Trader Beware: Why the Post Office is going out of business...

[Swordfish1989]

I ship out things for trades on the gym a LOT. I also ship things out for ebay sales, and trades in other forums. What that means is that I use a bubblemailer envelope, get tracking, and call it a day, like many other traders and sellers country-wide.

So today, I stroll into the post office, mind you, like I do EVERY week to ship out trades, and I politely ask the lady at the front for the usual first class shipping with tracking. The following exchange goes down:

Her: You have to use Priority to ship this

Me: No, I ship it first class with tracking every week. You just have to classify it as a package, not an envelope.

Her (taking out a measuring device!!): Nope, nope, it fits through here which means it's not thick enough to be a package.

Me: But I've been doing this for years... sometimes it's off by like an eighth of an inch

Her (Turning to the Post Office Employee who ALWAYS runs things through for me): Do YOU classify it as a package?

Other Post Office Employee (who I must re-iterate, ALWAYS ships my things for me): I'm not answering any questions about this.

Me: .... You'e got to be kidding me...

Her: Sorry, but it has to be shipped Priority

Me: Forget it, I'll go to a different post office.

So now I'm sitting here, package unshipped, because this Ogre of an employee thought that the 1/8 inch that my bubblemailer was off by wasn't enough and because it just BARELY fit through her measuring thingy. And her co-worker, who never questioned whether I could ship it or not, didn't even stick up for me. Guess I'll never be going back to that post office.

In conclusion... stuff your bubblemailers with paper I guess, if you don't want the post office police to take out a measuring tape on you :nonono:

 

[elam18]

I always stuff it with a crumpled up bounty tissue ... make the package fat... Or just buy the shipping label on stamps.com

 

[Pokeplayer101]

I know right. Now I am trying to get rid of some collectors items for pokemon but I am also a coin collector and one time when I went to go ship out some coins in a bubble mailer and the mail lady said I have to send it with priority. And I was like What? Either way I just send it out with priority at the end. But it is quite absurd.

And an 8th? Wow. Some people are just not willing to do the good that they can.

 

[elam18]

If you look at it, the USPS is losing money every year.. that's why they wanted to cut Saturday mail delivery, but couldn't due to government interference. If they can make you go priority mail, they'll be making $5.95 instead of $2.97 with tracking.

 

[Pokeplayer101]

If you look at it, the USPS is losing money every year.. that's why they wanted to cut Saturday mail delivery, but couldn't due to government interference. If they can make you go priority mail, they'll be making $5.95 instead of $2.97 with tracking.

Well did you know that the North Las Vegas post office does not do any service and is not open during the whole weekend?

And it is 90 cents for regular tracking with a bubble mailer.

 

[AnUnown]

Bring on matter transporters.

 

[Swordfish1989]

If you look at it, the USPS is losing money every year.. that's why they wanted to cut Saturday mail delivery, but couldn't due to government interference. If they can make you go priority mail, they'll be making $5.95 instead of $2.97 with tracking.

If I have no option, sure, but I know of at least 2 other post offices where I can ship no problem, and will be taking my mail there instead. It's a pity for this post office, because I used to give them a LOT of business, but I guess not anymore.

It's a failure of a business model and sneaking in an extra charge isn't going to be what suddenly makes it profitable. How about not losing my items first, or providing customer service that doesn't consist of grunts typical of a Lord of the Rings villain?

The pathetic thing is that all I have to do is use the post office's own automated machine, print a label worth $2.97, and then drop it off AT THE SAME POST OFFICE, and it'll still ship! I've never once, ever, had any of my bubblemailers either 1) Return because of the dimensions or 2) Had them charge the receiver/buyer extra because of it. Not ONCE. That means along the entire distribution line of people who touch my bubblemailer, not one of them has a problem with the size. But the lady at the front desk did.

Absurd.

 

[AnUnown]

If I have no option, sure, but I know of at least 2 other post offices where I can ship no problem, and will be taking my mail there instead. It's a pity for this post office, because I used to give them a LOT of business, but I guess not anymore.

While I can feel for you, having dealt with my fair share of dumb PO employees, I don't think they care about the above. My aunt worked for the USPS until retiring about 7 years back.

