Just an FYI...after a long talk with a very nice man at the main MN office (I think) about standardizing postage rates, he was kind enough to send me this flow chart to explain why there may be differences in exact mail. It is all up to the clerk at the PO to decide where on this flow chart a parcel should go.
Have a look....
and Have a nice day.
Robbi
Interesting. It does seem like they make up the cost. Every time we take something to mail it is a diff. price.
Gee, I was always taught that a rectangle and a square were different. I must have been lied to all my life. LOL
I asked what it would take to get the rates standardized and he didn't sound to promising as he said if a clerk thought it wouldn't go through the machine for one reason or another-it was an extra 17 cents. Also, something I never knew...if the address is not parallel with the longest side, that too is an extra 17 cents!! I was very shocked at that one. Seems the machine can't read it then. I wonder if I get charged extra because my handwriting is bad.
WOW! Weird about it not being written parallel. Sheesh!!!!! Good thing I've never done that. But I wonder about the handwriting bit!
I hate how SOMETIMES if not enough postage it gets sent back to me. Okay I get that. But then sometimes it's just sent on (in the case of getting mail from someone else) with an envelop left in your box to leave XX cents for your postal carrier. Weird.
Once got some mail in my town with town written completely wrong....lived in town called Sommerville. Town spelled was Summerfield. And the zip was wrong to. Still got it in 3 weeks.
WHOO HOO postal workers!
Thankls for sharing it-
Hey, bunch of Burts Bees seeds were sent out in packets, no padded emvelope like I've always read about for seeds- what's up with that?
Hmm. I'm pretty sure bubble envelopes have always been given the "nonmachinable surcharge" -- perhaps they're considered to be "enclosed in plastic material?"
One of the biggest confusions seems to be over what postage should be on a rather stuffed little BE... they're probably over 1/4" (since an empty BE measures about 1/4"), but they're likely well under 3/4", and the way I pack them there's not more than 1/4" in width (unless you're measuring variation from the flat rim around the edge of the BE, maybe?). Sometimes they get posted as a large envelope, other times as a small package.
I don't actually care so much about the rate on packets I'm sending out for trades... if it costs a little extra, that's fine, I still want to do the trade, and I'm still happy. But if I post a bunch of seeds for SASBE, it can start to add up, not to mention the hassle of envelopes being returned or being delivered postage-due because they were deemed "small parcels." Maybe I'll stick to sending small seeds... ;-)
