So I go to the PO to pick up my package from PCGS......

Manorcourtman · June 30, 2007 3:29AM

And everything is going good till the Postal Clerk looks at the Registered package and notices the Fee paid on the package: U.S. Postage PAID FEE $10.15. That's when she confiscated my coins!! She quickly looked up Registered mail, USPS Priority which is what the label states. She then says I owe at least $7.00 in fees and can't have my coins till I pay the postage due. I was dumbfounded, but wanted my coins!! So I pull out the debit card and tell her to give me my coins!! She then dissappears with my package into the offices. Mind you I do ALOT of business with them at this small office and know the now-possessed clerk. I'm wondering what the heck she's doing with my stuff. Did I break some law for signing for my PCGS package that is somehow postage-due?

Well she returns a couple of minutes later with my box and a photo-copy of the label. She gives me my package and says she'll be in touch. She is going to research the postage and if I owe the PO she'll contact me. So has this ever happened to anyone else on a PCGS package? Secondly, how much should the postage be? I know it said Priority/Registered but it sure didn't get here in 2-3 days! Lastly is the label fee which states it was $10.15 possibly wrong? This was serious drama in a small Midwestern Post Office!!! Well sorta.

FLBuffaloHunter · June 30, 2007 3:40AM

The clerk is right. There is no way the postage for a Priority Registered package can be $10.15. The cheapest possible package you could mail Priority Registered with up to $500 insurance (the lowest insurance rate for registered mail) and 1 pound in weight to a local zone would cost a mimimum of $15.85.

PerryHall · June 30, 2007 4:06AM

It sounds like you may soon have an opportunity to see how good PCGS customer service is.

LindeDad · June 30, 2007 4:20AM

I thought Regiserted and Priorty were two diferent services?

FLBuffaloHunter · June 30, 2007 4:25AM

<< I thought Regiserted and Priorty were two diferent services? >>

Registered Mail is an extra service that can be added to First-Class and Priority Mail.

TwoSides2aCoin · June 30, 2007 4:27AM

The clerk should be given the highest award given to Americans for her diligence , even if it requires a "ransom'' paid by the recipient.

I've had packages sent back to me and held because employees told the recipients that "insufficient postage" was paid and the buyer didn't want to pay extra shipping, so they refused it. I believe this was with a forum member (I don't recall which one).
I use a calibrated scale to weigh and use the Postal Services online for calculating and for printing the label. How do postal people figure ...or better yet, WHY ? There is almost always a LINE in the P.O when I go and I get PO'ed having to pay for a package TWICE and being put out by these civil servants because they are being such busy bodies. Just give the package and quit being so analytical about the postage paid. It got from where it was to YOU , so give it up already and do something constructive with your time on the clock besides investigating already postmarked stamps

The postal employee isn't right or wrong, just anal !
Give the guy his package , geeeze !

BAJJERFAN · June 30, 2007 4:54AM

I recall recently getting a package from a board member for an item won on eBay. It came in a large express box and I'm pretty sure that Express rate was not paid. I thought the postal clerk was going to charge me for the postage due as she had wondered about the package when putting it out the notice that morning. In the end she said that she would send a letter to the sender telling them that that practice was not allowed. Wonder how he was getting them by his P.O. all of those times in the past.

Coxe · June 30, 2007 4:57AM

If it was a registered package that was not only accepted for delivery but made it to the point of delivery, I don't see why that clerk should be an impediment for that delivery. If he/she is so interested, he/she might photocopy the label and send it with the weight to the postmaster at the originating post office. My guess is that the change in rules recently as to what can go first class fouled things up at PCGS and such a package would no longer qualify for first class rate. That was paid and the receiving station, typically overwhelmed by CU packages, just slapped a priority sticker on it. Or in the confusion, the station's clerk just charged that first class rate erroneously. In any event, it was processed and sent and shouldb't be held up at the end point.

BAJJERFAN · June 30, 2007 5:04AM

<< That was paid and the receiving station, typically overwhelmed by CU packages, just slapped a priority sticker on it. Or in the confusion, the station's clerk just charged that first class rate erroneously. In any event, it was processed and sent and shouldb't be held up at the end point. >>

I doubt that PCGS takes their packages down to the local P.O. and runs them thru a clerk. They are large enough that they have their own postage meter. If there was an error in the postage it likely came from PCGS.

