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USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

With the increase of postage in effect,
has anyone modified their product prices to off set the increased fee as of yet?

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

I ship with commercial base rates via shipstation. Just checked and the main changes are for everyday people shipping NOT using commercial base rates.

I see we can ship up to 15.99 ounces which is good news. I guess once I process my shipments today I'll see the difference.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Commercial base rates were also raised, and commercial plus rates were eliminated unfortunately. They've also eliminated the Regional Rate C box which sucks, because I used to be able to ship a 30lb package in my region for $10.74.

This increase will have an impact on anyone shipping with USPS. First Class rates are up as well as Priority and Priority Express. The price for any First Class parcels up to 7oz is now $2.60. Which means instead of paying $2.04 to ship a 3oz parcel, you'll now be paying $.56 more.

The only positive change for us is the ability to now send parcels up to 1lb using First Class. For anyone who hasn't noticed the increases yet, just wait. You will haha.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

True the prices have gone up.

For what I ship (generally around 8-13 ounces) this is perfect for me. I don't ship to much things under 5 ounces. So actually I think this is a good thing for ME. People will increase shipping rates, I won't.

Safe guard from low dsr's now. Hopefully.

A tax write off anyways ....don't forget.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Yes it is but it is not like you are getting $2.60 off the top, just the percent that is taxable. A lot of people misunderstand that.

So if you deduct $100.00 it is not the same as making $100.00 It is more like saving $30.00 even though you have a negative $70.00

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Yes noticed the price increase today on 1stclass AND on priority mail (own box)... keep on rolling...:ranger:

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

$2.60!!!!!!

What has gone on with usps

USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Thank you phaz0rz for pointing out that USPS now will increase First class mail to 1LB. This becomes huge for me, my main item is always between 15OZ to 1LB 1OZ

So i used USPS small Flat rate boxes and i always have free shipping in my listings. This about $1 per item increase in postage would of squeezed a couple thousand a month from my bottom line.


That is huge that they raised that weight limit, normally id pay $5.25 per item and now ill be paying $3.65 an item. So i get an extra $1.75 added to my profit for each item compared to last month.

Ill need to purchase more shipping supplies but thats only a few cents per item when buying bulk

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

What amazes me is seeing Asian sellers who will list products for $1.00 or so with free shipping.. how is that even possible? They can't really be taking such a loss, or are shipping costs there subsidized or something? Sure for some products on eBay I can get away with a regular stamp if they fit, but I ship with tracking which boosts the price up.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Cost of doing business.

They NEED those sales and feedback to sustain their account. That's why you generally never see a negative on the first page of their feedback...

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

They also DO get government subsidized shipping discounts due to some kind of agreement between USA and China.. Must be nice.

I've never had a real problem competing with the chinese though. People like getting their orders in 2 days instead of 3 weeks, so I always point out the difference in shipping time in my listings.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

USPS is making a killing on this. They are paying probably half in fuel cost than they were a few years back, plus this gives Priority shipping a breather/expense discount too.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Are you saying Priority is cheaper now?

I paid about $30 more today in Priority shipping than I would have 2 days ago. I agree with you on them making a killing though. E-commerce is growing faster than ever, gas is cheaper than it has been for 10 years, etc. But USPS has always had financial problems...

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

The most conservative number published by USPS is -$7,000,000.00 a day seven days a week.

I am sure is it a heck of a lot more than that.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...4d51e3ef49.jpg


http://cnsnews.com/commentary/doug-b...-enormous-debt

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

The benefits shortfall is due to a Congressional requirement in 2006 to pre-fund 75 years of benefits in 10 years. Totally ridiculous and something no government agency or private company is required to do.

Even though first class mail is down (that being a money loser anyway), there's plenty of opportunity to operate based on e-commerce + other services, such as some types of banking. They actually had that until the late 60's and still do in countries like Japan.

Congress has been the biggest enemy of USPS viability so far. There's always some special interest trying to block the USPS from getting into their line of business, even though large banks aren't serving large chunks of the population, anyway, and UPS and FedEx have always been cream-skimmers with no intention to serve unprofitable areas like bush Alaska.

But I digress. Unless my postage software is calculating things wrong, INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING and especially First Class International are where the most devastating increases were. A 12-oz. package to Canada that was $9.xx is more like $14.xx, or to other countries one that was $14.xx is more like $21.xx. Am double-checking all this but I may just shut down most international shipments.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

LOL, Soon we may be going back to the "Pony Express" if they keep raising prices but taking longer to deliver a damn package!

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

No worries. Just increase shipping fees.

UPS, FEDEX and DHL have all doubled INCOMING international shipping fees since October. Shipments that used to cost me $1800 are now $4200.00
Literally have decreased my bottom line by 25% on small goods and eliminated air shipping for all my large goods and remain profitable.

Point is, The market will just have to adjust. Buyers will pay the fees or they wont get anything from anyone. It will wipe out cheap items being sold over seas but more pricey items will still remain viable.

Sucks but what can we do?

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

great point actually. oil is super cheap so their saving on that and at the same time increasing prices... hmmm... correct me if im wrong but I know they usually increase rates like once a year but this year they seemed to have increased it by much more in some areas,weird...

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

And they say the economy is doing great...

Inflate my DONG.

HA!

