What's with sellers using free USPS envelopes as packing material?

[jacquelinesdesignercloset]

RANT

I received 2 packages today for purchases made on ebay, 1 a priority box and the other, the small flat rate envelop.  BOTH had the items wrapped inside Priority mail large Tyvek envelopes, which were then put into the actual  priority packages they were mailing.

No wonder the USPS lost $69 billion over the previous 11 fiscal years.

Are people too cheap to go to the 99 cent store and buy a pack of 50 sheets of tissue paper?

[thescarletpimpernel]

It comes down to the fact that a lot of folks are cheap, greedy idiots.  That's what one gets letting people "help themselves" at the post office.  These same sellers will defend this criticizing USPS on other issues.  It's like saying, "A business is already losing money so what I steal doesn't hurt it".

[nuclearomen]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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Well, my shooting star Seller must work PT for Amazon!  lol  (didn't even get any air pillows!)

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I worked there...nothing to brag about lol, great to order from, horrible to work for. I do like their air pillows though, they are always bigger then the ones I buy for shipments and sometimes those larger sizes come in handy. Stuff costs money, so anything I can reuse I do where ever possible, and idk, maybe people who get them from me reuse them again (wouldn't doubt some do). I reuse all the boxes I get from vinyl suppliers, those are the most valuable to me, always good quality double walled boxes and the prices for these sizes shot way up past several months. The only issue I have is they are bigger (deeper) depth then what I normally use for shipping 1-2 vinyls...so I wind up using a lot more packing popcorn to fill the voids but still good boxes to reuse. I will typically reuse anything, even cut boxes down to use for other things...but I don't reuse any USPS supplied materials, like said before, i get padded envelopes and after while I just bring them to USPS and drop them off, unless they are damaged usually they aren't just were folded or rolled up inside boxes as padding. 

[na_833338]

Well... this opens up a whole new can of worms!  Selling Priority supplies.

If a person pays for Priority supplies from a seller on eBay, does that give him more leeway on how he uses the materials?  He paid for them, so if he wants a certain size of box for his product that will fit inside another Priority box, is that taboo?  And what if he doesn't make them unusable to be mailed out by someone else in the future?    Hmmm....

[lepke1979]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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@jacquelinesdesignercloset wrote:

I understand; I recycle/reuse  everything package related too.  My peeve was with the wasting of several brand new, expensive Tyvek envelopes.

(I should have said the items recieved were clothing, and I sell clothing, so pretty tissue paper is all that's needed.)

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Gotcha!

Sounds like your seller is lazy.  It is really quick to stuff something in a tyvek and shove it inside something to ship.  We buy plain tyveks to use inside flat rate mailers (cardboard ones), etc, but we do wrap the item before it goes inside the tyvek, etc.

Amazing how some Sellers do not understand presentation, etc.  We received an item today tossed in a box 10 times bigger than the item, no packing materials at all, not bubble wrapped, just thrown in a big box.  

The box of the item is crushed in on 1 side and it no longer looks new, not giftable.  We emailed the Seller who indicated it was a lightweight item and no packing materials were needed.  We have opened a return.  lol

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That's what I call "Amazon Packaging" - their common method of shipping items, no bubble wrap, item thrown in unprotected in a box 4x larger then needed with (sometimes) a string of air pads. My wife gets these all the time. She always tries to pawn the box off to me saying "you can reuse this box right" and I always "no, it's partly damaged, way too big for what I need, and cardboard is flimsy" - but I steal any air bags included and then send her to the dumpster with the box. Another company that is famous for doing this is Gamestop... even worse packaging handling then Amazon. 

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If it doesn't look like they threw it from across the room into an empty box, did it really come from Amazon?

My guess is a lot of this is because they use their own contractors for delivery so it's not going through too many people between the warehouse and your house. So less chance for it to break. But it still assumes that the contractor isn't going to just throw onto your porch from the sidewalk.

At the same time, they probably don't care since at least half of their stuff sold is third party sellers through FBA.

