Posted on 02/13/2009 7:47:21 AM PST by ml/nj
I had to mail out a couple of CDs today. I put them in a 6x9 manila envelope along with a stiffener, sealed the thing up, addressed it and brought it to the Post Office. I passed it though the small slot in the bullet proof glass to the clerk who told me it would cost $1.51 to send it.
This seemed a bit high to me so I asked the clerk how she arrived at the $1.51 amount. "It's a parcel. You can't fold it," she told me. "The rates went up three weeks ago."
"Yeah, okay, but how does it get to be a $1.51?"
"It's a parcel."
"Are all parcels a $1.51," I asked, "Or is there some charge for the first ounce, and then another charge for the extra ounces."
"It's whatever the computer says it is," she told me now being backed up by another clerk.
I asked for a rate sheet, saying that I might like to put my own stamps on the next "parcel" I might mail. So she asked me if they all weighed the same as the one I had given her. I told her, "No," and her backup indicated that they didn't do rate sheets.
For the record, my receipt says that I mailed a "Zone-1 First-Class Parcel that weighed 2.40 ounces. At current first-class mail rates, a regular envelope which is surely what I was mailing would be $0.76. I shudder to think about what would have happened if I wanted to mail something more than 50 miles away from my house. And I wondered too, if all wedding invitations are now "parcels."
It's a good thing I didn't want my appendix removed.
ML/NJ
Under ObamaCare the heart surgeon doing your surgery will be the one with the most SENIORITY...
Just had a similar experience. I attempted to mail a manila envelope ‘media’ rate. The postage was over $2.
When I questioned the postmaster he told me that it was considered a parcel. He allowed me to mail the envelope first class for 76 cents. He peeled off the original postage for me.
Obama’s post office now.
Almost all of the friendly, helpful, efficent and hard(ly) working clerks (or “Associates) at my local post office always seem to be “African Hyphen American” and I know that they truly, truly love WASP people such as myself.
Now that Obami is POTUS, the double A’s are in control. You better be nice to them or your mail will wind up in the shredder.
None would dare call it black racism.
The postal rules are horrific. I sent some postcards that had the address in the center vertically instead of horizontally and they cost the same as a letter, 42c, instead of the normal 27c for a postcard.
It is not a postcard unless its layout is left to right on the long axis instead of top to bottom. Otherwise it becomes a first class letter.
You gotta love it.
“None would dare call it black racism.”
It’s BLACK RACISM.
Let’s call a spade a spade.
All yo post offices and gubimint offices and functions dey all be belongin’ to us’s now.
I wrote that rule when Ronald Reagan was President. How dare you sully his name!
Did you ask it to be sent “media mail”? This is a reduced price and applies only if there is nothing “personal” inside (like a letter, notes, etc.).
Did you check the rate for mailing CD’s?
I have decided that the Bamster should get a coon dog for the white house since he was talking about getting a dog for his kids.
Y’all missed something ~ USPS has been the world’s largest single employer of black people for several decades.
I always use the serve yourself mail machine whenever possible. Of course, that means I had to go online to print myself out a media mail rate, as they don’t offer that as an option (I think they would really prefer not to have the media rate, and in fact, the list of things you CAN’T send media is kind of stupi—for instance if I sell someone an old magazine, I have to ship it parcel or first class). Unfortunately it’s the only game in town.
Interesting. Customer-service/economics/capitalism vs. socialism BUMP!
They can’t roll it up in a rubber band so it has to be handled differently and charged as “parcel” instead of first class letter mail.
Not saying it’s right, just saying what it is.
Lots of stupidity and increases of Obama’s America that will eat up that $13 a week times 10.
Go here and calculate your own postage.
http://www.usps.com/welcome.htm
It’s not entirely user friendly (designed by the governemnt after all) but it won’t take much longer to learn than a couple of trips to the Post Office. All types of postage can be calculated there. The good folks behind the counter didn’t tell you about it because, even though they hate you, their jobs depend on you coming back.
Go to ebay and buy a small scale. They don’t cost much and you’ll seldom have to ‘interact’ with the demons behind the counter.
You don’t want to be there, THEY don’t want to be there, and they sure as hell don’t want YOU there.
The USPS.com site gives detailed information on postage costs, so you won’t be surprised in the future.
It’s a wonderful world, huh?
