Shipping cost

[abunaitoo]

I'm getting the feeling some people just don't understand how much shipping is.
Cheapest, and best is USPS flat rate.
Box small $8.45
Med $15.50
LG $21.90
Used to be way cheaper before, but I guess they found out how much more then could make.
So if something has to go in a Med box, and the price total is $50, that means it is $34.50 for the item.
Not including the time to pack and take to the post office.
With the price of things these days, everyone is looking for a deal, but because of the cost of things these days, no one wants to just give things away.
If anyone knows of a cheaper way to ship, please share with the rest of us.

[Norcal707]

USPS Flat Rate is not always the cheapest - at least here on the Mainland. They also have some Regional Rate Priority boxes that are considerably less $ but do have maximum weight ratings so no shipping lead.

[MrHarmless]

USPS Flat Rate is not always the cheapest - at least here on the Mainland. They also have some Regional Rate Priority boxes that are considerably less $ but do have maximum weight ratings so no shipping lead.

Yeah, under a few lbs, priority is pretty darn good as well.

[MrHarmless]

I'm getting the feeling some people just don't understand how much shipping is.
Cheapest, and best is USPS flat rate.
Box small $8.45
Med $15.50
LG $21.90
Used to be way cheaper before, but I guess they found out how much more then could make.
So if something has to go in a Med box, and the price total is $50, that means it is $34.50 for the item.
Not including the time to pack and take to the post office.
With the price of things these days, everyone is looking for a deal, but because of the cost of things these days, no one wants to just give things away.
If anyone knows of a cheaper way to ship, please share with the rest of us.

This is basically because of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, passed in 2006, which sounds good in title. But in reality, it forced the post office to fully fund the pensions of all of it's employees for the next 50 years. There is no other government organisation required to sustain that level of capital strictly for it's pensions. The bill also fixed cost of postage under the rate of inflation, so prices are increasing, but not as much as they could. If they had the option, they would have to jack up prices just to fund their pensions as required by law. It's absolutely ridiculous, and it made the Post Office into the underfunded mess it is today. Something like 54 billion in losses is attributed to that bill alone. Hopefully it get's repealed soon and brings it back to it's former glory.

[waksupi]

It probably went up because of all of us stuffing as much lead into a flat rate box as we could!

[Burnt Fingers]

This is basically because of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, passed in 2006, which sounds good in title. But in reality, it forced the post office to fully fund the pensions of all of it's employees for the next 50 years. There is no other government organisation required to sustain that level of capital strictly for it's pensions. The bill also fixed cost of postage under the rate of inflation, so prices are increasing, but not as much as they could. If they had the option, they would have to jack up prices just to fund their pensions as required by law. It's absolutely ridiculous, and it made the Post Office into the underfunded mess it is today. Something like 54 billion in losses is attributed to that bill alone. Hopefully it get's repealed soon and brings it back to it's former glory.

It's not just the pensions. It's health care. The Postal Service is paying for future health care for employees it hasn't even hired yet.

What it boils down to is that the USPS was making money and sitting on quite a bit of it. Congress couldn't stand not being able to get to that money.

So they ginned up a bill to require the USPS to future fund retirement and health care for the next 75 years. What this did was transfer the money from the USPS to Congress so they could waste it as they saw fit.

[jsizemore]

I receive stuff in the priority envelope. I assume it's got a lower price.

[abunaitoo]

I did ask about the regional mail.
They told me we're the only one in this region so no.
If I can, I stick a box into an envelope.
I find the padded one works the best.
Sometimes it just doesn't work.
I always thought a mail carrier was paid way to much.
It really doesn't take all that much skill to sort and deliver mail.
Only stress they have is the mail never stops coming.
Plus the are suppose to be fast, to avoid overtime.
I took the test once.
Top 2% but without any extra points, I didn't have a chance.
Neighbor is a mail carrier.
She said they are trying to get her to retire.
With all her years, she makes way more than someone new.
The people working in the warehouse work hard.
Moving those big heavy bins around, and you have to be fast.
These people are way underpaid.
Know a guy who lasted only a few days until he was let go.
Just to slow.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I did ask about the regional mail.
They told me we're the only one in this region so no.
If I can, I stick a box into an envelope.
I find the padded one works the best.
Sometimes it just doesn't work.
I always thought a mail carrier was paid way to much.
It really doesn't take all that much skill to sort and deliver mail.
Only stress they have is the mail never stops coming.
Plus the are suppose to be fast, to avoid overtime.
I took the test once.
Top 2% but without any extra points, I didn't have a chance.
Neighbor is a mail carrier.
She said they are trying to get her to retire.
With all her years, she makes way more than someone new.
The people working in the warehouse work hard.
Moving those big heavy bins around, and you have to be fast.
These people are way underpaid.
Know a guy who lasted only a few days until he was let go.
Just to slow.