[rosachs]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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Well, my shooting star Seller must work PT for Amazon!  lol  (didn't even get any air pillows!)

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I worked there...nothing to brag about lol, great to order from, horrible to work for. I do like their air pillows though, they are always bigger then the ones I buy for shipments and sometimes those larger sizes come in handy. Stuff costs money, so anything I can reuse I do where ever possible, and idk, maybe people who get them from me reuse them again (wouldn't doubt some do). I reuse all the boxes I get from vinyl suppliers, those are the most valuable to me, always good quality double walled boxes and the prices for these sizes shot way up past several months. The only issue I have is they are bigger (deeper) depth then what I normally use for shipping 1-2 vinyls...so I wind up using a lot more packing popcorn to fill the voids but still good boxes to reuse. I will typically reuse anything, even cut boxes down to use for other things...but I don't reuse any USPS supplied materials, like said before, i get padded envelopes and after while I just bring them to USPS and drop them off, unless they are damaged usually they aren't just were folded or rolled up inside boxes as padding. 

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We have a couple of local email groups where folks will collect packaging materials and offer them to online sellers.  Boxes are fully opened and then flattened for easier storage, bubble wrap generally rolled and/or stuffed in a large shipping box, same with peanuts and air bags.  It's nothing fancy, nothing really organized (some of the folks posting just have piles of 'stuff' you have to break down yourself, others are a bit OCD about storing things just so before they are picked up), but from time to time I'll dip into the waters and get a few things I'm having a harder time finding these days.

-Bob.

[rosachs]

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@na_833338 wrote:

Well... this opens up a whole new can of worms!  Selling Priority supplies.

If a person pays for Priority supplies from a seller on eBay, does that give him more leeway on how he uses the materials?  He paid for them, so if he wants a certain size of box for his product that will fit inside another Priority box, is that taboo?  And what if he doesn't make them unusable to be mailed out by someone else in the future?    Hmmm....

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I'm pretty sure that selling free supplies that you received with free shipping from USPS is not allowed.

-Bob.

[na_833338]

Agree with that.   Anyone with any amount of common sense would find it laughable (I did) that there are sellers out there that are trying to do that. 

I would guess they are using the post office like a 'drop shipper' for the supplies.  Why would anyone buy them.  Makes no sense.  How low can some sellers go?  Nobody needs to answer that question.   I don't really want to know what the bottom feeders are doing.

[nuclearomen]

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@rosachs wrote:

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@na_833338 wrote:

Well... this opens up a whole new can of worms!  Selling Priority supplies.

If a person pays for Priority supplies from a seller on eBay, does that give him more leeway on how he uses the materials?  He paid for them, so if he wants a certain size of box for his product that will fit inside another Priority box, is that taboo?  And what if he doesn't make them unusable to be mailed out by someone else in the future?    Hmmm....

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I'm pretty sure that selling free supplies that you received with free shipping from USPS is not allowed.

-Bob.

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Indeed, selling any USPS supplies is prohibited and can be fined if doing so. That is why they are provided free for use with Priority Mail shipping via USPS. 

[nuclearomen]

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@rosachs wrote:

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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Well, my shooting star Seller must work PT for Amazon!  lol  (didn't even get any air pillows!)

---

I worked there...nothing to brag about lol, great to order from, horrible to work for. I do like their air pillows though, they are always bigger then the ones I buy for shipments and sometimes those larger sizes come in handy. Stuff costs money, so anything I can reuse I do where ever possible, and idk, maybe people who get them from me reuse them again (wouldn't doubt some do). I reuse all the boxes I get from vinyl suppliers, those are the most valuable to me, always good quality double walled boxes and the prices for these sizes shot way up past several months. The only issue I have is they are bigger (deeper) depth then what I normally use for shipping 1-2 vinyls...so I wind up using a lot more packing popcorn to fill the voids but still good boxes to reuse. I will typically reuse anything, even cut boxes down to use for other things...but I don't reuse any USPS supplied materials, like said before, i get padded envelopes and after while I just bring them to USPS and drop them off, unless they are damaged usually they aren't just were folded or rolled up inside boxes as padding. 

