Maybe the post office is failing because so many people try to take advantage of the rules?! Just sayin'. If we all still wrote as much in snail mail letters as we write on the internet it probably wouldn't be an issue. Times change and pricing and rules change accordingly. JMHO.

Interesting stuff here, ladies (and gents). I know some people have been having trouble with this and it's nice to know that my post office is following the "does it close?" rule.

I know I take advantage of the FRE's because it saves me from having to buy envelopes...that's a savings to me.

I don't know how the post office is making money by giving these items away for free...I like free, but it's probably not in their best interest.

They're making money because people come in to the PO to mail something, and the clerks say, Use the FRE, it's free. Instead of telling them , this can go First Class Parcel for $2.00 less.

I go to PO's a lot and I see it all the time, people have no idea of how to mail things or how much it costs, or how much it SHOULD cost. They just want to mail it.

Well, yes and no, it depends on how much it weighs. 1st class parcel (domestic) only allows up to 13 ounces in weight, and for that you'll pay close to $4.00. By the time you buy a large envelope, provided you're not buying in bulk, you'll spend almost as much as using a FRE for $4.95. But if your parcel only weighs a few ounces, then yes, it can be a lot less than priority FRE.

For international mailings, 1st class parcel is good for up to 4 pounds in weight, and is often considerably cheaper than priority mail or FRE, depending on where it's going and how much it weighs.

Parcel post is almost always close to the online-discounted price of priority mail, and often more considering flat rate packaging and the cost for boxes or other packaging, so we find ourselves using parcel post almost never, even on our "free shipping" orders.

This has been very frustrating for me as well. I sell on ebay and recently had 5 FRE returned to me! They said they were too full and I used too much tape.
Fortunately they didn't ruin the labels and I was able to use the padded FRE so my buyer got all her packages.
Now I use those Tyvek envelopes and put the contents in them and then in the padded FRE just as extra safety.
So far so good.

I've been using the Priority tyvex envelopes inside of my Priority boxes...gives them a little extra protection from the weather elements.