UNEX Frequently Asked Questions What is this survey about?

What is the task for participants?

Do I have to pay something?

What do I get for my participation?

How can I join the panel?

I cannot enter my postcode.

I tried to register, but my email address exists already.

I registered, but got no password.

I got a reminder to enter my address, but have no password.

I forgot my password.

What is my username?

I forgot my panelist ID.

I’m unable to enter my address in the panel zone.

I’m unable to enter my sending location in the panel zone.

I’m on vacation/ not at home/ unable to send or receive items for some time.

How can I see and redeem my bonus points?

I cannot login into the Ipsos Giftshop.

I want to promote new participants. How can I do that?

I want to end my participation.

I did not get any item, yet.

I miss test items visible in my posting plan.

I miss test items visible in my receiving plan.

Items to send are not visible in my posting plan.

I received a “weekly pack”, where do I confirm it?

I got an online-notification/notification card for a test item.

I got a notification, but don’t know if it is for a test item.

I got letters to send, but they are identical.

What is the difference between active and passive transponders?

I’m supposed to send “active transponder”. What does this mean?

I miss a return envelope for sending back transponders.

How many transponders should be send in one return envelope?

I’m unable to confirm my received letters/packets in the panel zone.

I’m unable to confirm a sent letter/packet in the panel zone.

There was a postage increase, and now my letters / packages don’t have

enough stamps.

What is this survey about? UNEX is a survey to measure transit times of letters and packets, focused on transportation times between countries. It is conducted by IPC (International Post Cooperation) in several countries of the world with the help of national post operators. Different parts of the survey are carried out by independent market research agencies, such as us: Ipsos Loyalty GmbH, Sachsenstr. 6, 20097 Hamburg, Germany.

We run two different modules of the UNEX survey: UNEX Terminal Dues (TD) is the measurement of letters and packets. UNEX Packets Survey (PS) is the measurement of packets, only.

What is your task as a participant? Participants in this survey send and/or receive items from/to other participants. They need to confirm sent or received items at our website.

If you’re a SENDER in our survey, you will be asked to send 2-3 items a week. Letters can be sent via a mailbox, packets are 6 cm high and can usally be sent via a post office. The usual amount of test items can fluctuate up to a maximum of five items per week, but one per day.

As RECEIVER for UNEX TD (see What is this survey about? ), you can get a maximum of 3 test items a week from other participants. Two of them can be a packet, which you may pick up at a post office. If you are a UNEX PS (see What is this survey about? ) participant, you will receive a maximum of 2 packets per week. The amount of receiving test items can fluctuate, depending on the number of active participants in this week in your country.

Do I have to pay anything? Participants in our UNEX survey never pay for postage. All letters and packages have sufficient stamps.

What do I get for my participation? All participants receive bonus points. There is a fixed amount of bonus points for sent and received letters and a fixed amount for the handling of packets. Participants get extra points at the end of the month if their performance is good. This assumes that you follow all communicated rules correctly.

You can see a selection of our rewards in our Ipsos Giftshop. www.ipsos-giftshop.com

How can I join the panel? If you want to join the UNEX community, please fill in our questionnaire. You can click ‘register @ IPC’ at www.ipsos-post-survey.com or follow this link: https://nu-mms.ipc.be/mmu-recruitment-zone-web/ef12

We recommend using a desktop computer and Chrome as your browser.

I cannot enter my postcode. Please enter your postcode in the format described below. You always get a hint for the format by pointing the question mark behind a field. Note: ‘9’ replaces a number in your postcode, ‘A’ replaces a letter in your postcode – please also note written space ‘ ‘ or dash ‘-‘

Austria 9999

Australia 9999

Belgium 9999

Brazil 99999-999

Canada A9A 9A9

China 999999

Croatia 99999

Cyprus 9999

Czech Republic 999 99

Denmark 9999

Estonia 99999

Finland 99999

France 99999

Germany 99999

Greece 999 99

Hong Kong Hong Kong no postal code needed

Hungary 9999

Iceland 999

India 999999

Ireland

A99 A9A9 Please enter the first 3 character only, if we ask for your postcode.

Israel 9999999

Italy 99999

Japan 999-999

Latvia 9999

Lithuania 99999

Luxembourg 9999

Malaysia 99999

Malta AAA 9999

New Zealand 9999

Norway 9999

Poland 99-999

Portugal 9999-999

Romania 999999

Russia 999999

Serbia 99999

Singapore 999999

Slovak Republic 999 99

Slovenia 9999

South Africa 9999

Spain 99999

Sweden 999 99

Switzerland 9999

The Netherlands 9999 AA

United Kingdom

A9 9AA A99 9AA A9A 9AA AA9 9AA AA99 9AA AA9A 9AA

United States of America 99999-9999

I tried to register, but my email address exists already. Please write an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com or try to use a different email address.

I registered but got no password. You answered our questions and confirmed your registration with your name, your correct email address and your postcode.

You should get an email with a link to confirm your email address immediately after your registration. If not, please check your spam folder for this email or try to re-register in case there was a spelling mistake in your email address.

Some days after your registration, you will get an email again with your status. It may happen that we have some questions, please reply to this email. If everything is fine, you will also get an email. The weekend after your successful registration and in case we have no more questions, you will get an email with further instructions and a link to set your password.

If you think you’ve missed an email from us, please write to askUNEX@ipsos.com.

I got a reminder to enter my address but have no password. Please check your spam folder for an email from unex-umms@ipc.be. It contains a link to set your own password.

If you cannot find this email, please use the button ‘Forgot Password’ at the login page to the panel zone. Your username is your panelist ID and the email address needs to be identical with the address you’ve used for the registration.

