Shipping.

[hosman321]

So, I sent my husband to the post office to ship a ring I sold. I asked him to get a tracking number and send it the cheapest way possible. It was a tiny little padded envelope which usually costs me about 72 cents to ship. I figured a tracking number would be about 45 cents more. They charged him $5.95. When I asked him why, he said that they told him that if an envelope is less than 3/4 of an inch thick and you want to track it, then it has to be sent the fastest way. How does this make any sense? Why does it matter how thick it is? The guy was like, "Yeah, it doesn't say that little rule online." Sorry, just doesn't make sense to me!

[ironlord1963]

   That is not correct for sure.  They charged you parcel post cost for something that could be First Class.  As long as it is under 13 Oz. Then I can be shipped via First Class package, Letter cost is a bit cheaper,  Delivery conformation is .19 .  Unless it was International in which case there is not Tracking unless you pay for Prioity.

[hosman321]

Yeah, I didn't understand it either! It was a crazy price for a tiny package that just had a ring in it. Did some postal work just make up that 3/4" rule? It wasn't international. The padded envelope was about half the size of a regular white envelope.

[ironlord1963]

    It was for sure a mess up on the part of the postal worker.  on letters if they are Stiff you have to add .20 postage to letters.  if it is 3/4" thick then it would be considered as a package rate, not letter rate, this is a bit more but not by much.  When  I ship something to zone 8 first class the most is about 3.00 or so, and I do this every week.  Sounds like you had yourself a real rookie postal worker.   Personnally next time I would not go to the counter.  I will only use online, or for personnal First class the machine in the lobby.   

[rockandrollrods]

It's over 3/4" thick then it's considered a package as opposed to a letter. However, that being said, it should only be something like $1.75 as it would be a First Class Mail Package. Parcel Post is slower and costs more. They were jerks.

[hosman321]

Yeah, but it was less than 3/4 of an inch thick so they charged him way more than it should have been. Which makes no sense to me. He had to send it faster because it's smaller? Ugh.

[Oceans64]

H - Could it have been that your package/envelope was too small? i had that issue with the PO awhile back.  If I remember correctly (can't say that I am), I couldn't get a price online (too small), took to the PO and they said priority.  I took it home, put it in a larger box and was able to get a first class rate on-line.

PO apparently doesn't like teeny-tiny...

[talesofthesevenseas]

I think that the reason the thickness matters is that over 3/4" is too thick to go through the machines and it has to be handled manually like a package. Hubby is a former postal employee, I'll ask him tonight.

[hosman321]

Shouldn't it be cheaper if it is able to go through the machines rather than having to be handled like a package?

[fancypants]

Pole-vaulting over mouse turds - value $5.95 .

Guilty (& now , no doubt , more attentive-to-details) spouse - priceless !



Sorry , I just couldn't help it !
 

[rockandrollrods]

What happened was they upsold you when there was no need to.

[hosman321]

lol Definitely won't be sending him again, I would have told him to forget the tracking number if I knew it was going to cost $5 more than normal!

[rockandrollrods]

And sadly, even though it costs more, Parcel Post is slower than First Class Mail.

[zimbauy]

I have a hard time deciding for shipping. I want to purchase something what I saw online, but the cost of shipping is more expensive than the item I want to purchase.

[rsorgel]

if the package is under an inch thick you can only put delivery confirmation if you ship it priority. ive had the same deal and ended up skipping delivery confirmation. my next time, i made a small box an inch thick, printed my label right off ebay. it was under 2.00 total. it doesnt make sense i know but thats just how it is.