They get an awesome pension too.
My Dad was a Post Master for 20 years, he retired in 1985 and started collecting the pension.
He set up the Pension (they have options), so when he passed away, my Mom would still get the pension, but the pension was reduced by a couple points from where it would be if he didn't have it set up where my Mom get it after he passed. My Dad passed away in 2016. My Mom still gets the Pension 36 years after my Dad's retirement from a job he worked at for 20 years...thats kinda crazy.

[Burnt Fingers]

I did ask about the regional mail.
They told me we're the only one in this region so no.
If I can, I stick a box into an envelope.
I find the padded one works the best.
Sometimes it just doesn't work.
I always thought a mail carrier was paid way to much.
It really doesn't take all that much skill to sort and deliver mail.
Only stress they have is the mail never stops coming.
Plus the are suppose to be fast, to avoid overtime.
I took the test once.
Top 2% but without any extra points, I didn't have a chance.
Neighbor is a mail carrier.
She said they are trying to get her to retire.
With all her years, she makes way more than someone new.
The people working in the warehouse work hard.
Moving those big heavy bins around, and you have to be fast.
These people are way underpaid.
Know a guy who lasted only a few days until he was let go.
Just to slow.

Everyone says that till they actually do the job. I was an OJI for 10 years. I always had a walking route. Around 50% of the new people leave within a year. We called ourselves industrial athletes. I walked 10+ miles a day, up and down thousands of steps/stairs, while carrying the weight. Most of the letter mail comes already (supposedly) sorted into delivery order. The flats, magazines and such, and some letters need to be cased (sorted into delivery order).

If you've never cased mail you have NO idea what it's like. An experienced carrier on their own route can do it blindfolded. A new person on a route they've never seen is in trouble. There are a lot more duplicate numbers on a route than most people know about. You've got at least one case before you. There are 4-6 shelves in it. Each cell will have from 1 to however many (apartments) addresses assigned to it. There are 40 cells per shelf. On a big route you used to have multiple cases. Management, in their infinite stupidity decided to cram everything into one case. Now you have this one case that could contain over 1000 delivery points. Ideally you have two delivery points per cell. Mail for the first address goes to the left and mail for the second goes to the right. The standard is 18 letters per minute. A good carrier can easily do twice that on a case they are familiar with.

Back when I started we cased everything. When you came back to the station there was a stupidvisor that checked to see how much mail cased mail you returned with. You had to have a reason for every piece and it had to be a good valid reason.

Now that most of the letter mail is sorted by machine they couldn't care less how much you bring back. You're sorting out the junk on the street. The number of pieces of mail that are incorrectly sorted is normally quite low, less than 3%. However it's on the carrier to keep up with route maintenance to keep stuff from being sorted. Things like vacation holds are the biggest one.

We were told when the automation came in that when someone moved we would be able to have the mail for that address held out for a year, the length of time a forward order is valid. It didn't take long for that to change. Too much mail was being held out. Management couldn't make their numbers because of it. Now when someone moves the mail for that address is only held out for a couple of weeks.

Then once you're on the street you have to keep track of who's moved, which houses are vacant, who's on vacation, when the delivery point is, watch for hazards, and do this at speed. I never worked on a mounted (driving route), so I can't comment on that. But I'm sure from talking to the people that had them it doesn't make the job easier. There's a whole different set of hazards to watch for. You break a mirror on a vehicle you can be sure that discipline will be forthcoming. Break too many of them and you're going to get fired.

Working in the plant is a piece of cake. I did it. The AC was awesome and it was a LOT easier job than carrying mail. That's why mail handlers make less than carriers. Better working conditions, most of the time anyway, and less work.

