Quote:
Originally Posted by buymycards
One thing to keep in mind is that a few days ago, a new rule was put in place for first class packages. The surface of the package now has to be big enough to contain the address, return address, postage, and the tracking bar code label, on the surface of the package. This means that some of the smaller bubble mailers, and some of the smaller boxes, will not be able to be mailed at the first class rates.
The reason for this change is that a lot of people who print their postage at home are wrapping the barcode around the package so the bar code is on the side or the bottom. The high speed package sorting machines have difficulty reading these barcodes, so these packages may not show any tracking history or they may be delayed. In addition, it is easier for a letter carrier to miss the barcode during delivery, so the package may not be scanned as delivered. We tell the carriers to turn each package over to make sure, but sometimes when they have been out in the below zero weather for several hours and they are performing their 500th delivery of the day, it is easy to miss a scan.
Anyway, you might want to stop using the 3x5 and possibly the 4x6 bubble envelopes and the really small card boxes, because they will no longer be mailable. I am giving my customers a couple of months to use their remaining inventory of boxes and bubble envelopes and this will give me time to educate my customers on the new rule.
The rule will be officially published on Jan 17th, but it takes effect immediately.
Rick
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Rick, thanks for this information. I don't mean to sidetrack this topic, but do you know if there's an online place where these rules for the Post Office are posted? Basically, in the Spring 2016 ebay seller news, Top Rated sellers need to have their tracking information showing an Acceptance scan within ~24 hours of buyer payment, and if that does not happen, then the package needs to show that it was delivered to the buyer within the stated delivery time on the ebay listing. The issue of course, is that if the seller drops the packages into a post office box and doesn't request an acceptance scan from the post office clerk, then occasionally the acceptance scan does not happen with that 24 hours (or is missed entirely). In addition, if the package is delayed within the postal system, then it may not be delivered within the stated delivery time. This is further complicated by the issue where ebay is tightening the tracking requirements from something like 90% need to meet this threshold currently to something like 98% in the Spring. Therefore, if you have 1-2 packages that are missed, then as a seller, you would lose your Top Rated status.
The workaround is to get all of your packages scanned by the Post Office clerk with the Acceptance scan when you mail it. However, when I talked to some clerks, they said that they need to charge you for each Acceptance scan (unless you have a SCAN form, which is available when you ship via the USPS online system for Priority mail, but not to my knowledge for the prepaid ebay shipping labels). The clerk that I talked to about this said this new rule took place a few months ago (perhaps early 2015?), so ideally, I would like to point this out to ebay to see if they can adjust their new seller rules to take this fee into account. (The clerk stated the charge is due to something around needing a certified mailer for the Acceptance scan. Something like that, don't know if I'm remembering it correctly.) Thanks!