Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

November 04, 2009

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

By: Ina Steiner

Wed Nov 4 2009 15:54:36

The U.S. postal service announced that first class mail will remain unchanged, but Priority Mail rates are changing on January 4, 2010. The service is also introducing a new Priority Mail padded envelope - but for Commercial Plus shippers only.

In addition to an overall price increase of 3.3 percent, on average, for Priority Mail, there will be new prices for Express Mail, Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International, Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service.

The domestic Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope retail price from $4.95 to $4.90. The Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box will remain at $4.95.

The 2010 rates are online here, let us know how these changes affect you.

Comments (25) | Leave Comment | Permalink

Readers Comments

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: so it's 5 cents less?

Wed Nov 4 16:27:59 2009

what can brown now do for you?

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Gary Overton

Wed Nov 4 17:46:57 2009

Been selling online full-time since 2000. I pay the USPS & eBay more in fees each month than I make. They are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I used to have multiple crates of items to mail each day. Now if I have 1 crate it is considered a good day. Do these fools not realize that if you raise rates & lose volume you are not making progress? It is not just me. Used to have a hard time finding a parking place at the post office. Now you have a hard time finding a car in the lot. Usually more employees cars in the lot than customers.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Hardrock Rules

Wed Nov 4 19:42:09 2009

Online selling on ebay is just about dead. Between Donahoe and shipping rates constantly on the rise, there is NO PROFIT to made worth all the time and hassle selling on ebay has become.

Between Donahoe and US POstal, you almost have to charge what a Brick and Mortar store sells the item for retail just to make a few $$$, so the buyers feel safer shopping local, there is no more bargains, and if you find one, the seller lost bad.

It was fun while it lasted, but selling online at ebay is a dying dinosaur and not profitable, mark my words all good things come to an end, and with Donahoe and Shipping rates rising, the end is nigh for us sellers.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Kathy

Wed Nov 4 20:07:57 2009

The hand in that photo is reaching you know where.....and it hurts.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Et tu, Brute!

Wed Nov 4 20:34:19 2009

Why do SO MANY of the commenters turn this around to eBay bashing?! Comes across as individuals being very pathetic!

The United States Postal Service used to be the only functioning entity to post a profit until the internet online selling from the private sector hit a little over ten years ago! It maxed rapidly and the profit moved to the red!

I suspect the increases and tweaking won't stop anytime soon. Have you noticed all the ''suggestive selling'' going on at the counter now when you take up your parcels? You need any postage or envelops today? Would you like deliver comp (to others)? How about upgrading to Priority (from First Class). It's like, ''Would you like fries with your order? A shake?''

Rather sad. USPS got broadsided all those years ago and hasn't been able to catch up since!

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Lee

Wed Nov 4 21:11:10 2009

I agree with(Hardrock Rules).The writing is on the wall.Ebay is to expensive.You make nickels and dimes while ebay make all the profit.Not worth the hassle.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Buck Efay

Wed Nov 4 21:16:58 2009

Yeah, Brute, because a shipping company selling lots of shipping is a bad thing. Duh! Funny how the PO problems really started when JD destroyed the small sellers. My local post office almost closed 6 years ago, it was me & a couple other Ebayers that helped save the branch. Now it's a ghost town. The greed and fee raises kept driving off sellers to UPS & Fedex, since they include insurance & tracking. I'll be looking into a UPS acct again after the 1st, with insurance & tracking fees, once you are over a couple pounds, UPS beats the price.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Hardrock Rules

Wed Nov 4 22:28:48 2009

@LEE - It is the truth, for me it is nickels and dimes since Donahoe took over most times, if not no sale at all.

If I take a chance and $1 No Reserve it I lose my @ss to get a sale.

If I am lucky on a real profit at best maybe a few $ at most, likfke $5 to $6 max. TRS is a joke, it has killed my business. and increased my competitors who are non TRS and have loust DSR avg of 4.4

I am hanging on out of desperation, and habit from selling since the 1990's, but I know in my heart it is over, I have no future at all as an online seller.

Sad but true, Donahoe plus shipping rate increases equal everyone makes monet except the seller

The end of my career is near, and I am not fighting it no more, thanks Donahoe for killing my income, when you should of helped sellers

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Buck Efay

Wed Nov 4 23:14:21 2009

Hardrock, you gotta fight the Power! Screw that guy & feebay, try Ecrater & Bonanzle, both free to list, no FVF on ECrater & 5% on Bonanzle. A lot of my former Ebay buyers are finding me there to the point I'm outselling Ebay on both. No matter what you do on Ebay you're boned anyway, idiotboy Donho said he could care less about Ebay!

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: ICEman

Wed Nov 4 23:28:35 2009

Something tells me that you guys aren't doing well on eBay for a reason.

