Jump to content
IGNORED

How to save on USPS shipping cost.


GolfVenture

Recommended Posts

I sold some parts and put them into a medium flat rate USPS box and took it to the post office. The postal person picked it up and immediately said did you know if you used your own box that rather than paying the flat rate of $12.95 that this package would probably cost just less than $7.00. The package was really light.

So I took it home and the next day I opened the box. Found the 1 key seam and with a knife carefully sliced the seamed open. I turned the box inside out and with packaging tape redid the seam really good and strong. Repackaged it and with a black indelible felt pen I blacked all the USPS verbiage that was on the inside indicating this is a USPS flat rate box.

Now the outside of the box is brown like a generic brown box with some black marks on it. I addressed it and took it to the post office.

Surprisingly it was only $5.80. So I thanked the postal worker who shared this knowledge with me. In our conversation I was told that in a medium flat rate box, that the trade off point is about 10 lbs. Over 10 lbs the flat rate box is a better deal. Less than about 10 lbs, your own box is a better deal.

I'll be doing this on a regular basis and weight my packages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Around here if you turn a flat rate box inside out they will not accept it. Even if you have all of their marking blacked out. I've tried it. UPS and FedEX also will not accept USPS boxes whether right side out or inside out and blacked out.

 

I keep a collection of boxes from all of the goodies that I get delivered just to have for sending stuff back out. If you flatten them they do not take up a lot of space.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to turn the boxes inside out all the time until they started printing the inside as well. As already mentioned, it is against the law. It always helps to have a scale handy to check your weight - Priority flat rate isn't always the right way

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Around here if you turn a flat rate box inside out they will not accept it. Even if you have all of their marking blacked out. I've tried it. UPS and FedEX also will not accept USPS boxes whether right side out or inside out and blacked out.

 

That has not been my experience Jeff.

I saved $$$ by shipping heavy lithium polymer batteries to Las Vegas in a flat rate box. It was better than a 50% savings.

Then I had to ship the batteries back again.

I took the same flat rate USPS box to FedEx and they shipped back for me. They put their label on the box over the USPS markings.

No questions, no problems in either direction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Around here if you turn a flat rate box inside out they will not accept it. Even if you have all of their marking blacked out.

 

Same thing here. Just handed it back to me.

 

I made the mistake a while back of using one of their Priority Shipping Labels on a plain brown box. I'd run out of my labels so I blacked out the logo and stuck it on. They peeled it off and handed the box back to me. Had to stop and pick some new labels then go back home to get the address again.

 

Could have at least given me the label back :confused24:

Edited by Snaggletooth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

wrap it in an old brown paper bag and it is all hidden.

 

Already noted it is not legal to use the USPS box for other than as intended, but you, I, and everyone else pays for you to use this 'free' box in higher postage costs. Post office going under now, and continued unnecessary costs, providing 'free' supplies not actually used for USPS business, this will only increase the timing.

 

Then what will be the mailing options? UPS, FEDEX, or what ever private company that buys what is left of USPS and charges there own rates that create profits!

 

Just something to think about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

. Post office going under now, and continued unnecessary costs, providing 'free' supplies not actually used for USPS business, this will only increase the timing.

 

Then what will be the mailing options? UPS, FEDEX, or what ever private company that buys what is left of USPS and charges there own rates that create profits!

 

Just something to think about.

