Just FYI, rates went up on the flat rate boxes. I used to pay $5.25 for a small, but I got hit with $6.80 today.

And no discount for having an account like they used to......

Gotta love it. Their costs go down 40-50% with fuel prices and they jack our costs up.

Gub'ment run. Enough said.

Wow... that is a really big price increase. This sucks...

here are the new prices

Yeah, got surprised by that the other day when I went to ship some fishing lures. Very unwelcome surprise/shock!

It's done to help pay for Obama care........

Berniecare may be next......

Considering the extent of their perennial fiscal loss, what might surprise us is that the increase is not more. It is still MUCH more convenient and economical for me to ship via USPS than by UPS or FedEx simply because USPS is local. I have to drive 40 miles one way to get to either of the other two.

I like the fact I can leave packages for the mail lady to pick up too. Just still rubs me wrong when their costs dropped so drastically.

Yep I got that surprise yesterday when I shipped a few flat rate boxes!

The other factor here is that the rate hike was planned long ago, before the dramatic drop in fuel. Perhaps the lower fuel costs will help them keep their fees level longer this time, though I'm not optimistic.

Fed ex ground is an absolute joke where we live, Express is decent.. UPS is very expensive comparably.
USPS gets it done...beats driving my package where it needs to get, and our mail lady even puts our packages (even large ones) right on our very rural box. Kudos.

I'll pay it.

I would agree that it is a large price increase. It's still the best deal around for shipping anything heavy that I know of.

Just shipped a large flat rate Wednesday and found out about the increase.

It's still a bargain guys !

I wasn't really intending to vent here, I was just letting everyone know. I sold an item and ate the shipping. Makes a difference if you're only making a few dollars on the deal.

Only a bargain when the lazy a$$ knuckle draggers deliver the mail to the correct address and put oversize packages on the porch rather than on top of the mail box at the street.

Some times Priority or even first class costs less and they all travel the same way. Flat rate isn't always the best deal unless your sending 70 pounds of lead! It's worth checking before using flat rate. But it's still cheaper than delivering it yourself.

How true how true

Maybe they are trying to say you need a much larger mailbox.

The only way its a deal if say your shipping bullets or small but heavy things, I shiped a hat yesterday, and was hit with it!

For someone like me, the USPS is really convenient. We live out in the country, and due to health issues, I can't always make the drive to town if I need to mail something. But they will deliver shipping boxes for free. I can print postage online. And they'll pick up the packages. And our local mail carriers are super.

It's too bad their scanning/tracking system is no better -- or more accurate. A package I was expecting was shown to have left San Antonio yesterday evening, which meant it would be here and be out for delivery today. But that "departed San Antonio" scan was then deleted and replaced with one showing a departure this morning instead. And items going through the North Houston hub can sit for several days before moving again -- with original scans then disappearing and updated "arrival/departure" scan information soon to follow. But they do get the packages delivered, and for that I can't complain.

When it comes to receiving anything, FedEx has been super, and their current driver is about as predictable as the best in Swiss clockwork. She always arrives during a certain time period and never just throws our packages out in the ditch or near the gate 1/4th mile from the house (at night, no less!) as some UPS drivers have done. And if no one is home, FedEx places the package in a secure area and basically weather-proofs it before leaving it, too.

I'm thinking I'll vacuum seal my items and then use SAND to fill the extra space in the box.....make them earn their money.

Good idea. Let's all do that.

I shipped a few small flat rate boxes last year with 22# of lead ingots in them. One from Michigan to rural Oregon. Post office said it would have been like $25 without flat rate.

If you buy the postage on Paypal, the small boxes are $6.10

I've made two orders with Roto-Metal who will ship the max weight in a priority mail medium box, something like 70 pounds IIRC.

Second time around the mail carrier said she knew it was me when she loaded the box into her truck prior to going out on her route.

