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rkr4cds Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)
suburban Chicago
Posts: 2,044

I think some of you posted in the past 6 months about this, but I was pulled up short Monday when I took about 10 of the smaller (5" x 8") Global Priority (flat-rate, up to 4 lbs in weight) envelopes to the PO.
I knew that surface mail (the proverbial slow-boat-to-China) had been discontinued; it's all by Air now.

And that you can use the US Priority envelopes for Domestic as well as for International mailing.  But I was sending several of the old smaller $4 size and the price was now $11 each!
Large or small now doesn't matter; all International Priority (still under 4 lbs though) is $ELEVEN $$!!!!

And if they were in my regular Tyvek 9 X 12 or 10 x 13 envelopes, they'd be about $2 - 4!!! It was only a few trinkets or a needle and 2 oz of wool.
RIDICULOUS!! We now have parity with Canada - in currency and mailing!

So I brought them all home, SLIPPED THE SAME PACKET into a Tyvek envelope for First Class, and off they went for a few $ each: I didn't even remove the contents from the cardstock Priority envelope!

And First Class is *guaranteed* for 5 - 10 days while Priority is 6 - 10!!
The USPS has no control once it leaves land here; it all shifts to DHL or Fed Ex or another service anyway.

So, it looks as if my price for shipping will have to be restructured. It's sure hard to explain that to an overseas customer, considering how small and lightweight mini/fiber/needles in an envelope are! Yuck....
I just needed to vent.

Daphne Back Road Bears
Laconia, NH USA
Posts: 6,568

I don't want to pour salt on your wound but USPS prices will be going up again in May. They have not released new pricing for Priority mail yet. bear_noexpression

http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm? … age=prices

White Forest White Forest Bears
Southern California
Posts: 556

I had a shock a while ago at the PO, so I've almost entirely switched to UPS.

Lisa q.D.paToOtieS
Near Fredericksburg, VA
Posts: 1,349
Daphne wrote:

I don't want to pour salt on your wound but USPS prices will be going up again in May. They have not released new pricing for Priority mail yet. bear_noexpression

http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm? … age=prices

Again?  Geez, didn't they just go up?  I'm getting kind of sick of buying new stamps!  I better go to my Post Office and buy some "forever stamps" before May rolls around...

Thanks for letting us know Daphne.

Dilu Posts: 8,574

from someone whose entire shopping experience is by internet and mail:

This past month Seeleys Porcelain doll company etc asked me to open a studio-the main reason would be to get a toe hold in southern Oregon for their porcelain slip.  I would get a break in costs for my supplies.  a gallon of slip weights 14 pounds and is only shipped in 4s for balance-  they wanted me to purchase a pallet of slip, 140 gallons-the shipping via Yellow Freight would have been over $1500....and we would have had to drive 2 hours to Medford to pick it up.

The bottom line for me was that in order to break even on selling Seeley slip, (which I love)
would have had to be 3-5 dollars OVER list price.

I see the oil prices and all the other cocomittant  charges as being a death knell for internet business, mail order business, and just maybe a lot of mom and pop business as well.

I had to turn Seeley's down,  It just doesn't feel like the right time to think about opening a business-as much as I would have loved to.....sigh.....

I thought you handled your dilemma rather creatively Bobbie, and we will be looking into tyvek mailing envelopes.  bear_thumb  bear_thumb

on an upbeat note, Amazon still has free supersaver shipping  bear_original

rkr4cds Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)
suburban Chicago
Posts: 2,044

When I was selling the original Malden Mills' vintage long pile, I went to Home Depot and purchased a roll of 'house wrap' just as any building contractor would. That roll lasted FOREVER, but I found I could cut custom sizes to wrap the (rather heavy) fabric in as a snug bundle and add only and ounce or 2 of weight. Tape did not stick well, especially frustrating when one is trying to pull both sides in tightly by oneself, but I could staple the overlap and then tape around the whole pkg (protecting any fingers from those sharp pointed-staples!!)

Then I found the 9" x 12" and 10" x 13" Tyvek envelopes at Office Max in boxes of 50. The Tyvek is perhaps half that house-wrap thickness but it still sends my pkgs of fiber & kits around the world, adding .02 of an ounce to the shipment. I'm sure the PO would prefer to handle nice neat square boxes that stack up but I continue to use the envelopes that turn into little football & basketball shapes after filling!!

I still think that online mail order will continue to grow: we don't have to honor the bricks&mortar shops' hours, we can do it 24/7, in our PJs, while eating, saving time of traveling and our own car's gas, all in hopes of finding what you need at the first or second shop your travel to....

