USPS Priority Price Increase

[GoingPostal]

Thanks. I was only talking about using the Regional box itself, and not the rate. But good to know. Are they eliminating the boxes too?


- KK33

I think they are keeping the boxe sizes but new ones won't have the regional rate stamped on em

 

[GoingPostal]

Soon enough the US Postal Service will be virtually out of business. There is simply no need for them, and the marketplace and Technology will bear this out, eventually.

It's $1 trillion cash cow, that should've been slaughtered long ago.

There is a need for post office. Yes technology has made the mail service obsolete but it may be hard to believe that they're some rural communities who don't have Internet access (dial up is unusable for modern Internet) so for these communities USPS mail service is a necessity and usps looses money doing so

 

[joe45]

Does anyone not venture to the USPS store at all and do everything online?

I do it online almost exclusively. Not happy about the increase.

 

[manbearpig]

Probably from all that increased fuel cost......oh wait a minute.

In all seriousness though the rates are insanely cheap for what you get. You get them to ship boxes to your door for free. You print a label and they come to your house and pickup your box and deliver it relatively quickly and safely. Yeah it sucks that it's gonna cost more but I won't be using any other service.

 

[jasonsbeer]

The new flat rate price is still a heck of a deal. I just ran the numbers on UPS for a small flat rate sized box weighing 1 pound from Iowa to Colorado. $50 declared value.

UPS Ground
Latest Pickup Time:
5:00 P.M. Tuesday
January 19, 2016
Schedule by :
4:00 P.M.
Days In Transit: 2
Delivered By:

By End of Day Thursday
January 21, 2016
15.86 USD *
Billable Weight:
1.0 lbs.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Soon enough the US Postal Service will be virtually out of business. There is simply no need for them, and the marketplace and Technology will bear this out, eventually.

It's $1 trillion cash cow, that should've been slaughtered long ago.

This is the real downfall of the usps. Their government granted monopoly on first class mail is the one segment most impacted by email, text messaging, Facebook, etc. How many of us elect "paperless" statements for bills and such? I probably have on 15 or more accounts. Before that they would see 15 x 12 letters each year from those, and even at the bulk rate companies get it was a stable source of revenue.

Package deliveries have historically been cheaper through the postal service than FedEx or ups as they were subsidized by the first class mail monopoly, and delivered by the same people on the same routes as the first class mail, so the marginal cost of delivery was negligible. As first class mail dwindles, we are going to get charged closer to what the package deliveries themselves should cost, and will eventually make them no better (and likely worse being late to the party on logistics and infrastructure development) as FedEx or ups.

 

[Craig Mac]

In all seriousness though the rates are insanely cheap for what you get. You get them to ship boxes to your door for free. You print a label and they come to your house and pickup your box and deliver it relatively quickly and safely. Yeah it sucks that it's gonna cost more but I won't be using any other service.

My thoughts exactly. Still the least expensive and most convenient.

 

[Zmilin]

Probably from all that increased fuel cost......oh wait a minute.

In all seriousness though the rates are insanely cheap for what you get. You get them to ship boxes to your door for free. You print a label and they come to your house and pickup your box and deliver it relatively quickly and safely. Yeah it sucks that it's gonna cost more but I won't be using any other service.

100% agree with you Justin!

 

[KFBR392]

$0.30 more per cigar for a 5 pack. Guess not awful! now for a Tat PCR that's 10%. I'll just smoke more expensive cigars so that the % increase is less

 

[StogieNinja]

Over here on the west coast, the rates changed at 2pm. That's right, the rates changed in the middle of the business day. My aunt was at the post office when one poor guy was told a $30, and when they went to print the label, the system error-ed out, and when they re-rang the total, he had to pay $35.

 

[Smoqman]

The rates are cheap because the USPS runs at a net loss each year. The cost to deliver a Priority package is surely greater than or equal to the price consumers pay for such when you factor in employee benefits, retirement and other COGS. And if it is the former, that means other people are subsidizing the additional cost via taxation.

Every time I send a USPS Priority package I feel compelled to walk to my neighbor's house and hand him $5.