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?

[katzrul15]

We took a parcel in last year to the counter that was shipped to us - a flat rate box that was placed in a slick white mailer and sent to us 1st class.  

The postal worker could care less.  She basically let me know that they do not police it at all.

Btw, I was not happy as I paid quite a bit for postage and it shipped for under a lb 1st class.  I left a nicely worded FB letting the seller know after 3 emails back and forth (felt like they owed me $8 in shipping) that it was abuse of the USPS supplies.  This is a large seller on here.

Not only was my FB removed, but e-Bay sided with the Seller on the postage issue, even though the listing stated priority/expedited shipping.

I get parcels all the time that violate some USPS rule or materials.  I just vent to the cats and throw the packing material away.  If e-Bay does not care enough to leave the FB up/address it with their sellers, who I am to give a hootie-hoot.  I do not buy much on here any more and this is just 1 in a long list of reasons why.

[nuclearomen]

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@carolynnq wrote:

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I don't do it - it doesn't seem right, but I too have seen postal workers at the counter do it. And over the years on the boards, many people have reported postal workers giving them that advice. I've never found anything in their regulations prohibiting it. The one caveat seems to be that USPS apparently doesn't care (they should) if you use additional priority supplies as long as priority postage is paid. But if you use priority mail supplies as packing material for first class, media mail, etc., that's not allowed and if discovered, you'll be charged priority postage.

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Again, if it's used in Priority Mail shipment then it's not against regulation of the prohibited use with USPS supplies. USPS does it and not that they simply don't care, it's allowed for priority mail and that's why they don't care. On contrast, I have also many times (on daily basis actually) see USPS workers at counter enforce their current policies of shipments and methods people try to get through all day long. But yes, supplies are for priority mail method and not allowed to be used for any other method, first class, ground, media... just like flat rate is only allowed with USPS supplied Flat Rate boxes and envelopes, not non-flat rate boxes and envelopes. 

I think many sellers don't/won't do it just because they don't want buyers etc... making assumptions. I get packages in from all over that will use USPS supplies like padded envelopes for padding in media mail etc... I don't agree with it, but then again, it's not me sending it. I simply collect all those padded envelopes and now and then I bring them back to USPS and when they ask I say, people that sent me them as padding in shipments and they just smile and say thank you. 

[north40sales]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

They were old packings from another product this seller purchased.

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I recycle all the padded mailers I receive as well.   Remove the address label area and it is excellent packaging material.  

[steelernation2007]

The short answer is yes, they actually are that cheap to buy any packaging! 

[jacquelinesdesignercloset]

Wow! GREAT price. do you have a link?  (When I looked at Chit Chat, the cheapest for 50 bubble mailers is $38 (their site) and $31 on ebay

[jacquelinesdesignercloset]

Crazy that PO employees do it.  You'd think management would let them know that a Tyvek envelope costs  ~18% more than the large priority box (and that's buying bulk, 100,000 pieces +).

So the the fairly large company that used 3 Tyvek envelopes for 3 clothing items (and sealed them so I cannot reuse) wasted almost $1 in USPS supplies.  (Ironically, a small individual seller selling her own pre-owned clothing put a blouse in a super thin Piggly Wiggly shopping bag inside the mailing box, and it actually arrived far less wrinkled.)

[rosachs]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

They were old packings from another product this seller purchased.

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I've been selling online for nearly 30 yrs now (started on BBS system, moved to the Internet, waiting on the OneMindNet to come) -- I don't think I've thrown out packaging unless it was really battered and simply not usable (bubble wrap with no functional bubbles, cardboard less than 4in in the smallest dimension, boxes that have gotten wet or badly crushed, etc).  I do buy packaging as needed, but I'll use recycled packaging whenever possible, both to 'save the planet' and also to save my profits!  🙂

-Bob.

[rosachs]

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@jacquelinesdesignercloset wrote:

"They got a pack of 25 but realized they won't work for their needs. 

They got a pack of 25 but only used 10 and realized they don't need them anymore."

true that happens, but if you leave them with your outgoing packages, mailman will take/pick up.

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Maybe where you live, but not here in Memphis.  We can't even get our carrier at work to scan the outgoing packages!  He "doesn't have time, so they'll be scanned at the post office", which they are not.  Using a SCAN sheet simply makes things worse - we get a pickup scan but it could be up to 5-6 days before we get an Acceptance scan!!  And it's not every package - most go thru just fine, but the ones customers complain about all have this issue -- how does the post office know who's going to complain?  😞

We've gone from 2-3pm daily pickup to 6-7pm pickups.  Given that they Post Office closes at 4 and all packages headed to the city sort must arrive at the PO by 5pm (per our postmaster), this means we're already a day late getting the package out to the customer.  And eBay blames us!

USPS service is not homogeneous across the country.  Which is why some sellers seem to have daily issues that other sellers seldom have to deal with.

-Bob.

