USPS Office of Inspector General

Comments (69)

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  Shannon Wykle

  I would like to become a mystery shopper for the post offices. Please let me know hoiw.

  Oct 23, 2017

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  audry manuel

  Would like to find out the company to connect to become a mystery shopper for Postal Service.

  Aug 31, 2017

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  Deborah Jansen

  Please respond back to me and let me know the Company that took over for BARE mystery shoppers. They lost the contract and I use to do lots of mystery shops for them and you. It was nice mailing priority packages and be reimbursed for my evaluations of each shop that I did. Thank you.

  Jul 04, 2017

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  Linda

  I feel the mystery shop program is a waste of funds for several reasons. Most importantly because now there is an online survey that the customer can do so there is no need to pay a bunch of people a lot of federal funding to discuss the failures that can't be prevented anyway with the software that the clerks use being so slow and outdated. Also I feel that if the post office hired qualified managers and postmasters then there should be no need to hire mystery shoppers what a waste of federal funding. Programs like these are what is hurting our funds. The policy that the mystery shops are using should just be used by our everyday managers and supervisors why pay more for the same thing.

  Feb 12, 2017

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  Linda

  It is a waste of funds paying someone to mystery shop when now they have an online survey for the customers to fill out. If you are hiring qualified postmasters and they are doing their job right there is no need to fund a program such as the mystery shop. It is a waste of funds.

  Feb 11, 2017

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  Frances Johnson

  Hi! Last year USPS left their current mystery shopping agency. I enjoyed doing these shops and did many of them. Does anyone know who and how I can contact the person in charge of the program in the USPS? I'm trying to find out which agency won the bid and who they are contracting through now.

  Jan 26, 2017

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  Kimesha White

  I received an assignment as a mystery shopper for the USPS from a company called BizChecker. Is this assignment and company a legitimate mystery shopper agency?

  Jan 03, 2017

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  Daniel Neal

  How to apply for mytery shopping? I was disabled from my job as US mail carrier 4 years ago due to a medical condition. I learned much in my 16 years there. I remember the "frenzy" over a mystery shopper visit. The data they collect is taken very seriously and it helps improve the postal retail side. I think I would be good at doing this. So, how to apply?

  May 10, 2016

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  Ann Teague

  Who should I get in touch with to become a mystery shopper for USPS?

  May 09, 2016

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  Karen Sconyers

  I am a Mystery Shopper that travels throughout the Southern States. I am interested in conducting Mystery Shops at various Customer Service facilities throughout the Postal Service.

  May 05, 2016

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  Love My Neighbors

  I'm a clerk in a small town and we have regular costomers. They are tired of hearing the upsell speach when they come in everyday to mail a pkg or letter. Oh And the online survey speech! Seriously? This creates a long line. Let us serve our regular cuatomers ans save the speech for newbies

  Feb 11, 2016

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  Busy clerk

  As a USPS window clerk, I get frustrated by Mystery shopper. If a customer wanted express shipping, They should make their wants known, NOT wait till I try to upsell the service. My office doesn't get our first outgoing truck till 4:00pm, making it almost impossible to get their package out of the state I'm in for overnight delivery. I hate having to tell them it's more like a two day service. Also, with only one clerk at the window during lunch time, lines form quickly, so I try to hurry the process by not running the upsell spiel. That's usually when I get the mystery shopper.

  Jan 16, 2016

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  Nafisa Ahmad

  Hi! Recently USPS left their current mystery shopping agency. Does anyone know who and how I can contact the person in charge of the program in the USPS? I'm trying to find out which agency won the bid and who they are contracting through now.

  Sep 01, 2015

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  Rhetta

  I love the idea of the post office using mystery shoppers! I think that mystery shoppers in general are one of the best ways for retail stores and government agencies alike to find out what really goes on and how the customer is really being treated. Kudos on the article!

  Nov 23, 2010

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  Anonymous

  USPS - please use the Mystery Shoppers to observe the CUSTOMER SERVICE provided by Post Offices, not just their selling technique. While most service is wonderful, the Post Office at Decatur, Georgia has FREQUENT LONG LINES to the door. Fights have broken out in the lobby trying to get the Post Master to add clerks to the windows. That is what will sink the USPS, not how many add-ons they sell.