---

We have a couple of local email groups where folks will collect packaging materials and offer them to online sellers.  Boxes are fully opened and then flattened for easier storage, bubble wrap generally rolled and/or stuffed in a large shipping box, same with peanuts and air bags.  It's nothing fancy, nothing really organized (some of the folks posting just have piles of 'stuff' you have to break down yourself, others are a bit OCD about storing things just so before they are picked up), but from time to time I'll dip into the waters and get a few things I'm having a harder time finding these days.

-Bob.

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I don't have any groups - and removed myself happily from social media over a year ago. But you can give away or sell used boxes, bubble wrap etc... and likely do well as the cost of everything has inflated this past year, especially boxes, the only thing I can see that hasn't risen in price much is air pillows, still relatively the same price. Still can't sell USPS supplies and really their boxes aren't that great quality anyways. 

[nuclearomen]

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@lepke1979 wrote:

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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@jacquelinesdesignercloset wrote:

I understand; I recycle/reuse  everything package related too.  My peeve was with the wasting of several brand new, expensive Tyvek envelopes.

(I should have said the items recieved were clothing, and I sell clothing, so pretty tissue paper is all that's needed.)

---

Gotcha!

Sounds like your seller is lazy.  It is really quick to stuff something in a tyvek and shove it inside something to ship.  We buy plain tyveks to use inside flat rate mailers (cardboard ones), etc, but we do wrap the item before it goes inside the tyvek, etc.

Amazing how some Sellers do not understand presentation, etc.  We received an item today tossed in a box 10 times bigger than the item, no packing materials at all, not bubble wrapped, just thrown in a big box.  

The box of the item is crushed in on 1 side and it no longer looks new, not giftable.  We emailed the Seller who indicated it was a lightweight item and no packing materials were needed.  We have opened a return.  lol

---

That's what I call "Amazon Packaging" - their common method of shipping items, no bubble wrap, item thrown in unprotected in a box 4x larger then needed with (sometimes) a string of air pads. My wife gets these all the time. She always tries to pawn the box off to me saying "you can reuse this box right" and I always "no, it's partly damaged, way too big for what I need, and cardboard is flimsy" - but I steal any air bags included and then send her to the dumpster with the box. Another company that is famous for doing this is Gamestop... even worse packaging handling then Amazon. 

---

If it doesn't look like they threw it from across the room into an empty box, did it really come from Amazon?

My guess is a lot of this is because they use their own contractors for delivery so it's not going through too many people between the warehouse and your house. So less chance for it to break. But it still assumes that the contractor isn't going to just throw onto your porch from the sidewalk.

At the same time, they probably don't care since at least half of their stuff sold is third party sellers through FBA.

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They do, but not all the time in all locations. Everything we order from Amazon comes through the mail USPS, UPS or FedEx... most of it comes UPS or FedEx...and me and my wife generally order FBA items (since we pay for prime and delivery is always within few days to a week). Amazon does use private or their own delivery fleet for lockers, again, not available everywhere.

[kathy507]

I have had packages come first class with the item wrapped inside in priority padded envelops.  The worst part is that the priority envelops were even sealed so they could be reused if you wanted to.

You could report the seller to the post office on line, but what is the point? The post office will not pursue it.

Frankly, in cases like this I do not leave the seller any feedback but contact the seller stating that the misuse of priority materials is a real turn off.  The post office used to offer priority tape but they had to stop it when so many people would go the post office to get the tape and then use it on boxes if they were moving and other improper uses.  I would hate for the post office to discontinue giving the other free supplies because they were misused.

The sellers who do this are generally not concerned what you think about their practice but saying nothing is just not in my nature.

[nuclearomen]

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@kathy507 wrote:

I have had packages come first class with the item wrapped inside in priority padded envelops.  The worst part is that the priority envelops were even sealed so they could be reused if you wanted to.

You could report the seller to the post office on line, but what is the point? The post office will not pursue it.

