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Friday, May 11, 2007

No Bargains at the Post Office

posted by on May 11 at 15:45 PM

I just went to the post office and learned two things:

1) I learned that the price of a stamp is going up to 41 cents on Monday. If you’re still snail mailing, take note.

2) I also learned, courtesy of an older woman who was ahead of me in line, that it is unwise to try to bargain with the United States Postal Service. When it was her turn, this older woman walked up, carrying a big box headed for a foreign country, and said something very quietly. The postal clerk burst out laughing. He couldn’t stop. He stepped back from his register and scale and, when he’d stopped laughing enough to speak, told his coworker: “She wants to know what deals I have today! She wants to bargain with me!” He thanked the woman for making his afternoon. Then he charged her full price.

RSS icon Comments

1

Also of note: The PO is now selling "forever" first-class stamps, which are worth whatever the first-class letter rate is at the time they're used.

They're 41 cents now. Buy a million of them and hang on to 'em for 15 years, then sell them for a discount and make a mint!

Posted by Anthony Hecht | May 11, 2007 3:55 PM
2

I spent 40 minutes in the Broadway Post Office yesterday. At 9am there were at least 15 people in line and one employee working behind the counter. There was absolutely no signage indicating the stamp rate change, yet the one employee was berating everyone for not knowing about this.

Posted by mary-kate | May 11, 2007 3:56 PM
3

Perhaps I was incorrect in my previous Slog comment (a month ago?) when I surmised that "going postal" and gone away.

Posted by Sam | May 11, 2007 3:59 PM
4

was it that older clerk with the glasses at the broadway one? he is a cruel, cruel man.

Posted by Ari Spool | May 11, 2007 4:23 PM
5

Along with rate hike the USPS is starting a new pricing scheme called Shape-based pricing. If you were to take a 2oz letter and fold and mail it in a #10 envelope it will cost you .58 cents. If you mail it in a flat envelope it will cost .97 cents. So, weight is no longer the only factor.

Posted by Chris | May 11, 2007 4:24 PM
6

re: shape-based pricing

That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard.

Man, fuck the government. There's, like, three things they actually do kind of well and for the last 6 years they seem bound and determined to fuck all three of them up.

Posted by Judah | May 11, 2007 4:34 PM
7

I hate hate hate the USPS, they wouldn't have to charge 41 cents if they weren't so careless and stupid.

Posted by nipper | May 11, 2007 4:39 PM
8

Postal rates are enormously higher in almost every other Western country with a reliable postal system. They do have somewhat more efficient service, but we have it pretty damn good, even with a little rate increase and weird pricing.

Posted by Chris | May 11, 2007 4:45 PM
9

Congress was going to pass a bill setting up a do-not-mail list -- similar to the do-not-call list that keeps telemarketers off your back. The USPS (more specifically, postal employees) killed it. They viewed it as a threat to their jobs, apparently not caring that junk mail wastes massive amounts of paper.

Posted by keshmeshi | May 11, 2007 4:50 PM
10

It IS a threat to their jobs. In rural areas, postal carriers are paid by the amount of mail they deliver. Cutting out the junk mail directly affects their pay.

Is it right? No.
But it's how it is, for now.

Posted by Dr_Awesome | May 11, 2007 5:14 PM
11

They already do shape-based pricing. If it's rectangular under a certain size, it's a letter. But if it's a different shape, it's a package. SwapACD.com tells its users to mail their CDs with extra room on the sides so that it is letter-shaped, and save money.

As for USPS having daily deals, they ought to have them, the cheap bastards; the USPS is practically privatised these days, so they have little excuse to be bureaucratic douches. I say make Friday half-price one-ounce letter day! Send nine letters, get the tenth sent free! Unlimited free postcard mailing with any package of 5 lbs or more!

I mean, heck, if they are going to bitch about losing market to e-mail and Fedex/DHL/UPS, they should do *something* to drum up business. Elvis stamps simply don't have enough long-term draw.

