What's the deal with postage due?

[ChasHawk]

For the purposes of using Delivery Confirmation with a Package Services or Parcel Select parcel, the parcel must meet these additional requirements: a. The surface area of the address side of the parcel must be large enough to contain completely and legibly the delivery address, return address, postage, and any applicable markings, endorsements, and extra service labels.
b. Except as provided in 10.2.2c, the parcel must be greater than 3/4 inch thick at its thickest point.
c. If the mailpiece is a parcel under 401.1.0 and no greater than 3/4 inch thick, the contents must be prepared in a strong and rigid fiberboard or similar container or in a container that becomes rigid after the contents are enclosed and the container is secured. The parcel must be able to maintain its shape, integrity, and rigidity throughout processing and handling without collapsing into a letter-size or flat-size piece.



The blue highlighted text does NOT describe a #000 bubble mailer with a toploader in it...sorry.

 

[CollectorsCorner]

The argument comes up everytime someone talks about DC so I will just leave it be from now on. You guys ship how you want to and I will ship how I do 50+ packages a week with 0 issues EVER.

 

[ChasHawk]

The argument comes up everytime someone talks about DC so I will just leave it be from now on. You guys ship how you want to and I will ship how I do 50+ packages a week with 0 issues EVER.

Then you've been very lucky or live near some very ignorant/uninterested postal employees.

You can send all the bubble mailers you want for .90¢ postage, but NOT with delivery confirmation.

 

[David T.]

The problem is the inconsistancy from one PO to another.
I was told by the postal employee to use "large envelope" when using the ATM postage machine, not package.
Of course this is for a single card with a thick decoy card in the team bag as well.
My brother who lives in the same city but frequents a different PO gets charged $1.80 on envelopes the same as mine that I get charged $1.10 for.
Another fine example of how government cannot be efficient at anything they do. (Ooops, wrong board.)
I charge $2.50 shipping but sell mainly low end cards.
Does it cost me less to ship the item? Yep most of the time, but not by much.
I'm sorry to piss anyone off but my time is worth something to me.
My items usually cost $1.10 postage.
In over 6,000 transaction I have only had it happen twice where someone had to pay extra for shipping.
Both times I went back to Paypal and refunded the original $2.50 plus what ever amount they had to pay.
I also want to note that on higher end items I do use DC to cover my arse.
David

 

[CollectorsCorner]

Sioux Falls, SD
Minneapolis, MN
Roseville, MN
Aberdeen, SD
Milton, WA
Federal Way, WA

All the same way. Every time I move or go to a different PO I bring the package to the counter to make sure that it is ok and every time it has been. There was a lady at the Minneapolis PO that wouldn't let me until I asked the manager about it and she also said that it was ok. So no I haven't been lucky, I go to them with my understanding of the rules and have it confirmed and carry on with my day.

 

[ChasHawk]

If you ship with DC, and without meeting the either the thickness or rigidity requrements,
then you have been extremely fortunate to not have one of your buyers end up with a postage due...end of story.

 

[rymflaherty]

Maybe it would just be wise to stay out of the argument.....

But I figured my experience was worth noting. There was a Post Office here in Chicago I would occasionally go to and they seemed to be pretty hardcore when it came to what constitutes a small package.

They literally had a board they pulled out with a slot.....They would take my package and would attempt to put it through said slot. If it went through they would refuse to put DC on my package and I would have to repackage it. If it was too "thick" and bigger than the slot everything was a-ok.

After seeing that at an actual post office it led me to believe the idea a package had to be a minimum thickness was not simply some sort of Ebay legend. Maybe that has changed and they've changed regulations, I don't know, but that is what they were doing the last time I was there......... After going through that I also figured out how to use Paypal shipping and not deal with nonsense like that, and I always stuff something lightweight to add bulk and not run into the problem.

 

[phalm]

problem is with your post office...

seems like every post office and postal worker has own rules

talk to your mail guy or woman

 

[trauty]

I had a few people contact me stating that they were charged postage due so I contacted my local post master. He said the problem is that there are so many conflicting rules at the post office that most people don't have a clue what the actual rule is. Just because it leaves his post office okay it doesn't guarantee that somebody at another post office won't decide it needs additional postage. Since then, I've started wrapping the top loaded cards in bubble wrap and then putting them in a bubble mailer. I'd tried the packing peanut trick before that but still had some problems. I haven't had any problems since using bubble wrap.

 

[markakis8]

In reality, a #000 envelope with 1 thin toploader should only cost 90 cents to ship. The problem is, some postal workers don't know the rules for their own job.

Bingo. You should not have been charged postage due on the packages with just one card in a toploader.

 

[gt2590]

I had a few people contact me stating that they were charged postage due so I contacted my local post master. He said the problem is that there are so many conflicting rules at the post office that most people don't have a clue what the actual rule is. Just because it leaves his post office okay it doesn't guarantee that somebody at another post office won't decide it needs additional postage. Since then, I've started wrapping the top loaded cards in bubble wrap and then putting them in a bubble mailer. I'd tried the packing peanut trick before that but still had some problems. I haven't had any problems since using bubble wrap.

I do kinda the same thing but I wrap the TL in a clean plastic bag, like from the grocery store or that the paper/mags get wrapped in and I've never had a problem either...

