USPS Rates Go Up in January

[Foofoogal]

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2009/11/1257368076.html

don't know where to put this but this will affect everyone buying and selling vintage and other stuff. yippee...

http://sandysfancypants.blogspot.com

 

[Lauren]

ARG!!! Again???!!!
I hate that. It's rotten, cause buyers say "Why is shipping so much", and I get irritated at buying things online, too!

 

[C-dot]

&%$#@^!!!!!

That means international rates from the US will skyrocket

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

So frustrating.
First we lost the option of surface mail overseas, extremely limiting the surprises I enjoyed sending to family and friends. From there, it's been nothing but downhill.
This week, I mailed a small shoe box to my cousin in PA, containing a t-shirt and an empty Coke can. I expected to pay 4 bucks, maybe 5 for First Class, so was rather unpleasantly surprised when it cost nearly $8. That was Priority, but First Class would have been about 30 cents less.

 

[Lauren]

Yeah, that's the thing! The rates are SO close now. It really sucks. For some things it's actually cheaper to ship UPS!
I sold a purse this week and underestimated the weight. When I looked at shipping it parcel post it was only about 40 cents in difference to priority so I just ate the cost. Bah! Postal service! BAH!

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

It really puts a crimp in selling stuff. I find myself sometimes tempted to up the price of an item, so it will seem more worthy of the shipping cost. How sad is that?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

First we lost the option of surface mail overseas, ...

That loss has really hurt my vintage clothing sales. The number of Europeans who buy from me on eBay has really declined.


To get around the USPS, more and more Japanese customers of mine are opening 'buying offices' in the U.S., to avoid having U.S. sellers ship directly to Japan.


.

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

It was a serious blow, to say the least. I used to send surface parcels of my jewelry and glass art for a friend to sell in her Devonshire shop. It was the only feasible way to make it work. Now, unless I know someone who is traveling that way and willing to carry a few pieces for me, my international commerce has come to a virtual halt.

 

[C-dot]

To get around the USPS, more and more Japanese customers of mine are opening 'buying offices' in the U.S., to avoid having U.S. sellers ship directly to Japan.

Very clever! I should get a group of Canadians together and form one.

The one thing I will say for the USPS is it compares favourably to Canada Post. It can be faster, and it delivers on Sunday!

I'm sorry to hear our vendors have been hurt

 

[Foofoogal]

If it is really big or heavy UPS is almost always cheaper but there is not one too near me now.
As a glass dealer someone has to pay for the protection of the glass.
In the heyday Japanese customers used to buy tons of glass and vintage from me, put it in their shops and both of us still made money.
I knew the minute I walked into the Post Office some years back and saw Ebay signs we were doomed.
I have never ever understood how any company including ebay could join in with the US Post Service.
Thank goodness our grandbabies do not live in another country like they used to. Nana sent big packages at Christmas and the shipping was high then but you know.....

 

[Paisley]

Greyhound will ship packages. I don't know how their rates or services compare to those of the USPS or others.

http://www.shipgreyhound.com/company/

 

[Miss 1929]

Ah, privatization.

 

[SayCici]

Ah, privatization.

Are you saying you are hoping for this to happen, or what?

I hope they are able to work out some kind of solution. I personally have a number of relatives who are employed by the USPS or have been in the past (this is where my dad's retirement check comes from) and, as the second-largest civilian employer behind Wal-Mart, I cannot imagine just how many lives or businesses (especially small businesses) will be negatively affected were they to completely tank.

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

My husband was a postman for years (first with Royal Mail in Britain, then with USPS). If they were left to do their jobs logically, things might be better. Unfortunately, when decisions are made by overpaid fatcats in offices hundreds or thousands of miles away, and those decisions always result in higher fees and reduced customer service, the outcome isn't very pretty.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

My husband was a postman for years (first with Royal Mail in Britain, then with USPS). If they were left to do their jobs logically, things might be better. Unfortunately, when decisions are made by overpaid fatcats in offices hundreds or thousands of miles away, and those decisions always result in higher fees and reduced customer service, the outcome isn't very pretty.

The end of civilization then,... I suppose it's inevitable. It's so strange to me as it's all about one thing, money. And money is really only scraps of paper that have no real intrinsic value anymore. It's the fatcats in their offices trying to hold on to their precious scraps of paper, and get more of those scraps from the rest of us, that screws everything up for us all.

 

[LordBest]

This is not good. Its bad enough prices for a hat-sized object to Australia range from $36-$300* (No exaggeration) at the present time without more increases.


*I'm not sure why this was, but it popped up on USPS rate calculator.

 

[C-dot]

Are you saying you are hoping for this to happen, or what?

I certainly hope not! Privatization = Soaring prices!

 

[m000m000]

That loss has really hurt my vintage clothing sales. The number of Europeans who buy from me on eBay has really declined.
.

I used to pick up lots of small random trift articles on ebay in the past, but kind of stopped doing that when the postal charges started to hit ~100-200% of the actual item value - so much for "bargain" hunting.

 

[Lady Day]

This week, I mailed a small shoe box to my cousin in PA, containing a t-shirt and an empty Coke can. I expected to pay 4 bucks, maybe 5 for First Class, so was rather unpleasantly surprised when it cost nearly $8. That was Priority, but First Class would have been about 30 cents less.

Thats happened to me as well. I think its a gradual phasing out of the levels of service to discontinue the lowest cost one because I mean, if the savings isnt even the cost of a 1st class stamp, whats the point (I think that should be the base level of savings for each class of postage IMO)?

LD

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

Yes. The 'phasing out of levels of service' translates, in reality, into one crappy level of service, at the most premium price.