What's going on with shipping costs?

dreadnut

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I used to be a mail carrier. It ranks among one of the worst jobs I have ever held; I absolutely hated it. I didn't last very long.

No wonder John Prine started writing songs, LOL. He was a Chicago postman. I find that I identify with Prine in yet another way.
 

Guildedagain

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Dread, that is due to the prefunding of the pensions up to 2075. That is why we have been bleeding money since 2009. You can look up why that is the case, but it's political in nature, therefore I will explain no further.

No need, everyone knows this right?

USPS can't even raise the price of a stamp without Congress approving it, and yet can't receive any Federal aid, yada, yada, catch 22, and the pensions...
 

adorshki

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No need, everyone knows this right?

USPS can't even raise the price of a stamp without Congress approving it,
Not exactly, and in fact I thought rate hikes required Congressional approval myself, earlier, before I did the research cited below.
It's actually the Postal Regulatory Commission that sets rates and even I used to assume that was composed of Congressman when we'd hear about rate hike approval hearings, but in fact they're Presidential appointees.
So Federally regulated yes (Executive branch) but not actually by Congress (Legislative branch) as far as rates go.
And as far as the actual retirement fund pre-funding process, it's covered in the Wiki article I linked.
On a different tangent, I refrained from agreeing on how good the mail service actually is as you and others attested yesterday, and found 2 pieces of mail for other tenants in my box last night.
Reminded me of a couple of problems I had a couple of years ago, too, with similar issues.
The "funniest" one was that the mailperson had put a delivery in one of the large parcel boxes and forgot to leave the key for that box in my mailbox.
Took 3 phone calls to solve that one, but at least I could talk to a live person(s) to get it fixed.
There are few things I hate worse than the limited word count dialog boxes that aren't useful in solving NOR logic problems.
And since most customer service issues like this have multiple potential causes of failure, the dialog box is ill-suited to solution of those problems.
With a human at least I can ask 3 yes or no questions in a row to get to the root of the problem.
 

adorshki

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"Or current resident"?
No, specifically addressed by name; even so, given that the apartment numbers were on 'em, they should have gone into those mailboxes, right?
Both of 'em had one of the 2 digits in common with my apartment number, but the Victoria's Secret catalog was kind of surprising (no joke, LOL!).
I'm just glad I wasn't expecting any checks, although I am expecting a package.
Which fortunately still showed as "in transit" on US tracking site this AM.
Hey it's the holidays and human errors occur especially with this increased volume.
I've seen the mail lady filling our boxes at 5:30 at night, so add fatigue to the equation.
I just remember a time when I was kid when such stuff didn't happen but then again the population's probably grown by at least 50% across Silicon Valley since I was in my twenties and started apartment living.
 
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Default

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I'm up to47 hours so far this week, and will likely hit 68, so I am a touch grouchy, I'll admit. Will probably hit the low 70s for the next couple or three weeks.
 

tjmangum

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I shipped a guitar to Oregon from Florida and it cost me $78. So if they are dropping a guitar off at a UPS store or likewise and having someone else do the packing...$150 is entirely possible.

Yep, a decent guitar with a value in the 1500-2500 range, shipped across the country, can be 70-85 dollars real quick. And as Mark says, if they take it to a UPS store, the box, bubble wrap and peanuts are sold at a premium. I learned long ago to question a seller who says buyer pays "actual shipping cost".
 

JF-30

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The JF-30 I mailed on Monday was delivered today. USPS originally estimated it would get there this coming Monday.
 
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adorshki

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The JF-30 I mailed on Monday was delivered today. USPS originally estimated it would get there this coming Monday.
They must-a bumped my jeans for your guitar, what was originally quoted as Wednesday by 5pm is now Friday by 6pm (Ground from TX to CA)
 

fronobulax

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To veer only slightly Mrs. Fro. mailed Christmas packages today at the local Post Office. Customer service was outstanding which has been the norm at this PO. Prices for Priority Mail and the next alternative (Parcel Post?) were the same or within a dime of each other. The dimensional standard for size almost burned us but the clerk found a way to measure things so the biggest box was $13 and not $23. Next year, several small boxes needs to be the way we go :) For various reasons we were glad no guitars were involved.
 

idealassets

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Most of my guitar sales were bought by folks in Europe which I sent USPS until about 2016. Then it all began to change, becoming more restrictive.

On a different topic I continue to sell many small collectibles on ebay, and yes the new state sales taxes are hammering my sales.

However the worst aspect was that in an older system I had to send everything at the post office, and say what the insurance amount was on each item. Now that ebay has shipping labels, you can toggle it to not show any postal costs on the label. Now the counter clerks don't know my business, all for the better.

My objection to the state taxes paid is that since 2018 ebay has changed it 5 or 6 times already. Its been on again-off again.

Most recently paypal adds on the state tax, then charges a 3% fee on it, then takes the tax back off so I don't receive the payment. Instead it goes directly to ebay, who states that they pay it back to each state. What ebay really wants is for the sellers to offer free shipping to and back for a return. It all goes onto the ebay bill, paid at the end of the month. That's not going happen. Can anyone afford that cost on a guitar? I can't.

I am happy to have a lot of selling behind me now. With all these increasing costs my life-long avocation of buying/selling for additional income is being squelched. All for the better since I was cutting back to begin with.
 
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bobouz

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I hate selling stuff, and have only shipped one guitar in my life. Once was enough!

On the other hand, I certainly do enjoy buying stuff - and for that, my preference is now USPS.
 

adorshki

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Bad timing there, but nothing to do with the contents of his truck.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time - Mark Chesnutt

Right, in fact realized that was also the case in the SJ hijacking so just went ahead and deleted post.
My fault for making assumptions about soundbites I hear on morning news and not digging into the news deeper.
PS Is your mailbox still full?
:friendly_wink:
 
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Rich Cohen

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To be fair, after Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, plus ongoing internet sales, it's no wonder the package delivery folks are overwhelmed. At least for the next few weeks.
 

dreadnut

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Here's the thing: why not shop from my armchair, where I can search for the best pricing and free shipping? I even get our dog food delivered, in fact that was one of the five packages that were on our doorstep today.

I hate the traffic, the parking, the mindless walking around like a zombie, the sensory overload of cheesy Christmas music and people shouting...and that's just at my house! LOL.
 
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