  Nov 15, 2010

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  Baltimore Lawyer

  I had no idea the USPS used "mystery shoppers." I think it's a great idea. I love my local post office because the staff there is truly the best I've dealt with.

  Oct 06, 2010

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  Heather

  Sometimes i think that it is unfair to have mystery shoppers in certain situations. for instance if you are a shopper of food service what if they have a bus of 75 people. it is not a normal situation.

  May 10, 2010

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  Miranda Jenkins

  I LOVE the idea of mystery shoppers. The practice can help everyone: business and client The business gets some constructive criticism (and sometimes an eye-opening slap in the face), and the customer gets a better overall experience after the problems are corrected. BUT, it only works if the business takes that information and uses it to make changes for the better, instead of simply stacking the feedback forms in a big pile to serve as fireplace starter... Or worse, justifying the bad experience in some way (i.e. "We don't get paid enough to go the extra mile!"). Use the mystery shopper feedback to make REAL changes in the way your business runs, and you'll have clients telling their friends, family and co-workers about the outstanding experience they had with your business.

  Mar 20, 2010

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  JAFO

  The concept of the Mystery Shopper is a valid one. However, the point about "what" is being upsold is a good one. I feel disingenuous pushing something (a PO Box) to a customer who ALREADY HAS ONE. This is an example of a good idea poorly executed. There needs to be more one-on-one observations by the supervisors to see that the clerks are following the GENERAL IDEA of the upsell, but please, drop the stupid offerings. And who shops the Mystery Shopper? If their job is to keep finding mistakes, what stops them from making it up? The reason for the MS program is to ensure we are making as much retail revenue as possible. The clerks need to change the mindset that it is just a rote procedure job, and start to engage their customers. It will result in more revenue, and happier customers. There are ways to do it, but first you need to try. Unfortunately, the USPS is stuck with a lot of employees at the Retail Window that only got there by seniority, not their sales or customer service skills. That is the sad truth, and the good clerks suffer through the MS program as a result.

  Mar 15, 2010

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  Mail Girl

  As a clerk in a level 18 post office, the mystery shopper program is a waste of time. The shoppers use the same boxes every month so you know when you are being "shopped." However, when you receive your score it is in the 80s. For example, we have had the same sign alignment in our office for the past 5 years. Points have never been deducted for this, but one shopper felt the need to deduct points for sign placement. I always ask the HAZMAT question and they say you don't. It's irritating that USPS takes the word of a stranger opposed to their own employees. Also, upselling is okay if we can just ask if stamps or envelopes are needed. But does someone coming to mail a package really want to rent a P.O. Box? This suggestion is crazy and a waste of time. The Big Bosses need to wake up and actually come to visit a smaller post office to realize how stupid this actually makes us look!

  Mar 14, 2010

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  Quad Bike Dealers

  I'm not sure which point people are giving most thoughts to here, either the mystery shopping or being made to upsell? The behaviour of mystery shoppers can sometimes bring out the worst in a person by using directional questions, which in most cases can be taken on to two different paths. What everyone seems to forget is that is why these people do what they do, to test the ethical behaviour of staff as well as the knowledge they have on the business they are promoting. The opposite side to the coin is the "upsell" theory which is being debated - and should it be something people are made to do? The answer is simple - yes, they should be made to upselll products/services supplied by the business owners. If the position in the business is to sell, supply or finance, then as long as the ethics behind the upsell are right, then it should be a process which is followed. Should it fall the other way and the ethical behaviour is not correct, then it is something which should be questioned if the morrals of the business owners are in doubt. We run upsells within our business, but the one thing we keep in mind is that it is a process of upselling not just for money, but value to. If it helps the consumer and is cost effective, then we offer it as a standard process.

  Dec 16, 2009

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  Skippy

  Character, it is not so much the selling that is the issue for most of us, it is what we are being "forced" to upsell, and the script that we are supposed to use. Most customer are pretty easy to read, and you can suggest products and services to meet their needs with out sounding pushy. If a customer comes up to you and says that they don't care how long it gets there, why should you suggest Express? Why should we have to explain insurance when it is self explanatory? We should simply ask the customer how quickly does it need to get there, like we used to do, and we can suggest the service that best suits thrie needs. Most regulars know exactly how they want to ship, so why suggest something that you and they know they won't use?