For pricing, one really needs to compare. USPS flat rate is obviously a great deal if your item will fit. Once you get up into a large box then it's kind of 50-50 whether FedEx would be cheaper or not. I just packed some stuff to mail and USPS flat rate was $13.85 while FedEx was $14.05 to the same place. If the item wouldn't have fit into the flat rate box then FedEx would have beat the next larger flat rate box by a good bit.

If it's a small, light item, standard parcel post will often be the best bet and beat even small flat rate box.

Is it just on the flat rate boxes or does it also apply to the boxes you use yourself?

The news stated that all carriers went up on price but USPS was the lowest percentage increase.

I'd rather USPS would go with a 500+% on that @#&m bulk mail. It appears that's what most of their mail deliveries are.

I get a kitchen wastebasket full of that crap every week! With this being an election year, it will only get worse.

Actually, the fiscal problems got worse when it QUIT being strictly "Gub'ment run"...........

REALLY? Which Postmaster are You?

[quote=knivesforme]REALLY? Which Postmaster are You?

Not a Postmaster, simply an informed taxpayer.

Yep, me too.

Went in the other day to mail a medium flat rate package and the postal guy behind the counter got all serious and said, "I need to let you know about the price increase." Here I'm thinking it's gonna be several dollars or something like that. When he told me I laughed and said "I think I can handle it." Especially when there was about 15 lbs in the package and it was going 2500 miles... He said some people were down-right pissed though.

knivesforme,

Brazos is right. The USPS hasn't been a Cabinet-level government agency since 1971. Instead it's supposedly an independently-run company, but still can be jerked around by Congress, which may be the worst of both worlds. Every time the USPS tries to fix problems, somebody gets upset and contacts their senator and congressman.

If you order on-line REGIONAL RATE BOXES... you can save a few bucks if shipping in the same time zone +/-.

REGIONAL RATE BOXES cannot be picked up at your local USPS... THEY MUST BE ORDERED FREE from the USPS.

If shipping East Coast to West Coast there is no savings, but Virginia to NC or OH... it will save you $2 or $10 dollars.

AGAIN... REGIONAL RATE BOXES MUST BE ORDERED FREE from the USPS... on-line only under "Shipping Materials" or something like that.

Believe there's only been one other increase with the flat rate system since they started it in 2007, and it's still a lot better deal than UPS or FED-Ex... not to mention that most times flat-rate goes by air and is delivered with in 2 or 3 day's.

The additional hike is probably going to be used for new scanning machines so that they can catch all of you that are shipping restricted items such as ...... ammo!


Phil

The cost to ship a box is tolerable, but their insurance is a fuggin ripoff.

Thanks, I wondered where they went. I've used the regional rate boxes several times in the past and saved some bucks over regular priority mail flat rate, but the last couple of times when I went to the Post Office they didn't have them.

Will have to order a few to keep around.

Is this the free classified section?

Yes it is

Also the first hike on flat rate in a while

Letters delivered to BFE for $0.49 has to be some sort of 2016 best buy.

I pull out and hang on to the envelopes that have the postage paid by the advertiser, when I get a dozen or so I'll drop off the empty envelopes at the PO for a ride back to their origin.

I'd really like to join in and grumble about this rate hike, so here goes. I recently sold a few things here and sent everything out flat rate, all got to their destinations in 2-3 days safe and sound. And now that's gonna cost me another buck fifty five a box??? sumbitches....

Wow, that felt good!

I figure I've about broken even and might hold the record for the heaviest "small" flat rate box to date. Ha!

Unless it was a solid block of lead conforming exactly to the dimensions of the box, I've probably come close to your record. 1000+ 124 gr JHP 9mm bullets = @17.75 lbs.

What did you send and how much did it weigh?

Same thing, bullets. Well, not 9mm but .224. Plumb full, the box was probably waterproof it had so much tape on it.

Yep - Good value. Tape is important, though.

Unless you use PayPal?



Is that only through eBay when you sell something (like it used to be) or by merely using PayPal as payment method?

Matt Dardus (Dardus cast bullets) is the best I have ever seen).

EXACT MAX of #64.999 of pills in a #65 Priority Mail box... triple reinforced.

