I print the DC label on my books and take them to the PO to be paid and mailed,  I want our little PO to get the credit for the postage.   The postage printed shows the media mail amount plus 18 cents due for DC.  My PO says that I still have to pay  75 cents instead of 18 cents for DC.  They say the only way I can pay 18 cents is if I have the postage printed from your site.   They said they checked with the main PO in Albuquerque, NM and that they are correct. 

I think they are wrong from what I read on this site.  I even printed the help section and took it to them to read.  They still  read it that I would have to print the postage to pay  .18 cents for DC

Who is right?

Betty

I have 10 books to wrap tomorrow and I need to know before I go to the PO.  

Your PO is incorrect. If they weigh the package, then apply delivery confirmation, the system automatically charges the correct .18 fee.

Thanks.

Now how do I get them to see that? ha

Betty

If you pay them for postage, they will have to scan the DC at the time of mailing and their system will set the price.

Betty, you need to tell them it is electronic DC and that .18 is all that needs to be charged. As Shari said, tell the to just SCAN IT AND SEE tell them to let their computer tell them whether it is right or not. They don't need to worry, their system will charge you the right amount, if they will just scan the pkg to get the postage amount, it will give them the postage PLUS the DC and all will be ok. They just have to have faith in their own little machines ;)

Thanks, Sheri

I will try it again.  The last time they said, I could pay just the $.18 put they guaranteed that it would come back with insufficent funds and that scared me into paying the $.75 cents.

Betty

I'm sorry for the problem you are having Betty.  You can also tell then it is electronic delivery confirmation and the rate is spelled out in the DMM and the rate charts if they will look it up.  If they don't then ask how to contact their District Customer Service Representative and that will get it straightend out.

I meant to had that unfortunatly this has happened several times, especially at smaller POs where they don't normally see electronic DC.  It is a matter of educating the clerks that there are several forms of electronic DC approved by the PO.

You're welcome, Betty. Don't be scared, it won't come back. :)

Thanks for the help everyone.  I am going to print your answers and take them with me.  I went to the PO today with 5 of my to be mailed books with the electronic DC on the labels and they had a substitute at the counter.  She was very nice, but told me that only libraries could use the media postal rate.  So I marched my books back home and hope the regular postal person is there tomorrow.

Betty

Here is the http://pe.usps.gov/search/jsp/search/vv_docread.jsp?k2dockey=http%3A%2F%2Fpe.usps.com%2Ftext%2Fdmm300%2F173.htm%40PE_DMM300_HTML_5&serverSpec=56.0.145.56:9920&QueryParser=Simple&querytext=%28media%3CAND%3Email%29&dtype=2#hit0
 for the Postal Manual section about Media Mail (DMM 173). You might want to print it out and ask them (politely!) to show you where it says that rate is only for libraries to use.

She may be confusing it with the Library Mail rate http://pe.usps.com/search/jsp/search/vv_docread.jsp?k2dockey=http%3A%2F%2Fpe.usps.com%2Ftext%2Fdmm300%2F183.htm%40PE_DMM300_HTML_5&serverSpec=56.0.145.56:9920&QueryParser=Simple&querytext=%28library%29&dtype=2#hit0, which is restricted as to who can use it (DMM 183).

I'm so sorry you're having all this problem!

Others are right about the electronic DC - your best bet is to make them scan it for the postage. It really is $0.18, so pay it, smile, and don't worry about your book being returned.

My PO won't let me use the electronic DC either.  I told them to "scan it and see" and the reply was "it won't even scan."  I guess I will have to drive 20 miles to the next town and go to the bigger PO.  Hopefully their clerks are more educated.

"Humor me and try it"

Seriously. I got a very skeptical clerk at my little PO the first time I used e-DC, but I basically talked her into scanning it just to see. She was totally surprised when it scanned and the amount came up.

Melanie, don't give up so easily.  Print out the links in Mary J.'s post and show it to them.  If they still won't go along with it ask who their District Consumer Affairs Representative is and contact that person.  They will get the word passed back down.

