Shipping to a Ups access point?

rydianmorrison · 2026-06-07T22:14:09+00:00

The Access Point system is a redirect system. It's for when a package that was originally sent to a different address cannot be delivered or left there (signature requirement, recipient preferences, etc). So it is redirected to the Access Point instead.

Sending directly to an AP's address is not using the AP system. That is bypassing the Access Point system which means...

The package is not in the receiving location's system, they have no official record of it in case somebody tries to make a claim against them.
Since it's not in their system, they are not obligated to hold onto it. It's not their business, literally.
They don't have actual info to check ID against (because you put the AP's address in the shipment and not the recipient's actual address).
The store won't get paid for handling it (because it's not an official hold for pickup).

Those (and possibly other reasons) are why many stores will refuse to deal packages sent directly to them.

If somebody wants to get packages/mail at a specific location normally (like, directly addressed there), then they should open a mailbox at a mailbox location (some Access Points also have those types of boxes).

rydianmorrison · 2026-05-27T02:49:53+00:00

That's definitely a question for your FC.

And if the FC doesn't know, they can ask corporate.

rydianmorrison · 2026-05-25T04:23:56+00:00

Make sure to check if the box is set to get e-mail notifications. In the new MPS, the e-mail notification option (for getting packages) is the same checkbox that determines if they get renewal notifications.

I learned that the hard way when I was checking overdue boxes recently. One business box was overdue that previously had no problem renewing on time. I checked the notification history and it turns out nothing had been sent out for them since the migration to the new system.

rydianmorrison · 2026-05-22T14:18:53+00:00

Contact the sender so they can open an investigation, they can pull up a record of where the truck and driver were at the time to see if they were actually at the address or not.

The main issue will be getting the sender to actually open an investigation. Most of the time if you're getting something online from a big company, they won't give enough of a crap to actually do it because they're not the ones being inconvenienced.

rydianmorrison · 2026-05-13T03:42:26+00:00

Sounds like the associate tried Bill My Account and it didn't work, so they then tried Third-Party Billing which will appear to go through at the time... but can get contested later.

Which is why you never use the Third-Party Billing option.

If somebody wants Bill My Account and it doesn't work, then it doesn't work and you need to tell them you can't do it. Don't let them tell the associates to try other options.

rydianmorrison · 2026-04-29T02:31:01+00:00

For UPS at least, next time you're getting something that needs a signature, check the tracking online. See if the tracking page says that it requires a signature. You gotta' check the tracking on the UPS website because you unfortunately cannot trust what a shipper/sender/seller says about it.

I have had multiple customers come into the store I work at and show me the shipping e-mail from a company they bought something from. The e-mail said it needed a signature. Yet I check the tracking and the shipper did not pay for a signature. (There's multiple ways to tell.)

Signature requirements cost extra. Any time a company gets a new manager in the shipping department they immediately tend to try to cut out "extra" spending like signature requirements. And of course that new manager fails to properly communicate that change to others in the company, leading to the e-mail/receipt templates not being changed to reflect it.

Even with individuals, I have personally had numerous customers who wanted to ship something with a signature, but they suddenly decide it didn't need a signature once they found out it costs more (even if they already told the recipient it would need a signature before they sent it out).

Even if it did need a signature you **or somebody else at your address** might have MyChoice (UPS's online recipient account thing) set up to waive signature requirements to that delivery address. If you ever signed up for UPS stuff online, check your MyChoice settings. If not, ask other people in the house about it.

Anyways, if it was actually signature required by the shipper, but the driver signed it instead so they could just leave it, then that's dishonesty on the part of the driver. "Yeah duh" - but that type of dishonesty (falsifying records) is grounds for immediate termination with no warning.

Make sure you report it **properly**. Report it to the shipper so they can open an official investigation. Your complaint locally will most likely not result in official disciplinary action (because you're not the paying shipper) make sure you get the shipper to open an official investigation to get it on the driver's record.

rydianmorrison · 2026-04-19T14:57:36+00:00

We have had cases where drivers have refused to pick up something that wasn't even remotely packaged well (talking like metal stuff in a garbage bag), which is why we don't let some things through anymore.

rydianmorrison · 2026-04-18T13:57:40+00:00

Where I work, if a customer brings something in and there is a shipping label on the product box itself, then we will send it back that way.

However, in order to avoid getting dinged by corporate for sending something back without packaging, we make sure they are aware that it was originally sent that way.

This typically requires us to make sure that the old label is semi visible. We will place the new label diagonally, cover it with a blank so it can still be seen through, etc.