[rosachs]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

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@inhawaii wrote:

I'll admit i have been guilty of that ... but i don't think enough to make the postal service go bankrupt.  

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So although you didn't make the post office go bankrupt, you contributed a fraction of a percent to the problem USPS has with people taking advantage of free supplies.

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I have much less of an issue of people using USPS products to stuff USPS products.  The folks that really know my shorts are the ones who use USPS products to package items overbagged and then shipped First Class or Media Mail.

At work, I've gotten some quizzical questions from customers about our packaging - specifically, why did we use a UPS bag to wrap something we then put in a USPS padded envelope?  The answer is simple and usually gets an "oh... I hadn't thought of that" type reply.

We're a liquidations company, specializing in retail product liquidations, generally pre-bankruptcy or wholesale overstock clearance.  And when we clear out a store, we clear it out to the bare walls.  We have a timeframe to get everything packed and on trailers headed to Memphis.  We sort it out when it gets back here, so everything comes to Memphis.  Packing materials are routed to me first to determine if we can use them for our own shipping, or if we should sell them online or wholesale them locally.

It's business recycling at it's best!  Nothing goes to waste - even the shelving in some cases!!

-Bob.

[rosachs]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

The reason they are used doesn't matter, the supplies are provided for a purpose and I wouldn't be surprised if it was considered an offense to use them for any other purpose.

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It is.  But to report it, you have to bring the entire package, including contents, and turn them over to your local postmaster, who will forward them to a centralized location for review and determination.  There is no telling exactly when you get actually get your purchased contents back, if at all.  So it's a rather low-report offense.

FedEx and UPS used to give out rolls of 4x6 thermal labels to just about anyone who opened an account.  You could order a half dozen with zero shipping history.  Other supplies as well - envelopes, boxes, labels, forms - everything.

Today, these carriers will extend you limited supplies to get started, but after that you have to show shipping history that qualifies you to order more supplies.  You need more labels, you better have used the majority of your last order on packages thru that carrier.  They may fill the order... but your carrier rep will be contacting you to find out more about the discrepancy.  If they don't like/believe the answer, future supply orders may be harder to get filled.

USPS will catch up, eventually.  They've just now started comparing weight of package to weight claimed on postage label -- if you messed up, they'll bill your label printing service for the difference, at counter rates, and your service will deduct it from your deposit on account.  Won't be long before USPS will start measuring packages (FedEx & UPS have for a very long time) and start collecting those oversize charges they've been missing out on too.  🙂

-Bob.

[femmefan1946]

I think for large scale sellers to do this is a bit silly, if a much smaller seller like me can afford to budget for bubble wrap, air bags, popcorn, padded envelopes etc... then anyone can, especially large sellers who often have their boxes custom made in large bulk quantity of 5,000+ 

It's not the "seller".  It's the minimum wage schlub on the line who has 20 more packages to complete before he can get a 10 minute pee break and the tissue /bubble wrap/ air bags are over there while the priority bags are right here.

And I don't blame him one bit.

[rosachs]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:

I am talking about LARGE-SCALE ebay sellers using multiple brand new Padded Flat Rate envelopes for packing inside a 1st Class or other package.

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I think for large scale sellers to do this is a bit silly, if a much smaller seller like me can afford to budget for bubble wrap, air bags, popcorn, padded envelopes etc... then anyone can, especially large sellers who often have their boxes custom made in large bulk quantity of 5,000+ 

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Somewhere in the shipping department, somebody figured out the FREE with free delivery is cheaper than any other supplier around.  And if it helps the small seller save 50cents per order, just think of how much that big seller saves at 5000 orders a month!!

But... if USPS is worried about the numbers, they'll take some kind of action to get it to stop.  Let's just hope they start with the biggest offenders first and give us little guys notice to change or get penalized.  🙂

-Bob.

[gjs_16]

Using USPS Envelopes as Packing Material

Using Priority Mail flat-rate envelopes or Priority Mail Tyvek envelopes as dunnage or packing material for larger items in boxes is prohibited by the USPS. Ordering in bulk, or taking supplies from the post office with the intention of using them as packing material is also not allowed. This kind of unethical behavior is costly for the USPS and will contribute to them having to charge for Priority Mail supplies at some point in the future.

Covering Priority Mail Boxes With Paper 

This is another big no-no. In fact, covering a box in paper is not a good idea for any shipping service because the paper can get caught in the processing machines during transit and ripped off. The package will end up in the undeliverable package graveyard and can't be returned to the seller or delivered to the buyer because there is no longer information on the package.

As for Priority Mail supplies, covering them in paper is a blatant attempt to circumvent paying the fees for Priority Mail. Just don't do it.

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/usps-supply-misuse-fines-4037892

[thejo-52]

I do that sometimes but I don't seal them so they can be used again if the buyer wants.  Yep its true

[101dolphns]

I've done it in a pinch.  Least of our worries.