How to ship $48 2 oz pocket sized booklet
It's looking like this is now impossible to take advantage of a 2.5 oz padded envelope???
No media mail too.
USPS Ground Advantage is only option?
and if Yes, is the padded envelope OK?
OT: Every time I go to eBay, everything has been changed.
FYI: ChatGPT said you can select USPS Large Envelope for cheap, but when it comes time to print the label you can't because no tracking number is available. Is this true?
6 comments
tobaccocardyahoo
·3 weeks agoThe suggestion to use media mail might work but
if the booklet contains advertising it cannot go media mail.
Media mail is not insured and the cost of insurance could bring the cost of the shipment close to GA in some zones.
The padded envelope is acceptable for GA. GA is a parcel service.
fm2000
·3 weeks agoFor $48, you may not want to ship it as a large (untracked) envelope. I ship LE all of the time, but $48 is a bit steep without any tracking. At the end of the day, if you are ok with the risk, you can go to the post office and buy postage there for a LE, or use stamps. If you do send it as a large envelope, it is absolutely critical it can pass the LE flex test (the opposite of the regular letter mail flexibility test), ask a clerk at the post office if in any doubt.
You can't buy LE postage on eBay, you can select it as a shipping option but you can't buy it here, eBay doesn't make that clear when it comes time to print a label. (It technically is possible to implement, but eBay doesn't for some reason, but I digress...)
If your item qualifies for media mail, and eBay won't let you print a MM label, go to Pirate Ship or other postage provider there. MM is gated to specific categories on eBay, but you can buy a MM label elsewhere. If it qualifies, you should, don't light your money on fire with GA if you don't have to.
bdmh-enterprises
·3 weeks ago · EditedUSPS Large Envelope (Flat as they call it) is an untracked service. If the book is under 3/4" and flexible enough to bend around an 11" circle it may qualify for that, but only if shipped in an unpadded paper envelope like a 9x12 manila. You must buy the postage from the PO (maybe stamps . com or the like as well).
Padded, bubble and vinyl envelopes of any size are considered packages and must go Ground Advantage.
ETA: There's no reason you couldn't send it Media Mail as long as it's in the correct category and qualifies.
fm2000
·3 weeks ago · EditedYou can send plastic/vinyl and padded envelopes as a first class large envelope, if under 12"x15", less than 3/4" thick and properly flexible, but not as a regular letter envelope. A plastic/vinyl envelope is ok for non-machineable letter mail, if not over 1/4" thick. Large envelopes go around 15" rollers more slowly and more gently (at least less roughly) than regular letters, and have to bend horizontally the opposite of regular letter mail.
bdmh-enterprises
·3 weeks agoOh yeah, interesting. I rarely use it and the way my PO explained it was just like a letter and I thought they used the same machines these days since there's ones that do both. Wonder why they didn't switch to those when they upgraded to the higher speed ones?
I assume bubble mailers would just pop going through the rollers if used?
tomatbay
OP3 weeks agoCategory is a bust, it is "Medical Memorabilia" which could mean a book, but doesn't qualify. A book class misses what this book is.