Poor Skills at the Post Office

[belleweather]

So the USPS just released new regulations about how much it costs to mail stuff, and we got bitten by them. My darling husband was sending out resumes, and since he generally has to send writing samples with them, he had been sending them in 8x10 envelopes. It turns out that with the new regulations, sending documents in an 8x10 envelope even if it

Comments

[teenonfire4lord]

The only one I can contribute is one I've seen here before.

Stamps have recently gone up to 41 cents. Sucks. But, the Post Office is now selling these dealies called Forever Stamps. They are orange stamps that sell right now at the current rate, 41 cents. Deal is, 1 Forever Stamp will send your letter FOREVER, even if postage goes above that. Basically, if postage goes up to 45 cents next year, your 1 Forever Stamp you paid 41 cents for will still send the letter.

[teenonfire4lord]

Doesn't really have anything to do specifically with new weight and size restrictions....sorry.

[chaeri]

sure it does. the weight and size determine the amount of postage, and you can use forever stamps on anything going through the USPS. so, if you buy one for 41c now, and in 6 months the prices go up say 2 cents per ounce, then you can use an old forever stamp or two and save money.

[munchkin1616]

read up on this, it's a BAD INVESTMENT... inflation is always higher than the price of stamps, so it's a very stupid move to buy a ton of stamps now in expectation of the price increase. the only time it'd make sense is say, the week before an increase.

[heinleinfan]

No tips, but frustrations for sure. I work in a store that has a very prolific eBay business and the new regulations on size, weight and shape of package have caused major backlash from our customers and more difficulties when we're trying to securely package everything

[amyleaton]

Actually, the USPS is funded entirely by revenues from postage; not tax dollars. http://www.nalc.org/postal/perform/selfsufficient.html#subsidize.

But still.

[heinleinfan]

Not tax money then...but all that extra postage we're paying.

Point is, lots of money being wasted for a "brand recognition" marketing type change, not any actual efficiency change.

[nanimo]

Well, except for the sizble start-up grants the government gives them every time they want to implement a new program. You could also make the argument that they're implicitly funded through not having to pay taxes, but meh.

[blookum]

I belong to an online book swap (http://www.bookmooch.com/m/bio/blookum if you'd like to mooch one from me!) and I mail out all of my books via media rate.

I discovered another first class restriction - if a book is light enough, I used to be able to send first class, but there now an additional restriction that it needs to be less than 1/2 inch thick. I use nice padded mailers that add to the bulk of the size so I have only gotten to send a small, thin paperback first class since the changes.

I'm trying to encourage people to combine shipping & get more than 1 book from me. Here's hoping it works!

[belleweather]

Yeah, I resell my kid's cloth diapers and I've pretty much stopped putting things up for sale for a bit until I get a better feel for the new prices because I like to include shipping in my price and I can't if I have no idea how much it's going to be. It's going to have a HUGE impact since diapers are light but very bulky... and of course would happen right when I need to buy a ton of new stuff!

(And I will check out bookmooch! Thanks for the tip... I can always use new things to read and new homes for the stuff I have.)

[cmarie14]

What I don't get is that there is a non-machinable category and it has to be over 3/4" thick. That and the above are the only two options. What happens if your envelope is, say, 2/3" thick?

All the new regulations are crazy and half the post office employees still don't know what they are doing. Our post office is usually very informed, and the guy I spoke to still didn't know all the rules. He said it was really hard on the employees because before it was just a rate change, but now they have to measure the boxes, etc. Doesn't help when our post offices here in this town are already super slow.

[goldbug]

You can still send light books first class...it's just that there's a difference between first class letter, "flat", and parcel rates. Light paperbacks can go on the parcel rates no matter how thick they are.

[chaeri]

if its free or low-cost through your bank or credit union, and its feasible for you in finances, sign up for auto bill-pay.

[bruiseblue]

Yes! The only bill I have to mail now are my student loan cheques - everything else is paid online, via my no-fee bank.

They still process it by hand, but it's at no cost to me. It takes 3-4 days for payments to be acknowledged.

[belleweather]

Yeah, we're definately going to be doing more paying on line than we had been... 39 cents didn't seem like nearly as much, but somehow 41 cents is psychologically closer to 50 cents, which seems like A LOT to send a letter.

Ugh. What I really need is to stop having to job hunt, or at least work more with companies that take resumes online. Seriously, we go through a book of stamps a week and it's getting absurd.

[bruiseblue]

I get them to weigh everything, and pass all envelopes and small packages through the slot which determines whether something is a 'parcel' or an 'envelope'... That way, I pay exactly the correct postage, and no more.

Using the minimum packing materials helps - I no longer mail out books in padded envelopes, just wrap them in brown paper (one layer) and try not to use too much tape.

I will also save things up and mail them all at once, rather then sending out several small gifts - it's cheaper to mail one thing than several things, even if the combined weight is the same.

About resumes - You do want to send those in 8" x11" envelopes - it's very bad form, at least here, to fold a resume. You want it to arrive all fresh and clean and unfolded and not wrinkly. It's worth a buck to make a good impression.