postalnews blog » Mystery shopper

OIG: Mystery Shopper Program was compromised

brian — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:20:12 +0000

The USPS Inspector General has released a report finding that the postal service’s Mystery Shop program was compromised by the public posting of mystery shop schedules and scenarios, and by the ability of current USPS employees to enroll as shoppers:

We determined that the integrity and objectivity of the Mystery Shopper Program was compromised, because information regarding the program is posted on the contractor’s website where it is accessible to the general public. Specifically, we found that information regarding mystery shop sites, as well as the dates and scenarios of scheduled evaluations, was available to anyone who accessed the contractor’s website.

Mystery Shopper Program was Compromised

We found that in January 2011, a Postal Service employee was able to enroll as a
mystery shopper on the contractor’s website. Although the employee did not complete a Post Office evaluation, the employee was allowed access to information regarding the locations, dates, and scenarios for scheduled mystery shop evaluations. Upon accessing the information, the employee distributed it to 44 Postal Service unit and retail managers via e-mail. This occurred because the information is available to the general public on the contractor’s website.1 As a result, advance notice of upcoming mystery shop evaluations was accessible, which compromised the objectivity of the program. We also found that three other employees enrolled as mystery shoppers on the contractor’s website between November and December of 2010;2 however, none completed a Post Office evaluation.

USPS Management accepted the findings, but said it would not seek a refund of fees paid to the Mystery Shop contractor, Synovate.

USPS OIG: Mystery Shopper Program was compromised

USPS announces changes to Mystery Shop program

brian — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 22:20:43 +0000

The USPS Mystery Shopper Program, which seemed to have as its goal making every visit to the Post Office just as annoying as a McDonald’s drive-through, is changing in January. The program, whose name was changed to “Retail Customer Experience” last year, will now be somewhat less regimented in terms of what window clerks are allowed to say to their customers. The “Perfect Transaction Method” apparently wasn’t, and clerks will no longer be required to use it. (The “method” required a litany of questions which assumed that the customer had never mailed anything before in his life, and needed to be apprised of the most expensive method of sending his item before he would be allowed to buy a stamp.) Here is the information on the changes posted on the NAPUS web site:

Retail Customer Experience Program (RCE) Changes

December 29, 2010

The Postal Service has announced changes to the Retail Customer Experience Program (RCE), previously known as the Mystery Shopper Program, which will begin in January, 2011. Currently, Retail Associates (RAs) use the Perfect Transaction method to ask scripted questions to customers who are mailing packages, in which RAs offer specific products that provide features and benefits.

Beginning in January, 2011, RA’s will no longer be required to use the Perfect Transaction method.
RA’s can customize their questions to best address individual customer needs.
Product Offerings and Product Explanation categories will no longer be scored.
RCE Shopper comments for these categories will be provided for informational purposes only.
In addition, the HAZMAT question will still be required, but instead of asking the question for each individual package, the question will now be asked for the entire customer visit.

The scoring weights of RCE categories will be revised as follows:

	Current Weight	New Weight
RCE Category	towards	towards
	overall RCE score	overall RCE Score
WTIL	25%	40%
HAZMAT	10%	15%
Product Offering	25%	0%
Product Explanation	20%	0%
Promotion & Merchandising	10%	25%
Image	10%	20%
Total Weight	100%	100%

Something fishy about the Mystery Shopper program?

brian — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:06:20 +0000

That’s the accusation made by a reader at Postalmag.com.

I don’t know about fishiness, but one thing I’ve always been curious about is the correlation between Mystery Shopper scores and retail sales. Do we have numbers that prove that the program actually gets us more revenue? Exactly what is the level of increased retail revenue at offices with high scores?

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