Post office cracking down on shipping costs

I agree with those who have detailed exactly how much it actually costs to ship a single coin through eBay. Having had items go "missing" in the mailing process, as a seller I'm not going to ship an item without some sort of tracking number. Yes, it seems ridiculous to pay more for the shipping than for the coin itself - and I honestly at times feel remorse charging customers exactly what it costs me to ship an item (because, let's face it, $3 seems excessive) but having had people also try to rip me off....you end up just having to look at it as purely business - if you start cheating yourself, what's the point in selling the coins in the first place?

I'm always happy to combine shipping, though - which is something I HATE on stuff from Amazon or eBay...when you buy TWO items, they try to charge you TWO separate shipping costs. I ALWAYS cancel those transactions.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I agree the PO is cracking down trying to stay alive. I don't have a problem with it as long as they are simply enforcing existing rules that in the past they have been lax with I guess.

The major problem is Congress. They say the PO is civil service, and dictate pay and benefits they must offer, and then turn around and forbid public funds going to it. Either its a business or its not, and if its a business let them run it like a business. I am sorry but all private businesses have had to tighten their belts, and curtail spending on benefits. Let the management run it the best way they can if Congress is going to forbid public money from subsidizing it. Even decisions like shutting down a branch has to be approved by the government before the PO management can do it, and this delay causes major losses.

 

In the back of my mind is always the prospect of the post office either going out of business or raising prices astronomically, and I try to get as many things now as I can just in case. I read these news stories and everyone they interview always says they pay all their bills online and never get any mail, so they don't care what happens to the post office. For those of us who buy and sell online, it is a big deal, and I'm a big supporter of the postal service. If all my ebay purchases had to be shipped through FedEx or UPS, I could never afford it.

 

The USPS is Congress's red-headed stepchild.
They are forced to adhere to Congressional dictates as to hiring/firing/salary/pensions/benefits and postage rates, then expected to turn a profit without any funding from the government.
The whole situation is insane.
I read an article that the PO would break even if postage for a 1st Class letter was raised to 50¢, which, given the hole they are currently in, seems unlikely.
Overall though, I think the USPS does a pretty good job. My postman turns up 6 days a week with everything he's supposed to have.
My packages get delivered to me and to those to whom I send them. Maybe not as fast as I'd like but still in an acceptable time frame.

 

That is the way that Postage Due has worked for decades.

 

I haven't gotten a postage due letter in decades.
I wonder if they still use the special "postage due" stamps?
I had a collection of them when I was a kid.

 

He said mail a coin, not a slabbed coin so everything else in the in the complaint about what it would cost is immaterial. For what he claimed he is right, it is possible to mail a coin that way. Not the smartest way to do it, but it can be done.

I'd say they lied, unless the airtite weighed 16 grams. And I'm sure they don't weigh that much. And a 2X2 weighs less than an airtite.

 

Sure you can stick a coin in a #10 envelope and mail it for 45¢ but the chances of the coin arriving undamaged are not good, to say the least - if it arrives at all.
His entire rant about $2.99 being a laughable fee for mailing a coin won on eBay is pretty much without merit, IMO, and doesn't address the reality of eBay requirements and buyer expectations.

 

The USPS primarily is a deliverer of junk mail now. The paper portion of the mail by weight is mostly junk mail. But they get to have cheap, bulk rates that never go up. Ive heard a large pile of flyers can be sent for 3 cents. They lose money on that stuff but absolutely will not raise one penny on the businesses mailing the junk that gets tossed.

In the mean time, some people would be willing to pay 50 cents or more for a stamp for real mail because we feel bad for them. While the junk is delivered at a loss every day.

 

I wish they would raise the bulk rate a lot - then maybe I wouldn't get this almost daily bunch of useless catalogs and flyers (that I never asked for) that I have to put in with the recycling stuff.

 

I've heard that the junk mail keeps the post office going, and I doubt it only costs 3 cents. I for one like getting fliers so I know what's on sale. But that's way off topic.

