Via NYC Stop Staples Activist and Retired Letter Carrier John Dennie:

Under its contract with USPS, Staples Approved Postal Providers are required to handle Certified Mail.  A quick and dirty survey reveals they appear to be in breach of their contract.

There are 42 Staples Approved Postal Providers within the 5 boros of NYC. Dennie went to 9 of them (approx 20%)

The results are on the attached PDF.

Dennie included a USPS retail window, a Contract Postal Unit (CPU) and a non-Staples Approved Postal Providers for comparison purposes.

The window clerk at the USPS handled the Certified Mail perfectly [Page 1] (No surprise).

The CPU postmarked the 3800 with a hand plug. It wasn’t scanned into the tracking system until it hit Morgan Station many hours later, but a least I had proof of the Certified Mail [Page 2].

The only proof that I had a certified a letter at the Non-Staples Approved Postal Provider was the notation on their cash register receipt. Again, hours before it got scanned at Morgan Station [Page 3].

Staples Approved Postal Providers: Out of 9 stores visited, only 2 were able to certify my letter (after a fashion) I have previously sent out the results from 66 and 2nd; Pages 4, 4A and 4B show similar results at Bay Plaza:

No proof that they had certified a letter until the mail piece hit Morgan Station (3 days later).

Page 5 shows some comments from the 7 stores (across 4 of the 5 NYC boros) that were unable for one reason or another to certify my letter.

Anybody who uses Certified Mail at a Staples Approved Postal Provider is not getting what they paid for.