 

[jrinne]

I have never had any issue with postage due. I use your standard #000 bubble mailer, card in top loader enclosed in a team bag. I print my shipping label from ebay with DC and it usually comes to $1.64. I have never used a packing peanut or bubble wrap.

 

[Crewfan82]

I have never had any issue with postage due. I use your standard #000 bubble mailer, card in top loader enclosed in a team bag. I print my shipping label from ebay with DC and it usually comes to $1.64. I have never used a packing peanut or bubble wrap.

This is how I used to ship before I got burned. Since then I always add a couple packing peanuts. When I got burned the item arrived at the buyer upgraded to Priority with over $4 due. If the package is less than 3/4" thick the only way it can ship with DC is if it is Priority Mail. As others have mentioned this all depends on your local post office that accepts the item. They may be anal or they may not give a crap.

 

[gt2590]

I'm pretty sure they all don't give a Crap LOL...

 

[bja613]

I had the same problem with differing rules when I was trying to ship sets. I use to package sets in the priority mail flat rate envelopes for $4.95 in a card board box with no problems. Then, I shipped 15 sets over 2 days. The sets that went on the first day had no problems. Then randomly the sorting center decided the next day that the envelopes could not be sealed with tape and had to be "naturally sealed" with the adhesive on the envelope. I received 8 sets back and I had to eat all the postage that was on those packages. Luckily they came out with the padded flat rate envelopes and they allow tape on those.

 

[Randy Shields]

3 charges now for me in 3 weeks too.
$1.05, $2.35, and $3.20 respectively. The 1st one was from the Beckett Marketplace and I just let that one go. The 2nd charge the Ebay seller took care of.
Then a package yesterday with $3.20 due?!? $3.20 DUE? I understand that packages must meet DC standards, and although all 3 senders mailed the cards in toploaders inside a bubble-mailer with nothing to inflate the thickness, I simply don't get the different amounts --unless-- it depends on WHERE it's shipped from in the U.S?
I believe it's .80 cents for DC to send if you are sending from the P.O. (I always print my own labels, so I could be wrong) and it's less of course if you print your own labels, which all 3 sellers did, BUT if it's not thick enough and if costs ARE different depending on where they are shipped from, --still-- WHY would the P.O. charge $3.20 for my last package "Upon DLVY"? I mean I feel bad for me AND the seller to be honest. Just because it didn't meet the thickness or rigidness as some here have implied, (I was told by the Postal employee on my last 2 packages that it was simply because of not meeting the thickness) then how does the P.O. justify those types of charges?? OK, so it wasn't thick enough.....but $3.20???

Oh Yeah, we'll ship it if it doesn't meet our standards, BUT if the recipient wants it THEN we'll get those fees!

This almost seems to be becoming an epidemic and although I don't hesitate to email the seller and ask for a partial refund, as it is clearly they're responsibility and not mine to get the package here with no "extra" cost to me, BUT at the same time I simply don't understand and cannot justify the amounts. -Especially the latest one that the P.O. charged even if the package was sent not meeting they're minimum standards.
And it's tough for me to try and explain this to the sellers, outside of the fact that the package didn't meet the standards for method shipped, as to WHY the P.O. charged me so much--again, especially for the last one! I certainly don't know why they charge so much and neither does the seller quite frankly.

Needless to say the USPS is really PISSING ME OFF!

/End Rant


EDIT: Hell, with this last charge maybe I should have refused the package and has the seller re-send it? Maybe he could have re-sent it for less than the $3.20 the postal service had me pay? Nah, they probably would have charged him the same amount just to receive it back!!

 

[ChasHawk]

The $3.20 is the correct charge, because the package was automatically bumped up to the minimum priority rate.

 

[Randy Shields]

The $3.20 is the correct charge, because the package was automatically bumped up to the minimum priority rate.

Thanks. I've started putting this in the message boxes to the sellers for items I've won along with explaining that DC packages have to be at least 3/4" at the packages thickest point. Hopefully they'll either read them or send them the right way.

 

[bongo870]

Well im going by my own experience. I always went to the same 2-3 post offices and never had a problem because I use the padded envelope and I wrap a turn of paper towels around the card to make it thicker. But a few times I was out of the area and stopped by different post offices and they all told me that it has to be 3/4 inch thick to send it with DC. They even took out a block of wood that was 3/4 of a inch thick to measure. And to me it was as thick if not thicker and they said they would take it but they could not promise me they would not return it to me for it not being thick enough. I left those Post Offices and went back to the ones I use and they never say anything. So I don't know if those offices were making it up but that is what I was told. if it was one PO i would say ok. But it was a few that told me this.

 

[smapdi]

I had another arrive with $1.05 due yesterday. Another #000 bubble with just a toploader inside, and a 90-cent APC stamp on it. No DC. Didn't measure but it was surely less than 3/4" thick, whether that matters or not. Another instance where it was free shipping for a couple cheap cards so I don't mind getting dinged the extra $1.05 so much, but it's kind of annoying. At least the mailman left the package along with a slip requesting payment.

I wonder if the PO hasn't had some sort of directive to collect as much money as is conceivably possible before Congress decides to kill it once and for all. Or else we just got some new people at mine and they are doing things differently.