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Fugging shipping rate increases....ugh

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

"inflate my DONG" hahahahahaha...:nono: :p

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

It's just another form of tax. Funny how all the other carriers raised their prices too at the SAME time. They are paying half on fuel too, people buy off the internet like they never did before so the mail/UPS/FedX truck has twice as many packages for the same amount of driving/delivering mileage per day!

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Following up on my earlier post, I've more precisely pinpointed the problem.

Most of my First Class International packages were in the 9-12 oz. range and a few in the 12-16 oz. That area absolutely got KILLED with a 50%+ increase because of restructuring the brackets.

With Canada, for example, it was $9.90 or so before and is now $15.50. :mad: With just about everywhere else it was around $14.95 and is now $22.75. :mad:

Really awful. The new brackets charge 1-8 oz. the same and 9-32 oz. the same (i.e. just over 8 oz. is charged the same as just under 2 pounds), which is crazy. In both instances if you're at the low end of the range you're really getting nailed by restructuring prices that way..

I revised a whole bunch of international listings on Turbo Lister and reposted, yanking international shipping from most. If I used lighter and flimsier packaging I could get it under 8 oz. (as long as they only ordered 1...otherwise it's a jump of $9 :mad:), but then I'll get more damage complaints (my items are fragile). And the postage costs more than the item itself!

Add to that the PayPal fees and I might just do most regular items as U.S.-only and leave the international only to lightweight auction items.

I was thinking of doing this anyway because overhead and PayPal fees were eating too much into costs on international items. Will lose about 10-15% on the eBay side but hope to make it up in other ways.

The USPS really needs to re-evaluate the brackets. A 9 oz. item costs the same to move to Australia as 2 pounds? That's crazy. First Class International is also the only game in town at anywhere near the price (private shippers still have nothing comparable internationally at the price point that I know of), so they're hitting an especially vulnerable point.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Ploughman,

We also ship many items that are light and are getting absolutely waxed by the new pricing.

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What's the new prices for first class mail on ebay with tracking? haven't sold anything in years, and the last price i saw was $1.93 (i remember when it was 1.65 lol).

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

http://1ivu6q1gqh2kndjc23ryof11v5.wp...Rates_2016.png

The New rates

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

^^*The New First Class rates

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

I take back what I said....

These new rates suck

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

I knew you would come around!

They do suck. This is costing me like $75 extra every day..

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

This is hitting my Priority Mail shipping costs a lot. I sell some clothes, and at this time of year they are selling mostly to buyers in California. It used to cost me $6 to ship a shirt there with Priority, now it costs 7+ since I live on the east coast. If I ship with First Class Mail, they sometimes take more than a week to get there which causes angry buyers. Because of this, I am paying about $20-30 more a day ( which adds up to around 10K a year!!!!) for shipping right now just for the clothing side of my business.

What is scaring me even more is what will happen in the years to come. If they keep this up, soon (2-3 years) First class mail will be $5 and Priority over $10, which will completely kill my margins on the lower priced items.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

I like the new shipping rates because most of my stuff is under First Class Mail. I like the 15.99oz for First Class Now, and it seems like most prices have increased, but a few have still gone down. I have a lot of items that hit the weight that actually decreased, so I don't mind the changes.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Everyone says that the postal service should be run like a business, instead of relying on taxpayer money. But the TRUTH is that the USPS almost never gets ANY taxpayer money. By law, they have to be self-sufficient. They cannot run deficits the way that government can.

And for the person running it, the Congress is the problem. Because about the only things the USPS can change without Congressional approval is to lay off employees or raise rates. It they want to stop Saturday delivery, that requires an OK from Congress. Closing unprofitable post offices is also something that requires Congress to sign off on it.

So, in other to make any operational changes, they cannot simply make a BUSINESS decision, it becomes a POLITICAL decision. And politics and profitability do not mix.

As Ploughman pointed out, the Congress decided to require the USPS to pre-fund 75 years worth of benefits in 10 years - something that no other unit of government and no corporations are required to do.

Some people say this is because the Congress was worried that the USPS would underfund their pension system year after year, requiring an enormous government bailout down the road. Others say it is a ploy by conservatives to choke off their ability to serve their customers at a reasonable price, thus laying the groundwork for the postal service to be privatized.

As sellers who use the USPS, it really does not make a difference to us as to WHY the USPS is having these issues, the fact is they ARE having these issues and there is little we can do to change it. So, we have to deal with it.

The GOOD NEWS is, all of your fellow sellers are in the same boat. All have to remain profitable and pay the new rates or find a less expensive way to ship our packages. I have TRIED this and I can tell you, there is NO cheaper service that I have found. If anyone DOES find one, please share!

So, at the end of the day, sellers who calculate shipping separately will charge more for shipping. Sellers who offer free shipping will have to increase their prices to make up for the added costs. This will take time. Because on eBay, sellers are always hesitant to raise their prices, so it will take time.

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I just dont get how can overseas shipping prices jumped up so much. I know that the USD is at record high with some currencies and that oil is that record lows, and that oil is priced in USD.

But I cant find any ideas on the huge jump. I actually talked about it with an old boss of my and he cant find an explanation to it.

In other ways, I have already cut down on overseas shipments.

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

anyone notice first class went down from 2.60 to 2.54, how nice of them...

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

? Explain...

I just processed two orders and paid 2.60

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

1oz-3oz is $2.54 i noticed this today also

Re: USPS postal rates increase how will this.....
 

Oh pff.. under 3 ounces...