Friendly Reminder - New Postage Rates Effective Today

[x2drich2000]

Just thought I'd through out a friendly reminder that new postage rates went into effect today. 4oz first class package through Ebay went from $2.13 to $2.60.

DJ

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

Just thought I'd through out a friendly reminder that new postage rates went into effect today. 4oz first class package through Ebay went from $2.13 to $2.60.

DJ

Thanks - I hadn't heard about this. I ship many packages in the 1-3 oz. range. Has that price increased?

[Louieman]

I ship mine pretty much exclusively 1 to 3 oz, and to my surprise today (and before checking this thread, of course), yes that increase applies to those weights as well

[gregr2]

It seems that 4 oz and below are all set at $2.60 for USPS First Class shipping with tracking. There is no eBay discount until you get to 5 oz. This is painful as I was charging $2.25 for shipping on eBay. Now I have to charge $3.00. Ouch!!

[Cozumeleno]

Ugh

[Beatles Guy]

Originally Posted by gregr2

It seems that 4 oz and below are all set at $2.60 for USPS First Class shipping with tracking. There is no eBay discount until you get to 5 oz. This is painful as I was charging $2.25 for shipping on eBay. Now I have to charge $3.00. Ouch!!

Yep, I had a few auctions ending today and I was caught off guard by the new prices.

[buymycards]

UPS and Fed Ex also raised their rates, and their increase was a higher % than the Postal Service increase.

The cheapest eBay discounted rate for a 4 oz package is $6.04 through Fed Ex and $11.25 through UPS. $2.60 from the Postal Service is still a good price.

For low priced single cards, your best option is still a 6x8 photo mailer. Put your card in a top load, put the card and the receipt in the photo mailer. As long as the height of the photo mailer is under 6 1/8", the photo mailer is considered a non-machinable letter. It will weigh a little under 2 ounces. So, you have the 2 oz letter price of 71 cents and the non-machinable price of 22 cents, so you just need to buy some 93 stamps and you are ready to go. The only drawback is that tracking is not available for letters.

I made up some labels to apply to the mailer just in case a postal employee somewhere along the line is not aware of the rules and tries to collect postage due at the package rate. This "non-machinable" letter rule was put in place 4 years ago to accommodate Net-Flix DVD's. You can get some good buys on eBay for the photo mailers, or try U-Line if you want to buy them by the case.

If I remember correctly, I got the idea for the labels when I purchased a card from someone - it may have been Mike Wheat, but I'm not 100% sure.



Rick

[Laxcat]

Great info Rick. Thanks. I was hit with the surprise this morning as well. 6 cent discount? I think that word should be surcharge.

[Sean1125]

My rates didn't increase quite as much as yours, but jeez mine took a 24.45% increase.

That's the highest percentage rate hike in my last 8 years of business and I had to increase my shipping cost because of it.

[insidethewrapper]

1-8 oz is 2.60. Now 1st class up to 16 oz from 13oz.

[Beatles Guy]

We still get charged a "fuel surcharge" by UPS here at work. Since prices are lower than they've been in a decade or more, when does this go away?

[savedfrommyspokes]

What is surprising, is that I can take all of my 4 oz or less mailings to the USPS counter and pay $2.54 versus the click and ship rate of $2.60 that ebay offers. Go figure.

Also, you can no longer purchase "1st class package" labels via the USPS.com website.....now a sender (who does not use ebay mailing, stamps.com, etc) has to make a trip to the USPS counter instead of using USPS's click to ship online option.

Go figure (again).

[mybuddyinc]

Funny, just before reading this post, I did a 4 oz. label via paypal, and saw the $2.60 !!! The slight increase does add up, BUT if it's now 2.60 for 1- 8 oz., it'll probably even out for slightly heavier packages.

[Cozumeleno]

The (not so) funny thing here is that since eBay takes a cut of shipping costs collected by sellers, increases like this only give them more money. eBay is the only one who wins here. Sellers pay more in shipping and that cost is often passed on to the buyer.

In other words, I find it hard to believe that the increased prices upset them.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

1-8 oz is 2.60. Now 1st class up to 16 oz from 13oz.

I am puzzled by this (not saying you are wrong). The new USPS Price List (a/k/a USPS Notice 123) effective January 17th shows the RETAIL rate for a First Class parcel weighing up to 3 ounces to be $2.54 - yet, I was just charged $2.60 for a 3 ounce eBay parcel I am shipping - why is eBay charging more than retail?

Also, this new USPS Price List shows that the limit for First Class continues to be 13 ounces. I am puzzled as to where the new 16 ounce limit comes from. I think this link will work for this new Price List:
http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/.../Notice123.pdf

Val

[pow323]

Wonder if I can get a 20% pay raise to match the cost of living rates that have gone up? GOOD LUCK!!!

[insidethewrapper]

Val: See page 13. Not sure what the retail first class at 2.54 is about and that only goes to 13 oz not the 15.999 oz . Can any postal workers explain the difference ?

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

Val: See page 13. Not sure what the retail first class at 2.54 is about and that only goes to 13 oz not the 15.999 oz . Can any postal workers explain the difference ?

Mike, many thanks for bringing Page 13 to my attention, as I hadn't looked at it. I have now compared this page to Page 13 of the previous edition of Notice 123, and I see that it has been reconfigured - there were 4 different prices for each weight, whereas now there is only one price. FYI, I was paying $2.04 for a 3 ounce First Class parcel (as shown on the old Page 13), which was a nice discount from the $2.54 retail price. I suspect the USPS has screwed something up and that a correction to Notice 123 will be forthcoming (perhaps to Page 1, which may now show incorrect retail prices).
Val

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

I am puzzled by this (not saying you are wrong). The new USPS Price List (a/k/a USPS Notice 123) effective January 17th shows the RETAIL rate for a First Class parcel weighing up to 3 ounces to be $2.54 - yet, I was just charged $2.60 for a 3 ounce eBay parcel I am shipping - why is eBay charging more than retail?

Also, this new USPS Price List shows that the limit for First Class continues to be 13 ounces. I am puzzled as to where the new 16 ounce limit comes from. I think this link will work for this new Price List:
http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/.../Notice123.pdf

Val

Stamps.com is also at $2.60 up to 8 ounces, so it's not just Ebay.

There also seems to be a jump all the way up to $3.30 from 8 ounces to 9 ounces.

They also allow up to 16 ounces for first class.