A great value in shipping for small items...

[artphotodude]

I have to admit that most of the time When I get on this board - it's to complain, and while I'm not apologizing for holding Ebay accountable to its customers (in this age of corporate dystopia), it is about time to add something pleasant and upbeat and constructive!

I sell a lot of really small items, that are a great profit margin, but only if I can avoid 1st class (grab your ankles) package rate.  Since the US doesn't  subsidize shipping, this makes competing with practically the entire world ultra difficult.  Many of the items I sell, if I have to go package rate, are actually cheaper to by from England (still without tracking) and China - Fuhgeddaboudit (cheaper WITH tracking).

Anyway, there is a sweet spot - Non-Machineable.  Around a dollar to ship a lot of small items.  Our local Post Office here in Spokane, WA has starting doing everything possible to coerce shippers at the window to use package rate, one item being a watch crystal I recently mailed that fully-qualifies for just 1 stamp, and they flatly refused to ship that way and insisted I should "Play it Safe" and go up to package rate $5.  Now that's about 900% markup and instantly destroys my margin.  On complaining to the manager, he differed to policy (Nuremberg defense), and other officials said it was just the accepted training model.

Well the good news with the US Gov. is you just keep calling until you get someone who is reasonable.  I finally reached a person in Consumer Affairs in Seattle (district office), who absolutely concurred that this was not policy and I was getting cheated.  She even offered to investigate tracking numbers. Very welcome, but what about next time???

Another good G-Man over at the business office had the ANSWER!  Since the items in question are will within the official description for Non-Machineable (things like keys, coins & pens actually listed as examples), he told me to simply get my own "Non-Machinable" ink stamp!  The items must still be mailed in a plain, white envelop, but with a couple of stamps (20 or so cent more than it probably should cost), is still only about 1/5 the obscene rate the downtown office was trying to stick me for, and it illuminates the possibility of it accidentally being machined and torn-open.  Best of all, I can just drop them in any collection box and avoid all the Deep State pressure to overpay at the window. 

In the lack of an actually functional country with fair rules, this is a WIN for the little guy.  The lack of tracking means there is certainly the possibility of fraudulent lost claims, but most buyers (19 out of 20) are still pretty honest. 

A further aid in getting the package there savely is to attach the item being sold inside a plastic baggy with tape to the back-side of the actual address on the envelope.  This helps in case something does happen to the envelope in shipping, because most Postal sorting centers will try to "Re-Wrap" in damaged shipping as best the can, and the biggest hazard is often just separation from the address.

Also, it isn't a bad ideal to "fight city hall" sometimes, especially with a noticeable change in terms, that may or may not be actual policy.  I worked 5 years for the USPS and learned 1st hand - it's all about who you ask. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

USPS has 3 categories of First Class mail: letters, flats, and packages.  If an piece is within the definition of a letter (weight, dimensions, etc.) then it can be mailed as a letter; if it has any of the characteristics that make it "nonmachinable" then there is a 30-cent "nonmachinable surcharge".

You can see the terms for a first class letter here, including the dimensions and the criteria that make a piece "nonmachinable":

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/101.htm#ep1047495

Note that there is no requirement for a "plain white" envelope; it's all about the dimensions, including a maximum thickness of 1/4 inch. If your piece is thicker than 1/4 inch, then it cannot be mailed as a letter.

[artphotodude]

The issue is that here they ARE NOT honoring official policy.  Their cards with slots in them are a simplifying abstraction assuming that any package 1/4"-1/2" qualifies as non-machineable.  BUT this is not necessarily how it is handled and doesn't relate to the official USPS guidlines.  Having work MYSELF sorting non-machineable letters at the Spokane Sorting Center (P&DC), there is a danger than any small padded envelop (SPUR) can be returned as a package with postage due, but paper envelops are always treated as letter or non-machineable.  Wether a non-plain paper envelop is treated properly completely comes down to enforcement (arbitrarily assigned by the regional management / and the local MDO or Post Master).  So my advise above is a "Playing it Safe" guide.

