USPS First Class Mail - Free Delivery Confirmation Starting 1/22/12

That's a little incentive, but it is dependent on how much shipping rates increase the same day.

EDIT: As much as rates are increasing, it's the least they could do, since DC doesn't require extra effort on their part.

1-3oz First Class is going from 1.58 (1.75 w/ DC) to 1.95
4oz First Class is going from 1.73 (1.92 w/ DC) to 2.12.
13oz First Class is going from 3.26 (3.45 w/ DC) to 3.65.

etc etc...

Not a horrible increase as far as first class goes, albeit inconsistent.
 
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So we're only paying 1 cent more... guess it's not too bad. But people who ship at the PO are now having tons of money.
 
[quote name='Vinny']So we're only paying 1 cent more... guess it's not too bad. But people who ship at the PO are now having tons of money.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure if this is in response to my numbers, but if so, incorrect. The (cost w/ DC) is including the cost including the .19 DC fee.

1.75 postage
+.19 DC
_____________
1.92 total cost

The new rate would be a flat 2.12 for that weight, including DC. So, technically, prices are going up between .20-.30.

I haven't compared Priority rates yet, so I can't tell you how much that's increasing.
 
[quote name='sp00ge']I'm not sure if this is in response to my numbers, but if so, incorrect. The (cost w/ DC) is including the cost including the .19 DC fee.

1.75 postage
+.19 DC
_____________
1.92 total cost

The new rate would be a flat 2.12 for that weight, including DC. So, technically, prices are going up between .20-.30.

I haven't compared Priority rates yet, so I can't tell you how much that's increasing.[/QUOTE]

Oh, whoops. I don't know how I missed that...
 
[quote name='iNCREDiPiNOY']Starting January 22, 2012, USPS will be offering Free Delivery Confirmation on First Class postage purchased online.

Post Office - FREE, was $0.90.
Online - FREE, was $0.19.

www.USPS.com[/QUOTE]

Not a deal with USPS rates going up. And, the quality of mail service has gotten poor lately.
 
I don't know, it's still a crazy good deal. They will ship a game across the country for $2.43. If you have a vehicle that makes 30 miles a gallon, you could hand deliver that game cheaper as long as it was within 10.5 miles. And that's not even entirely true because it doesn't consider the depreciation of the car for driving that far.

Another way to look at it, is they have 2 main cost drivers, labor and gas. Since 2000, the cost of shipping has gone up 36%. Gas prices have increased 300% since that time and they've decreased their labor costs by about 25%. So they are killed by high gas prices just like everyone else.
 
Everybody has bad seeds. There were recent videos that UPS and Fed Ex were not too happy about. To be honest, I've had problems with both UPS and Fed Ex, but haven't had an issue with USPS yet. Everybody's experience with differ though since they have over 600,000 employees that could touch your package. (don't get your mind in the gutter)
 
At least Fedex & UPS give you real tracking. USPS doesn't, so when they lose something, or it goes into "limbo", you are out of luck.

I've never had a damaged item from UPS or FedEx (knock on wood), but I have from USPS.
 
[quote name='sdragon']At least Fedex & UPS give you real tracking. USPS doesn't, so when they lose something, or it goes into "limbo", you are out of luck.
[/QUOTE]

I can attest to that. I was awaiting a game from Illinois via Goozex. It arrived at the Tampa sort facility (10 miles from where I live) within 2 days. It spent 5 days in limbo then somehow appeared in Maryland on January 5th. On January 6th it then was scanned in at the sort facility in North Carolina. That was the last activity. Link

I called USPS and they basically told me that they have no way to contact their sort facilities, and because it was a "delivery confirmation number" and not a "Tracking number", the sort facilities weren't "required" to scan items out (even though the "delivery confirmation number" shows two other occurrences of it departing a sort facility).

I left the guy on Goozex positive feedback because I know it wasn't his fault and didn't want him to lose out on the pts, but he actually sent me a refund for the points after I left the feedback. It was an Assassins Creed LE so hopefully it reaches either me or gets returned to him eventually.
 
[quote name='sdragon']At least Fedex & UPS give you real tracking. USPS doesn't, so when they lose something, or it goes into "limbo", you are out of luck.