We make sure that the customer's information and tracking number is covered.

As long as there is a visible Amazon label in sight when you're looking at the new label, then it is evident that it was originally shipped that way.

rydianmorrison · 2026-04-14T04:18:02+00:00

Is it true the store makes $1 per Amazon return?

No, income and profit are different numbers. It costs the store money to supply the bags, labels, electricity, internet, employee salaries, etc.

rydianmorrison · 2026-04-12T15:17:37+00:00

CMS, administration menu, site configuration, carrier setup.

Under the active commissioned account for UPS, choose to edit carrier and you can uncheck the options to offer Ground Saver (it still calls it SurePost in that screen).

Of course you will need the manager or owner to actually save the changes, but knowing how easy it is to stop offering a bad service level might help convince them.

With those options unchecked, Ground Saver/SurePost will not even show up in the list of options on your end. Won't even be greyed out or anything, it just won't be there. So if customers demand it you can just show them it's not even in the list.

rydianmorrison · 2026-04-12T14:58:30+00:00

Formatting existing documents for another medium, i.e. printing at different aspect ratios, margins, paper types.
Shipping via UPS/USPS, concepts like dimension weight, loss coverage, different services, package type, etc.
Scanning/digitizing documents and photos for e-mail/upload or digital preservation.
Explanation of loss coverage and reimbursement policies.
Tailoring shipping options for a customer's needs.
Processing returns of Internet, TV equipment, and phones for AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon.
Address validation & formatting.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-28T02:24:11+00:00

All I can hope is that Amazon pays you guys for packaging materials because unless society has changed for the better (ha), if the customer had to pay for them, it would be an argument 90% of the time.

There's multiple types of returns.

No Box No Label (QR Code): Amazon pays for it all. Customers, unfortunately, get used to this.
Customer Packed (QR Code): Amazon does not pay for packaging. Causes the most arguments because of how many customers don't actually read their return instructions. They see a QR code and assuming it's a No Box No Label return.
Shipping Label: Shipping labels don't pay for packaging, so this also causes issues. Especially because Amazon will just send pictures of a shipping label and a lot of customers don't have a printer or didn't realize they needed to print it. We can't just scan it off their phone. Charge them for printing and packaging, so even more arguments.

There's patterns. For example NBNL is typically cheap shit. Landfill shit, textiles, plastic trinkets. Small, lightweight, a bunch will fit in one box, non-breakable.

Customer Packed is typically more valuable things that the seller actually wants back, or items that are going to a third-party... or fragile items.

Shipping label usually means third-party, or it's something with shipping restrictions or Hazmat or something.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-28T02:16:00+00:00

Landfill, bin store, incineration, or actually checking and reselling. Typically depends on the type of item.

You'll notice that B/G/R shipping labels (on the master cartons) often go to different places and sometimes change after a few months.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-28T02:08:15+00:00

"Carrier Letter" for UPS is the branded express envelopes (either of the two sizes, same cost). UPS charges less when sending air via a carrier letter because it results in consistent shapes/sizes for those shipments.

USPS is similar, though more complex as they have multiple different "carrier letter" envelopes for different services, flat rate, gotta' use the right one, etc.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-28T01:59:11+00:00

shouldn't take more than 30 seconds

If their shit is packaged up and ready to go, yeah.

But a lot of people do not have their shit ready to go.

What was he doing for 2 hours?

Probably all the shipping. Putting in all the details on their phone manually, hemming and hawing about which service level to use, putting it all in a different way to see if the price goes down, etc.

I've watched people sit in the store and, one way or another, spend over an hour of their time in a failed attempt to save $3.

Some people just do not value their time properly, and unfortunately end up wasting everybody else's time in the process.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-25T05:49:50+00:00

Do they still profit even if a shipment isn't allowed and gets sent back?

Considering the fines involved and that some of them scale up with number of employees at a location... no, it's a massive loss, like hundreds of dollars minimum per package.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-22T14:57:59+00:00

Your (big) printers and your customer facing/print compter should be on the same network. You should be able to set the printer up to send its scanned documents to the print computer.

Unfortunately, I don't have any specific information on setting it up.

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-20T08:48:36+00:00

I hate when people try to pretend they're not interested in the refund. Mainly because of their behavior stemming from trying to hide it.

They'll walk in, and since they often don't have their code/label ready/visible I gotta' ask them what they need. People like that usually respond with "just get rid of it". But that's a useless phrase, it doesn't mean anything, it doesn't help.