Writersblock · June 30, 2007 5:09AM

Yep, the post office clerk is correct. $10.15 is the registration fee for a package with a declared value between $.01 and $100. And the registration fee is in addition to the postage fee. So your package would at a minimum have a fee of whatever Priority mail for a package of the size and weight of yours plus the $10.15 and if it had been lost the maximum you could have recovered would have been $100. Were your coins worth more than that?

If they were and it was declared as such you would owe an even greater amount for the registration/insured part.

I figure you are going to get hit with at LEAST about $4.60 postage due (priority postage for a 1 pound package and no extra insurance), and quite probably more.

Coxe · June 30, 2007 5:10AM

<< 

<< That was paid and the receiving station, typically overwhelmed by CU packages, just slapped a priority sticker on it. Or in the confusion, the station's clerk just charged that first class rate erroneously. In any event, it was processed and sent and shouldb't be held up at the end point. >>

I doubt that PCGS takes their packages down to the local P.O. and runs them thru a clerk. They are large enough that they have their own postage meter. If there was an error in the postage it likely came from PCGS. >>

Same difference. The communication still should go back to Newport Beach to fix the acceptance issue.

Manorcourtman · June 30, 2007 5:12AM

Sounds like I'm going to be hearing from the local postal authorities!! I am libel for the shortage or is PCGS? The package was insured for the minimum, 6-20 submission PCGS charge: $14.40. I believe I paid for the service and should not be held responsible for postage due. Any other thoughts on responsibility here? I don't care really but I thought I prepaid for the order, postage included. Thanks for the comments.

Peaceman · June 30, 2007 5:34AM

Here's a registered pkg I got back the other day with the same postage.... If you look, there's a "Permit 513" printed on it as well... methinks PCGS pays some sort of $ per pkg they send off... Edited to add that this was for one $100 insured coin....

Writersblock · June 30, 2007 5:35AM

Your liable. (You pay it either way, whether you prepay it to PCGS or pay it as postage due when it arrives. ) And I believe if you prepay and the postage comes out significantly more, say if you hit a grade that causes the package to be worth a lot more than you planned insurance for, PCGS will pay the extra postage and they bill you for the difference. So no matter what YOU do wind up paying the postage fee. (If it is just a small amount over what you prepay, say twenty cents, PCGS probably wouldn't bother billing you because it would cost them most than that in paperwork.)

If PCGS is going to continue sending Registered/Priority, they are going to have to raise that minimum fee since the absolute minimum for a 1 pound package or less would be $14.75

FLBuffaloHunter · June 30, 2007 5:38AM

PCGS probably has a private insurance company instead of using the postal insurance.

Writersblock · June 30, 2007 5:42AM

Peaceman

Your image is of a First Class Registered, not Priority like Manorcourtman's supposedly was. $10.15 is still too low though because it should have been $10.15 plus the first class postage.

TwoSides2aCoin · June 30, 2007 5:45AM

I'm sorry if I sounded harsh on my earlier post

.

I just find some things to be so... "scrutinized" when it only amounts to "small potatoes". It's not like some scam is going on, is it ?

Barry · June 30, 2007 5:46AM

<< It sounds like you may soon have an opportunity to see how good PCGS customer service is.

>>

Uh oh...

au58 · June 30, 2007 6:00AM

Maybe I'm giving away my age, but does anyone else remember the days when the mailman would WRITE "postage due" on the envelope or package in his own hand writing and then remind you a couple of days later that you owed him money?

Writersblock · June 30, 2007 6:05AM

I must be old then too.

koynekwest · June 30, 2007 6:10AM

<< Maybe I'm giving away my age, but does anyone else remember the days when the mailman would WRITE "postage due" on the envelope or package in his own hand writing and then remind you a couple of days later that you owed him money? >>

How about when they used postage due stamps?

FLBuffaloHunter · June 30, 2007 6:11AM

<< Maybe I'm giving away my age, but does anyone else remember the days when the mailman would WRITE "postage due" on the envelope or package in his own hand writing and then remind you a couple of days later that you owed him money? >>

Nah, if you were old you would remember the 'Postage Due' stamps'

coinman420 · June 30, 2007 6:15AM

whenever i submit coins i seem to always pay more than when pcgs ships back to me. i state insurance amount both ways. it is usually 18-20 bucks or so to them and when i pick the coins up the box usually says 10 bucks and change. i always wondered why it was different. it should be a heavier package back to me because of the package. i don`t think you owe the PO anything.

So I go to the PO to pick up my package from PCGS......

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