[Minerat]

You can get 2 SFRB in a large Flat rate tyvec envelope for the price of 1 box. Just did that recently no problems, with some brass in them.

[Mal Paso]

Does an ebay account get you better usps rates? I thought I saw someone mention that recently.

Burnt Fingers, thanks for the insight.

[gmsharps]

I did ask about the regional mail.
They told me we're the only one in this region so no.
If I can, I stick a box into an envelope.
I find the padded one works the best.
Sometimes it just doesn't work.
I always thought a mail carrier was paid way to much.
It really doesn't take all that much skill to sort and deliver mail.
Only stress they have is the mail never stops coming.
Plus the are suppose to be fast, to avoid overtime.
I took the test once.
Top 2% but without any extra points, I didn't have a chance.
Neighbor is a mail carrier.
She said they are trying to get her to retire.
With all her years, she makes way more than someone new.
The people working in the warehouse work hard.
Moving those big heavy bins around, and you have to be fast.
These people are way underpaid.
Know a guy who lasted only a few days until he was let go.
Just to slow.

Don't take the postal workers word for that. Check it out for yourself. Go to the usps.com site and click on the send tab then click on the calculate a price tab. Put your zip code in and zip cod to where you want to send a package. Enter the weight and click on package. It shows the different costs depending on what you want. Check out the Regional A and Regional B rates they will show only click and ship and will save a few bucks. The regional A box is just a tad smaller than a medium flat rate box and the Regional B box is just a bit smaller than the flat rate large box. The click and ship feature is easy to use and you create an account and use your credit card to pay and then print your postage paid label. This is just another way to ship that may save you a little bit in some cases. The regional A & B boxes you have to order from the USPS site and cost you nothing.

gmsharps

[Burnt Fingers]

Don't take the postal workers word for that. Check it out for yourself. Go to the usps.com site and click on the send tab then click on the calculate a price tab. Put your zip code in and zip cod to where you want to send a package. Enter the weight and click on package. It shows the different costs depending on what you want. Check out the Regional A and Regional B rates they will show only click and ship and will save a few bucks. The regional A box is just a tad smaller than a medium flat rate box and the Regional B box is just a bit smaller than the flat rate large box. The click and ship feature is easy to use and you create an account and use your credit card to pay and then print your postage paid label. This is just another way to ship that may save you a little bit in some cases. The regional A & B boxes you have to order from the USPS site and cost you nothing.

gmsharps

Hawaii is it's own region.

[BK7saum]

Hawaii is it's own region.

The regional rate mail is not about mail staying in the region. it is a different price for how many regions away the mail goes.

Hawaii may be different but Hawaii to California should be one region away. In Oklahoma, I can usually ship large lighter items to both coasts cheaper with regional rate boxes than flat rate boxes. Regional rate mail doesn't stay in the region, cost us assessed on how many regions away it is going.

[abunaitoo]

So she lied to me.
Seem that is happening more and more these days.
Most postal workers are great people.
I'd love to have that job.
Not sure I could handle it at my age.
Most of them I've talked to, say the hardest part is dealing supervisors, and forced overtime.
Neighbor said they have to get back to the office ASAP to sort mail for the next day.
The sit at a big table, empty bags on it, and everyone flings mail to another if they know it's theirs.
With new guys working it takes longer because they don't know the routes.
After the finish, the have to sort and pack their trays.
Then they have to do the boxes.
Next morning pack the truck and head out.
Seems not very efficient, but it seems to work for them.
Funny that happened to us.
Mail has been coming later and later.
Sometimes at 6pm
We didn't get any mail on Wed.
I check at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm.
Cat wanted to go out, so checked the mail at the same time.
But thur, when I went to get the paper at 6am, we had mail in the box.
Told Mom, either the mail was really late, or really early.
Sometimes we have two mail deliveries in one day.
Strange.

[GregLaROCHE]

Once in Alaska, a contractor shipped all his cement blocks for a building project, one by one, by the USPS Parcel Post, as it was called back then. It was the cheapest way to get them to a remote village. Of course they all went by air.

[Handloader109]

Yes, some discount on ebay, etsy and using PayPal. About 7 to 10%

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Burnt Fingers]

The regional rate mail is not about mail staying in the region. it is a different price for how many regions away the mail goes.

