FYI - USPS Rate Hike 1/21

[eBAUMANN]

This is relevant for anyone buying/selling here:

USPS raised their rates as of yesterday :butt:

http://blog.stamps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2018_priority-mail-flat-rate.png

[batman1425]

Inevitable IMO. Surprise it's been as long as it has since the last rate hike.

[fa63]

A few cents across the board, I think we will survive :)

[ultraman6970]

They move to electric cars and the price would go down or at least being even for a very long time.

[bicycletricycle]

They move to electric cars and the price would go down or at least being even for a very long time.

Depending on how they finance it, would raise costs at first. Someone who wants to get into the electric game big in the US should give them a fleet of electric vehicles on a 20 year lease or something.

[brewsmith]

Yea, I don't mind swallowing an additional $.05 per flat rate package, seems pretty reasonable as long as they can make the deliveries. USPS was a nightmare this holiday season, seemed like they were blindsided by the rush....

[Luwabra]

still waiting on a frame shipped on the 12th... says "in transit" to destination. was due to be delivered last thursday. sonsabitches.

[Luwabra]

Yea, I don't mind swallowing an additional $.05 per flat rate package, seems pretty reasonable as long as they can make the deliveries. USPS was a nightmare this holiday season, seemed like they were blindsided by the rush....

blindsided by the rush???? its an every year type occurrence correct (the holidays) #getyour****together im just pissed bc i want to get the frame to a builder for the fork :mad:

[fa63]

With as many packages as USPS deliver, I wonder what the delay and failure to deliver rates actually are, and how they compare to UPS and Fedex.

Personally, I have never had a problem with USPS shipping, and I will use them exclusively if I can fit something into a flat-rate box.

[eBAUMANN]

Yea, I don't mind swallowing an additional $.05 per flat rate package, seems pretty reasonable as long as they can make the deliveries.

I dont think that chart is actually accurate...as I paid $5.95 for a flat rate envelope on the 19th and $6.55 for that same flat rate envelope today.

Also, for padded flat rate envelopes, was $6.50 last week, now $7.10.

So yea, a little more than just 5c per.

http://blog.stamps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2018_priority-mail-flat-rate.png

[ftf]

Better than them going away.

[eBAUMANN]

Better than them going away.

agreed! im not complaining so much as posting this here so the next time i sell something and i quote a shipping cost that is 50c more than it "should be," they will maybe understand why.

and yes, i have had people complain about costs as small as that in the past...

[batman1425]

With as many packages as USPS deliver, I wonder what the delay and failure to deliver rates actually are, and how they compare to UPS and Fedex.

Personally, I have never had a problem with USPS shipping, and I will use them exclusively if I can fit something into a flat-rate box.

I wonder this too. It's not like fedex et al. where most folks may get deliveries a few times a month. USPS delivers to almost every residence/business every day.

I also wonder how much their workload could be reduced (not to mention the trees saved) if we could do away with BS junk mail. The vast majority of first class deliveries to my house go directly into the shredder followed by recycling bin.

[GonaSovereign]

Your Canadian friends will generally prefer USPS to UPS or FedEx. UPS and FedEx are effectively separate companies from their Canadian namesakes, and the brokerage times and fees are stupid.

It's funny that the two entirely separate government organizations (USPS and Canada Post) work very well together to ensure packages travel safely and at a good rate. I guess that's a benefit of terminal dues (http://www.upu.int/en/activities/terminal-dues-and-transit-charges/about-terminal-dues-and-transit-charges.html).

[VTCaraco]

At the start of the holiday season, my guy told me that Amazon had just informed USPS that delivery demand would be up by 30 over the previously mentioned commitment. He said that they weren't in a position to accommodate the previously identified target and that this would be super-tough to survive.

As long as we have our regular guy, our service is pretty great; but my sense is that, like other companies, they're trying to do more with less as a way of operating in a more cost-effective manner...and it doesn't always work out so well.

It surely helps to be in rural New England where our regular guy strikes up a conversation every time we see him, but it's got to be a tough business when you consider the volume/demand/cost-expectations.


blindsided by the rush???? its an every year type occurrence correct (the holidays) #getyour****together im just pissed bc i want to get the frame to a builder for the fork :mad:

[huck*this]

Weird, according to the chart I was paying those 2018 rates in 2017. Ah well. On wards and upwards.

[PacNW2Ford]

I wonder this too. It's not like fedex et al. where most folks may get deliveries a few times a month. USPS delivers to almost every residence/business every day.

I also wonder how much their workload could be reduced (not to mention the trees saved) if we could do away with BS junk mail. The vast majority of first class deliveries to my house go directly into the shredder followed by recycling bin.

Counterintuitively, if junk mail was eliminated, rates would go up. Bulk mail represents most of the USPS' income. I just sent a package from Oregon to North Carolina yesterday (Saturday) for $7.15, 2-Day Priority Mail to a snowbound Paceliner. If he gets it tomorrow, what a bargain.

[batman1425]

Counterintuitively, if junk mail was eliminated, rates would go up. Bulk mail represents most of the USPS' income. I just sent a package from Oregon to North Carolina yesterday (Saturday) for $7.15, 2-Day Priority Mail to a snowbound Paceliner. If he gets it tomorrow, what a bargain.

May not need the income if it means fewer deliveries, fewer personnel, fewer trucks, etc. but fair point that all that junk I'm sure subsidized the package services. Pretty remarkable that we can send something coast to coast for $7 and have it get there in 2-3 days, 99% of the time.

[oldpotatoe]

Inevitable IMO. Surprise it's been as long as it has since the last rate hike.

Agree but still a good deal, IMHO. I send a lot of stuff priority and $12.85(medium box), any weight, anywhere in the US, delivered in 2-3 days, with a tracking number works for me...even at higher $.

[oliver1850]

Weird, according to the chart I was paying those 2018 rates in 2017. Ah well. On wards and upwards.

I think the chart posted was for people that have an account or do a certain amount of volume. Flat rate padded envelope has been over $7 for a long time for average Joe customers. Current price shows as $7.25. That's around what I paid the last time I shipped something.

[pdmtong]

Agree but still a good deal, IMHO. I send a lot of stuff priority and $12.85(medium box), any weight, anywhere in the US, delivered in 2-3 days, with a tracking number works for me...even at higher $.

that chart is commercial - retail on medium flat rate box is now $13.65