Duplicate parcels

[Celgar]

I don't have a mobile phone so when it initially started happening I wrote the sender and recipient details down along with the barcode number and handed it in to the DOM. I would scan one of the offending items and deliver all of the items.
Current procedure is still to scan one of them and deliver all of them & make a note of the barcode and number of items. Then when we return to the DO use another PDA to type the barcode in for any further items.
The impression I get is that it is avoidance of postage costs but I guess it could be a flaw in the printing & payment system.

[yellowbelly]

.....
Current procedure is still to scan one of them and deliver all of them & make a note of the barcode and number of items. Then when we return to the DO use another PDA to type the barcode in for any further items. .............

When you say 'another PDA' is it your logon being used or someone elses?

I'd love to hear an explanation from your management as to what this actually achieves. Surely scanning another item as delivered in the DO
using either your logon or someone elses is a false representation of what has happened 'on the street'.

[Celgar]

.....
Current procedure is still to scan one of them and deliver all of them & make a note of the barcode and number of items. Then when we return to the DO use another PDA to type the barcode in for any further items. .............

When you say 'another PDA' is it your logon being used or someone elses?

I'd love to hear an explanation from your management as to what this actually achieves. Surely scanning another item as delivered in the DO
using either your logon or someone elses is a false representation of what has happened 'on the street'.

It would mean RM receives the postage payment for both items or how ever many items had the same barcode on them.
The alternative method would be for the DOM to email the relevant admin department in RM with the sender and recipient address details along with any other relevant details. They would then pursue the payment and maybe work out how it had happened so it didn't happen again or so often. The latter method is what we used to do.
If the items have all been delivered I don't see how it can be a false representation as what was meant to happen to the parcel/s has been achieved. The only difference or problem is if the parcel/s have been delivered by us free of charge.

[SpacePhoenix]

Current procedure is still to scan one of them and deliver all of them & make a note of the barcode and number of items. Then when we return to the DO use another PDA to type the barcode in for any further items.

Can't see how that would make any difference apart from showing a second delivered scan for the tracking number

[NewPostieUK]

Scan the 2d bar code on one and the 1d on the other.

[SpacePhoenix]

Scan the 2d bar code on one and the 1d on the other.

Still the same tracking number (the 1D tracking number is encoded into the 2D barcode as part of the data encoded in the 2D barcode)

[NewPostieUK]

Scan the 2d bar code on one and the 1d on the other.

Still the same tracking number (the 1D tracking number is encoded into the 2D barcode as part of the data encoded in the 2D barcode)

I always get a different number on the PDA when I scan a 1d to a 2d.

[SpacePhoenix]

Scan the 2d bar code on one and the 1d on the other.

Still the same tracking number (the 1D tracking number is encoded into the 2D barcode as part of the data encoded in the 2D barcode)

I always get a different number on the PDA when I scan a 1d to a 2d.

The 2D barcodes have at least the 1D tracking number and the address it's going to encoded into it. The system will extract the 1D tracking number when a 2D barcode is scanned

[yellowbelly]

.....
Current procedure is still to scan one of them and deliver all of them & make a note of the barcode and number of items. Then when we return to the DO use another PDA to type the barcode in for any further items. .............

When you say 'another PDA' is it your logon being used or someone elses?

I'd love to hear an explanation from your management as to what this actually achieves. Surely scanning another item as delivered in the DO
using either your logon or someone elses is a false representation of what has happened 'on the street'.

It would mean RM receives the postage payment for both items or how ever many items had the same barcode on them.
The alternative method would be for the DOM to email the relevant admin department in RM with the sender and recipient address details along with any other relevant details. They would then pursue the payment and maybe work out how it had happened so it didn't happen again or so often. The latter method is what we used to do.
If the items have all been delivered I don't see how it can be a false representation as what was meant to happen to the parcel/s has been achieved. The only difference or problem is if the parcel/s have been delivered by us free of charge.

As twoloops has already suggested earlier in the thread what happens if you mistakenly scan a single parcel twice then? Does the originator
get billed twice? Surely not? Can't imagine Amazon or M&S being happy with that.

And looking at it from another angle - if a 2d barcode and/or it's label has become smudged/corrupted/rained on/is wrinkled and you
aren't able to scan or decipher the digits then the originator doesn't get billed at all because you can't scan it? I don't
know enough about the process of how companies pay for and produce their pre-printed postage labels but I would
have thought each time a pre-printed label is printed that's when the company gets billed and that the scan at
doorstep is for delivery confirmation and not billing purposes?

Perhaps my use of 'false representation' is a bit strong but you said you use a different PDA - why and whose logon?
You're inputting a barcode back at the DO (not due to a failed scan) and if recipient claims non-delivery of one
or both items, GPS will probably show two scans for a single item, one being delivered at the DO.
I know at Christmas this happens when there's a shortage of PDA's but this is a different scenario.

[NewPostieUK]

Scan the 2d bar code on one and the 1d on the other.

Tried it today and it didn't work, it just sees the two barcodes as being the same. I'm sure I did ages ago, when the first 2d barcodes came out. Oh well, just ignore me.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

Got told today there’s a spike in tracked parcels with the incorrect weight declared and to watch out for them.