Frankly, in cases like this I do not leave the seller any feedback but contact the seller stating that the misuse of priority materials is a real turn off.  The post office used to offer priority tape but they had to stop it when so many people would go the post office to get the tape and then use it on boxes if they were moving and other improper uses.  I would hate for the post office to discontinue giving the other free supplies because they were misused.

The sellers who do this are generally not concerned what you think about their practice but saying nothing is just not in my nature.

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i don't get packages like that as I don't (rarely) order from ebay etc... I do Amazon but Amazon doesn't package like that. I get packages from suppliers that will use priority mail padded envelopes (and they are usually priority global express) as cushioning and I just collect them and bring them back to USPS every now and then. Most of my ordering is supplies and stock, I don't acquire stock from other ebay sellers when I can get anything on wholesale for most part from distributors. Everything else I get packaging wise I reuse, air pillows, popcorn, boxes, cardboard, bubble wrap... anything that can be reused. Not only does that save some cash from expenses but it reuses materials that do not have to be thrown away for no reason. I spend several hours a month heat gunning tape off boxes for reuse. 

I'm not going to report to USPS... waste of time but I'm not one of those "I'm going to run and tell on you" people. I don't do it, don't encourage others to misuse those supplies, but in the end as said before, it's not me doing it.

Priority Mail tape is still given out by USPS at the counter, they only removed it from online ordering. Basically useless for sealing boxes as it isn't heavy duty glue you get with normal packaging tape like Duck brand etc... and the USPS tape tends to peel right off boxes on it's own, you have to use a lot of it to a seal a box...works well for wrapping items especially with bubble wrap as it peels off easy and doesn't tear causing bubble wrap to damage items like vinyl jackets etc... but I use ebay tape, pay nothing for it (or near nothing) with my coupon discount and it's the exact same tape as USPS priority mail...you can also buy cases of this on Amazon in almost any color you want not too expensive. Instead USPS now offers a roll of USPS Priority Stickers online then the tape, it's a massive roll like 2,000 stickers in a roll. I don't mind buying my own supplies, i just claim the expenses at end of year, no big deal, just keep the receipts.

Some people feel that rising postage rates are due to people using these USPS supplies, but it's not, in fact has absolutely nothing to do with rising shipping costs as majority of things sent through USPS are packaged in normal brown boxes and reused amazon boxes etc... All carriers are raising rates, and they all do it around the same times every year. The rising costs are coming from things like work force pay increases and rising operation costs, rising fuel costs, etc... USPS supplies are a very small percentage of the total costs and the reason these are Priority Mail only items is because USPS doesn't loose money on the cost to have them made when people pay for Priority service, especially overseas priority which has risen to insane costs. Those boxes are costing around $0.30 each to be made, they print something like a million of them at a clip. The cardboard is cheap thin stock, I sell vinyl that have jackets with better quality stock then USPS boxes. 

[nuclearomen]

Just side note, USPS also owns the ReadyPost Brand, the boxes they do not give out for free you have to buy them, you'll notice that the sizes of those are different then the free supplied priority size boxes and envelopes. That is for reason, because many things don't fit in the USPS boxes. When some buys the ReadyPost brand boxes one box pays for the cost of a 25 bundle of USPS priority boxes, which are also better quality cardboard then free stuff. I have witnessed many times at the post office employees at the counter either ringing people up for those ReadyBrand materials or referring customers to them cause free USPS boxes are not right size or method. They also sell rolls of 25yrds Packaging Tape for near $4 a roll... that I get for $1.50 of Duck Brand and I see them selling these rolls all the time when people ask for some tape. To believe USPS is losing money on free supplies is simply not true. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

@jacquelinesdesignercloset     "They were old packings from another product this seller purchased."

Definitely not.  Clean (no labels) and unused (sealed with original glue strip)

I never said they were 'used, labeled' packages...I'm saying Clean, unused envelopes that were old packing from another product this seller purchased. '

In other words- you never know. 

[coastaltechsolution]

Well sellers should not be using free Priority mail packaging for anything except USPS priority mail

If and when the free packaging starts being charged for Then know why