Has anyone else noticed a sharp change in USPS shipping rates ?? I Tried to ship a Shop Manual to AZ from PA . Media Mail was $7.60 Regular mail was $ 24.65 ??????????????? I didn't want to ship Media Mail because its so SLOW but $24.65 for regular mail ?? It did fit in a Medium Flat Rate Box for $13.65 . I questioned the counter person about the $24.65 and she said , " well its the weight " . 6 Pounds ??? Makes no sense because I can ship a Flat Rate box with 40 pounds in it for almost 1/2 of what I can ship a 6 pound box that is 1/2 the size of the Flat Rate box . Doe's that make any sense ????
No, but that's what's great about the flat rate boxes. They're pretty much the only way I ship anything to Alaska for half way reasonable.
Big price increase . Takes effect the 27th if you want to buy “ forever “ stamps . https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2018/pr18_086.htm
Likely that's a Priority price. It's too heavy for " first class " that's what I consider regular mail. Prices have been going up on all shipping. CA is the worst for shipping costs for me currently. The east coast use to he the most expensive for me... It's nothing anymore compared to shipping out west. Media mail gets delivered quicker than you think. I've sent media and it was 3 days.
Keep Reading has prices on packages and flat rate . For instance small flat rate is going to $7.90 . Remember when they came out were $4. Wish my salary doubled in that Time .
Try shipping things out of the country. Germany was as much for shipping as the items cost and Canada nearly as much too. And them when it gets there they hit the consinee with fees and such on top.
Pricing for first class packages and priority packages also goes up on the 27th. First class packages under 1# will go to zone based pricing. Up to now, one price to ship anywhere in US, now 8 zones based on distance. Local, same zip code stays same price but shipping same item to furthest zone away can go up 30% from today's cost.
This is kind of related but I ordered something from Summit the other day. It was free shipping but when they told me the price it was more than I expected. They are now charging sales tax for my state. Doesn't matter whether it's purchased on line or on the phone. They never used to be able to charge out of state sales tax! Maybe everyone else has already noticed this but I just found out! Every state wants as much revenue as they can get.
It's like the old "first-class subsidizes bulk advertising." Individual customers are underwriting contracted online retail shipping...
I was thinking about this as I was putting my water bill in the mailbox so it can go 4 miles away for 50 cents......It'd cost me more than that in gas to take it there myself, and you couldn't pay a kid 50 cents to take a letter across the street let alone a few miles away. Still a good deal........
Every state has it own rulings for now, but generally, if a company ships more than 200 orders in to a state in a year, they now have to charge sales tax on all orders to that state. Some are less and some are based on dollar volume. A real nightmare to deal with for business that ship everywhere. More software and accountants to interpret.