It has been that way for a good while. Shipping packages first class and sending letters have been different for at least 3-4 years.
Hmm..while my PO isn’t as bad, there are a couple of people working there who are rather unfriendly.
It seems that every time I enter a government building in a good mood, something happens within the first 30 minutes which makes me angry:
Department of Motor Vehicles: Jerk behind the counter gets snippy with me. Tells me that he doesn’t work for me (taxpayer). I demanded to see the branch manager and made sure she understood that as state employees, you serve the taxpayer, not the other way around. Apparently complaints have been lodged against this guy before.
Arlington County Courthouse: Police officer indicates no electronic devices of any type in courthouse by judge’s order. I asked him for a copy of the judges order. He tells me it’s “on the web.”. Figured it wasn’t worth the trouble to argue with him in this case.
Arlington County Marriage License Department: Impolite and unhelpful staff, no flexibility with regard to accommodating the customer. Basically only open during hours that are unworkable as my wife is a teacher. Decided to do business with Loudoun County Marriage department where they are friendlier and helpful.
If anyone has seen the play “Tuna Christmas”, you’ll probably remember the line shouted by the character Didi in frustration to her husband R.R.: “Don’t just stand there like a government employee!”.
To those Federal and State employees who actually care about the work they do and their customers. Many thanks. On the rare occasion when I do business with you, it’s a pleasure.
Let’s call a spade a spade."
LOL, indeed, let's
I believe that is so that the sorting machines can “read” the addresses properly. Otherwise it’s a hand sort.
Geez — that’s pretty bad!
I wish you guys could have the postal service we enjoy in New Zealand — it is really, really good. Mon-Sat deliveries (sometimes twice per day), parcels to your doorstep, overnite delivery anywhere in NZ, three days if it goes overseas. They almost never lose mail. And that’s just standard, first-class postage: you can pay more for better service if you like, but nobody does. And if you don’t want junkmail, you put a sign “NO JUNK MAIL” on your letter box and you don’t get any — by law!
Shush! This is probably what my regular envelope will be deemed the next time I bring one in. I just looked. The cheapest "media-mail" rate is $2.23. And there really are published rates for all this stuff. It's just that the people who work at the Post Office apparently do not know this.
ML/NJ
It’s not EVERYONE, but there are certainly a lot more blacks with bad attitudes towards whites than what the media portrays.
They resent all other groups who they perceive are getting ahead at their expense. Kinda like muzlims. They hate everyone else who isnt like them.
This was a very big deal in NYC a few years ago, when blacks were antagonizing and criticizing Korean shopkeepers.
Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t realize this!
A while ago I had a slightly similar disagreement at the Post Office. I didn't understand the postage and I asked a couple questions. They weren't budging. No big deal. I just smiled and good naturedly said, "Hey, I'm no fool! I'm not gonna argue with the government!"
The harpy screeched at me: "WE ARE NOT THE GOVERNMENT! The post office is a private entity! We are not owned nor subsidized by the government!!!!!!"
Okay. Fine. Whatever.
And ever since then, my mail delivery at home has suffered. Remarkably so. Like one whole week without a single letter. And when I went to the Post Office looking for it they said "It's out on the truck." Twice in one week they said that. They were just withholding my mail from me. I'm convinced that they're teaching me to shut up and not ask questions.
On some level it’s reassuring to know that post office employees are the same the world over. :)
sadly, this is more about incompetence and laziness than anything else, but I suppose this is certainly the type of person Obama draws his votes from......
Those do it yourself postal machines at the post office—if you are mailing books or wanting to send media mail—DO NOT use those machines as they do not have a media mail option. I learned this the hard way one time.
Ive been taking my stuff inside the post office to get the cheapest rates.
I've played the other side of it by shoving a big piece of cardboard in an envelope so it couldn't be folded. I then could pay parcel plus delivery confirmation. If it was an "envelope" I would have had to upgrade to priority mail ($$$$) to get tracking.
Looking at the old price sheet that I have, there is an asterisk by the minimum size requirements for large envelopes. It says, (flats exceed at least one of these dimensions. Pieces that are (RIGID), non-rectangular, or not uniformly thick pay package prices). Looking at the old price for the information you gave, it was $1.42, so the new price of $1.52 sounds correct. This time I have to side with the USPS employee, which is not often.
They do not put that option on those machines because they (postal workers) told me that everyone would choose media mail for everything.
