USPS Self-Service Station: Height of Box Wrong
February 3rd 2009 03:57 pm
The other day I got an order for an exercise wheel to be shipped via Parcel Post. Since it was after counter hours at the post office, I got the box all packaged and addressed, and then I used their self-help station to buy the postage.
I answered the questions on the screen one-by-one. When it came time to input the size of the box, the screen instructed me to measure the box by using their rules that were mounted at the station. You just put your box in the corner and you can see the width, height, and length settings on the metal rulers that are mounted on the sides and bottm of the station.
When I read the numbers off the rulers and entered them in, I noticed it wanted to charge me 20.78. Now I knew from the shipping calculator in ZenCart that it should have only been 7.88. This program was trying to charge me extra for having a "large box."
Now I had researched the size requirements very carefully before I bought the box and I knew it was not a large box.
Upon further investigation, I found that the height ruler built into the station was wrong. The measurements started from the counter of the station. BUT in the middle of the station contains a raised metal scale. It is about 1/2" high. So this means that if your package is resting on the scale (which it will 99% of the time unless you have a tiny box) it will be measured on the ruler as 1/2" too high.
Usually this won’t make a difference. But in my case the extra 1/2" was enough to change my box from a normal box to a large box.
So the moral is, if you are using one of these self-help stations at your post office and the height comes to a 1/2" measurement on the ruler, round down and you should be fine.
I answered the questions on the screen one-by-one. When it came time to input the size of the box, the screen instructed me to measure the box by using their rules that were mounted at the station. You just put your box in the corner and you can see the width, height, and length settings on the metal rulers that are mounted on the sides and bottm of the station.
When I read the numbers off the rulers and entered them in, I noticed it wanted to charge me 20.78. Now I knew from the shipping calculator in ZenCart that it should have only been 7.88. This program was trying to charge me extra for having a "large box."
Now I had researched the size requirements very carefully before I bought the box and I knew it was not a large box.
Upon further investigation, I found that the height ruler built into the station was wrong. The measurements started from the counter of the station. BUT in the middle of the station contains a raised metal scale. It is about 1/2" high. So this means that if your package is resting on the scale (which it will 99% of the time unless you have a tiny box) it will be measured on the ruler as 1/2" too high.
Usually this won’t make a difference. But in my case the extra 1/2" was enough to change my box from a normal box to a large box.
So the moral is, if you are using one of these self-help stations at your post office and the height comes to a 1/2" measurement on the ruler, round down and you should be fine.
RSS