I live near a major shopping mall, with everything in it from Sears to Nordi & the rest of the top-line shops. I haven't been to the mall, 2 miles from my front door, in at least 10 years, (except the Apple Store/Genius Bar!!)

I don't have time or inclination to "Lunch & Shop' What a time waster!!!

fredbear Fred-i-Bear
Johannesburg
Posts: 2,243
Website

I was also mad when I heard that USA did not use the shipping method as when I order fabric by the bolt it pushes the price sky high.

This is the cost of living now days irrespective to where you live and like fuel , food everything just continues to spiral.

Booby I have also found that by changing the package, and using a padded envelope it is treated as a small parcel or letter making it a less expensive way to go with some items.


Lynette

puca bears puca bears
Posts: 1,934

Hey guys - don't feel TOO bad about this.....our postal charges (Germany) are still higher than yours.
Since the euro came into being, at around one dollar to the euro, the dollar has fallen to just over 1.50 to the euro, which means that your bears are more affordable to us, and ours are relatively much more expensive to you......
doesn't do much for OUR sales!
Even so - seems the whole world is feeling the pinch, and which ever way you look at it, sales of "luxury" items like teddies are not doing so well. Sadly, there is nothing we can do about it - just have to grin and bear it...........
huggies
Maria

doodlebears Doodlebears
UK
Posts: 7,414

doodlebears Celebration Ambassador

Postage Phooey! I have just had a bad experience with my local post office. I posted a bear to France on February 16th at very high charge (I should not make big bears) The bear arrived back one week later with a sticker saying the box was too big...huh! how could the box be too big? I took it back to the post office where I was told that the post office counter staff had got it wrong and sent it through the wrong service and the bear needed to be in a smaller box to qualify for the service that I had paid for. I was directed to a slightly smaller box, which cost me £3, I repackaged the bear, which only just fitted, only to be told that the new box was still to big and I needed to post it by a different service. This new service cost me an extra £22.60, which came out of the cost of the bear. This £22.60 plus the cost of the new box cost me £25.60 out of my profit. Not only that,but the customer in France now says she doesn't want the bear because she has been honest by paying and I have not been honest and posted the bear to her. I explained in my poor french what had happened and that the bear was on it's way to her for the second time, so now I have to wait and see what happens. I know my story is not quite the same as what Bobby was talking about but, it's helped sharing it.

Screaming teddy hugs, Jane.
P.S. There have been 25 emails about this bear...which I never want to see again.  bear_wacko  bear_wacko

puca bears puca bears
Posts: 1,934

Oh Jane - you have my utmost sympathy! I worry every time I post a bear off...........the post here are just as bad!
Last year I posted off, over the space of a couple of weeks, three identical (ish) minis to America - the first cost me 12 euros postage, the second - only 8.... I didn't say anything in case they decided it would be 12. The third?
They asked for 25 euros, at which point I got more than a little annoyed..........
Then there's the difference between a packchen (small parcel) and paket (parcel) - the total height/length/width must be under 90cm for the packchen........so in I go with a "packchen" only to be told it's TOO big, and that one measurement must be under 15cm........and it will cost TWICE as much to post! So I go home and check - this new rule is only for INLAND post - go back - they won't believe me, and have to phone up to check....and yes, I'm RIGHT!
But it's cost me time and hassle, and I wonder just how many people who don't post often have got overcharged
So I heartily agree - POST? :twisted: .....GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
huggies
Maria

DebbieD Posts: 3,540

If its all fired so expensive for them to send mail, why am I still receiving junk mail?????   bear_angry   I have to say it ticks me off when I go to send a real letter.  You'd think the Post Office would be bending over backwards to support anyone interested in sending along a real letter.  You cannot tell me my inky dinky letter costs more to ship than some stuffed junk mail, or those catalogs by the thousands. 

Jane, I'm horribly sorry about what's been happening to your teddy bear to France  :hug:   You must be at wit's end, and the collector must be seriously wondering if she's gotten rooked by now....all down to incompetent post!   bear_cry   Fingers crossed the poor thing arrives swiftly and safely, but no matter what, what a bite all this has taken from your profit! 

I wish they could utilize the used restaurant cooking oils for fuel in the diesel trucks and bring some of this shipping costs back into line.  I'm sure there are alternatives that are not being utilized.  As for the ethanol (from corn) being too limited ~ I'll happily yank all of my high fructose corn syrup products to donate that corn towards ethanol!!!!!!   bear_laugh

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