USPS rate increases 04/03.22

[So Cal Joe]

It appears the post office is not interested in handling oversized packages, based on their latest announcement.

“As a part of 2022 rate increases announced by USPS late last year, new fees will take effect for some USPS products and services starting April 3, 2022. Below is an overview of the USPS shipping services increases.

 

Non-standard fees

Additional fees will apply when package dimensions exceed USPS sortation specifications and require manual sorting. These fees will apply to Retail Ground, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, Parcel Select Ground, and First Class Package Service.

<li aria-level=”1″>Packages that exceed 22 inches but are not greater than 30 inches in length: Add $4.00 per package
<li aria-level=”1″>Packages that exceed 30 inches in length: Add $15.00 per package
<li aria-level=”1″>Packages that exceed 2 cubic feet (3,456 cubic inches): Add $15.00 per package

A maximum of two non-standard fees may be assessed for a package.

Dimensional non-compliance fees

An additional $1.50 fee will apply to packages greater than 1 cubic foot (1,728 cubic inches) or 22 inches in length for Retail Ground, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Parcel Select Ground when:

<li aria-level=”1″>Dimensions provided are inaccurate
<li aria-level=”1″>Dimensions are not provided”

Here’s the link.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/USPS-rate-changes-effective-April-3-2022/ba-p/32787641

 

[Retro Treasures WV]

Shippo’s explanation of new charges:

https://goshippo.com/blog/understanding-the-new-usps-fees-and-surcharges-in-2022/?_hsmi=208244288&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8ZNY12TAiRakm5DKufEjvLKKI_Nt8LMu0tqsbrjZRnx77p76Fiucye2jaaxUPLG6c-m_V6nuLmQialXrH9pkipAdj64w

 

They aren’t just shooting themselves in the foot  with this policy, they’re blowing off the whole leg with a rocket launcher. In the last year Fedex and UPS have become VERY competitive in the medium and large package market. USPS basically decided they only want to do their flat rate packaging.

I wonder how they will handle envelope items. I use cubic shipping for envelopes regularly. Are they gonna try and charge non-compliance fees on those items where measurements are subjective, or just rigid boxes?

 

What’s super disappointing is that I use USPS for long, skinny items such as baseball bats and golf clubs. I’m going to have to go through and change them all to Fed Ex. I suppose I’ll also throw away my priority triangle tubes as well because they’re worthless now.

[Sharyn]

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that USPS parcel has been pretty competitive lately against FedEx and UPS for items that aren’t all that heavy, like up to 8 pounds or so. I assume this will upset the scale, at least for boxes that exceed 22″.

My shipping policies for USPS always have FedEx as a backup, and it would be nice if eBay listed the cheapest price as the first choice. They said that they were going to do that once, but I don’t think that was ever implemented correctly.

[debitendcredits]

@Retro Treasures:

What’s super disappointing is that I use USPS for long, skinny items such as baseball bats and golf clubs. I’m going to have to go through and change them all to Fed Ex. I suppose I’ll also throw away my priority triangle tubes as well because they’re worthless now.

There have been a few occasions where I have had to ship a poster via UPS.  I just use the priority triangle mailers and wrap it in 2 large poly bags.   Don’t buy new mailers!

[Julie B]

A quick rant:  I rarely offer free shipping although I used to.  I don’t want to get into a debate on which is better (calculated vs free) – I’ve done both.  But the general public seems to have NO idea how much it costs to ship things.  After the last across the board rate increase, I have gotten so many messages from buyers asking if I can lower the shipping cost or ship the item a cheaper way.  The items are already listed with the cheapest shipping option available.  It costs what it costs! For my largest items I’ve started adding a disclaimer in the description that due to significant increases in postal rates, buyer may find FedEx or UPS to be cheaper than USPS.  I have all 3 options available but I don’t think some buyers look at all of the postage estimates – they just freak out when they see the first one and then message me.

[Retro Treasures WV]

I use USPS for 1st class, priority mail padded flat rate, priority mail tyvek envelope or non-dimensional box that is 3lbs or less. That’s it.

Everything else I put in the calculator as Fed-Ex ground with actual dimensions and weight and pass on my discount. When it comes time to ship I actually rarely ship Fed-Ex. I ship whichever of the 3 (USPS, Fed Ex, UPS) is cheaper based on the buyer location since the item will arrive the same time anyways.

 

If a buyer comments on the shipper change I just explain to them the situation that I am using Fed Ex in the calculator to get them the best price and I pick between the 3 based on the distance and best estimated delivery date – basically sell it as an upgrade.

 

Even with my shipping discount passed on I usually save a couple bucks on every shipment since USPS beats Fed Ex for local items and UPS regularly beats Fed Ex by at least $1, usually more.

[craig rex]

@retro-treasures-wv (and maybe @julie-b as well)

Likely that you both already use these, but in case you don’t or if others aren’t aware — I’m a big fan of the USPS regional rate boxes. My link is to one specific size on the USPS website but there are a few other sizes available which you can order for free. Their shipping rate depends on the distance between you and the buyer. In some instances, they are a nice savings over the flat rate packaging. In other circumstances (like a buyer on the other side of the country), they may not be.

Obviously this isn’t a box you could use for long, skinny items, or very large items, but it might be helpful for some more regular sized items which you are sending Parcel Select or Priority Mail using your own packaging.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Yes I use both style regional A boxes alot for items that are 3-5 lbs. I forgot to mention those.

I have a bunch of regional B boxes, but they aren’t a great deal after fed ex and UPS brought their prices way down. I never use them.

[aberwine]

What are people doing about this, if anything?

I was going to enter a handling fee of $15.00 on my over 32″ and over 2 cubit feet items.  Then I realized that Fedex is already cheaper for these items.  So now I am thinking I will just remove USPS as an option, following Retro Treasure WV’s lead.

[Sharyn]

eBay should already be incorporating the fee increase for USPS labels. There is no reason to add a handling fee.

I already have FedEx set as the first choice for large items with Parcel as second, so I should be good.

[aberwine]

I hope so.  When I was looking at one of my listings last night that was over 80″, the shipping was about $26.00 and I thought that couldn’t possibly include the $15.00.  I will have to do some more investigation.

I was kinda fooling around, punching numbers into Pirate Ship and discovered you can get dinged for the over 30″ AND 2 cubic feet.  I thought it was an or situation, not an and situation.  Thought I would get that out there in case there were other people who didn’t realize that.

 

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