New Media Mail Rates announced

[taylor_memorial]

Get prepared, there's gonna be a party tonight!

One # increasing from $3.92 to $4.13 (21 cents)
Two # increasing to $4.87 

and so on.

[taylor_memorial]

I recently discovered that it is less expensive, today, to ship some book by USPS Ground Advantage than by media rate. This trend will only increase after this next rate hike. The package rate is based on volume (not weight) and distance. 

I learned this with the John Jakes 8 volume "Kent Family Chronicles", saving myself close to a dollar. 

USPS handling time is about the same. 

The roll over point varies with distance, of course, this was an 8 pound package going to the Pacific NW, so the roll over point was right at 8 pounds. Had it gone to Chicago, it would have been 5 or 6 from where I am.

Something to keep in mind going forward.

[dreambooks]

I still miss the regional box rate days. Strangely, yesterday Amazon displayed options of regional rate boxes availability when I was buying shipping labels. I wonder whether USPS reinstated it.

[imagine.ink]

Not exactly related to the thread topic, but has anyone else experienced clumsier mail handling by the USPS recently?  A couple of weeks ago, I got two refund requests within days of each other for bent packaging and resulting damage (one was a postcard and the other was a piece of pricey vintage Halloween ephemera).  

Both items were sent to opposite ends of the country.  I have shipped hundreds of postcards over the years and have never had a damage claim ... until now.

In the case of the postcard, I got "taken" by my buyer.  I requested that she send the postcard back, and because I was out of town, once I saw the envelope with her return address on the USPS email that lets you preview your mail, I refunded her money.  When I got home, I opened the envelope she sent and discovered that she returned all my original packaging WITHOUT the postcard enclosed!  Even though the postcard  suffered a slight crease from the careless mail handling, I still could have resold it for a reduced price.   (I subsequently blocked her.)

The Halloween ephemera cost the buyer $99.99, but fortunately, I had mailed it via Priority mail with automatic insurance up to $100.  So I brought everything to the Post Office (the buyer in that case HAD enclosed the item as requested, along with the packaging) to file a claim.

Imagine my surprise when the local P.O. told me they no longer handle refund claims at the local level, but only online through the USPS site (under "File a Claim").  It was a pain, but I submitted the claim and am waiting for the refund to be processed.    The Post Office clerks told me an elderly man totally lost it when they told him refunds were only handled online now; he apparently had a major screaming outburst at the Post Office.  

My screams were the silent kind ... lol.  

[taylor_memorial]

This is an ongoing saga:
My grand-daughter wants a Starry Night folding Ipad cover for the holidays. 
I bought one on Amazon.
they lost it.
I bought another one on Amazon.
They lost it.
I bought one on eBay.
The Post office got it to my home town Post Office and sent it away again. 
Still haven't got it. 

Yes, costs are skyrocketing and service is plummeting. Ol' Ben is getting restkess,

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@taylor_memorial wrote:

I recently discovered that it is less expensive, today, to ship some book by USPS Ground Advantage than by media rate.

---

Got to be an specific weight/location where the GA commercial rate is less than MM.

I doubt if it will be a trend unless they change GA so it is always less than priority.

I have to admit that I am using far less media mail and used First Class Parcel, now GA for under 1 lb and when it cost a little more than MM, I was more than satisfied with the quicker delivery for the money.

The new price will not change whether I break even on shipping each month, so I can't bring myself to complain about it.

[taylor_memorial]

Update on the iPad case saga.

Well I got the refund from the eBay seller and two from Amazon (same item). I ordered another eBay item, much more expensive than the other three. 

And then I got the first one I ordered from eBay. 

[picture*books]

I've been selling some comic books which I accumulated over the years, getting them graded and what not. In doing so I've also purchased a number of graded books on eBay which I felt were substantially discounted to the market. These books are graded by a third-party and encapsulated/encased in a serial numbered tamper-proof hard plastic case. The condition of the case impacts the market value, therefore some care is taken in packaging and shipping. 

With unusual probability I've discovered when the shipping party labels the package 'FRAGILE' that the USPS Priority Mail boxes are often heavily damaged, beyond what would normally be expected from simply dropping the box from a distance of 3-to-5 feet. It's as if the package were stomped upon, or slammed by a door, or thrown up in the air, or something of the sort.

It's as if the 'FRAGILE' statement is taken as a challenge by the USPS package handlers, or they view it as an insult to their professionalism. Whatever the case may be, I never, ever, ever write 'FRAGILE' on a package being sent via USPS Priority Mail.

[greggloa]

Thanks for the heads up. I just sold a media mail item today where buyer paid $3.92 and for some reason I as the seller paid $4.13. Strange, perhaps the rates just changed and I got caught in the middle of it? Gregg

[dreambooks]

Just another Media Mail rate hike today. It has been hiking several times in recent years.

I have listings made several years ago charging a $3.95 shipping, and end up paying shipping over $7 myself.

[sunnydayz132]

Media mail is getting way to expensive. My sales have dropped significantly since USPS has raised their shipping rates. I hope things get better soon because I want my items gone. 

[imagine.ink]

Update on the postal insurance claim:  After 3 months of back and forth with the Post Office via their website and two appeals on their decision not to refund, I finally got a check for $99.99 in the mail the last week of January for a vintage Halloween item from the 1920s damaged while shipped with Priority mail in October. 

One of the reasons my claim was denied was the allegation that I hadn't turned in the damaged item to the local office, although I had done so upon request early in December.  Finally, in my last appeal, I wrote that the damaged Halloween witch was sitting on the Postmaster's desk in the Gettysburg P.O.  (per info gleaned from a postal clerk).  

After that, I finally got my check!  🙂