This isn't a "business" in the traditional sense. They don't get bonuses because they processed more mail than the post office down the street. In fact, you typically take your mail (business) to your local PO, and since there's supposed to be 1 per zip code, then there isn't likely a PO down the street and their business volume is going to be a reflection of the population, not their customer service.

Get some free labels (the ones on printer sheets) and print your postage online :thumb:

 

[The_Charizard_Authority]

I ship out things for trades on the gym a LOT. I also ship things out for ebay sales, and trades in other forums. What that means is that I use a bubblemailer envelope, get tracking, and call it a day, like many other traders and sellers country-wide.

So today, I stroll into the post office, mind you, like I do EVERY week to ship out trades, and I politely ask the lady at the front for the usual first class shipping with tracking. The following exchange goes down:

Her: You have to use Priority to ship this

Me: No, I ship it first class with tracking every week. You just have to classify it as a package, not an envelope.

Her (taking out a measuring device!!): Nope, nope, it fits through here which means it's not thick enough to be a package.

Me: But I've been doing this for years... sometimes it's off by like an eighth of an inch

Her (Turning to the Post Office Employee who ALWAYS runs things through for me): Do YOU classify it as a package?

Other Post Office Employee (who I must re-iterate, ALWAYS ships my things for me): I'm not answering any questions about this.

Me: .... You'e got to be kidding me...

Her: Sorry, but it has to be shipped Priority

Me: Forget it, I'll go to a different post office.

So now I'm sitting here, package unshipped, because this Ogre of an employee thought that the 1/8 inch that my bubblemailer was off by wasn't enough and because it just BARELY fit through her measuring thingy. And her co-worker, who never questioned whether I could ship it or not, didn't even stick up for me. Guess I'll never be going back to that post office.

In conclusion... stuff your bubblemailers with paper I guess, if you don't want the post office police to take out a measuring tape on you :nonono:

The last time that happened to me I held the envelope eye level and folded the end of it and refolded it again so it made a "Z" shape. I told them it was now "irregular" and it was shipped 1st class with tracking.

If you do not want to anger the post office I would just ship stuff from paypal or eBay whenever possible.

 

[smpratte]

If you look at it, the USPS is losing money every year.. that's why they wanted to cut Saturday mail delivery, but couldn't due to government interference. If they can make you go priority mail, they'll be making $5.95 instead of $2.97 with tracking.

They have been saying they will stop Saturday delivery since the 80's. :lol:

And to the OP, your best bet is using paypal to print your labels. You will not pay as much as you do in person and it is much more convenient.

 

[flygon_frank_66]

Similar story here...

I had a first class package addressed and ready to go. I walked in and asked to ship with delivery confirmation. The postal worker took my package and put it into a Priority Mail wrapper and said that will be $5.60 please! He said First Class packages can't ship with tracking.

 

[Pokeplayer101]

Similar story here...

I had a first class package addressed and ready to go. I walked in and asked to ship with delivery confirmation. The postal worker took my package and put it into a Priority Mail wrapper and said that will be $5.60 please! He said First Class packages can't ship with tracking.

I have no words for this.

 

[funmonkey54]

My little brother is on a two week trip in Chicago. He ran out of money and my grandmother who lives paycheck to paycheck, used all of her emergency funds to get him a prepaid visa. When she went to mail it to him she wanted tracking because the contents were worth $75 and she wanted to be sure, but they wouldn't mail it with tracking because it wasn't thick enough. She didn't have enough money left over to get the priority mail, nor did she have enough gas to go all the way to her home and back to the post office again, so she went with the cheaper shipping option after being so rudely scolded for "not being intelligent enough to look online first" that she was in tears. They then lost the package, so now my brother has gone three days without food on his trip while we waited for my father's paycheck to come through so that we could afford to overnight him money.

This is not an exaggeration or in any way falsified.
This is why USPS is going out of business.

 

[garyis2000]

The USPS has been losing money forever BECAUSE ITS RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT. Now our idiot leader wants to do the same with health care lol.

To the op...just make sure your mailers are thick enough then there'll be no issues. It's an easy fix. The reason the other employee didnt back you up was because they weren't following the rules before and didn't want to admit it. You shouldn't have pointed them out cause they were doing you a favor by not measuring the thickness of those previous packages. Now they may have to.

 

[Pokeplayer101]

The USPS has been losing money forever BECAUSE ITS RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT. Now our idiot leader wants to do the same with health care lol.

