, is how they got the computer to charge the least for the USPS' service.

 

[highdesertranger]

ok maybe I wasn't clear. these packages where shipped from Hawthorne, FLA. why didn't you go to the place and pick them up? instead of having them shipped. when I order something I always check to see if I can just go pick it up at will call if I am close enough. highdesertranger

 

[Binxie]

ok maybe I wasn't clear.  these packages where shipped from Hawthorne, FLA.  why didn't you go to the place and pick them up?  instead of having them shipped.  when I order something I always check to see if I can just go pick it up at will call if I am close enough.  highdesertranger

Oh, no. One package came from South Carolina and the other from Arizona, both via UPS addressed to me at General Delivery, Hawthorne, FL. So when I stopped in the Hawthorne post office, they said, "We have to charge you because the Postal Service hasn't been paid anything for these packages." In other words, they objected to being used as a free receiving address by me. So to charge me *something*, so the Postal Service would get its pound of flesh, they did a virtual shipment from their own location to their own location to get the computer to generate the minimum US Postal Service shipping charges.

Had those two companies used the US Postal Service instead of UPS to ship to the Hawthorne general delivery, the Hawthorne post office wouldn't have charged me anything. Or in the future with other companies who ship UPS, I may get packages delivered to a UPS store instead to avoid the risk.

My simple life just got a tad more complicated.

 

[highdesertranger]

ah I see. I am stupid, when I read your post I thought it was shipped from Hawthorne. I reread and get it now. highdesertranger

 

[Canine]

I can certainly understand the PO not wanting to work for nothing.I'm much the same myself.There are proposals around that would let the PO do banking services.This would be a great thing for us ramblers.

 

[Reducto]

Does Amazon even tell you what service they're using to ship something? And how do you get them to ship it to the UPS store - just give them the address of the store with your name?

 

[akrvbob]

Amazon offers zero cooperation or information about who they ship with. It's just whoever can ship it the cheapest that day to that place.

Bob Wells c/o The UPS Store
1234 Main Street #5678
Anywhere, USA

Bob

 

[gcal]

One of the little ways one pays for having a lifestyle that is confusing to normal people.

 

[Almost There]

I'm surprised that the Post Office even accepted the parcels in the first place.

That was actually very kind of the postmaster as they are under no obligation to receive packages for you from anything except through the postal service.

Since Amazon won't tell you in advance whom they are using for shipping, then it makes sense to use a private service for receiving the packages. That way all shipments are received and you pay a small fee for them receiving and holding your packages.

 

[cyndi]

Agree with Almost There. When I was living in dirtville many of my packages, from Amazon, were returned because dirtville's post master wouldn't accept them.

I learned, that after placing an order I needed to call Amazon to specify that the shipper needed to be the USPS. That was before I had an amazon prime membership. I don't know how that would affect amazon prime shipping.

A lot of post offices have done away with general delivery service; or you need to register for the service in each town. and then there may be limitations. It's imperative that you call the post office you plan on using to clarify their general delivery service. Just another way the USPS improved upon customer service (NOT!) Says the retired postal worker.

 

[GotSmart]

If you rent a PO Box in Ehrenberg for $10 a month, they will not charge any extra to get packages. That is worth it to me as the lines in Q are always LONG!!!

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

the post office delivers ups and fedex packages to mailbox, but i think they make arrangements with those carriers for that service. But i think its done location dependent and doesnt involve holding packages.