USPS has lost its mind

[neatstuff4utoo]

Its really going to happen ebay sellers. I saw the written card at my post office yesterday. Any packages over 22" will have a flat 4.00 extra charge. Over 30" will have a 15.00 extra charge. Also a 15.00 charge for a square footage i cant remember the details. I have never seen so many price increases in the last 5 years from them and now this is just rediculous. I will be using UPS and Fed Ex a lot more than in the past. BTW they were talking about this last December. Nothing to do with the gas prices being so high. Also the new fleet will be getting 8mpg. Bad decisions across the board for USPS. a tiny % electric or hybrid 😞

I hope ebay can help mitigate some of this crazy cost for sellers.

[m60driver]

UPS and Fedex have long been more competitive for larger and heavier packages.

[buyselljack2016]

This was part of the earlier regular annual price increase announcement, but USPS delayed it.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Yes, it was announced by Ebay recently & has been coming for months.  

[heckofagame]

If the USPS increases bother you, wait until UPS and FedEx add similar fees because they can. 

[myboardid]

The added fee for any package over 1 cubic foot in volume is $1.50, not $15.00.

[heckofagame]

I don't think the USPS is really efficient at larger packages. They take up a lot of space, requiring more trucks. Perhaps this is an attempt to move away from them and reduce costs. 

[wastingtime101]

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@neatstuff4utoo wrote:

Any packages over 22" will have a flat 4.00 extra charge. Over 30" will have a 15.00 extra charge. Also a 15.00 charge for a square footage i cant remember the details.

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As announced October 2021, this was part of the January 2022 price changes but given a delayed application date of April 3, 2022.

There will be a new “nonstandard fee” for packages that must be sorted manually by the USPS when the dimensions of the package exceed sortation requirements.

     Packages with length over 22 inches will incur a $4.00 surcharge

     Packages with length over 30 inches will incur $15.00 surcharge

     Packages over 2 cubic feet will incur a $15.00 surcharge.

There will be a $1.50 fee for packages that are greater than one cubic foot or have a box length greater than 22 inches if the customer did not provide dimensions or provided inaccurate dimensions inside the online postage provider.

Yes, USPS will stack these surcharges where applicable. (Ex: over 22" and over 2 cubic feet and seller put wrong dimensions in the online label form - surcharge would be $4.00 + $15.00 + $1.50 for a total of $20.50)

Yes, these surcharges will apply to the Priority branded triangular tube boxes.

No, the surcharge will not apply to the discontinued Large Flat Rate Game Board Box if you have any left in stock.

[yuzuha]

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@heckofagame wrote:

I don't think the USPS is really efficient at larger packages. They take up a lot of space, requiring more trucks. Perhaps this is an attempt to move away from them and reduce costs. 

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This is exactly why it seems perfectly fair to me-- I don't think they ever intended USPS to be used for a large volume of large, heavy packages. Some of the things I've seen the poor postal carriers delivering around here have been ridiculous.

[tsme35]

ebay has already made it clear they will do nothing about it.  As far as the other services, I've been checking shipping prices the last couple months seeing I ship alot of fishing rods, Fedex is way more, UPS is about the same shipping price as USPS with surcharge.

 According to ebay, you won't get a discount on the surcharge but still on the shipping cost when using ebay labels.

 I have a thread on this going back a couple months, it will be a business killer for some of us. I'm barely selling fishing rods when shipping is $10-$14, now it'll jump to $25+, nope. AND if for some reason the package gets broken, USPS does not refund the shipping, just the item cost plus 2-3 months fighting the claim.

[macabrelibrarian]

When this first came to light, I understood that this did not apply to Media Mail. Now I'm starting to wonder. Does anyone know?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@macabrelibrarian 

It does NOT apply to Media Mail.

[lepke1979]

As mentioned, I think USPS feels like it is better suited for smaller stuff. Unless you have some awesome rate with UPS or FedEx, there is a reason USPS is better suited for stuff under a pound and the others don't seem to try and compete in that area.

As for electric mail trucks. I thought I heard 5-10% would be switched over to electric. I suppose they could bump that number up a little, but am OK with that. Would rather they test things out first before branching out further. Upgrading buildings to handle charging stations is bad enough. But electric cars aren't the best in all climates and testing to see how they do day to day is preferred than going full hog on them. Can easily see them requiring a charge or two each day and unless they have the ability to swap batteries, that won't be feasible in some cases. Not to mention some areas, electric won't be realistic at all. Although I suppose those could switch over to natural gas maybe. Or possibly hydrogen if they have stations for that in the particular area.

Plus with all that is going on right now, it's probably going to be difficult to even have new electric vehicles made soon.

[inhawaii]

Gas stations and supermarkets have also "lost their minds".

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@neatstuff4utoo   ebay has not provided any mitigation. Possible shipping alternatives will be discussed on next week's ebay for business podcast. Whether the information shared there will be useful or not, I don't know....but I will be listening to it.