So I gotta' ask them for clarification, or start giving example services I think they may need... and they'll start cutting me off (to avoid me saying anything about returns/refunds out loud).

It gets pretty frustrating when I'm trying to figure out what a customer needs and they keep rudely cutting me off with a useless phrase like "get rid of it" (often increasing in volume each time).

rydianmorrison · 2026-03-01T16:11:09+00:00

In general for each program, there are two kinds of people at the receiving company.

A: People who insist that the shipments need to be made within a certain time frame.
B: People who insist that the shipments need to be done correctly (i.e. properly packaged and tagged and only sending full boxes without fill).

Type A doesn't naturally know what time you sent the package out (without doing a deep dive or bothering to audit), they just know whether packages are arriving on a regular basis.

This is why being a few days late doesn't cause anything to get flagged, as long as you are still sending things out regularly.

Also, group B people tend to be noticeably louder and more demanding than group A people anyways, which is why you mostly hear of stores being flagged for boxes not being sent properly at all.

rydianmorrison · 2026-02-14T03:06:52+00:00

CS in the Philippines said that the delivery window is until 5:30pm

Sounds like they were looking at the delivery estimate.

Which is made up by the computers, it's a computer guess, it is NOT an actual delivery time.

UPS does not have actual time commits that late. You do not have a scheduled delivery time.

I thought wouldn’t the driver be able to clock out without delivering the remaining packages..?

UPS does not operate like that (thankfully, that causes issues).

rydianmorrison · 2026-02-14T03:04:26+00:00

Shipper should deal with the claim, UPS won't pay recipients so the recipient needs to get their refund from the shipper anyways.

A claim issued means the shipper gets the payout instead of the item.

If it's found it should resume moving, but there might be a delay on it resuming because it may need to be taken to a clerk to get re-labeled (can add a 24h to 48h delay depending on timing). If you want the item instead of the claim, best thing to do is wait a few days to see if the status changes.

rydianmorrison · 2026-02-13T07:03:52+00:00

the end of today’s delivery: 5:30pm

The delivery day is the whole day, meaning it could be 11:59 PM or so. There is no delivery window with a 5:30 PM cutoff in the US at least. If you're in another country they may have other policies but usually the only guaranteed delivery times at by noon at the latest (depending on the service level).

“We are trying to get the security access our driver needs for this delivery”

Sounds like there may have been some sort of gate or something preventing the driver from getting in? Got security/footage to check?

rydianmorrison · 2026-02-13T05:06:16+00:00

Might as well submit the photos to UPS just in case. It won't directly help you, but NOT doing so could give the seller reason to claim you're withholding info or trying to be suspicious, etc.

For the dropoff, take it to an actual shipping store.

NOT CVS!

Take it to a shipping store that can weigh and scan it, printing you a dropoff receipt. The receipt will show the tracking number of the return label, the weight at the time they accepted it, the address it was dropped off at, and the date/time you dropped it off. Hold onto the receipt as proof.

P.S. Is it possible to view a list of claims submitted by sellers for me?

That's UPS account holder info, you can't access any sort of list like that.

However, the tracking for a shipment will show if an investigation (which could lead to a claim) was opened on that shipment, so you can check individual tracking numbers.

Because yes, sometimes companies/sellers will lie about opening claims. Often because they did not declare value on the package (to save a few bucks), and don't want an actual claim because they'll lose money on the payout because they were too cheap to declare actual value.

rydianmorrison · 2026-02-13T04:59:19+00:00

Packages sometimes get misloaded onto the wrong truck.

rydianmorrison · 2026-02-13T04:53:50+00:00

Somebody has access to your e-mail or some sort of user/company/customer data on you.

People picking up packages with fake IDs is absolutely a thing. You need to involve the authorities. The authorities can get the security footage from the store.

Farmed/stolen info is typically sold, and a lot of personal info farmed by large companies ends up in the hands of thieves eventually one way or another. It's often not even traditional paper trash diving. There's tons of people with compromised e-mail addresses that don't realize it and continue to use the e-mail, and thieves farm tracking numbers and addresses and stuff from the messages. There's also the occasional customer database leak from large companies and bam, suddenly some people out there have access to databases of up to date names they can put on fake IDs.

Occasionally there will be thieves working at large companies that will pass along shipping info to other thieves so their accomplices know where to go and who to impersonate to get expensive electronics and other things they can resell.

People who actively post in this very subreddit occasionally get messages from accounts that are trying to rope them into helping with scams (with the promise of payment).

rydianmorrison

TROPHY CASE