[stainlessenginecovers]

You still will NOT get any tracking; and therefore any 'proof' that the item delivered- going that route. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

" Their cards with slots in them are a simplifying abstraction assuming that any package 1/4"-1/2" qualifies as non-machineable. "

I don't understand this statement. A piece that's over 1/4 inch thick can't be mailed as a letter, either machinable or not.

[artphotodude]

That's true, BUT the cost of that tracking is so high, that most people will opt to by international (with said subsidized shipping) and pay less than buying from a US seller - and they still won't get any tracking.  Until we start charging appropriately for shipping in a way that supports US small business (so never), corners have to be cut and honestly of the buyer has to be assumed until proven not true.   $5 to be able to offer tracking, on a $10 or $12 dollar item isn't affordable.

[artphotodude]

That's not true.  Re-read the OFFICIAL USPS guild-lines. 

[artphotodude]

Here is the official Criteria for non-machineable: https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-the-Non-Machinable-Surcharge-for-First-Class-Mail

The only discussion on thickness is for mail-pieces that are too thin.  The business office told me that that weight is the significant cutoff. 

[artphotodude]

Further explanation can be found here: https://pe.usps.com/BusinessMail101?ViewName=FirstClassMail

Over 13oz. OR Flat-Size and above with irregular thickness or non-rectangular shape are supposed to be mailed as parcels. What our post office is wrongly doing is assigning all irregular thickness even at letter-size which is a violation of policy being deliberately done from our local postal leadership (to presumably increase revenue).

[wastingtime101]

Check out these links @artphotodude.

https://pe.usps.com/text/qsg300/q201.htm

https://pe.usps.com/text/qsg300/Q230a.htm#ep1030914

https://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/101.pdf 

https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2007/html/pb22218/kit1_021.html 

[artphotodude]

THIS is EXACTLY the lynch-pin.  The Quick Service guide doesn't match the official price. 

[wastingtime101]

The third link was not the QSG. It's from the DMM.

[anasazirose]

I find this discussion very interesting.  I read the links provided, and it seems they are a bit contradictory. 

In   https://pe.usps.com/BusinessMail101?ViewName=FirstClassMail, it states:

"First-Class Mail letter-size pieces that are square, rigid or meet at least one of the nonmachinable characteristics are subject to the nonmachinable surcharge.

Flat-size pieces that are rigid, nonrectangular, or have uneven thickness will pay the parcel price."

What is the difference between Flat-size and FCM letter size?  This seems FCM letter size can be of uneven thickness and marked non machinable. (pen, key, seeds)

I gave away ginseng seeds 2 years ago.  I figured a stamp or 3 to mail less than an oz of  seeds.  I prepared 20 packs to send free.  I was charged an average of $3.72 for each one!  I about cried.  They were uneven, and (the center) wouldn't fit in the postal card all the way around, so the clerk said they had to go as a package.  Do you both think that was correct?  Could I have packed the seeds in a larger 'slice' of waxed paper, and sent them as non machinable?  I love sharing seeds, and the shipping cost stopped me before I could get started.  I'd ordered seeds before, and they were shipped cheaply, usually under $1.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[nobody*s_perfect]

A letter can be of "uneven thickness" but it cannot be more than 1/4 inch thick at any point. It has to fit through a 1/4-inch slot. The USPS defines "uneven thickness" for flats as a variation in thickness of more than 1/4 inch.

You can see the detailed definitions of letters, flats, and packages, including dimensions, if you go to the link that I provided in post #2. A piece that is too big to mail as a letter (in any of the 3 dimensions) can be upgraded to a flat if it is not too large, rigid, or lumpy. If the piece doesn't meet the requirements for a flat, either, then it must go as a package.

It sounds like your envelopes of seeds were too thick to go as a letter, and too uneven to go as a flat, which must be literally flat.  I am in gardening groups that mail seeds as letters all the time ; there are ways to pack the seeds so they don't bunch  up.