If they did indeed try to scan and it wouldn't scan, isn't there some way they are supposed to key that DC in, Steve? I mean, if the printer wrinkled it a little and it wasn't perfect, that could cause it to be unscannable, and there has to be an alternative way to get it into the system in that case or in the case that maybe their scanner would break down sometime. Just guessing.

I am just amazed at all the PO trouble everyone has. The clerks at the two POs I go to have always been extremely friendly to me when I bring in my books to mail. They have been a little annoyed about all of the labels printing the wrong (too low) rate lately, but once I say I know, its the PBS system and they know I am not going to argue about paying more they are OK with it. 

Steve, with an old IRT system, does a scan show how much the DC will be?? I just started wondering if that is a big part of the problem. If the offices on the old IRT system instead of the newer POS system don't have the information they need  (in the post office?!?!?), then they would not understand what their customers are talking about.

This is pure speculation as we have been on POS system since pre-scanner days.

Jean, I'm obviously not Steve, but I use 2 different POs, both in very small towns. The one here has the new system, I'm guessing that's POS? Anyway, the scan works. The other one uses the older system (IRT?) and I didn't even have to explain to that clerk about e-DC, he just scanned it and it charged the right amount.

Yes to both questions, IRTs will scan and the numbers can be entered by hand in most cases.  There are some really small POs that aren't on even IRTs and their equipment is pretty primitive so I'm not sure what will work there.

As far as the PO trouble everyone has, keep it in perspective.  Considering the number of members we have mailing books, and the over all number of customers the PO has, there are actually very few having problems.  What torques me is that most of these problems wouldn't be there if the postal employees involved had better training or better supervision.

Betty, your patience and good humor amaze me!  Your "small post office" stories remind me of a card game my kids used to play, where any time it was your turn to deal, you added a new rule.  It could be as silly as you wanted.  (Must touch nose any time you play a heart.  Or: If anyone coughs, person sitting across from him must flap wings like a chicken.)  The kicker was that you did not tell anyone what the new rule was (in fact, you didn't explain any rules of the game to anyone!) but if someone broke your rule, you just told them they were breaking a rule & they had to skip their turn.  (Yeah, I know.  Easy for me to sit here and chuckle from hundreds of miles away...)  Maybe there's a secret word you have to write on the back of the package... 

Just wanted to let you know I had another row with the local PO and had to take my books to the next town 40 miles away where I had no problem mailing the books with an 18 cent DC charge.  I handed my local Post Mistress a copy of all the above discussions and left.  Next time I went in she had used your discussions and finally got someone in the big town of Albuquerque to confirm that I was right.  She was miffed that she had been given the wrong answer herself, not once, but twice by her superviser in Albuquerque.   It is all OK now, but she still says that she has to override the scanner to get it to give me an .18 cent rate. 

Betty

PS  I was out of town for over a week and just now saw all the additional chats.  They are all very interesting and thanks for the help.

Betty

Is your post office a contract unit?  I ask because I work in a CPU (contract postal unit) and I am not a postal employee, we don't have scanners, and we have to charge .75 for a DC.  We also do not accept pre-printed postage (unless someone drops it in our box and, at that point, we just send it on).  

LOL!  That one is funny about ony libraries could use the media postal rate.  You should have asked about her training!

I have  questions about this printing your own postage/DC.  Do I have to pay anything else at the post office? Do I still hand it to the postal worker or drop box? 

I just want to have my ducks in a row before I present these to the worker.  Thanks!

Summarizing my situation, my post office refused to scan a custom dc package too.

Therefore, the 18 cents was not paid with the other postage (they told me they never scan any electronically purchased delivery confirmation, and to stop asking them to because I am getting a price discount for a reason).

It was my first time using Custom DC, and I only checked in this area after the question came up...

So, I'm wondering what I should do to inform my swap friend that I mailed this book to?

Will she be expected to pay 18 cents on delivery, or will I be billed 18 or 75 cents?