postage going up
01-01-2011, 12:05 PM
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Pine Grove, California
Posts: 2,816
Originally Posted by QuiltnCowgirl
Request for first class rate increase was denied. First class remains at $0.44. There are rate increases for shipping classes: Priority Mail, Express Mail, etc. Go to http://www.usps.com/welcome.htm for more info.
Thank goodness for e mail!
01-02-2011, 12:46 PM
#32
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Western Nevada
Posts: 2,520
Originally Posted by Favorite Fabrics
I looked through the commercial rates. (Note that these are the prices that you pay if you create your label online, not the "retail" prices you pay if you pay for your package at your Post Office's retail counter.) Here's what I've gleaned, that will affect the shipping prices online shoppers will likely be paying:
Priority Mail rates (US Domestic) are unchanged for the 12-1/2" x 9-1/2" envelopes. (Insert a sigh of relief, right?) They will be introducing a legal-size flat-rate envelope which (for commercial senders) will cost 20 cents more. Personally, I'm very interested to get my hands on one of these to find out how much more fabric will fit in those extra 3 inches of space!
Priority Mail rates (US Domestic) will go up 30 cents for the medium flat-rate box and 25 cents for the large flat rate box.
Priority Mail International shipments using the 12-1/2" x 9-1/2" flat-rate envelopes will cost 47 cents more. This applies to Canada, Mexico, and all other countries. There's no mention of an international legal-size envelope being available.
It indicates that the price for all of the priority mail envelopes will be the same, at $4.95, so I'm planning on getting the legal sized envelopes also and see how they apply to our fabric shipments.
Since the same envelopes are today used for international and domestic shipments, I think we can assume that the new products, including the legal size and the padded envelopes will be available for use on international priority mail as well. I haven't seen anything that would indicate otherwise.
01-02-2011, 01:09 PM
#33
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
Originally Posted by QKO
Nan, I found this annoucement on the USPS site re: new shipping rates and priority mail products. http://www.usps.com/communications/n...Prices2011USPS
It indicates that the price for all of the priority mail envelopes will be the same, at $4.95, so I'm planning on getting the legal sized envelopes also and see how they apply to our fabric shipments.
Since the same envelopes are today used for international and domestic shipments, I think we can assume that the new products, including the legal size and the padded envelopes will be available for use on international priority mail as well. I haven't seen anything that would indicate otherwise.
It indicates that the price for all of the priority mail envelopes will be the same, at $4.95, so I'm planning on getting the legal sized envelopes also and see how they apply to our fabric shipments.
Since the same envelopes are today used for international and domestic shipments, I think we can assume that the new products, including the legal size and the padded envelopes will be available for use on international priority mail as well. I haven't seen anything that would indicate otherwise.
You would have gotten a big kick out of some of the conversations I had with our local PO staff when they went to the volume-based pricing. You know, is it a "flat" or is it a "parcel". They looked rather stunned when I started to quote to them from their own Domestic Mail Manual about what the definition of a flat was versus a parcel, asking how they will know if an envelope was more than 1/4" thick (how *are* you going to measure it through the middle, anyway?) Don't get me wrong, they are all very nice people and quite helpful, just they were... uh... a bit under-trained at the time.
It may be that they give the legal-sized envelopes a try to see what the response is and how they're used, and that they will adjust things later on.
If you find out something different, though, by all means please do post it on the forum. I'm sure that many eyes are watching to see how this will affect us!
01-02-2011, 01:45 PM
#34
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Vermont
Posts: 6,985
BTW, I have heard from several sources that the PO will be cracking down on overstuffing of FRE. They want them to be flat and shaped like an envelope. You may have to duke it out with your local PO clerks.
01-02-2011, 02:20 PM
#35
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
We kind of already have... PO rules do say that you cannot put more than 4 pounds of stuff in the envelopes - and fabric is not that heavy. We figure that 8 yards is about the limit, and since we don't really trust that self-adhesive seal, we use one (and ONLY one) strip of clear tape that goes over the tear-tabs and across the entire width of the envelope. This seems to be acceptable to our local PO. About twice a year, the PO on the receiving end has a problem with it, though.
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