Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by DeltaglowBoy on May 28, 2013 at 7:08am

Ditto ... I've been told "irregular shape" won't stack in the truck properly. Extra charge. We can pack it for you, extra charge. It was a small acoustic guitar box I acquired from the local music store.

Worst yet is the number of smashed, crunched, and partially open packages I've received in recent years. Makes me wonder as to whether my box makes it to its destination in one piece.

And the fee structure .... costs less to a business address, more to a residence.

Inconsistent fees. Have shipped to Phoenix for $35 but had similar item sent from Phoenix for $55.

 

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on May 28, 2013 at 7:12am

What were the dimensions of the box that they said was $94?? That was to ship domestically, or overseas?

I ship everything exclusively with the Post Office, and it is seldom more than $15.00.

The boxes I use are 36x12x4

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Permalink Reply by 3 String Blues on May 28, 2013 at 12:39pm

ME too..There great and prices are awesome....sounds like he had a bad sales person who didnt know how to work the machines...i would come back after that worker left, cuz the post office is by far leaps and bounds better than UPS or Fedex

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Permalink Reply by Hip Bone Bellaire on May 28, 2013 at 8:07am

40 inches long and 31 inches around/square.. they said by that it weighed 64 lbs... for a 7 lbs package...  Rochester Ny to Waco Tx

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Permalink Reply by Brian Hunt on May 28, 2013 at 12:11pm

Because of the new airline rules where shipping has been changed from weight to volume it costs a lot more to ship these days. I find that the post office is much more reasonable than UPS or FEDex for anything I ship.

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Permalink Reply by Hip Bone Bellaire on May 28, 2013 at 12:41pm

OK UPS....Nuf Said....

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on May 28, 2013 at 1:36pm

That is more like it, eh?

I am not doubting that the post office told you that, but it still sounds like someone doesn't know what they are doing behind the counter. 

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on May 29, 2013 at 6:35am

Hey!  All Postal Employees are experienced.  Or so says their union spokesperson:

The Post Office Returns to the Local Store

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-23/the-post-office-ret...

"One natural skeptic of the new push toward Village Post Offices is Sally Davidow, spokeswoman for the American Postal Workers Union, which represents 220,000 USPS employees. She questions whether newcomers like Gable are qualified to handle mail. “People need an experienced postal clerk who can answer their questions,” she says."

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Permalink Reply by Jim Woods on June 5, 2013 at 9:26am

I have noticed I seem to have to jump through hoops to get Standard Post rates.  (Usually about $15 for a CBG) They are hidden on the USPS online site under "other services", and never offered at the post office until I have refused the Express, Priority etc at about 4x the rate. 

I do always have them packed in a "gorilla proof" rectangular box.  I think they do get more for irregular shapes.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on June 6, 2013 at 8:30am

So my wife drops off a letter going to New Zealand, Two days goes by and we get it back with Incomplete Zip Code Information stamped on it. She had to take it back to the post office and tell them that NZ is not a state code!

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on June 6, 2013 at 8:58am

I know your pain well. I had to figure out how to sell and repackage my instructional video CDs too. A domestic postage stamp only went up a penny, but international shipping more than doubled. I inquired about these increases. USPS places the blame on the other countries for increasing the handle charges once a parcel reaches their designated country. Of course, this is probably a smoke screen. Most US citizens don't regularly engage in international parcel shipping, so there has been no public outcry to these enormous increases. In response to this, Ebay is piloting a program were an international bulk shipper will deliver for reduce shipping fees. Thanks for sharing.         

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on June 6, 2013 at 5:27pm

I understand that all air carriers are now working on "volumetric weight" which is really bad news, as something like a guitar which is light but relatively bulky gets hit hard with high freight costs. I send a fair amount of stuff overseas from the UK, and if you book your parcel collection online, you'll have to go through the "volumetric weight" calculator (typing in the length, width and height) to get your shipping price. Like most things these days, it was doubtless introduced as a profit-boosting measure, and nobody either thought about or cared about the effect it would have on customers and businesses that shipped light, bulky items. It's really annoying, as I've recently gone over to having custom packing boxes made, which means my packing is more efficient and packed weight is now much lower than before...but it does me no good as I still get hit on overseas parcels because of the this.

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