To the op...just make sure your mailers are thick enough then there'll be no issues. It's an easy fix. The reason the other employee didnt back you up was because they weren't following the rules before and didn't want to admit it. You shouldn't have pointed them out cause they were doing you a favor by not measuring the thickness of those previous packages. Now they may have to.

Honestly I wish our government would not run the postal service. I want a individual to own USPS.

 

[Swordfish1989]

gary, I figured as much, but I did not single her out and made it clear I had done this in other post offices (I wasn't trying to get anyone in trouble). So I'm sure she'll be fine.

Honestly, if FedEx and UPS had an affordable delivery service for tiny envelopes, I'd totally use them. As it stands, though, I only use it to ship overnight (Business account - cheaper than USPS and guaranteed), which is rare and usually not Pokemon related anyway.

I should've done what Charizard Authority did but man I was SO heated that I couldn't think. I just wanted to punch something.

Also, I normally love using shipping labels (use it for ebay), but USPS.com does not let me print postage on their site for first class packages. I think someone mentioned Stamps.com... does that work? If so, I'll just create an account and ship all my trades that way. No post office woes.

BIG EDIT: Not on topic, but just checked Trollandtoad prices and bulk dropped back down to 1 cent *Sigh*. Jusssst when we're getting back up...

 

[Glaceon]

I ship out things for trades on the gym a LOT. I also ship things out for ebay sales, and trades in other forums. What that means is that I use a bubblemailer envelope, get tracking, and call it a day, like many other traders and sellers country-wide.

So today, I stroll into the post office, mind you, like I do EVERY week to ship out trades, and I politely ask the lady at the front for the usual first class shipping with tracking. The following exchange goes down:

Her: You have to use Priority to ship this

Me: No, I ship it first class with tracking every week. You just have to classify it as a package, not an envelope.

Her (taking out a measuring device!!): Nope, nope, it fits through here which means it's not thick enough to be a package.

Me: But I've been doing this for years... sometimes it's off by like an eighth of an inch

Her (Turning to the Post Office Employee who ALWAYS runs things through for me): Do YOU classify it as a package?

Other Post Office Employee (who I must re-iterate, ALWAYS ships my things for me): I'm not answering any questions about this.

Me: .... You'e got to be kidding me...

Her: Sorry, but it has to be shipped Priority

Me: Forget it, I'll go to a different post office.

So now I'm sitting here, package unshipped, because this Ogre of an employee thought that the 1/8 inch that my bubblemailer was off by wasn't enough and because it just BARELY fit through her measuring thingy. And her co-worker, who never questioned whether I could ship it or not, didn't even stick up for me. Guess I'll never be going back to that post office.

In conclusion... stuff your bubblemailers with paper I guess, if you don't want the post office police to take out a measuring tape on you :nonono:

When that happens to me I stick I single packaging peanut in there >_>

 

[S_Cullers]

Also, I normally love using shipping labels (use it for ebay), but USPS.com does not let me print postage on their site for first class packages. I think someone mentioned Stamps.com... does that work? If so, I'll just create an account and ship all my trades that way. No post office woes..

Paypal.com/shipnow

 

[elam18]

I should've done what Charizard Authority did but man I was SO heated that I couldn't think. I just wanted to punch something.

LOL if I was a postal worker and you did that to me... Your package WILL BE lost

 

[The_Charizard_Authority]

LOL if I was a postal worker and you did that to me... Your package WILL BE lost

Most postal workers realize the customer is their job. If the post office does not bring in enough revenue it gets shut down. If they drive away customers, they lose revenue, and eventually the office gets shut down.

I have a post office near me that is awesome. They call me if I get large packages in. They have paid out of their own pocket postage when I have under-weighed items. I have even put an Express label on a regular package before and they switched it to a flat rate envelope. Anytime I drop off packages they make sure to scan them in quickly instead of waiting until late in the day. Honesty I could not say enough about them. For that reason I drive 6 miles out of my way to use their service over the post office right up the street.

Just a side note - The same guy tried to charge me $13 for a letter to Canada saying it weighed 3 lbs. I saw that he had placed his hand on the scale and said it did not weigh 3 lbs. He tried "explaining" that it was international and would cost much more. Of course that did not go through either. I am sure they are used to being hard-nosed though since this was 1/5 post offices in the USA to have a murder committed in it.