Posted by K | May 11, 2007 5:28 PM
12

Back to the point. What an asshole! (I'll leave it at that) But jeez...

Posted by lawrence clark | May 12, 2007 1:07 AM
13

They already do "shape-based" pricing in Canada. Here, if you mail a letter SMALLER than the standard letter size envelope, they actually charge you more, because it's a non-standard size which has to be specially sorted. Yes, they charge you $1.10 -- more than double the normal rate -- to mail a smaller, lighter letter. It drives me fucking crazy. Evidently they do that too in the United States.

The cost here to mail a standard-sized letter is 52 cents.

Posted by Gloria | May 12, 2007 8:37 AM
14

Well, actually there is a bit of a bargain in that the over an ounce stamp is going down. Unfortunately, you don't get a discount. BUT if you have a 2.0-2.9 ounce letter you can use the same postage as now and not get screwed. Other than that, yeah, shit out of luck.

Posted by Carl Ballard | May 12, 2007 10:49 AM
15

The USPS makes me carzy with their stamp price increases. Why can't they just do 5-cent increases, say, every 5 years? Must be a scheme. I wonder when we'll get the announcement that stamps are going to 43 cents. In 6 months?

Posted by Madashell | May 12, 2007 12:23 PM
16

Keep in mind USPS has one of biggest (maybe the biggest) fleet of commercial vehicles in the country. So if Exxon and pals raise the price of fuel, costs go up. Hey, Madashell, do you think Exxon is not going to raise the price of gas in the next six months? If they do, will it be a couple of pennies? I'm not holding my breath. Truth in advertising: I work for usps myself.

Posted by MyDogBen | May 12, 2007 5:52 PM
17

They do shape-based pricing in the UK, too, so it's nothing extraordinary. It is also more expensive there (I think it was 78p for a normal-sized letter), so I'm not too concerned about our rate change.g

Posted by gavigan | May 12, 2007 6:14 PM
18

41 cents to send a letter to anyone, anywhere in the country, is still a pretty good deal.

Posted by matt | May 13, 2007 1:41 AM
19

Agree with Matt #41. I can media mail a CD to anyone in the US for a $0.63. It's a pretty sweet deal. Plus, those new(ish) automated postal teller machine thingy's totally rock.

Posted by Dougsf | May 13, 2007 5:38 PM
20

Do you know that postoffice has no return policy? I purchased a roll of stamps (100 stamps) for $39 only a week back, not realizing that the postage will be going up the next week. Well, yesterday, I went to the post office and requested to return the still unopened roll of stamps and buy a roll of new 41 Cents stamps. Guess what, post office will not take back what it sells. I find it totally ridiculous. Two six extra seconds spent in putting that nasty 2 cents stamps will now cost me 10 minutes of time, which I could have used to waste on some other non productive activities.

Posted by Ash | May 15, 2007 2:43 PM
21

Do you know that postoffice has no return policy? I purchased a roll of stamps (100 stamps) for $39 only a week back, not realizing that the postage will be going up the next week. Well, yesterday, I went to the post office and requested to return the still unopened roll of stamps and buy a roll of new 41 Cents stamps. Guess what, post office will not take back what it sells. I find it totally ridiculous. Two six extra seconds spent in putting that nasty 2 cents stamps will now cost me 10 minutes of time, which I could have used to waste on some other non productive activities.

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Posted by cvolhkz nymvs | May 19, 2007 4:41 AM
26

Buy a postage meter, it will do all the shape based rating for you. Look into PB.com.

Sturgil

Posted by Sturgil | May 19, 2007 7:27 PM
27

It's time to start taking your packages to your local shipping stores. The USPS is no longer as price competitive as it once was. The service is lacking as all of us seem to know. Give the business to people that will appreciate it.

Posted by Find A Shipping Store | May 21, 2007 6:20 PM

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