I forgot my password. Please use the button ‘Forgot Password’ at the login page to the panel zone. Your username is your panelist ID and the email address needs to be identical with the address you’ve used for the registration.

What is my username? Your username is your panelist ID. It is written in the header of our instruction emails. In case you don’t remember it, please write us an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com.

I forgot my panelist ID. Please write us an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com with your name, the country you live in and the email address you’ve used for the registration.

I’m unable to enter my address in the panel zone. Please check I cannot enter my postcode.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information. Please avoid quotation marks (“ “) and other special character in your address.

If you need help or have further problems, please write an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com.

I’m unable to enter my sending location in the panel zone. Please check I cannot enter my postcode.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information. Please avoid quotation marks (“ “) and other special character in your sending location.

If you need help or have further problems, please write an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com.

I’m on vacation/ not at home/ unable to send or receive items for some time. Please inform us about your holidays via ‘Not available to Send/Receive’ in your panel zone.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information.

How can I see and redeem my bonus points? Please visit your giftshop to see your points. You can click ‘Giftshop@Ipsos’ at our website or follow this link: www.ipsos-giftshop.com

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information.

I cannot login into the Ipsos Giftshop. When you successfully passed the training and your account has been activated, you get an email from askUNEX@ipsos.com. Please read it carefully, as it contains a lot of information about your tasks in this survey, as well as your login details for the giftshop.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information.

I want to promote new participants. How can I do that? Participants can promote new participants into the survey. We offer special events for that, where you can earn extra points. If you have a friend who wants to participate, please write an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com in advance and ask for the current situation to promote a new member.

I want to end my participation. Please write to askUNEX@ipsos.com and we will end your participation.

I did not get any item, yet. Please ensure that you have completed your profile in the panel zone. The production of test items takes some time and the send-out has to be planned properly. Therefore, it takes approximately 3 weeks after we send you your activation email until you send/receive your first letter/packet in this survey.

I miss test items visible in my posting plan. You did not receive the letters/packets you need to send to other people. This may happen from time to time, you should receive the letters/packets later. In this case, the letter/packet should be sent within the next two weeks after the planned sending date but on the same day of the week.

The only exception: Do not send two letters/packets on the same day to the same receiving country. In this case, you can send one letter/packet on another day.

I miss test items visible in my receiving plan. You did not receive the test items sent by other participants to you. Sometimes, items are not sent as planned or the items are still on their way to you. Please have some patience, they may arrive later.

Items to send are not visible in my posting plan. You got items in your weekly pack which are not visible online in your posting plan. Before you inform us via email askUNEX@ipsos.com about this issue, please note that items are visible 8 days BEFORE and 14 days AFTER the planned sending date, only. Thank you.

I received a “sender pack”, where do I confirm it? In the following, you will find the necessary approach for the sender pack registration.

A Sender Pack is a bigger pack that contains smaller test items that you need to send to other panelists during a certain week.

Enter the 5-digit code and click “Submit”. You will find the code on the bottom of your “weekly information sheet”.

Choose the date where you have received your sender pack and click “Submit”. Please be aware about the differences about your sender pack, which includes your items and the items itself! It is really important to check this carefully, before entering the date. If you do not register your sender pack, before entering your items, the following pop-up will appear:

I got an online-notification/notification card for a test item. Please upload a screenshot of the online-notification or a photo of your notification card in the panel zone.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information.

I got a notification, but don’t know if it is for a test item. We kindly ask you to upload every notification you get. During the receipt-confirmation of the item, you will be asked which notification you received for the test item.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information.

I got letters to send, but they are identical. Only in the training, you will get letters/packets that have the same size and recipient’s name. In this case, you can choose which one you send first.

What is the difference between active and passive transponders?

This is how an active transponder looks like. It’s a small device – often attached to a carton. This transponder needs to be returned. For this transponder, you need a return envelope. Please write to askUNEX@ipsos.com, if you don’t have one. Thank you.

This is how a passive transponder looks like. It’s a sticker with a barcode and a number. You DON’T need to return this kind of transponder.

I’m supposed to send an “active transponder”. What does this mean? Some participants get a small device in every test item. These so-called transponders need to be sent back to us. For that, you get special return envelopes weekly with your test items.

I miss a return envelope for sending back transponders. First, please ensure that you need to return the transponder you’ve got. For that, check What is the difference between active and passive transponders? You only need to return ‘active transponder’. If you have one and have no return envelope, please write to askUNEX@ipsos.com. You will get a return envelope as soon as possible.

How many transponders should be sent in one return envelope?

If you find an active transponder (see picture) in a test item sent to you or returned to you, please write to askUNEX@ipsos.com and ask for a return envelope, if you don’t have one.

You can send 2 or 4 transponders per envelope, it depends on the kind of return envelope (see below). It has sufficient stamps and address and can be sent via every mailbox or post office you want. (We may have special rules for specific countries)

There is no need for an online confirmation for the sending of a return envelope.

Advice: Please never send your transponders on the same day on which you received them! Send them back to Ipsos at least one day after.

If your received return envelope has a stamp, you can put up to 4 transponders in it.

If your received return envelope is post-paid (‘ne pas affranchir’/’Nicht Freimachen’), you can put up to 2 transponders in it.

I’m unable to confirm my received letters/packets in the panel zone. Please visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information and help.

I’m unable to confirm a sent letter/packet in the panel zone. You need to have a sending location for the confirmation of sent letters/packets. Please set your sending location first.

You can visit ‘Manual@Ipsos’ at our website for detailed information.

There was a postage increase, and now my letters / packages don’t have enough stamps. Please send us an email to askUNEX@ipsos.com with the information you’ve got. You don’t need to pay higher postage!