Posted on 01/02/2023 12:02:19 AM PST by Paul R.
Does anyone know why a "flat", as defined by USPS to be a large envelope not over 15" L x 12" W x 3/4" Thick, costs significantly more to send if it is square, than rectangular. This even if the rectangular flat is larger than the square flat?
Ouch.
THIS year, I'd again mailed off a few calendars, grousing slightly at the USPS rates again (just call me Scrooge?), and then my wife received a huge envelope with light clothing in it, from a dear friend of hers ~ 1000 miles away. The envelope weighed (per the USPS label) 9.4 oz., measures roughly 18" x 15", and the postage was only $3.36. This is the 1st Class rate for 10 oz. Evidently being way over the maximum "flat" dimension went straight past some USPS desk employee. And we are probably lucky it didn't arrive "Postage Due".
So... I "get" that, but while looking up USPS's current rates, I ran into that "square makes it a package" bit again. Literally, if I took an 11" x 11" calendar and put it in a 12" x 15" envelope, instead of fashioning my own square 11.2" x 11.2" envelope using tough packaging paper (that brown stuff on a roll),the postage for the bigger rectangular envelope would cost a lot less.
Does anybody know why?
Ask yourself: Why would a round envelope - even if smaller than a standard rectangular envelope - cost more to mail? How about an envelope shaped like a Star of David?
Regards,
Bingo! We have a winner. Spot on.
Basically, anything that cannot be handled automatically must be handled manually. Machines work for free, but people cannot.
Maybe it’s the fact that half the time, square envelopes will end up being scanned with the return and delivery addresses extending perpendicular to the proper orientation whereas with the rectangular envelopes can be scanned and read by the OCR equipment without a 90 degree reorientation.
But who knows.đ§
Speculation...
Most written and typed pages are rectangular, and they are folded and read in a traditional and more efficient manner.
Therefore, most envelopes are rectangular and sorting machines are standardized for rectangles.
Folding multiple pages into a square shape is more bulky and more difficult than folding rectangles, and when reading a square fold, the center crease inconveniently cuts across every sentence.
I think itâs systemic racism.
On second thought, you’re right.
Quick answer, if it has to be touched by a human, it costs the USPS a lot more so they charge more. Anything that varies greatly from the standard #10, poses challenges to their equipment. This is what the USPS calls a “brief” review of mail design standards.https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/201.htm
I presume it doesnât automatically fit into the sorting machine.
â I think itâs systemic racism.â
Undoubtedly.
Rectangles can be sorted based on length/width.
Square would be the same either way
jmo
You’re asking why the USPS does something...and why it doesn’t make sense?
I’ll be the first to wish you much success in your new 2023 job of stand-up comedy.
Because the Post Master flunked geometry. All squares are in fact rectangles.
Probably because they have to be sorted manually.
...and, machines don’t call in sick.
Just get a slightly larger rectangular envelope and put the calendar inside with a piece of cardboard to stiffen.
The weird variation of that is when I send a record 8” x 8” I can send it as media and it’s a huge savings. Square is not always the kiss of death
Put it in an 8x11 envelope and if it weighs less than 13 ozs., youâll save even more.
I read a science fiction story many years in a book called “100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories” Edited by Isaac Asimov (1977) written by Hayford Peirce called “Mail Supremacy”, on how mail arrives quicker the longer the distance it is sent.
A person on a lark addressed a envelope to Alpha Centauri and received an instant reply stating he had discovered the secret to traveling among the stars.
Mail Supremacy (shortstory, 1975) â Hayford Peirce
Chap Foey Rider recalls the days of express mail service, twice per days mail services, and ever prompt deliveries. At his main offices in New York, Chap receives an in-own letter within eight days yet a letter from Tahiti in only three days. As a test, he has his office in Bangkok send a letter to Lima 12,244 miles awayâit arrives in one day. His curiosity piqued, Chap addressed and mails a letter to the Supreme Galactic Council regarding its General Post Office.
Review I found:
Hayford Peirceâs âMail Supremacyâ is a short, light-hearted story in which Chap Foey Rider begins to wonder about the mail system and how it works. Rider, who runs an import company in New York, laments the loss of multiple deliveries a day and further notes that it seems that something mailed from a shorter distance takes longer to reach its destination than something mailed from a longer distance. He is more likely to receive a letter from his office in Los Angeles first than a letter mailed from nearby Boston.
He begins to test this by having his office managers mail letters and tracking their time in transit. Once he is sure that letters mailed far distances are being delivered quickly, he takes it to the illogical extreme and tries to mail letters to Alpha Centauri.
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