  Dec 07, 2009

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  CharacterObserver

  I enjoy seeing these posts. Some of you in 'small' offices may know everyone that comes in your door. Although your office probably doesn't make enough revenue to pay your utilities plus your salary. Everywhere I go, I get asked "if I would like to open an account because I would save 10% on my purchases today or would I like fries with that?" Those people get paid $10 an hour and can follow a script. I say 'no, thank you'. I don't get mad like some people claim that customers get annoyed that they are asked how they would like to do business. If it's so burdensome bid to another job so someone who wants to come to daylight hours can. I've seen ideas on revenue generation or revenue possibilities for things other than USPS services....we can't even get our clerks to have faith in our own product!

  Dec 07, 2009

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  N

  As a consumer, I find upselling to be rude. Don't push unnecessary goods or services on to your customers. Employees should naturally feel the desire to perform for their employer, using secret shoppers means that you have no faith in your employees; which in-turn, breaks the trust that personnel initially have when starting with the company.

  Dec 05, 2009

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  Skippy

  Here's a thought- The mystery shopper program as it stands is useless. Instead, just have the customers fill out an online survey, similar to how Home Depot does. Also, give the customer an incentive to fill out the survey- a gift card of some sort or maybe a roll of stamps to randomly selected participants. In the end, you will get the voice of the customer who counts, not the one who doesn't.

  Dec 03, 2009

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  mystery shopping

  Mystery shopping programmes should be designed to enable staff members to improve their service levels, identify training gaps and also motivate them. Employers should definitely avoid staff members feeling like they're being controlled. The programme obviously needs to be re-evaluated to give staff more of an input.

  Dec 02, 2009

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  bstyr2

  Although I was trying to do a decent job on three different tours at two different PO's, I got a Letter-of-Warning for taking liberties with the script. I retired. Since then I've taken the same class at the local "Y" with four different instructors. They all do a good job in their own way. I rest my case.

  Nov 12, 2009

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  fedup

  My postmaster was very upset because he heard me complaining about the mystery shopper while i was on the phone. I was upset at first but why should i be if i do my job well everyday. What they should do is go by the amount of revenue that you make daily instead of complaining about the mystery shopper that comes in once a month.

  Nov 08, 2009

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  Deborah Aylward

  Here ia an Idea...If you must do a shop to teach your clerks to upsale for the good of the p.o.(which is what you claim) why not give insentive with $ and you could stop paying Maratz co. all of those $$ and use the light duty people to do this job...this would save alot of money.even..open up more jobs so maybe the excess people will have more places to go and help moral everywhere...perhaps there would be more smiling and selling!

  Nov 03, 2009

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  skdrad109

  I think the only customer that the USPS cares about IS the mystery shopper. Why else would we be harassing every other customer with our robotic litany of questions just to get a 100% on our mystery shops. By the way, the only customer that DOESN'T matter is the mystery shopper, when he or she is mystery shopping. Our regular customers feel sorry for us clerks and what we have to go through when doing our jobs, especially our list of questions they hear over and over when they are waiting in line.

  Oct 21, 2009

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  Burned Out

  The main reason why I took an early retirement from the USPS after 28 years is the Mystery Shopper Program. I worked as a window clerk in a high volume office with only 2 or 3 retail windows open at a time and a line of angry customers staring at me all day. If management would worry more about generating revenue in a creative way and not be so concerned about punishing employees for not asking a litany of redundant questions; the Post Office might actually be a place customers WANT to come - and not a place thet dread. Once again, USPS management has ruined the once great USPS!

  Sep 30, 2009

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  fed up

  get rid of this ridiculous program and let the clerks ..who know their customers do their job without mgmt trying to control things they do not understand THIS IS A WASTE OF REVENUE

  Sep 23, 2009

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  LB

  Upselling is fine ....but enough is eoungh. At the end of the transaction I can offer stamps and shipping supplies but now I have to EXPLAIN WHY they might need these items? How patronizing.

  Sep 20, 2009

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  icey

  What happened to simply asking the customer 'when does this need to arrive?' Then the SSA can work on educating the customer with the services we provide and their associated time frames from the mailing area.

  Sep 18, 2009

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  yes?

  And the problem with using lines like the one above: "This didn’t need any confirmation or insurance, did it?" Is that it opens the door for a customer to simply say "no" and continue about their business. Upselling should require an actual response from the customer. Customers are programmed to say "no" to salespeople and clerks. We all do it. Try using open ended questions to engage into customers wants and needs and suggest services/products that will benefit them based on their responses. Just my 2 cents.