 

As a 26 year USPS employee ill toss this out again as I have in the past. One of the main reasons that the USPS is in the shape that its in was the passing of a bill in 2006 (you figure out the Pres who signed that bill) forcing the USPS to pre-pay future retirees health benefits to the tune of 5.5 BILLION dollars a year!! Times that by 5 years thats about 30 BILLION plus accrued interest. Most figures have it closer to 50 BILLION paid into a system that has not even hired the employees yet and most have never been born yet. Yes, the funds now cover 75 years into the future! No other federal agency was forced to do this. The pension and health benefits as they were were just fine. It was nothing more then a money grab to force the USPS to privatize. And no company could remain in business if this burden was placed on them. Not saying that the USPS was a finely tuned machine but it was never mandated to make profits but to provide an affordable universal service to all parts of the country. When you hear reporters saying the USPS defaulted on its payments its that 5.5 billion that they are refusing to pay and rightly so. Problem is that the current pres does not seem anxious to give this money back either. As a result, plants around the country are being closed and consolidated into other plants, stretching its capabilities to the breaking point because of the inaction of the politicians.

 

So, if it does go private rest assured that the 45 cent stamp will cost well over one dollar or whatever amount deemed necessary to make huge profits. If a private company cant make money delivering to a rural area it wont be delivered! Another thing to remember in this day of politicians screaming about how they are creating jobs: the USPS employs over 300k employees, down from over 700k not too long ago. This employer is also the largest employer of retired/discharged/reserve military personnel in the country. So why try and shutter a business that provided hundreds of thousands of well paying jobs at no cost to the taxpayer? Yep, no taxpayer dollars are used to run the USPS. Something else to think about there.....So, while I am fortunate to be of retirement age and will retire within the next 3 years I feel for the younger, less senior employees and the new class of non career employees.

 

Disclaimer: This rant was not intended as a political message, just pointing out that its the politicians who are the only ones to fix this mess.

 

OK, ill get off the soap box now before someone lobs a sour DQ at me.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a 26 year USPS employee ill toss this out again as I have in the past. One of the main reasons that the USPS is in the shape that its in was the passing of a bill in 2006 (you figure out the Pres who signed that bill) forcing the USPS to pre-pay future retirees health benefits to the tune of 5.5 BILLION dollars a year!! Times that by 5 years thats about 30 BILLION plus accrued interest. Most figures have it closer to 50 BILLION paid into a system that has not even hired the employees yet and most have never been born yet. Yes, the funds now cover 75 years into the future! No other federal agency was forced to do this. The pension and health benefits as they were were just fine. It was nothing more then a money grab to force the USPS to privatize. And no company could remain in business if this burden was placed on them. Not saying that the USPS was a finely tuned machine but it was never mandated to make profits but to provide an affordable universal service to all parts of the country. When you hear reporters saying the USPS defaulted on its payments its that 5.5 billion that they are refusing to pay and rightly so. Problem is that the current pres does not seem anxious to give this money back either. As a result, plants around the country are being closed and consolidated into other plants, stretching its capabilities to the breaking point because of the inaction of the politicians.

 

So, if it does go private rest assured that the 45 cent stamp will cost well over one dollar or whatever amount deemed necessary to make huge profits. If a private company cant make money delivering to a rural area it wont be delivered! Another thing to remember in this day of politicians screaming about how they are creating jobs: the USPS employs over 300k employees, down from over 700k not too long ago. This employer is also the largest employer of retired/discharged/reserve military personnel in the country. So why try and shutter a business that provided hundreds of thousands of well paying jobs at no cost to the taxpayer? Yep, no taxpayer dollars are used to run the USPS. Something else to think about there.....So, while I am fortunate to be of retirement age and will retire within the next 3 years I feel for the younger, less senior employees and the new class of non career employees.

 

Disclaimer: This rant was not intended as a political message, just pointing out that its the politicians who are the only ones to fix this mess.

 

OK, ill get off the soap box now before someone lobs a sour DQ at me.....

 

So it was the then presidents fault ? Congress and lobbyists had nothing to do with it ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So it was the then presidents fault ? Congress and lobbyists had nothing to do with it ?