Bummer.
I think I will get a cheap scale and weigh myself from home, then print the postage stamps.
ML/NJ
I still always weigh them again on the postal machine at the post office. But yeah, do as much yourself as you can. The funny thing is you can mail it media just by writing book or media on the package and putting the right postage on it. Of course, they can open it up and check it if they want to, but I never ship anything (knowingly) that is not legal to ship that way. I did ship magazines that way a couple of times, until I found out they were not qualified for media mail rates.
I got the their degree from a post office worker (I think it was a slow day and I was the only customer around that hour) when I mailed something media mail. The lady behind the counter asked me what the item it was and told me that it was subject to being inspected to verify it was really media mail and I could be fined if I was lying.
Geesh—they really are a happy bunch!!
Actually, I have been selling stuff on ebay and I used to go to the post office inside the Hallmark store which was closer than the post office.
I discovered they charged me more than if I would have been going to the regular post office.
The post office workers have been really nice and give me the least expensive options. I tell them I am mailing books or CD’s then they weigh them and sometimes, they say that sending them first class (depending on weight) is the least expensive way so I tell them to do it as cheap as possible.
Mailpiece design regulations really are there for a reason. The equipment used to sort the various categories of mail have physical size limitations and other mechanical limitations.If a letter can’t bend, it can’t be sorted on a letter sorting machine. The same equipment exists in every mail sorting facility from coast to coast.
So yeah (duh)a letter or card is a horizontal format; always has been, even before the “O”. Non standard mailpieces have to be manually sorted by high-priced union slugs, hence the non-standard mailpiece surcharge.
OTOH, when I lived in Houston I would have rather had a root canal than go to the post office for anything.
I wonder how the African American community would react if there was a move to start a White Caucus in Congress. There is the Black Caucus, no white members...isn't that a bit racist?
A rate sheet for all classes of mail can be downloaded for free at USPS.COM, along with an explanations of the limits of each mail class.
Beware the parcel post rates which now seem to exceed the first class rates.
And it was an old magazine I was mailing.
I sincerely thank you for your post!
Wednesday, I stepped onto a state college campus for the first time in decades. I had signed up for a community education class. Upon arriving at designated classroom, I discovered my class had been cancelled and the room given over to another class. Being as those “students” were all over 50 yrs., I thought they would help me on my way, and answer a couple questions. In truth, I had stepped into a liberal sink hole of over the hill, rude, senile hippys.
I walked out stunned by their immature behavior, and so angry! I’m still angry!
Your comments have brought me great comfort. My anger is normal. I am not psychotic. It’s a perfectly normal response to an insane world. And now, I am not alone.
I’d also mention White History month, but as an AA friend of mine (with a sense of humor) once said to me:
Oh yeah, they devote a month for black hstory, but damn if it wasnt the shortest month of the year!
;-)
Second only to dealing with NJ Division of Motor Vehicles or whatever they call themselves these days.
In Toms River, my wife was the director of a local non-profit that did bulk mailing. The BM clerk was a terror—an old crotchety SOB that would spout out rules, deny BM even when rules were followed.
One day, our clerk came back almost in tears, after a run-in with Mr. Stupid.
I happened to vesting with my wife, go the details, and went right to the Postmaster's office.
I let him know in no uncertain terms that his BM guy was wrong and a complete @sshole, and I wasn't going to stand for our clerk to be abused by this cretin any longer.
I'm sure others have complained about him too.
Anyway, after that day, we were treated royally by Mr. Stupid. He was close to retirement and didn’t want anything, shall we say, to go “wrong”.
Never had another incident with that clown.
I live in southern Delaware, where people are generally very nice. I'm in a small town, and know all my postal clerks, who are unfailingly helpful.
It really is a pleasure—one I hope you experience someday when you can escape that beautiful, but tax crazy state of NJ.
I think they know a lot of people are cheating, so they were warning people about spot inspections.
Another thing that bothers me with it’s total stupidity is that you ( or at least I, at my local PO) can’t get priority or express mail boxes at the PO. You have to ask to get one or ORDER THEM ONLINE WITH A MINIMUM OF 10 PIECES EACH.
Before you just pick them up without having to wait (and wait and wait) in line so you could use the self serve machines.
I see the root of your problem - you live in Northern Virginia.
Its not quite that bad once you get a few hundred miles away from Washington.
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