Good morning everyone:
I know there's been a lot of talk about the flat rate mailers at the PO. Well, I wanted to give you some info I just found out today while at the PO mailing off a couple of QFK quilts. It ISN'T always cheaper to use this method. I had the lady weigh the pkg and let me know how much it would have been had I NOT used a flat rate box. It would have been almost $4 cheaper to use my own box. Just thought I'd share this info in case you were thinking the flat rate was the better way to go.
Your quilty friend,
Doug

Doug, I found out the hard (expensive) way too. With the latest increase in postal rates I think it's cheaper to send by UP. They have a section in the Staples near me whose parking lot is bigger and much easier to get into that our town's post office's.

May in Jersey

i like flat rate because i hate standing in line. i don't yet own a postage scale. using flat rate, i can easily purchase accurate postage online 24/7. when i want to send a package that won't fit into my mailbox i just leave a note for the mailman letting him know where he can find it. they have picked up every package for me except one. it was raining buckets and miserably cold on some days.

i know i spend extra $$$ sometimes but my time is also valuable.

when pennies count more than minutes, though, i suck it up and go to the PO in person ... just in case.

Flat rate is ok if you have heavy stuff. I was at the po recently and looking for a regular Priority Box and the guy told me they didn't have any but would look and he found some. Said the po was fasing out the regular Priority Box and would only have the flat rate. I don't know if this is tru or not because the guy doesn't appear to be a customer oriented person.

Another thing, make sure you to go to an actual post office. I went to a PostNet, and they told me it was $20 to mail a quilt. I had sticker shock (especially I checked online and it said $7). About a year prior I had mailed a quilt and I know it wasn't $20. I went 1/2 mile up the street to the real post office (says US Post Office), and she said $7. I didn't even think about PostNet/etc adding overhead (and especially not THAT much), but, yeah, they do. NEVER shipping anything there again.

Well so far I have had 1 package get torn up and another lost so I'm thinking of trying some other way or place to do my shipping. The po is giving me a bad rep.

I mailed a flat rate box through the post office on March 23 to Quilts for Kids. Quilts for Kids hasn't received it yet. :-(

I mailed two quilts in my own box and it cost me $9.50. I did not think that was bad and wondered if it would have been cheaper in a flat rate box. Thanks for the info

I found that out the hard way too when I was sending out some Boomerang Swap blocks. Pat suggested that we stop at a packages and more (or whatever it was called) store because it was on the way and "there is hardly ever anyone there." When I got the bill it was DOUBLE what it was at the Post Office just a few days earlier. When I asked, the gal said, "Oh we have different rates than the USPS."

From now on, we go to a place that has the USPS logo on it.

thanks for the information!