USPS box pricing - can someone explain?

1618 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by AlGee, Jul 18, 2007

ringram

Discussion Starter · Jul 17, 2007

Can someone please explain this? It doesn't make sense to me.

I normally ship plants out in boxes that are slightly smaller than the USPS Priority boxes (~$1.80 after tax). Recently, someone mentioned that USPS will ship you boxes for free if you request it on their website, so I did that. Hey, free boxes, sounds good to me.
Mind you, I was almost always shipping via priority mail w/ the other boxes and it was $4.60 for < 1 lb.
Today, I brought my USPS Priority box that I made sure was less than 1 lb...13 oz, actually. The machine said it would be $8.95. Say what!? Almost double for priority mail and the same weight (< 1 lb).
This doesn't seem reasonable. Anyone else?
Even if you add $4.60 + $1.80 = $6.40 it's still cheaper to do it the other way.
Are the priority boxes a flat rate no matter the weight or something?
-Ryan

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xcooperx

· #2 · Jul 17, 2007

you sure your not using the Flat Rate Box?

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Naja002

· #3 · Jul 17, 2007

xcooperx said:
you sure your not using the Flat Rate Box?

Agreed. You have to make sure You get the correct boxes for what You want to do: Some are Flat-rate, some are not.

HTH

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ringram

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 17, 2007

xcooperx said:
you sure your not using the Flat Rate Box?

It's the priority mail box. approx 14" long, 6"wide, 2-3"deep
I'm pretty sure it's not flat rate, but now you have me guessing. I'll double check. Does it make a difference? The machine never asked if it was a flat rate box.

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thirston

· #5 · Jul 17, 2007

The flat rate boxes will have printed "Flat Rate Box" on the sides. They come in a few sizes so double check your boxes, if flat rate, they will say so.

I'm not sure how the machine would tell the difference without you saying one way or the other. Maybe the machines are just set automatically to "flat rate"? I always hand mine off to the guys at the counter so I'm not much help in the machine dept.

Take care.

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Naja002

· #6 · Jul 17, 2007

Apparently the older Flat-rate boxes had a kind of Flat-rate star printed on them. It appears that the new Flat-rate boxes just state it on them. Yes, a flat-rate box is that flat-rate---Period.

The non-flat-rate go by weight. So, You have to have the correct box depending on whether you want weight or flat-rate.

Maybe the machine is defaulted on flat-rate and needs to be changed by the user? I've never used one.....

HTH

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ianiwane

· #7 · Jul 17, 2007

Weird, why not just print your own labels on usps.com, its easier and more convient. 8.95 is the flat rate price. The machine must of thought you were using a flat rate box.

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ringram

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 17, 2007

Yeah, I probably could Ian. However, sometimes they go over 1 lb, so the price jumps up by a couple bucks. I don't have anything besides a bathroom scale, so nothing precise enough.
I'm going to try ordering some non-flat rate boxes.

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ringram

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 17, 2007

Ok..../bonk self
They were flat rate boxes. Boy do I feel like a dufus. I need to order some non-flat rate boxes I guess.

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epicfish

· #10 · Jul 18, 2007

I have scales like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/USPS-STACK-AND-...410544QQihZ020QQcategoryZ109751QQcmdZViewItem

Gives you rough estimates since the priority mail boxes are priced in 1lb increments I believe. The scales used to be free, but the promotion is over now...but they're pretty handy.

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ringram

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jul 18, 2007

Thanks. I'll check that out

Might be worth it to pay $7.60 for one to be able to know how much, so you can print out postage and mail from home. Saves gas and time.

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epicfish

· #12 · Jul 18, 2007

Yep. I use those, print out postage from PayPal, and do USPS pick-up.

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AlGee

· #13 · Jul 18, 2007

*hits ringram with the dufus penalty stick*

Those stack-and-weigh scales are pretty neat.

If you plan on upgrading your scales in the future you should get one of these . They're pretty awesome.

roud:

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