I don't see why people are jumping all over the person who said that charging $2.99 for postage is too much. It depends on what the item is and how it is sent. Me, I buy coins worth a few dollars apiece, and for that, I think a coin placed in a 2x2, wrapped inside the receipt and in a regular envelope is fine. The seller can charge less than a dollar for shipping and save me money. Being in a 2x2 protects the coin, and wrapping it in the paper keeps it from falling out. I know a lot of people on here pay hundreds of dollars for a coin, and for those, yes, you want it packed much better. If you're paying $200 for a coin, then $4 to ship it safely makes sense. If you're paying 99 cents for a coin, $4 for shipping seems excessive and a waste of money. Combined shipping is always best though, and smart buyers take advantage of that whenever possible.

 

By coincidence I just received a coin in the mail via Ebay- a regular business size envelope. The coin was in a plastic flip, inside 2 quite thin pieces of corrugated cardboard with the receipt. Postage was $0.65, and the Ebay shipping charge was $3.99. The $3.99 didn't bother me since it was an 1800 draped bust large cent that I really never expected to get for my very low bid ($12). It's not the first time I've received coins shipped in this manner and they've always gotten through undamaged. The envelope and contents were thin however, but the packing was done well.

 

How the devil can the packaging be done well in an envelope? There's absolutely no room for 'padding'. If someone sent a coin to me by such a conveyance, it would be the last time that I would deal with that person.

 

I agree 100%.
I don't mind paying $3 or so for shipping just as long as the coin is properly packaged in a padded mailer.

 

You can have that coin for free if you want. All you have to do is wait a week and tell the seller that you did not receive the coin. He will claim that he mailed it and that you should have gotten it already. Then you tell him that you have not gotten it and want a full refund. If he refuses, you can file a paypal buyer protection dispute and your funds will be returned and you will get to keep the coin. The only thing preventing you from doing this is honesty. Unfortunately, not everyone in this world is honest and this practice of fraud by E-Bay buyers is common when you don't follow the E-Bay & Paypal guidelines.

This portion of my post is not directed at anyone in particular but is general information. E-Bay buyers expect their coins to be shipped securely and quickly. This means they expect a padded mailer, the coin protected by either foam or corrugated card board, and fully insured for the purchase value. In order to survive a Paypal dispute, the seller must also have delivery confirmation. In my experience as an E-Bay seller, the minimum cost to send a padded mailer over 1oz first class is $1.64 and the minimum cost for insurance is $1.84 yielding a minimum price of $3.49. That cost does not include supply costs for the mailers, padding, labels etc.

Furthermore, E-Bay has very strict guidelines for becoming a Powerseller and a Top Rated Seller in order to earn a 20% discount on final value fees. Part of these guidelines are that you may not have more than 1% buyer protection (max 3) cases opened against you and a minimum of 90% of your listings must have tracking uploaded within 1 day of payment. As a result, almost all E-Bay Powersellers will use the E-Bay shipping software to print labels that automatically includes postage, insurance, and tracking information. It is simply not possible to maintain Top Rated & Powerseller status and use stamped envelopes to deliver your product.

Another E-Bay requirement for Powerseller status is that you must have a detailed rating of at least 4.6 stars for each of the four categories including S&H costs. Therefore, if your S&H costs are too high, people will start giving you less than 5 stars and you will lose your Powerseller status along with your 20% discount. For this reason, I charge a $3 flat shipping cost for coins under $500 and I print the cost of my postage on the mailing label to show the recipient that I actually lost money on shipping.

 

I used to get many valuable coins in a business sized envelope with lots of the registered/insured style tape all around it. It did not bother me. What does bother me is the overkill. When PCGS almost automatically sends graded coins back to you with their heavy blue plastic box as if there is a risk of the coins being damaged otherwise. I have a corporate shipping account for such overnight packages and end up paying over $10 more like that. Basic express package runs around $18, next tier is around $28, for the box in a box option; next is $10 more. You must be emphatic on the invoice for them to ship it in the most basic form. I agree you should not be charged for more service in shipping than you get on ebay but if you get the item unmolested, you should let the sender know it arrived and the deal is consumated. If you are unhappy with the chance the seller took you are free to not do further business with that entity. Not everyone is an ace with shipping things.

 

It is about time USPS stop eBay/Pay Pal auto shipping scam.:thumb:

 

The problem with this approach is there is no tracking.

Every single sale on eBay must be tracked so the buyer can't claim they didn't get it.

 

No thanks. I'm too honest to do that. If I hadn't received it, or it fell out before I got it, then I'd let the seller know, and go from there.

 

What scam?