I've never had a damaged item from UPS or FedEx (knock on wood), but I have from USPS.[/QUOTE]

And..? My point is that you pay for that incentive.

In the long run, you could end up losing more by paying the premium via UPS/FedEx (I know I would since most of my transactions are individual games costing $3 via USPS vs $10+ via UPS/FedEx). To think of a few bad experiences as an absolute is asinine. Trying to say one carrier is significantly better than the others is nonsense because all three have their positives and negatives.

Besides, UPS and FedEx wouldn't be using the Innovation@USPS service if the USPS was as incompetent, would they?
 
[quote name='Bezerker']I can attest to that. I was awaiting a game from Illinois via Goozex. It arrived at the Tampa sort facility (10 miles from where I live) within 2 days. It spent 5 days in limbo then somehow appeared in Maryland on January 5th. On January 6th it then was scanned in at the sort facility in North Carolina. That was the last activity. Link

I called USPS and they basically told me that they have no way to contact their sort facilities, and because it was a "delivery confirmation number" and not a "Tracking number", the sort facilities weren't "required" to scan items out (even though the "delivery confirmation number" shows two other occurrences of it departing a sort facility).

I left the guy on Goozex positive feedback because I know it wasn't his fault and didn't want him to lose out on the pts, but he actually sent me a refund for the points after I left the feedback. It was an Assassins Creed LE so hopefully it reaches either me or gets returned to him eventually.[/QUOTE]
That right there is some seriously fucked up shit. It reminds me of a couple packages I've sent(one to MD, another to MA) and both took over a week to arrive. The MD one went down to NC/SC after being bounced out to NJ at first. In the case of the MA package I swear they were playing hackey sack with it at the Boston sorting facility cuz it got sorted n re-sorted about 3-5 times.:roll:
 
For shipping items I've sold on eBay, I've been using USPS First Class w/ DC forever. Is it cheaper/better to just use UPS or FedEx? I know everyone's rates are increasing but I hate the post office and USPS in general for a lot of reasons.
 
[quote name='SativaSam']For shipping items I've sold on eBay, I've been using USPS First Class w/ DC forever. Is it cheaper/better to just use UPS or FedEx? I know everyone's rates are increasing but I hate the post office and USPS in general for a lot of reasons.[/QUOTE]

For things that qualify for first class (
 
[quote name='SativaSam']For shipping items I've sold on eBay, I've been using USPS First Class w/ DC forever. Is it cheaper/better to just use UPS or FedEx? I know everyone's rates are increasing but I hate the post office and USPS in general for a lot of reasons.[/QUOTE]

When you say you hate the post office, do you mean you hate going there? If you are shipping things using their online service you almost never have to go to the PO. The carrier can just pick it up for you at your house.
 
[quote name='MrBrando']When you say you hate the post office, do you mean you hate going there? If you are shipping things using their online service you almost never have to go to the PO. The carrier can just pick it up for you at your house.[/QUOTE]
I just don't like the service. Don't have a mailbox, but have a P.O Box so USPS trucks skip my house completely and I am forced to drive to the post office so that's not an option. I've had my mailboxes torn down twice by baseball bats (in a really nice neighborhood, bored teenagers I guess)
 
[quote name='SativaSam']I just don't like the service. Don't have a mailbox, but have a P.O Box so USPS trucks skip my house completely and I am forced to drive to the post office so that's not an option. I've had my mailboxes torn down twice by baseball bats (in a really nice neighborhood, bored teenagers I guess)[/QUOTE]

Steel mailbox in concrete. Not to say you can't break that, but they'll have to hit it with a truck or spend a half hour beating it with baseball bats. All the while you can video tape and send to the police.

Seriously though, if you hate USPS so much, use Fed Ex or UPS. Maybe it's a superior service (my experience has been otherwise). Yes, there is the video of that guy tossing a box, sometimes mail may get lost even with DC but this is far from the norm. But $3 to $11 you shouldn't expect a superior service. And my guess is used game sales would nearly disappear if USPS wasn't around, because $11 shipping would kill most of the deals on games I make.
 
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