I imagine that I save a few cents using PayPal or even the USPS online postage printer. We have a nice laser printer at work so I don't worrry about inkjet postage smearing or blurring.
When I go to the PO, there is always a line and often a long line. But I will use their "ATM ". The clerk at the desk always seems to find that it wieghs one ounce more than my scale says, or the ATM scale says.
That PO is staffed by people that always look for the rules that say I CAN'T do something.
Or I could drive 20 minutes to another PO, where they look for rules that say I CAN.
(I'm borrowing the "rules" quote from someon e else, but it describes my PO experience perfectly. I think when people fail the police entrance exam, one PO gets all the "Good Cops" and the other PO gets all the "Bad Cops".)
When Did Postage for Bubble Mailers Get so Expensive??
Rick,
Paypal labels are large and completely covers the BM that I cut in half. It works.
I have a digital scale that I test every so often with a 2 pound bar bell. A year or so ago, when I brought down one of my orders that was in a small box to be mailed. The PO was about to close so the guy weight the box and told me it weight more than was printed on The Paypal label. Bull! He let it be but I have a feeling that the PO scales are set to weigh more than the actual weight. I know Walmart's scales are.
So there is your answer Rick
I forgot to add that Click'n Ship is cheaper also but it doesn't handle First Class.
This message was edited Jan 3, 2013 5:19 PM
I was surpised the frirst time I weighed something on THEIR ATM scale, and the clerk added an ounce.
I wasn't as surprised the second time it happened.
As long as "the story" is different every time I mail something, I'm going to trust FedEx and UPS more ... but save money whenever I can, even if it means gambling on the PO.
**You have to insist that they use the "First-Class Mail: Shape-Based Pricing Template". As per that federal PO policy, bubble envelopes are to be mailed as "large envelopes" because they exceed the normal thickness. Do NOT believe a person behind the desk that because the bubble envie is thick, it goes as a package. That is wrong. Cite notice # 3-S, June 2007. I have a plastic template provided by the USPS administrators themselves. It has slots for putting an envelope through, to prove it is not too thick for "regular envelope" or "large envelope". Do not fault them too much -- they do not know the proper regulations, but their higher ups do expect them to, and are dissappointed when they do not.
Now all this said, you cannot have bubble envies that are:
More than 3/4" thick (large envelope limit), or 1/4" thick (regular envelope limit),
Cut-down to the point that they are no longer an aspect ratio (length divided by the height) of less than 1.3 or more than 2.5 -- or all bets are off. Then it becomes an "unmachinable", and that is another story. "Normal range" envelope proportions only.
*You can also ask them to procure one of these templates to have behind their counter. They should. You may be able to get one for yourself, if kind and persistant enough. :)
--Tina
This message was edited Jan 13, 2013 5:20 PM
Thanks very much, ... but rats! I have a whole case of # 0 bubble mailers with outside dimensions 7"x9". Aspect ratio = 1.286 which is less than 1.3.
If I squint, it might be 7" x 9.25" ... aspect ratio = 1.32.
I guess I should fold the flap to maximize the length, and try for the "First Class Large Envelope" rate, once called "flats". That should drop my postage from $1.95 down to $0.90 or $1.30. Good deal!
And if I cut in half lengthwise, like Blooma, 7" x 4.5" aspect ratio = 1.56. Ideal!
But I better run the address "the long way"
or the aspect ratio will be 0.643
and I'll go the Federal prison.
P.S. I think that "First Class Large Envelopes" need to be "UNIFORMLY THICK", so I should tape bulky pkts to a card, to keep them from bunching up and bulging the bubble mailer.
I've received a couple of seed trades that were sent like that Rick, they were taped to stay distributed evenly and stay that way during travel:)
I just received a fat First Class Letter from YellowTLover with multiple pkts of seeds, including snow pea pod peas. They were taped cleverly and the envelope was constructed from heaqvy paper to wsrap the b undles tightly, preventing them from moving.
The peas and other Ziplocks were not obviously mashed.
So either the force of the rollers was so well distributed that nothing was crushed, or that PO sorts by hand and it never went through an automated transfer station.
