Have you seen what the postal service did to prices yesterday? Oh my!

[ChoppyChoppy]

I was wondering why the package I mailed yesterday was full price online. $5.75 for a flat rate envelope.

With fuel prices about 1/2 of what they were last year and stafging cuts all over I can't understand how they would need to bump prices.


Our postal service is so bad that the postmaster usually gets fired within a year!

 

[AVB]

I tried to be factual and not political. I suspect the health plans postal employees had before "Obamacare" complied with the minimum requirements or the cost increase to bump them up would not be a lot. There are more ways to look at it. I am with you but it is somewhere around $46 thousand a year for a single person not to get some "help". I guess that changes if you are old enough.

I probably a lot farther down the totem pole. I feel like a mushroom some days. I cleared only a little under $4K last year for the business and I still got pay those self employment taxes out of that.

As you have seen prices have gone up everywhere and it is really a bite out of all of our budgets.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I try to clear as close to zero as possible. I'd much rather Re-invest in the company with buying needed equipment, tools, office supplies, etc vs showing much of a profit.
I suppose 4k is subjective though, for some companies that's barely couch change

 

[Guido Salvage]

I sold a 385 here Saturday and provided the buyer with a shipping quote. Package actually ended up being 1.25 pounds lighter, but the standard post option has been eliminated leaving only Priority. No discount, going to cost $20 more. Headed to UPS...

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

I sold a 385 here Saturday and provided the buyer with a shipping quote. Package actually ended up being 1.25 pounds lighter, but the standard post option has been eliminated leaving only Priority. No discount, going to cost $20 more. Headed to UPS...

Seems like the writing is on the wall that the USPS will eventually be just like Amtrak.... Grossly noncompetitive rates, and a dying "business" propped up by tax dollars....

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I just looked up the price of mailing a medium sized saw from my state to Oregon and the price of shipping was over $53! Looks like I'm gonna have to do something else for a hobby. I used to pay 30 some dollars or so, that's quite an increase. I also checked the UPS price and it was around $37 for a 20 pound box. Mine usually aren't that heavy but just used that for a sample.
I just looked up another address which was closer to home (VA) the price was reasonable so I guess to ship to West Coast I'd use UPS, otherwise I'd use USPS.

 

[Guido Salvage]

I just sent a 19.58 pound box from Kentucky to Oregon with $250 of insurance for $48.85 via UPS today. The Post Office wanted $68.00 to send it.

 

[166]

Flat rate pricing

 

[a. palmer jr.]

It would be hard to fit a chainsaw in their large flat rate boxes unless you own a cutting torch..

 

[cgraham1]

Funny how so many small businesses make 'no money', while the business owners drive new trucks every couple years, take several yearly vacations, have nice houses and all the 'toys'... Yet they never seem to make any money! I know quite a few small business owners in that situation.

It does suck about shipping prices going up. I had heard a 5% increase (apparently it's much more than that!)... but I didn't hear about them doing away with Standard Post and online discounts!

 

[fordf150]

Great. Looks like I will be revisiting my shipping prices. Already have seen $20 shipping on a single bar shipping to the west coast.... Don't think I can handle free shipping anymore if it went higher. Their rates are starting to approach FedEx rates

 

[Brushwacker]

I just looked up the price of mailing a medium sized saw from my state to Oregon and the price of shipping was over $53! Looks like I'm gonna have to do something else for a hobby. I used to pay 30 some dollars or so, that's quite an increase. I also checked the UPS price and it was around $37 for a 20 pound box. Mine usually aren't that heavy but just used that for a sample.
I just looked up another address which was closer to home (VA) the price was reasonable so I guess to ship to West Coast I'd use UPS, otherwise I'd use USPS.

Thats almost identical to a package I just gave an estimate on. Parcel Select used to be cheaper then UPS 20% ish and now it is the opposite. Makes parts saws very expensive shipping long distance.
Government agencies are great for pricing themselves out of business. 1 of them have a brain fart and they think they can fix their problems by raising prices. Lack of common sense whether they care about any body other then themselves or not.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Flat rate pricing

View attachment 480055

I don't think those prices are correct. The flat rate envelope was $5.75 and a large flat rate was $16.35.


Ups and FedEx are almost always crazy expensive. The last time I used them Blockbuster shipped me 2 knifes for my splitter, maybe 15lbs and it was $68 for shipping.

 

[retoocs555]

International

8oz or less to Canada $9.50
8oz or less to pretty much every other country $13.75

This includes even very light packages under 1oz.

Prices have risen equally for all the other weight classes. Just using a small typical part envelope as an example.

Just wanted you all to have this FYI too.

USPS international rate calculator: https://ircalc.usps.com/default.aspx

 

[epicklein22]

Prices seemed pretty normal to me yesterday, maybe a tad higher, but everything I shipped was small. I might start losing customers on the west coast if the prices are as high as you guys are talking. If I charge market value for a saw, why would the buyer want to spend another $50 to get it to him?

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

The last saw I shipped was a 660 powered and it was almost $60 for Parcel Post 2-3 week shipping.

 

[marti384]

Congress created the USPS fiscal mess in 2006 when it mandated that they prefund healthcare and retirement cost for the next 75 years. It seems every so often they reevaluate their funding of that mandate and raise prices accordingly. There aren't too many private companies that would be able to stay afloat with that mandate. It is amazing that USPS has so far.

http://business.time.com/2013/02/07/how-healthcare-expenses-cost-us-saturday-postal-delivery/

 

[Definitive Dave]

yep in 2005 congress hamstrung the USPS, they now how have to prefund entirely retirement and healthcare for every past present and future employee even those already dead
yesterday our most used package for small parts from one to three ounces went from 2.07 our price to 2.54 our price with online commercial shipping discount, we shipped 132 packages yesterday, do the math
the worst one was a 3 pound roll of pull cord to Oregon went up from 7.31 to 15.65, my margin on that was about $4 so that sale cost me $4 in real dollars
the regional differential is so bad I am thinking of dropping free shipping and going to calculated exact cost shipping
it does appear at least for our shipping company that first class now goes up to 15.99 ounces instead of 13 oz now so several items like double felling spikes and brake hardware kits dropped a little in total shipping cost since all of our packages have to have tracking regardless of 1st class and priority
the only difference between 1st class and priority is the $50 free insurance that they never honor anyway, insurance is for suckers and really huge expensive shipments only
Dave

 

[c5rulz]

Congress created the USPS fiscal mess in 2006 when it mandated that they prefund healthcare and retirement cost for the next 75 years. It seems every so often they reevaluate their funding of that mandate and raise prices accordingly. There aren't too many private companies that would be able to stay afloat with that mandate. It is amazing that USPS has so far.

http://business.time.com/2013/02/07/how-healthcare-expenses-cost-us-saturday-postal-delivery/

Absolutely CORRECT!

With a stroke of the pen the USPS was bankrupted. Kind of funny how the USPS must be solvent 75 years into the future when the same can't be said for Medicare, Medicade and SSI.

 

[fordf150]

they spin it nicely in the news. But the real cost to online sellers went up H U G E !!! So much so that this will be a biz killer for a lot of small time folks. Wonder if you still get commercial pricing through ebay. If not it's going to hurt a ton of ebay sellers as well.

The small time click in ship guys no longer get a discount...which was considerable on larger packages. There is little incentive to print out your own postage.

The woman(miss congeniality as we call her) at the post office should be pleased that there will be more packages coming in that she has to print labels for. unbelieveable the attitude she can get when she has to print the postage on 1 out 20 packages.