As for the USPS, there sure is room for improvement but my local post office is still a place of good service. I agree that they push more now for upselling, but I don't see that as an abnormal thing.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Ming the Merciless

Wed Nov 4 23:52:55 2009

Those who offer "free" shipping are also receiving a backdoor Ho fee increase.

The problem in a nutshell with USPS is that Bush II appointed a BoD that deliberately failed to fund ther pension system properly in an effort to destroy the postal workers union. That's the crux of the financial problem they have so we have yet another thing to thank Bush for.

You can count on UPS and FedX raising their rates after a decent interval just because they can. And they will.

The Post Office worked much better before Ronald Reagan and the party of the "free" market privatized it.

For what I sell -- or should say try to sell - USPS is still the least expensive. I won't raise my prices this time but will the next.

The only thing that can and would help sellers is for ebafia to remove the shipping time DSR so that sellers can ship 1st class instead of Priority Mail so that the growing class of criminal and/or irrational buyers can no longer kill our businesses.

This DSR has always been worded in a deliberately unfair manner anyway that was initially designed to eliminate sellers from the site. If it exists at all, it should, "Did the seller ship on or before the date stated?" Yes or No, end of story.

The next round of major ebafia control freak changes in the spring could easily require sellers to ship either with USPS or UPS.

The "free" market works about as well as "disruptive innovation."

DEATH to Paybafia in 2009.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: fruity

Thu Nov 5 00:21:56 2009

WHAT? I'm going to come back and I'm going to post me a letter for everyone!

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: fruity

Thu Nov 5 00:50:47 2009

That's it that's BULLCRAP!

TOMORROW THE HOUSE HAS A HEARING WITH THE USPS
The subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia
Date: Thursday, November 05, 2009 At 10:00 AM

''The Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine what steps the Postal Service has taken since Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 to use its increased flexibility to grow revenue.''

You may not be able to change what the prices are, but you can make a difference to make sure the the people who can make the USPS accountable know that the USPS is unwilling to work with small businesses, especially the smallest businesses who are on the web who WANT to use the USPS services.

Below are the numbers of who you can call and I am putting up a blurb that you can modify to your needs. IF your congressman is on this list, then you might want to try to call that office first but because of the timing, you may want to shoot straight for the main subcommittee. SOMETIMES TIF YOU CALL BEFORE THEY OPEN UP THEY HAVE A VOICE MAIL SYSTEM

Blurb:Hello, I am a (minority owned, Veteran owned, Single mom, Caregiver, Disabled, etc) small business and I aware there is a hearing this morning regarding the USPS. Would it be possible for you or a legislative assistant can take my brief comment.

It has come to my attention the postal service is embarking on another price increase on their services. Ecommerce is one of the very few areas of our economy that is still growing and what they are doing is eating into my already slim margins and will adversely impact my ability to CONTINUE to trade globally, which is also a priority for our country.

The postal service is unwilling to work directly with small businesses like myself, even though I ship (insert amount) of packages per month/week/etc and to countries such as (insert here). Larger companies are leaving USPS because of their lack of services. the USPS will cause me to have to reconsider using them not only because of cost, but of services (not scanning). I have lost confidence in the postal service and further increases will not allow me to trade INTERNATIONALLY on a competitive level. In addition, a few years ago the USPS abandoned their electronic payment system / e money orders and I feel that this would of been an attractive service for my business that I would use. Thank you and if possible, could you slip the chairman this note because of the time crunch? I really feel that I am disconnected from knowing about what is impacting me.

http://tinyurl.com/yc8aoq3
Direct Committee Number (202) 225-5051

*CHAIRMAN Stephen F. Lynch 202-225-8273 (he's a cool guy, he doesn't mess around!)
*Elijah Cummings Maryland (202) 225-4741 (this guy when he gets mad at what is being done to ordinary people, heads roll!)
*Dennis Kucinich Ohio (202)225-5871 (he has a watchful eye!)

*Lacy Clay Missouri (202) 225-2406
*Mark Souder Indiana (202) 225-4436
Gerry Connolly Virginia (202) 225-1492
Danny Davis IL 202/225-5006
Eleanor Holmes Norton DC (202) 225-8050
Jason Chaffetz (202) 225-7751
Brian Bilbray CA 202-225-0508

* = Those are the ones that are straight shooters at these hearings

Don't forget, they're just ITCHING TO CUT OUT SATURDAY SHIPMENTS.
For those of you who are not aware, the USPS publishes an annual report and consistently when they started partnering with ebay they were making profits, but then since 2007 they have been tanking. You may even want to bring that to their attention, that the USPS was too delirious from the bankroll that they forgot they still needed to innovate.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: fruity

Thu Nov 5 00:56:11 2009

Chairman Lynch's number is open so you can leave a voicemail if you read this tonight

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Harriet

Thu Nov 5 12:00:10 2009

I got resistance from my customers over the last couple of postal changes. It will surely affect online sales. I aleady limit the size of items I sell because people do not want to pay higher prices for dimensional weight, or even pay lower rates for slower shipping. It puts online sellers in a terrible position.