First let me say that I have NO CLUE as to why so many folks are having problems with getting the CORRECT postage for their bubble mailers.
Here's what I do:
ANY sized envelope that has a bubble wrap inner lining and does not exceed one (1) ounce gets one (1) FOREVER stamp (currently 45˘, soon to be 46˘) and one (1) 20˘ stamp (featuring my hero George W., the First) . . . that is only 65˘ . . . btw, that is the ONLY reason the USPS makes a 65˘ stamp (which I sometimes also employ) - - - When the new rate goes into effect in the last week of this month, they will phase out the 65˘ stamp and we'll be offered a new 66˘ stamp - - BECAUSE that is the cost of sending ONE OUNCE via First Class Mail including a 20˘ surcharge (which is not going up) for having a piece of first-class mail that is lumpy or is thicker than ź inch.
This message was edited Jan 17, 2013 12:43 AM
Are you sure about those prices for First Class Package rate? I think they are a few years old. Here's what I see. Recently they made the first three ounces all the same price (8-12 months ago?)
Weight Price
Not
Over
1 oz $1.95
2 oz $1.95
3 oz $1.95
4 oz $2.12
5 oz $2.29
6 oz $2.46
7 oz $2.63
8 oz $2.80
9 oz $2.97
10 oz $3.14
11 oz $3.31
12 oz $3.48
13 oz $3.65
Check the current pricing file here:
https://www.usps.com/ship/first-class.htm
>> one (1) FOREVER stamp and one (1) 20˘ stamp ... the cost of sending ONE OUNCE via First Class Mail including a 20˘ surcharge (which is not going up) for having a piece of first-class mail that is lumpy or is thicker than 1/4 inch.
I agree that's the cost of sending one ounce as a First Class Letter plus the non-machinable surcharge ("hand cancel only"). LETTER rate. However, my understanding and the USPS website statement under "Rules and Restrictions" is that a "FC Letter" still has to meet these rules even if it is not machinable:
https://www.usps.com/ship/first-class.htm
--------------------
Letters:
- Must be rectangular.
- Minimum size is 5" long x 3 1/2" high x 0.007 thick.
- Maximum size of 11 1/2" long x 6 1/8" high x 1/4 thick.
- Maximum weight is 3.5 oz.
- A letter will be charged a nonmachinable surcharge if its a square letter 5" x 5" or larger, it doesnt bend easily, has clasps or similar closure devices, has an address parallel to the shorter dimension of the letter, is lumpy, or the length divided by height is less than 1.3 or more than 2.5.
-------------
Over 1/4", it's not a "Letter" and has to go by some different base rate. That's my belief and I've been told that by multiple PO clerks, including several non-jerks. Notice that it doesn't say "you will be charged 20 cents extra if it is thicker than 1/4 inch".
Anyway, that's my 2 cents, or 44 cents, or 66, or $1.95. Inflation is terrible!
Possibly the postal clerk whimsey that we all experience has worked out well for you - maybe your clerk or PO take your 65 cent Packages (bubble mailers) as if they were FC Letters despite the USPS regulations. Or maybe you have some of the cool "thin" bubble mailers.
However, I'v e been told and I do believe that even if I do pay the 20 cent non-machinable surcharge and mark it in big red letters "hand cancel only", if a lazy clerk CAN fit it into the rollers, they very likely WILL put it through the rollers.
That will crush my seeds if they are just in a thin paper FC envelope. And if the envelope has irregular thickness, it likely will jam and be shredded along with many other letters. Those rollers run really fast. I know a guy who helped develop and in stall some of the early USPS sorters.
Whether that is unjust, my fault, the clerk's fault or snotty, I don't wnat to crush my seeds or shred other people's letters. Therefore I'll either make my package impossible to fit in to the rollers (over 1/4"), or protect it so well that it can withstand the rollers without crushing or jamming.
Other people have luck with sending seeds in paper envelopes. I've received seeds that had dented their plastic Ziploc despite thin bubble wrap. Usually when I get a paper envelope plus thin bubble wrap, many of the bubbles have popped and the rest are deflated. That convinces me they went through rollers.
