USPS Priority Mail Regional Rate Box A no longer available on eBay

[corpblues]

From eBay support this morning when I contacted them about not being able to print a regional A label.

"However upon checking on the system, ebay no longer cater regional rate box A, since ebay no longer offer discount for that specific shipping label."

This negatively impacted my eBay selling and raises my shipping cost significantly.  Thanks eBay...

[stainlessenginecovers]

You are thanking the wrong people.

Thank the United Stated Postal Service.

Also-you should check the community board before posting- there's already been many posts about this.

[corpblues]

Sorry, I did not see the existing posts on same topic before I posted.

Looks like is in indeed USPS not eBay.   The eBay support agent didn't know that piece of information.  Sorry eBay for my misunderstanding.

I have a lot of regional A and B boxes and if I understand correctly, I can use them for priority boxes instead.  They are a great size and I frequently use them.   USPS free boxes save me a lot of money in buying boxes, which I do greatly appreciate USPS offering them. 

[ebooksdiva]

@corpblues USPS is discontinuing them as of Jan. 22, 2023

Knowledge: Regional Rate Boxes (usps.com)

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

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@corpblues wrote: ... I have a lot of regional A and B boxes and if I understand correctly, I can use them for priority boxes instead.  ...

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USPS is discontinuing Regional rates on Sunday January 22, and eBay has apparently decided to stop offering this postage ahead of schedule.  You can still purchase Regional postage through other online postage sellers such as Pirateship and USPS Click N Ship.

The official USPS memo about discontinuing Regional rates says that you will be able to use those boxes at regular Priority Mail rates starting on Sunday January 22.  

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Regional-Rate-Boxes

[tobiasness]

Dang, I always got a little charge out of shaving a few pennies off the cost of the parcel with those. Oh well. Yes the sizes are handy so they will get used up eventually.  I doubt the regional savings on regular priorty mail calculated will offset the difference.

     Tobiasness

[toysaver]

I feel your pain, half my inventory was set to ship in Regional Rate A boxes.  Another poster came up with a great hack  -  the 1096L box fits in the Padded Flat Rate Priority envelope.  Won't work for every listing but small heavy weight items should be a go.

[rfmtm]

The replacement for Regional is discounted Cubic Rate Priority from PirateShip. The trick is lining up box sizes that fit the need in the lowest price tier. For example the Regional Rate "A1" box, while it can go cubic as is, if you can cut the height down a quarter inch it goes into the next lower price tier saving even more money.

Cubic Rate is calculated as follows:
Cubic Box OD = L" x W" x H" / 1728 Round Down all dimensions to lowest quarter inch before calculation, then Round Up the result to the next .1 cubic foot.
Cubic Max OD = 0.500cu ft
Cubic Max Weight = 20#
Cubic Max Length = 18"L

I have started a spread sheet to input my standard and modified box sizes to auto calculate the best price rate, which is often better than Regional, and certainly much better than going to a larger Priority Flat Rate box than needed.

Note there is also Cubic Priority for envelopes and Cubic Parcel Select.