I have used the U S Post Office "Flat Rate" boxes in the past, for plant trades and other shipments, because they were convenient, clean, and ready to go. I assumed the "flat rate" of $8.10 for any size of the boxes was approximately what the postage would be if I used a different box and paid just by weight. I was wrong! In most cases, the $8.10 is about twice the amount that a shipment of plants in a box that is not "flat rate" would cost. If you can fit about 3 - 4 pounds or more of plants in one of the "flat rate" boxes, there will be a cost savings with the flat rate. But unless you are shipping giant Colocasia tubers in a few pounds of mud and water, you are probably not going to have 4 pounds of plants in a shipment.
As part of a recent move to FINALLY start selling stuff on eBay (no plants yet -- I'm still giving them away!), I bought a postal scale. I also got a "Notice 123, Ratefold" (price guide) from the post office so that I could see if I was calculating the postage correctly. I just finished catching up on most of my long overdue promised DG trades by mailing out 15 boxes of various plants today. The heaviest, a cornucopia of named variety ginger roots, weighed in at 2 lbs 7 oz and cost $7.20 to go from Jacksonville, Florida to Louisiana. Most of the other packages were under one pound and cost the standard $4.05. The total postage on 15 packages was a hefty $71.30, but that is still far less than the $121.50 it would have cost to use the "flat rate" boxes as I originally intended to do.
I also realized that I have a mindset that wants to believe that a smaller box will cost less than a large box, so I try to stuff as many plants as I can into as small a box as possible. Actually, the size of the box doesn't matter (until you reach oversize limits when the combined width and girth are more than 84 inches), only the weight and distance determine the amount of postage. So, I can put plants into a larger box with more space and have them travel more comfortably and be less likely to turn to compost during shipment and still pay the same postage. That idea is still hard for me to grasp!
The above revelations are probably no news at all to those of you that have been shipping plants back and forth across the country for a number of years, but it was certainly enlightening to this newbie to the trade scene. I, for one, will start scrounging for plant shipment boxes and dumpster diving if I must for suitable containers in order to save postage and trade more plants!
Jeremy
You may already know this about postal "Flat Rate" boxes....
Jeremy, it is good to post to those that may be a newbie at trading or selling. I am a penny pincher and always try to get the lowest rate. I mail a lot of pkgs. I will be mailing more if all these dls start multipling!
Teresa in KY
I mailed seven trades last evening, three in flat rate boxes. On one I saved $.50, on another $1.60 and $.80 on the third one. All had three or four varieties of plants in them. The rest I just used the priority mail boxes I got free from the postal site. Just my experience with these boxes. Lou
Jeramy, you are absolutely correct PLUS, traders:
if the box is going over 200 miles it travels the same (by truck up to 500 miles, by plane after that) no matter how you send it - if first class is cheaper, feel free to use it - it will get there in the same amount of time. My S-I-L works for a postal distribution center and gave me this 'secret'.
I very seldom use the flat rate boxes unless the item is very heavy.
For plants, I prefer the large triangle tube. The plants can be laid flat along the length so the stems remain straight. If the plants are shorter in length, you can put more than one the length of the box and stack several on top of each other. Then fold the box and seal the ends.
It's a great box for larger plants and long stemmed plants like canna, banana, palms, etc.
Jan...
The tubes are great for canna's and long stemmed plants use them frequently but flat rate is great for daylilies and bulbs I can really stuff those full and feel I get my money worth. If you go online you can order all your boxes in bulk and they delivery the supplies for free. I do alot of shipping so have a room with just supplies, boxes, & scales. All my labels and postage I print online it really saves alot of time.
Kim
to be able to use first class the package must weigh under a pound and the post office says that it will reach it's destination in 3 days or in one more day than priority. the trick is that it must weigh under a pound..........this is where the size of the box might influence lower shipping. and jeremy the priority costs astounded me too. no matter the box size or the weight ( unless it goes over) it will cost 4.05, the absolute cheapest priority cost. i was trying to save money by using my own boxes (i have been a friend of dumpsters for a long time) but if sending priority i can not save money by using small boxes. when the package weighs less than a pound.............. we are not supposed to but i use their stupid priority boxes and wrap with brown paper (the smallest size they have). it is hard to find small boxes sometimes. I WILL NEVER PAY 2 PLUS DOLLARS FOR A BOX! and on priority shipping.........i sent a box priority on a tues. it reached it's destination almost 2 weeks later. argh!!!! every year the post office does what they call "mail count". this package went out around that time. my sister is upper management at the post office and says that in the mail centers the workers will hold the mail near this time so that the work load is immense the week of mail count. they are not supposed to do that but she believes they do do it. i paid for priority service and got parcel post. now the mail service is right up there with car salesman in my book. also at my post office we have 2 flat rate boxes. i understand that other post offices only have one. one is bigger so ask about that if you have greater weight or bigger volume. and wrap that sucker with brown paper if you need to.
Thanks, all, for your comments and tips on how to get the best deals on postage. I had forgotten the free priority boxes exist. Our local main post office doesn't seem to have the mailing tubes, so I will check out the online supply center, BlueKT. I also have begun printing all my own mailing labels with postage already determined. The main advantage of this is the bar codes for quicker scanning and the FREE delivery confirmation which saves $.50 per package.
And MamaJ, there is now a surreptitious reason why I often ask for brown paper bags instead of plastic at the grocery checkout.
More tips and "secrets" and personal preferences for postage will be appreciated from all.
Jeremy
I do large trades, so I often save money using the flat rate boxes. I never trade just one plant. And often I'm sending bulbs, which are usually heavier than rooted plants.
