The Importance of the Postal Service in Rural Areas

[cozycornertreasures01]

By law, the Postal Service is allowed to ask Congress for up to $460 million annually to cover the cost of providing rural service. But it has not requested these funds since 1982.

I would like to know why they are raising rates for rural areas then?

https://www.uspsoig.gov/focus-areas/focus-on/importance-postal-service-rural-areas

I live with 5 miles of 4 post offices and 10 miles from a major city in Maryland. My zip code is the only one affected my the change. It is only opened from 10-2 and closed on Saturdays so I have to drive to another post office to make sure my orders are sent out on time. I doesn't make any sense! Most rural areas are economically depressed, don't have public transportation and don't have the representation needed to fight these kind of infringements of ones civil liberties.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

Rates have not been raised for rural areas.  USPS recently announced that they will no longer give extra-deep shipping discounts for about 17,000 of the 42,000 ZIP Codes.  This means that eBay shipping labels for those ZIP Codes will be charged at the published online (Commercial) rate, not at the lower, specially negotiated eBay rate. Also, this new policy only affects online postage; prices at the Post Office counter will be unchanged.

[cozycornertreasures01]

I would like to see a link because the announcement by Ebay did not mention anything about removing discounts.

[nobody*s_perfect]

This discussion might help explain the situation:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/USPS-Rate-Increase-Sept-16-2024-based-on-zip-codes-not-zones/...

eBay's announcement was vague. Thanks to a set of examples of various ZIP Codes combinations tested by @wastingtime101  , we can see that shipments TO the affected ZIP Codes are now charged postage rates which match the published USPS Commercial (online) rates rather than the deeper discounted postage rates that eBay has negotiated with USPS.  You can see the Commercial rates in the basic USPS rates publication, but there's no comprehensive reference for the eBay rates.

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/notice123.pdf

[pjcdn2005]

Are you saying that you have to take your orders to another post office on Saturday? Handling time is based on business days so if you sell an item on Friday and have a one day handling time, you don't have to get the package scanned until Monday.

[cozycornertreasures01]

Shocking what Ebay writes is vague, I've never experience that before....🤔

Thank you for the thread link, it's not an official Ebay announcement which I would rather see but it does shed some light on the matter. I'm still writing my representative and let them deal with it. 

[cozycornertreasures01]

Yes, you are correct, I have it set up in my store to ship M-F.  There's nothing wrong with sending out on a Saturday before Monday, buyers appreciated it. I do have packages delivered to my post office box that I can't pick up until Monday because it's closed on Saturday. I can't speak for other rural areas but in this instance the zip code issue is **bleep**. Residents are charged more than residents that live 2 miles away? Make it make sense, anyone please..... ( and there are no dirt roads around here)

[wastingtime101]

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@cozycornertreasures01 wrote:

Shocking what Ebay writes is vague, I've never experience that before....🤔

Thank you for the thread link, it's not an official Ebay announcement which I would rather see but it does shed some light on the matter. I'm still writing my representative and let them deal with it. 

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There's nothing for your representative to deal with. You'd be wasting their time as well as your own.

USPS publicly available rates are not discriminatory against rural areas.

eBay's contracted rates are private merchant rates, and no law is being broken for USPS to tell eBay they will provide deeper discounts off publicly available rates to zips with higher mail volume, and not extend the same discount to zips with lower mail volume @cozycornertreasures01 .

I understand you don't like it - most don't - but that doesn't mean these privately contracted rates are a violation.

If you want to be upset about USPS targeting low mail volume areas, look at the numerous changes DeJoy is making from ending evening pickup in those areas, to changing distribution centers which has already caused an increase in delivery time to/from rural destinations, and it will continue to get worse. If you want to write your representative, do some research and write about that, not about privately contracted rates on eBay.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The OP's complaint may still be relevant. The Christmas surcharge will apply to those rural zip codes and not other zip codes.

[wastingtime101]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

The OP's complaint may still be relevant. The Christmas surcharge will apply to those rural zip codes and not other zip codes.

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The USPS public info says the surcharge applies to all zips.

We don't yet know how the surcharge will apply with eBay's privately contracted merchant rates - but even if it doesn't apply to all zips through eBay that is, as mentioned in other posts upthread, a privately contracted rate for deeper discounts, therefore irrelevant as long as the publicly available rates are equal.

[cozycornertreasures01]

I need a little clarification here. Are you an Ebay employee and if yes, what is your position?

If you are not why would it concern you if I write anyone about this?

I'm well aware of who DeJoy is, and here's a little FYI- The USPS has been targeting low volume mail zip codes long before DeJoy. My community has been dealing with this issue on and off for years. Ebay is just helping them now.