Paypal does give a discount. I just listed the USPS website price, what they want to see if you lick the stamps yourself.
I just wish the PayPal label was a lot smaller. Sometimes I use the more expensive USPS web site for postage just so I can print everyone's address at once on one piece of paper in the font and size I want, then just use the website to print the postage-barcode without retyping every address field by field.
Thanks!
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W T F !!
Update News
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just thought i would pass along what my wife learned yesterday afternoon at the USPS kitty-korner to her own office in downtown Austin. she was only purchasing stamps for my use - - it took them over ten minutes to find enough sheets of one-cent stamps. i estimate that i probably will be able to make the transition to the new first-class rate for the first ounce with just one dollar's worth of them.
not for me to stick on to recompense an increase on a forever stamp - - i use them to make up the odd penny for packages quite a bit heavier than one ounce. so, i expect two years from now i just might finish them off, at last.
she says to me, "but it only took a couple of other clerks 5 minutes to russle up enough sheets of 20˘ stamps!" In light that the "surcharge" on the first ounce for added thickness over the first ź of an inch will not be increased, if figured i would get at least as many of them as i already had stocked up of various "forever" standard stamps for the first ounce of first-class carriage.
how freakin' much of our taxdollars were trickled away to cover the actual cost of those three clerks spending between 5 and 10 minutes, each, to pass no more than five bucks worth of stamps?
truth is, there is now a nationwwide run on 1˘ stamps! you know that means there's a horde of morons out among us who think that because the "Forever" postage will cost 1˘ more for forever stamps purchased after the date of the rate increase??!!! holy shit !! the entire concept behind "forever" postage that even if the rate increases, all the freakin' "forever" stamps ever freakin' made are worth exactly - - THE NEW POSTAGE RATE !!!!
it makes me mad as hell, and i know i will take it forever.
Semper fi - Peace. Out.
~and~ A T B T Y ! ~ ŁazŁo ;--)
This message was edited Jan 17, 2013 12:48 AM
>> how freakin' much of our taxdollars were trickled away to cover the actual cost of those three clerks spending between 5 and 10 minutes, each,
I thought the Post Office was became self-supporting years ago. Wikipedia says: "The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters." But then they go on about pensions ...
It's still stupid waste, but it comes out of our postage dollars, not our tax dollars.
I think that all bureaucracies' stupidity increases with their size and age.
I agree with..."all bureaucracies' stupidity increases with their size and age."! To wit... I want to tell about an interesting experience I had recently. I mailed a package to a fellow DGer in Virginia about two months ago. He noticed that the stamps on my bubble envelope had not been cancelled (stamped over with a postmark). So, he mailed me some seeds back in the same package. The stamps were still not cancelled. I mailed some things back to him, and again...no postmark. Again, he mailed me another shipment of seeds...no postmark. That envelope has made two round trips between us and the same stamps have been used each time.
The stamps were the "forever" type stamps. I don't think that would matter, but they have still not been cancelled. I recently use the same envelopes again to mail some seeds to a different DGer in Alabama. I will let you know if the stamps make it this time or not.
In light of this experience, perhaps you should try the Forever stamps and take careful note of any envelopes that have not been cancelled. Use tape to reseal the envelope.
I always remove stamps that have not been cancelled--soak them off the paper and use them again
gluing them on my envelopes with a glue stick.
I know this is "wrong"--but in this economy--it seems just 'right" to me. Recycle!!! recycle!!!
Gita
It's not our fault if the post office does not cancel their own stamps.
They are going broke because children no longer collect stamps. :) The post office LOVES stamp collectors.
>> ... two round trips between us and the same stamps ...
Oh, wow! That's the kind of "Forever" stamps I want to have!
I guess at those post offices, if the mailer would not go through the rollers, it was too much work to cancel them at all!
My PO man told me, before the Holidays, that flat rate boxes will also have
something like "forever flat rate" stamps. Should be kicking in soon.
G.
Stamp prices went up yesterday.