Are we now going to have to put up with two postal rate change per year, every year?

And of course, those who sell with "free" shipping will have to sell at higher prices.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: buck efay

Thu Nov 5 12:07:06 2009

Iceman, yeah that reason is BEST MATCH. BEST MATCH puts my item on page 5 in a search by exact title, and put pink panties as first result. Best match puts items from foreign sellers offering free shipping to their own country only & $8 to US address higher then my listing with raised search. Best Match is a joke. Had good sales on ebay 10 years until I got best matched out of the game.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: JG

Thu Nov 5 16:31:01 2009

I have noticed that since the beginning of the year, buyers who choose Priority Mail have just about dropped off the face of the earth. I would say 30% of buyers chose it last year and before. Now, it's probably 3% as buyers have economized. I imagine that after the price change even that will disappear. USPS is closely tied to eBay. I'm sure the decline in marketplace eBay has also hurt the post office. 2009 = one tough year.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: creamymac&cheez

Thu Nov 5 22:52:30 2009

To the poster who wants to blame Ronald Reagan *coff*coff* for the current woes of the USPS- would the advent of the Internet (rather than those evil Rupublicans) since the late '80s possibly have impacted the Post Office?

How many letters have YOU mailed this month? How many bills? How many USPS parcels (aside from ebayers) did you get? I have gone paperless on all my monthly bills, read online versions of my favorite magazines, get most of my parcels via FedEx or UPS...my mailbox is mainly filled with junk mail (which the PO gives mailers a big discount on- go figure).

When Ebay encouraged small sellers to use USPS, it put off the day of reckoning for a while, but not forever. First Class is (relatively) a dead horse. USPS still does OK for cheap/small/close by shipments, but that is not a big part of the parcel market.

Ebay sent me a survey recently on shipping, and one of the questions asked ''When tracking a shipment is not important. would you ...'' Whaaaat???? Who are these ijits who think tracking a commercial shipment is unimportant? Clearly, ebay and the Post Office are currently on the same planet (but not THIS planet).

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Kristoffer

Thu Nov 5 23:15:28 2009

It's a catch 22. What ebay has done to sellers HAS to affect the post office and their bottom line. If my sales are down 75% compared to last year then the post office is also getting 75% less business from me. And I am not alone. Everyone I know that sells on ebay is hurting - big time. The only way for the post office to make up for all the customers they have lost because of ebay is to raise their price. Add into all that the fact that ebay banned money order (I requested USPS MO's from my customers) and that just compounds the losses.

Changes to USPS Priority Mail Rates in January

by: Another Wronged Seller

Fri Nov 6 01:04:28 2009

I have quite a few friends in the post office and they all tell me the same thing... Mail volume is WAY down both simple letters as well as package volume.

The bulk of communication today is by email. People don't write many letters anymore. As the price of long distance has come down, people tend to call more instead of write a letter. A larger and larger amount of bills, statements and business in general is conducted electronically and not by snail mail.

I agree that USPS did a poor job of keeping up with what the market standard was.

UPS and Fedex have near real time TRACKING not just a delivery confirmation.

UPS and fedex get initial scans when packages are picked up showing the buyers that the items are truly shipped already. USPS doesn't scan anything initially and frequently doesn't show a first scan for several days after it went to the post office. Sometimes the package movements don't even show up until AFTER the package is delivered. Nervous customers who don't see package movements or a confirmed first scan bombard you with email asking if the package was REALLY shipped.

USPS charges for delivery confirmation for parcel and first class, with UPS and fedex tracking is included in the price.

USPS charges to insure a package from dollar one, the other carriers include some coverage to cover most shipments. UPS packages are covered up to $100.00 for free.

To compound the issue, twitchy buyers don't read the listings, transit times, handling times, etc... I have buyers ask me for a shipping quote and EVERY time I'll include priority and parcel rates with BOTH transit times. Buyers will choose the parcel rate to save a few bucks but then start emailing when the package doesn't arrive in a priority time frame.

As a east coast seller, most west coast buyers are ignorant that it costs more to ship to the west coast for me than for a west coast seller. The perception is my shipping is slower AND more expensive so therfore I get punished in DSR's by west coast buyers for both ship time AND cost.

USPS isn't competitive on pricing once you get above a few pounds. they are not competitive on true tracking OR initial scans all of which adds to my workload of answering more questions from twitchy buyers and than ebay lets buyers punish me in the DSR's on top of that.

USPS needs to upgrade their service on tracking, lower their price to be competitive with the other carriers and offer more low cost shipping alternatives for INTL shipments.

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