 

Not going to get political here....but it is what it is. Yes, congress and lobbyists had their mitts in this but its a fact as to who signed this into law. It doesnt change what is going on right now and who is responsible for the present state of the USPS and who is responsible for correcting it. Its kind of hard for most people on the outside to really understand what is really going on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not going to get political here....but it is what it is. Yes, congress and lobbyists had their mitts in this but its a fact as to who signed this into law. It doesnt change what is going on right now and who is responsible for the present state of the USPS and who is responsible for correcting it. Its kind of hard for most people on the outside to really understand what is really going on.

 

you're right - it is what it is. The problem is that your lobbyists are as powerful as theirs. We just need to elect someone that will do as we ask, not do as they are bribed to do.

 

uhoh - did I really say that ??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I retired with 31 years there at the post office, you want a good example of wasted money. Worked at a BMC where mail is sorted to go over a large area, we did part of NY. and all new England. On holiday weekends, the post office told large mailers to deliver their large shipments on holiday weekends, at this time we workers were forced to come in on our long weekends, at holiday pay plus pay for that extra day, and on Tuesday or Wednesday following the holiday there would be no work to do. This would affect a few hundred people in our whole place. Xmas and thanksgiving too. Always amazed me as to why they did this. Had charged the mailers a cheap rate but paid us time and a half to process it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I retired with 31 years there at the post office, you want a good example of wasted money. Worked at a BMC where mail is sorted to go over a large area, we did part of NY. and all new England. On holiday weekends, the post office told large mailers to deliver their large shipments on holiday weekends, at this time we workers were forced to come in on our long weekends, at holiday pay plus pay for that extra day, and on Tuesday or Wednesday following the holiday there would be no work to do. This would affect a few hundred people in our whole place. Xmas and thanksgiving too. Always amazed me as to why they did this. Had charged the mailers a cheap rate but paid us time and a half to process it.

 

Never said they were geniuses.......:smile5:

 

By the way...Springfield BMC? We had two of your drivers transfer down here....Russ Jackson and Bill Leary....sound familiar?:duck:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I retired with 31 years there at the post office, you want a good example of wasted money. Worked at a BMC where mail is sorted to go over a large area, we did part of NY. and all new England. On holiday weekends, the post office told large mailers to deliver their large shipments on holiday weekends, at this time we workers were forced to come in on our long weekends, at holiday pay plus pay for that extra day, and on Tuesday or Wednesday following the holiday there would be no work to do. This would affect a few hundred people in our whole place. Xmas and thanksgiving too. Always amazed me as to why they did this. Had charged the mailers a cheap rate but paid us time and a half to process it.

 

Jonesy - my point exactly. wages, whether thought to be over or under rated (paid) aren't so much the problem. It's how those wages are wasted on management decisions. Timely manner doesn't mean to spend $1.00 to get a 15 cent item delivered (ok , I know - a little extreme but you get the point)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alls Well That Ends Well.

 

I've found a solution that hopfully many can use. I work in an office where we keep the paper mills busy. We go thru reems of paper like no other. These reems of paper comes in a nice boxes that most companies just throw away or recycle. I'm sure many of you or your spouses or maybe your neighbors can bring home, if you ask them.

 

I've attached a picture of an origional reem box on the left, then on the right the box turned inside out. Then a USPS Medium Flat Rate box in the middle.

 

The reem box is a bit taller but you can cut the size to fit your needs. Something that the USPS boxes are not able to do.

 

USPS charges $12.95 (plus tax..I think) for the USPS Medium Flat Rate box. When I turned the USPS Box inside out I was charged only $5.80. Now my package was very light for it only included 3 MKII Pouches and the rest fill with Styrofoam chips. Oh, yes and I do save most of my styrofoam chips in a large plastic garbage sack. Now I was told the rough break even point is about 10 lbs for a USPS Medium Flat Rate Box.

 

It took a few minutes and a little bit of packaging tape. But the savings is worth my time for my wife mails packages all the time to my son, daughter, grand kids.

 

My office also uses paper that is around 11 X 17 sheets. So I have access to some larger boxes.

 

Hope this brings this thread to a very happy and usefull ending.... :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...