My USPS carrier HATES me and Matt.

I paid for mine with PayPal online and still paid $6.80. Website says there's no discount. It's $6.10 if you have a commercial account.

I bet then that using PayPal through eBay for shipping a sold item is $6.10 due to eBay's corporate discount.

Awhile back they were considering cutting off Saturday delivery to save money, a week ago I saw a postal truck delivering packages on a Sunday. What the hell?

UPS delivered on a Sunday before Christmas here.

They could deliver once a week for all I care.

We'll get Priority packages on Sunday sometimes. The guy that's there to handle trucks or whatever gets handled on Sunday does it if he's got the time. They are screwing me!

So what? UPS goes up 5% EVERY January 1. Their gas costs went down too. Guess what else? Whenever there is a PRC meeting (Postal Regulatory Commission), UPS goes and "testifies" for higher USPS rates, so that they can raise theirs! I bet if you ship that $6.80 box to a residential address in a rural area, it will cost $18.00. Yes, they charge a residential fee and an extended delivery area fee. The PO cannot do that. They have to charge the same amount to ANY address in the US. UPS does not want residential business. They want to pull into a business, drop of 20 packages, and pick up 20 packages. They are happy to leave the door to door 6 day a week [bleep] work to the USPS. Does UPS work 6 days a week-no. To all you cheap ass whiners here, when the Postal Service is gone, you will know what you had. Bend over and grab your ankles.

Most of you are missing the point.....

Not only did they raise the rates on flat rate box shipping, they took away the discount offered by having an online click-n-ship account, and now charging the same as paying at the counter.

So the advantage of time, convenience, and, most importantly, cost of doing their job at our home is taken away......

One can't miss what one didn't utilize.

As remote as we live to consistently (and timely) get and send packages in 2-3 days is pretty incredible.
I repeat, I'll gladly pay it; it is a bargain.

I much prefer to have schit sent to me than drive around for half the day looking for stuff. Can't tell how many times I've ordered something just to look it over, then ship it back.

Flat rate boxes are still a damn good deal....

Politicians have been trying to legislate the postal service out business to try privatize them for years.
Operationally speaking, the USPS nets profits every year. The financial problem it faces now comes from a 2006 Congressional mandate that requires the agency to “pre-pay” into a fund that covers health care costs for future retired employees. Under the mandate, the USPS is required to make an annual $5.5 billion payment over ten years, through 2016. These “prepayments” are largely responsible for the USPS’s financial losses over the past four years and the threat of shutdown that looms ahead – take the retirement fund out of the equation, and the postal service would have actually netted $1 billion in profits over this period.

I'm not saying that it isn't, but to take away the past discount offered for click-n-ship, plus add in the rate hike, adds up to a 30% increase in a small flat rate box, probably the same for medium and large too.

Little wonder, considering almost 80% of USPS's operating expenses go to employee wages, benefits, and pensions......

Pension and Healthcare ride again. One is paid for what you'll never get, the other gotten for what was never paid.

Discounts are still applied by doing postage through Paypal.

With all the families incoming boxes from Amazon & elsewhere on hand, I have found it sometimes pays to compare prices for UPS, FedX & USPS snail mail. Am fortunate that all are about same distance for me. Small & heavy still usually goes flat rate Priorty.

We sure have difficulties to contend with... Worrying about a few bucks to get chit to support our rifle addictions... LOL

Do you have to use the pay for goods and services rather than friends and family to do that?

Just shipped a sfrb and paid with paypal $6.80

Did you ship through the USPS site and pay with PayPal, or ship through the PayPal site?

STOP!

I went this afternoon and for my small flat rate was 5.95
I asked but post master said these did not increase nor stamps

Everybody head for Oklahoma!

I'm pretty sure PayPal will send a donkey to your front porch if you tried to use friends/family to pay for postage. I could be wrong.

Yes...

Agreed. I was just trying to pass along info. If I knew it would turn into this I wouldn't have posted.

Shipped through USPS site and paid with paypal.