I ALWAYS pay for delivery confirmation. Why, you ask. Because when you print out the postage, with the free delivery confirmation, the tracking number is not scanned into the computer until it has been delivered to your trader. So if the package goes missing, there's no record that it was ever even taken to the p.o. to be mailed. This can cause problems since you have to proof you mailed it.
When you go to the p.o. and affix the green delivery confirmation label, they scan it right into the system right then, and you have proof on your receipt. You can go online anytime and track its progress.
In one case, I had a lady tell me she didn't get a package from me. I was able to look online and see that the p.o. had indeed put notices in her box to pick up the package. When I told her the package was waiting on her at the p.o., she said, "Oh, I got those notices about a package to pick up and just ignored them." If I had done the postage online with free delivery confirmation, nothing would have been posted online because they don't scan the barcode until the package is in the hands of the recipient.
In my opinion, doing it the old fashioned way, by affixing the green sticker, is the best way to get a package there expeditiously and be able to track it. It's well worth the 50 cents.
Thanks, Bchaser. I was surprised last night when I took my Santa bag of 15 packages (in a huge flannel pillowcase like thing I had made to cover hibiscus this past winter) and found that the postal clerk did not scan the bar codes to register the delivery confirmation and told me, when I asked, that it was the correct procedure not to scan the bar codes. I appreciate the tip. I agree -- it makes free delivery confirmation not much of an incentive if there is confirmation only if the package is actually in the hands of the recipient.
Jeremy
Be careful not to get caught wrapping the priority mail boxes and using 1st class postage on it. It is a postal no-no. People used to turn the boxes inside out nad re tape and they got wise to that also.
Jan...
Great tips everyone!!! I like the priority boxes...saves me from having to hit my Walmart first thing in the AM. For those of you that don't mind visiting your Walmart for boxes - the "best" boxes (yes, years ago I worked at Wally Wordl) are in what they call the "chemicals dept." - read: detergents, cleaners etc. These boxes are nice and sturdy. The other dept. with decent sized boxes is the housewares dept. (dishes, sm appliances etc) And the employees are more then happy to let you take them so they don't have more to lug back to the compactor. You just have to get in there when they open or if they're a 24 hr store 6:30ish is a good time to shoot for.
I had no idea about the scanning problem! This is extremely irritating to me as the only reason I generally mail priority mail is because it keeps me out of the line at my local post office. I hate that place and everyone I know feels the same way. If I had to go to the counter everytime I mailed a package, no one would ever get anything from me because I refuse to waste an hour of my time standing in that line and being waited on by surly people who hate their jobs. When I have time, I drive to the next town and go to their post office because it's bright, the lines are short, the people are happy and it feels good to go there.
One trick I've used with the priority mail boxes is to turn them inside out, which has already been noted by budgie lover. But what I do is cut the box down when it needs to be smaller. Actually, I never thought of this as a way to fool the USPS by changing the size of the box. I generally do it just to cut down on the weight (even cardboard weighs something) and decrease the amount of packaging material I use. I also recycle priority mail boxes I've received through the mail myself.
I often mail firstclass and wish I could print out firstclass postage on line, but that's not possible through their website.
This looks like yet another reason for me to check out mailing via UPS or FedEx.
Here's a packing tip I've found useful: save your toilet paper rolls and papertowel rolls. They are perfect for plants that have leaves the need protecting in the box.
Pixy,
Too funny that you'd mention that re the PT and TP rolls...just told the kids recently DON'T throw those away. OMG if you could have seen the eyes rolling esp when I said yes, it's for the plants!! LOL
Great tip on the TP and PT cylinders! I could have used something like that when recently mailing some Ipomoea coccinea seedlings.
I once cut down one of the "flat rate" boxes thinking it wouldn't be flat rate anymore, but was told as long as the "flat rate" info showed anywhere on the box, it didn't matter about the size of the box or how much I had mangled it, I was charged the flat rate postage.
I usually save the boxes that I receive plants in so that I can send plants back out in them, sometimes returning the same box to the person that sent it to me if I happen to have plants of about the same size and weight as my end of the plant trade. I know some of you must do this also because some of my boxes have made a round trip excursion! It occurred to me today upon receiving a plant trade, that if we don't use the adhesive strip that comes on the first class and priority boxes, it will be easier to use the boxes over and over again -- just tape down the flap rather than using the self adhesive strip. Maybe this is carrying recycling to an extreme, but it does make the boxes easier to reuse and they will fold flat for storage until needed.
Jeremy
Well, Don't tell anyone but at Christmas time when you need those shirt type boxes for Christmas presents, my extended family will use the Priority mail boxes and just tape the lids instead of using the self adhesive tape. Then afterwards, we take them back home again and use them when needed. It has become a standard joke in our family now when they see a box that's a certain size and shape. LOL
I like to recycle as much as possible. One of my daughter is really into saving trees! So I resend many of my priority trade boxes.
well hear is a funny story. at my little post office a temporary was working and charged me 5.00 for a flat rate box. the next day when i went in there i was told they had kept my box as i would need to pay the other 3 dollars plus for flat rate. i took the box home, wrapped it in brown paper and went back to the post office and paid 5 dollars to ship the flat rate box. most of our plants could probably go parcel post if you think about it. i recently received plants from puerto rico that were in great shape from calamus gardens. also, i sent a pilea moon valley and a red anne fittonia to pakistan. it took about 2 weeks maybe longer. my friend told me that the plants looked as good as they did when i sent them.
If it is a small item and not multiplies I have just sent it First Class.