Issues with shipping poster tubes!!

[nerdgasmcollectibles]

Is anyone else experience issues with shipping poster tubes through USPS lately? I've been shipping art prints through them for many years. My tubes are not very large, generally 13 inches long with a 3 inch diameter. I always shipped them using First Class/ Ground Advantage mail and they generally weight 8-12 ounces per package.

In the past, I've rarely had an issue and they get there in the normal time frame. For the past six months. 90% of my poster tube shipments have been significantly delayed while in transit. Previously it would take no more than 5-7 days to get delivered anywhere in the Unites States. Now after I drop them off and have them scan in the tracking number at the local post office it takes forever for them to get delivered.

Usually tracking will show that it left the local post office the day I dropped it off, but then nothing new will be updated for days or more than a week. After it gets updated once, it can be another week until it gets updated again. Almost every day, the tracking will say "In transit to next facility. Arriving late". It just keeps putting that update on there day after day. 

I've started filing a lost mail request after seven days now hoping that would speed things up, but usually it doesn't do anything. It's gotten to the point where buyers keep filing "item not received requests" and I've ended up having to refund because Ebay only allows the cases to be opened for so long. Then what usually happens is the day after I issue the refund, the package starts moving again and gets delivered causing me to lose the money since I can no longer file the insurance claim for a lost package. 

[simba6]

One thing about round packages.  The bar code must be  running from end to end. Not going around the tube. It will not scan that way.  I received two items packed that way and each time USPS put a second label on going the other way.  They were quite delayed in arriving.

[wastingtime101]

Hi @nerdgasmcollectibles . Round tubes require more handling and as USPS service declines, your tubes will take longer to process.

The best solution is to put the tube inside a box.

You should also note come July 2025 USPS is going to apply surcharges to tubes and anything that rolls. Because eBay is not set up for package type surcharges, you're going to face cost adjustments after the fact. What you can do is add the surcharge amount as a handling fee or build it into your item price to make sure you're charging enough.

Tube inside a polymailer will also result in that surcharge because it can roll.

Tube inside of a box will avoid that surcharge.

Take a look at this:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/USPS-Proposed-Nonstandard-Surcharges-effective-July-2025-tube...

[wastingtime101]

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@simba6 wrote:

One thing about round packages.  The bar code must be  running from end to end. Not going around the tube. It will not scan that way.

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That, too.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Over the years, USPS has come to rely more and more on automated systems for sorting and scanning packages.  I suspect that those tubes are more apt to go astray -- rolling off of a conveyor belt onto the floor, etc. Do you position the label so that the bar code is going lengthwise, rather than curved around?

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@wastingtime101 wrote: .... Because eBay is not set up for package type surcharges, you're going to face cost adjustments after the fact. What you can do is add the surcharge amount as a handling fee or build it into your item price to make sure you're charging enough....

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And then use the $ to pay for a box to put the tube into, rather than paying the surcharge.

[wastingtime101]

haha Exactly! 🙂

Tube-in-a-box is the best solution.

I don't ship many tubes, but when I do I always put them in a box. If I need to I can easily build a box to fit the tube. If I was shipping a lot of tubes I'd buy boxes to fit.

[bdmh-enterprises]

Triangle is the new circle.

[wastingtime101]

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@bdmh-enterprises wrote:

Triangle is the new circle.

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Yes and no.

Whether or not triangular boxes are machinable depends on the equipment at the sort facility. Over the past 5-6 years many facilities got machinery that will sort them under a certain length, but a lot of facilities (as far as I know from the last time I spoke with someone who works at a USPS sort facility) still have to process them manually as non-machinable.