I went to mail an order this morning and actually got to talk to a supervisor that knew what they were talking about.
Apparently they made a change about 6 months ago that stated that padded envelops weren’t automatically classified as Parcel Post…that they were indeed large envelope if they were ¾” thick or less. She also stated that most PO locations haven’t been trained on the subject and that they only have it playing on an internal TV network (many employees don’t watch according to her). There has been no widespread training on the subject.
This is why the Automatic Postage Machines (APC) are correct in charging $1.05, when they get to their final destination or anywhere along the route to the destination (major sort facility) and a person hasn’t been informed they will kick it out as not having sufficient postage.
So all people/sponsors that send orders or merchandise items in 6”x9” bubble mailers they are supposed to be classified as large envelopes as long as they’re not over ¾” thick. Why would this mean anything? To most people that send 1 or 2 of these a year won’t notice anything…but I’m assuming someone like LBR, SBD Strings, CJC Strings, myself and many other sponsors would spend unneeded funds. If you sent 50 of these a year ($.34 a package) it would be $17 dollars difference. With the PayPal fees and packaging cost this all adds up. It’s not that the $.34 is a lot extra to pay but it’s the principle behind the subject that gets me going. With Paypal charging an average of $.76 to over $2 per order the extra cost just adds up.
I recently had 3 of these either returned or added postage was needed…not only did it make me feel horrible as a sponsor it made my customer serve suffer and my buyers wait unneeded time.
So just some information…food for thought.
Thanks,
Josh