Although in principle I agree; I wouldn't recommend using cheap tissue paper as packing material. Some of the Priority Mail Boxes are made from very thin cardboard. Especially the longer medium flat rate boxes. I note that some sellers have wrapped my items in the padded envelopes to prevent damage to the contents. They have used them for clothing items to prevent soiling during transport. The past year has seen an increase in damaged parcels which I attribute to the huge volume increase in package shipping.
However, the use of these postal materials doesn't account for the postal services losses. The reasons the postal service is losing money is because of the congressional mandate that requires pre-funding of their retirement healthcare funding program that no other government agency is required to observe. They could save 6.5 billion dollars annually, and instead require that Medicare be provided for future USPS retirees, which is precisely what military retirees are required to participate in.”
If USPS raised their rates like private for profit companies do they would lose their US consumers who already complain about every increase in postal pricing. Last, but not least, we need to quit subsidizing the United Postal Union discounts to international shippers. The subsidized postal rates for China alone costs the U.S. $300 million a year, with a discount ranging from 40% to 70% on an average shipment.
We have a so called USPS Temporary holiday season rate change beginning in October through December 25th. In actuality, it's likely to become permanent come late January 2022. Moreover, many eBay buyers already complain about shipping prices and they don't realize that sellers are paying eBay fees for shipping charges which tends to negate the commercial discount.
People say change your listings to free shipping, but we know shipping isn't free, so then they complain about the price. Some seller enterprises on eBay are getting volume item and shipping discounts such as the Mega book sellers. No way small sellers can sell books for $4 with shipping included. No discounts on Media Mail. but you pay 14.55% in fees. Your net profit for a $4 book is $0.22. However, it will actually be less after taxes since eBay levies their Fees on the total with taxes, but deducts their fees on the total minus the taxes. Therefore, with the addition of state taxes as in California your net becomes $0.17. That net does not include shipping materials used or any other overhead.
