800-770-2974

This number is IBM Information Line. It is a Mail Measurement study runned by IBM in order to measure the USPS delivery services.

I called 1-800-ASK-USPS, the Office of Inspector General for the USPS, and the USPS mail fraud numbers, and they all three have never heard of this.  The USPS mail fraud representative claims that it IS mail fraud, and not really a valid study.

I would bet that it’s a scam by a scumbag debt collector. I have been getting calls from debt collectors for a person who doesn’t live here for years and this USPS service performance letter was addressed to his name.  Most recent scumbag is Northland Group calling for the last two months and won’t stop.

Got a letter with only a PO box return address in Virginia.  At the top left was only a blue design and "United States Postal Service".  It asked me to become a "reporter to measure the efficiency of mail delivery."  The letter wanted me to go online and fill out their survey on how well my mail is delivered.  I am sure it would require providing all my personal info.  Also, the letter claims that IBM is doing the survey, "To ensure that your participation is not known to local postal employees."  

Clearly a scam.  Why would IBM be doing surveys? That is not what they do. The scammers used the IBM name to make people think they are legit.  The 1-800-770-2974 number that the letter wants me to call has nothing to do with IBM, just the scammers answering the phone that it is IBM.  Also, with the post office going broke, how could they possibly pay IBM or anyone else to do a ridiculous survey???  Hope nobody falls for this one.

Called the postal inspectors today and read them the letter.  They say it is definitely a scam and they are going to be investigating the PO Box and phone numbers.  The postal inspector told me that there has been a surge lately in scammers using the USPS name and letterhead to rip people off.  He said to have nothing to do with this so-called survey.

I received the same letter almost a year later. I went to the site and thought it would be better to check to see if it's real.  So glad I did. Thanks for posting your experience.

Talked to the CS rep at the number, asked about where on USPS site they were mentioned, after talking me through the navigation system at the USPS site I arrived at:

http://about.usps.com/what-we-are-doing/servi ... erformance.html

Down at the bottom it lists IBM as "Service Measurement".

I don't think it's a scam...  Partly because (having dealt with IBM professionally before) the sheer level of dullness this guy exuded was very much in keeping with IBM's corporate vibe. You hit it sometimes with MS and other companies, but Oracle, IBM, and a couple others... it just kind of comes with their suits.  I suppose you could get a scammer like that, but this guy went down a list of questions, after first telling me how many questions there were, and did it all slowly.  Scammers tend to want to be quick, get you hooked, and be off.

As to bigtex's "Why would IBM be doing surveys? That is not what they do.":  They do all kinds of junk for the US Government, back in the '60s they worked with Rand to figure out how many people would die in WWIII, they love cost plus government work.  No risk $$$s, makes their dull bean counters very happy.  Build a computer no one buys = lose money.  Write a report no one reads = make money.

I also checked the 202 area code number they listed, it is on the USPS site (deep down, but there) and I did get routed to Mr. Parrish's voice mail by a live human.  Once again, a bit more trouble than scammers tend to want.

I'm going for it, if I end up getting screwed I'll post it here.

Hello,  so how was your experience with this? I just got the same letter yesterday and was hesitant until I read your post.  Did you get the promised rewards?

Thank you.

I have been participating in the IBM Mail Measurement Study for almost 1 1/2 years now.  It is not a scan, not a debt collector and in fact, can be well worth your participation.  The study only involves scanning "TEST" mail sent from around the country.  It is a way to monitor how long a piece of mail takes to be delivered from point A to point B.  In return, you are given points at the closing of each month. Each point is valued at $1 and can be used to purchase gift cards and perpaid discover cards.  I have made on average about $30 per month that I save up and then order gift cards like Macys, Auto Zone, Jack-in-the-Box, etc.

You can check out the info here, so not sure why others are saying the USPS has no information or does not participate:

http://www.ttmsdropper.com/about.cfm

I am doing it right now.

It seems you don't get a lot of points (I signed up nearly two months ago and have only earned 3.50 points (which equals out to $3.50 USD).

Also, in my opinion, the vendors are limited (and for a fact the original letter exaggerated the number of participant vendors by several hundred).

But... if you have five minutes a day (six days a week) available to open some mail, log on to a website (or call a phone number if you have no PC/internet access), and enter the information (they send you a hand scanner), then why the heck not?

Hm. I got a letter on United States Postal Service letterhead. It felt very phishy, so I called the number they gave for "Stephen P. Howard" at USPS. I got an answering machine, saying, "Hi, this is Steve Howard. I can't take your call right now..." SO I went to the USPS URL that they furnished - it doesn't exist. It's a non-existant sub-domain on a real USPS website. I think this is all bogus. Whoever is running the scam makes references to IBM in their letter, so they may have copied some text from an earlier legit operation run by IBM...

My sister did this for almost two months and she said she received no points for doing this and they ripped her off for her time and yeah the usps had no idea what this was and they told me to report this to the attorney general of the united states and it was a scam .

my husband recieved a letter similar to the one that yall have recieved. I went to the site www.ttmsdropper.com I filled out there quick little sign up. I keep yall posted and see what happens. I'm waiting to hear back from them.

I had gotten the letter last summer and did the test thing online where you reported your mail for a week.  At the time they said they had no openings in my area.  I forgot about it but got home today and had a message to call this number if I was still interested as there was an opening.  The guy said they will send me something in the next week to get started so I'll see what its about.

They give you $2.00 a month if you are lucky, which is equal to 2 points.  I have been involved in this panel since December 2015 regretfully.  I am returning my scanner and wiping my hands clean of this scam.  I don't see how they think they can pay people this small amount of money for a good amount of work.

In the letter it says you will get $15, per bundle , 9 drops per quarter, so 9 x 15 = $135. per quarter = 3 months, to install unknown software into your computer, and scan all those upc codes,  if you did this for a year $540. , the letter says nothing about points, so Probably a scam.
http://blog.ackgame.com/onwords/ibms-mail-scanner-panel-a-scam/