  Sep 17, 2009

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  yes?

  Every business focuses on making a profit or increasing their profits. Every retail store focuses on upselling customers. The PO is no different. But, there's a fine line between forcing something on every customer and upselling a product/service the customer could actually need and use. It would be a waste of time to say "upsell express mail." Clerks should be focused on helping the customer and upselling them at the same time. When done well it's very effective.

  Sep 17, 2009

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  Skippy

  If the PS wants to really push Express Mail, then why not advertise it, instead of making it a forced upsell. Look at how successful the flat rate Priority campaign has been. The same can be applied to Express flat rate envelopes. Let the customers see the numbers if they are so great. THAT is how you sell Express.

  Sep 16, 2009

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  Skippy

  Mystery Shopper is a total waste of time and money. I work at an office that is not shopped, and I rarely offer my customers Express. Why? Because when I was a clerk at a large office and did that, the customer would always give a negative reaction like "That's expensive". Like that is something we need right now in our financial state. The only time I would sell Express is if a customer had shown a sense of urgency (What is the fastest way I can get this there? or I have to have this there by Friday). Any clerk knows this, and will sell Express accordingly. If they don't want us selling Parcel Post, then why even have it? Extra services- my way of selling extra services is "This didn't need any confirmation or insurance, did it?" It doesn't sound like an upsell, but instead it sounds like I am double checking with the customer to meet their needs. And I am sure I sell just as much in extra services, if not more, by doing this as opposed to using a robotic script. Business Connect is another joke. I work in a level 11 office, where I have to make 3 submissions every month. I have only 5 businesses in my town. Can't go beyond my town because that would be considered "stealing revenue" from another office. Don't tell me that most PM's are not just making up half of these submissions. I just laugh when I see that our district has "brought in" $$$$ revenue from BC connect leads, since most of them are made up and the numbers are phony. These can be excellent tools if used properly, and not meant as a disciplinary benchmark used to demotivate employees.

  Sep 16, 2009

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  Rich

  If there is anyone out there defending the mystery shopper program, please give me an answer! With all the management positions that look at numbers all day, tell me if the offices that get 100% all the time on their mystery shopper scores are selling more express or special services than other offices, as a percentage of there transactions. I am a relief clerk and work several offices and I can guarantee you that the robotic script followers are not up-selling any more express than I am. If management has some statistics to back up their program, I would like to see them. Instead of forcing us to use this ignorant, robotic, and mostly ignored dialogue, let us read the customer and up-sell what we think they will purchase. If management can't give me the figures to back up their program, then why are we wasting millions of dollars on it?

  Sep 16, 2009

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  William Tyndale

  Like so many ideas that originate out of Headquarters the Mystery Shop program is a well intended idea gone completely awry. Like virtually every other measurement or benchmark we institute the measurement becomes the meaning rather than serving as a descriptive tool. Many of these things play well in the theoretical environment of business or marketing classes but in the real world scripted selling just annoys people. Unfortunately this is just another instance where senior management assumes that everyone but them is stupid. The problem isn't Mystery Shop or any particular problem, it's a hidebound, autocratic corporate culture that smothers initiative and independent thought. For years those of us in the field have been treated as if we're stupid, incompetent or thieves - that kind of thinking becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  Sep 16, 2009

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  30 years and co...

  30 years and counting as a manager and I have seen so many of these types of programs come and go and this one should go the way of all the others. I do not agree that clerks should get a bonus for doing their job though! The clerks are there to provide a service to our customers.... to get the customer through the line and to give them the answers to the questions they might have. We do have to make sure what they are shipping is not hazardous though, but if it looks like a flat or letter than I do not think they have to ask the question. My clerks feel as though they are stealing from the customers when they "Up sell".............. I like the idea of local management or internal shops being done and having the clerks highlight a specific item weekly..........changing it so that the customers (regulars) just might listen to see what is new and not the "Same old Same Old" they hear now......... You need to address this issue and stop this program as it now is done, but I feel you won't and you are trying yourself to justify your position within the Postal Service just are the "Others" are doing that make us do this day in and day out!!!!!!!!!! Shame on them and shame on you for taking a paycheck every two weeks to justify such waste in a time when we should be looking at every dollar spent and the return that we get for each of them.

  Sep 15, 2009

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