Also, just to throw this out there..... Many of the responses here are hooked on the stupid rule of 3/4" package thickness. This is 100% true if you are using a normal "paper" envelope. Be it 4x6, 6x9, 11x14, etc..... then the 3/4" rule applies.
However, and in my case, the "paper" envelope 3/4" rule does not apply.... because ALL bubble mailers are considered "parcels", not "flats". It does not matter what the thickness of the bubble mailer is, it is a parcel according to Post Masters all over the USA. Due to the envelopes being lined with bubble wrap, regardless of the outer layer, be it paper or plastic, it is automatically deemed a parcel.
One of the main reasons (possibly the exact reason, I am not quite sure, since I never actually asked) this is done this way is because bubble mailers are not passed through any kind of sorting machine and are automatically hand sorted as parcels. The reason behind this is many. One being that bubble mailers get jammed in the sorting machines and are a **bleep** to retrieve. Not to mention the time involved in stopping the progression of mail being sorted by that machine to retrieve the bubble mailer from it due to it jamming the machine. Time is $ and $ is time is the theory applied. Thus why before there was "online" mailing and printing, all bubble mailers were charged a "non-machinable" fee as soon as the postal employee saw the mailer. Since about 2012 the fee was dropped because it was built right into the "parcel" pricing.
As I have stated before, I have been shipping for a quarter of a century and know the rules pretty good. I am not a USPS employee, but having been shipping packages for as long as I have and having had to literally go to the post office to ship them for years before "online" shipping became a thing, I was taught pretty well by many postal employees the in's and out's of the shipping rules and regulations. I have dealt with everyone from local postal employees, to regional and national post masters on the rules and regulations as well as having helped them in several instances bring down undesirables in mail fraud schemes. So just because I may sell mostly trading cards, does not mean I have not been well and formally educated in the USPS shipping system.
I still like to believe that my package was pulled and I was charged in error and the USPS will indeed correct the matter. If not, I will take the needed steps necessary to get to the bottom of the issue. I thought that by bringing my experience to my fellow ebay sellers that it may bring the situation to your attention and thus you could be on the look out for the same thing happening to you. As it has been stated on this thread, apparently some of you have already been the victim of the same thing and no resolve or explanation came of it. I know many who work for the USPS and because of that, I would like to believe the glitches in the system will be fixed so that nobody has to deal with this type of thing.
