I would really like a postal worker to give me some insight. I have received books with postage due (went to pick up at Post Office and paid the difference) and been informed by my swap recipients that postage was due on some I have mailed out. All books I mail - no exceptions - are taken directly to the Post Office and weighed and paid for at the counter. What happens between time of mailing and time of delivery that would change the amount of postage due? The books I have received with postage due have a USPS printed stamp and that tracking code stamp, all the ones I mail have that same type of stamp and tracking bar attached before I leave the counter. Overall, my experiences with Media mail and the Post Office have been extraordinary and efficient, but these few blurps are such an inconvienence to all concerned particularly since the counter service hours at our local PO's are so drastically reduced.

In the overall scheme of things this is really minor but if there is something I can do to prevent it from happening at either end, I'd be more than happy to do so.

Thanks 

If you are discussing counter postage, I would contest postage due.  Their emloyees weighed and figured postage, you paid...in this type of transaction, any errors should be theirs to cover.  Incorrect weight for your printable postage (or other user error), those are for the customer to cover.

Unless USPS changes the shipping rate enroute.  Say they inspected the package and found it did not qualify for Media Mail (for example), or maybe inspected and discovered Priority Mail packaging...stuff like that.  Then additional postage costs are fair.  My local PO recently increased postage by over $80 for a series of packages incorrectly marked Media Mail.

Their emloyees weighed and figured postage, you paid...in this type of transaction, any errors should be theirs to cover.

You would think so, but this is what they go by: 

1.0 Mailer Compliance With Mailing Standards

1.1 Mailer Responsibility

A mailer must comply with all applicable postal standards. Despite any statement in this document or by any USPS employee, the burden rests with the mailer to comply with the laws and standards governing domestic mail.

Thanks everyone, I couldn't get those links to open. As far as the ones I send - they can inspect all they want, it's a recycled plastic grocery bag and white solid paper envelope or grocery bag and a bubble mailer and I always take it to the counter because its very convenient for me. Additionally the ones I have paid extra postage on - just a few cents on a couple, more on others - have been the same. no priority used as packaging, no bookmarks or tracts, or advertising or little gifts, nothing but the book and the wrap it's in. I  was just curious and I guess it's an inconsistency that has just so happened to occurred in a clump...

thanks for the input, I'll just keep on doing as I have since 99% of the time there isn't any problem

As long as there is no reused postal material for a higher class, I would also contest the increase in postage. I find it the post office's responsibility to tell me the correct postage when they are weighing it. There is nothing the customer can do about the post office messing that uo. I would also probably question your locations scales because it seems that your PO is the one constant in the situation. I have never heard of counter postage arriving postage due except in the situation of a rate class change down the road, never just an adjustment for the weight.

A mailer must comply with all applicable postal standards. Despite any statement in this document or by any USPS employee, the burden rests with the mailer to comply with the laws and standards governing domestic mail. 

I would think that by buying postage that has been weighed and applied by the postal employees behind the counter, that one HAS COMPLIED with the laws and standards governing domestic mail. The customer has absolutely NO control once the package has been handed over to the postal employee. So the burden of proof should lie with the postal service, not the customer. This is unfair to the customer who is paying for a service the PO is apparently NOT providing.

Pam

I agree Pam (and Melanie), what more can the customer do to comply with regulations?    Take the package to USPS, request they accurately weigh and figure postage, then pay as requested...most employers have to eat the expense of their own internal errors.

I agree, Melanie, Pat, and Denise, but that is the regulation.