New USPS Double Whammy Rates

[springfield art]

So, I went to ship a nice longrifle today. Thought a square profile box with extra padding would be the ticket. Foolishly had it priced SHIPPED. Well, besides the $15 fee for over 30", there is also a new "irregular volume" fee of $15 now. Just brought it back home to regroup. From here out, if buyers want their guns to arrive quickly and in good order, they need to be willing to shoulder all or some of the cost of getting it to them. Not sure why Louis Dejoy isn't in jail. No doubt his stock in companies that compete with USPS is going up. Cleptocracy at its finest. Rant over.

Yeah, a small item you could price as 'shipped', but when you get into those biggie things, wow. The price of groceries is unbelievable, too!

 

[vintovka]

We are in a weird state of flux. Many are still shipping at old rates as they haven't seen the bills yet others are subsidizing shipping costs as long as they can. Eventually costs will affect all bottom lines and everything will go will go up if it hasn't already. Accepting up to 30% price increase invites a repeat. If this does not stop things may get to point where folks will not buy at all either because of high shipping, product cost and most likely both.

 

[Col. Batguano]

There are still deals with USPS. I just shipped some telescope counter-weights in a medium flat rate box the other day. Max weight is 70 pounds. My package weighed 46 pounds. It probably would have cost triple the flat rate price to ship via common carrier.

I heard a story in the WSJ a few years ago about a builder that was doing a project on the North Slope of Alaska. Normal freight rate would have been $20,000 to get his materials there, so he MAILED them all in flat rate boxes (69 pounds each), and saved himself $17,000 in shipping costs. I don't know if the USPS has corrected the loop hole or not, but since it was an option, he took advantage of it.

 

[vintovka]

There are still deals with USPS. I just shipped some telescope counter-weights in a medium flat rate box the other day. Max weight is 70 pounds. My package weighed 46 pounds. It probably would have cost triple the flat rate price to ship via common carrier.

I heard a story in the WSJ a few years ago about a builder that was doing a project on the North Slope of Alaska. Normal freight rate would have been $20,000 to get his materials there, so he MAILED them all in flat rate boxes (69 pounds each), and saved himself $17,000 in shipping costs. I don't know if the USPS has corrected the loop hole or not, but since it was an option, he took advantage of it.

Wouldn't be surprised if flat rate isn't gone soon as part of the "war on the economy".