Hawaii may be different but Hawaii to California should be one region away. In Oklahoma, I can usually ship large lighter items to both coasts cheaper with regional rate boxes than flat rate boxes. Regional rate mail doesn't stay in the region, cost us assessed on how many regions away it is going.

Why not actually do some research instead of spouting off about stuff you have no knowledge of????

https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart

Using that chart you'll find that almost EVERY ZIP code is a Zone 8 from Hawaii. The only exceptions are APO/FPO ZIP codes and the islands.

I don't know how you figure that Hawaii to California would be once zone. You do know that those maps that show Hawaii and Alaska sitting off the coast of California aren't real don't ya?

[Burnt Fingers]

So she lied to me.
Seem that is happening more and more these days.
Most postal workers are great people.
I'd love to have that job.
Not sure I could handle it at my age.
Most of them I've talked to, say the hardest part is dealing supervisors, and forced overtime.
Neighbor said they have to get back to the office ASAP to sort mail for the next day.
The sit at a big table, empty bags on it, and everyone flings mail to another if they know it's theirs.
With new guys working it takes longer because they don't know the routes.
After the finish, the have to sort and pack their trays.
Then they have to do the boxes.
Next morning pack the truck and head out.
Seems not very efficient, but it seems to work for them.
Funny that happened to us.
Mail has been coming later and later.
Sometimes at 6pm
We didn't get any mail on Wed.
I check at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm.
Cat wanted to go out, so checked the mail at the same time.
But thur, when I went to get the paper at 6am, we had mail in the box.
Told Mom, either the mail was really late, or really early.
Sometimes we have two mail deliveries in one day.
Strange.

She didn't lie you to. Other people here are spouting off about stuff they have no knowledge of. Pretty typical when it comes to many discussions.

[BK7saum]

Why not actually do some research instead of spouting off about stuff you have no knowledge of????

https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart

Using that chart you'll find that almost EVERY ZIP code is a Zone 8 from Hawaii. The only exceptions are APO/FPO ZIP codes and the islands.

I don't know how you figure that Hawaii to California would be once zone. You do know that those maps that show Hawaii and Alaska sitting off the coast of California aren't real don't ya?
LOL. I had a long post typed out and lost it "doing some research." Long story short, I apologize for the feather ruffling I caused. I spoke to my experience relating to regional mail and did say Hawaii may be different, knowing the spatial relationship between Hawaii and rest of US. I haven't consulted a zone chart in a while and really never paid attention to how Hawaii fit into the zone chart.

In OP's case, USPS regular flat rate is probably the best option and what the post office usually only uses. I know that I see or hear nothing about regional rate mail here. it has saved me a lot of money, but the post office doesn't advertise it anymore.

So, my apologies for ruffling your feathers with my post. I didn't mean to misspeak and did not state for fact about what I said relating to Hawaii. I thought was pretty clear when I said "should" and that anyone wanting to know for sure would research and determine for themselves.

If I knew for certain, I would have said so clearly. Anyway, what is that map thing you referred to?

And yeah, I probably should've looked into it a little more, but I didn't have the luxury of access to my laptop to open 2 or 3 web pages and search zip codes to plug into the zone charts to see how that almost everything was a zone 8.

[abunaitoo]

You can get 2 SFRB in a large Flat rate tyvec envelope for the price of 1 box. Just did that recently no problems, with some brass in them.

I've started doing that too.
I sure hope none of the heads from the post office reads this.
It would ruin a good thing:bigsmyl2:

[abunaitoo]

Once in Alaska, a contractor shipped all his cement blocks for a building project, one by one, by the USPS Parcel Post, as it was called back then. It was the cheapest way to get them to a remote village. Of course they all went by air.

That is funny.
Maybe that's why the large flat rate box is the size it is.:bigsmyl2:

[shooterg]

One of my PO guys did not even know you could flat rate 70 lbs . Had it in his head the 20 lb international limit. The Regional A/B boxes I ordered a while back were the first ones my usual PO lady had seen ! Can save a lot for us mainlanders, mailed an A one today for $8.04, where the MFRB was nearly twice that . With stamps going up(August) expect all these rates to follow.