One of the Postal Service’s biggest fans says he’s encountering a big problem with Priority Mail Flat Rate packages. We don’t know the root cause of the problem, but if he’s experiencing the issue, it’s possible others are as well.
Mitch Goldstone is CEO of ScanMyPhotos.com. He explained the issue as follows:
“Over the past several weeks, we have noticed a recurring problem of being overcharged for Priority Mail flat rate boxes. Despite our attempts to rectify this by applying for refunds through the portal, the situation persists, with new overcharges occurring almost daily. And no refunds have occurred.
“Upon investigation, we discovered that when scanning the boxes, they are not being registered as flat rate, but instead, as Priority Mail at significantly higher rates. As a result, we have yet to receive any reimbursements for these overcharges.”
ScanMyPhotos, which digitizes customers photos, sends Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes along with return shipping labels to consumers, who fill up the box with photos, affix the return label, and drop the box off at the post office.
“Over the past several weeks, I have noticed a consistent pattern of overcharging by the USPS,” Goldstone told us. “We get billed as boxes are returned to us. Despite the flat rate pricing advertised for these boxes, their sorting systems are misreading the barcodes, resulting in higher charges than the standard flat rate. Some overcharges are as high as $50 and more! While they advised us to seek refunds through the USPS portal, we did, alas, no refunds have yet occurred.”
We found random cases where the USPS may overcharge a shipper, as Etsy sellers discussed in 2021 where one seller theorized, “Your (bubble) mailer was probably scanned sitting on top of a medium flat rate.”
The USPS told us it was unaware of any issues and offered to look into ScanMyPhoto.com’s problem.
As for Goldstone, who was featured in the following USPS video in 2014, he wants to bring it to other shippers’ attention in case it’s happening to them but haven’t noticed. It’s certainly a reminder to shippers to check their records carefully for whatever carrier they’re using.
Those are regional flat rate boxes that have been discontinued. They are now charged as regular non-flat-rate Priority boxes. This is a known issue and the seller should have been aware of it. USPS announced this change last year.
@ galacticstone.
You do realize that the po still has flat rate small, flat rate medium and flat rate large boxes. These are marked as so. NO REGIONAL A B C markings. OP doesn’t state which box he is using.
I watched the video and i don’t believe I saw any Regional boxes, but was hard to really see any of them because the video was moving along so fast. I have a whole bunch of Regional boxes left that I’m using and I don’t believe any of them say FLAT RATE on them (I DID see Flat Rate marked boxes in the video)
A couple of other thoughts – Just guessing; SOMETHING appears to be wrong with the bar codes:
1) Is something being programmed incorrectly to create the RETURN labels? possibly a problem with ScanMyPhotos software? that the return label bar codes are reading as regular PM when the packages are scanned to be returned? … I would suggest ScanMyPhotos generate some test “return” labels and take them to their postmaster and have the bar codes checked to make sure they are coded correctly for Priority Flat Rate.
Label creation/generating bar codes can be WEIRD. My own worst experience was unbelievable. I was waiting for a package from an ebay shipper that didn’t arrive. Postmaster checked the tracking number and the address was correct (mine) but the BARCODE that had been generated was for a totally different residence miles away. The package never showed, and I finally heard from the seller that it had been returned to him. He redid the label and mailed it and it came along timely.
2) IDK but is a USED flat rate box still considered Flat Rate? Doesn’t seem likely, because I would think that at least SOME should be coming back flat rate instead of being changed to regular PM.
One additional thought – another place to investigate is the postage/label generating company they are using. Try using a different company to make up labels for a small group of test “orders” and see if the return labels work correctly for the test group. If they DO, then it seems like the problem is the postage/label generating company has been using. If they DON’T, then it seems likely that something in ScanMyPhotos equipment is creating the problem, generating some kind of error into the return label bar code.