USPS rate increase? How will it affect you?

[Judy, USMC]

First class proposed to go up to 46 cents on Jan 2, 2011 ... guess the other rates will go up too!

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/post-office-plans-to-announce-new-rate-increase/19543036?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Fpost-office-plans-to-announce-new-rate-increase%2F19543036

For those of you who have internet sites - Do you think the shipping increase will affect your sales?

And what about getting supplies? About what percentage comes by mail?

[Candybee]

They are gonna price themselves right out of business one day. 46 cents to send a letter?!!! Rediculous!!

[Lorrie]

They are gonna price themselves right out of business one day. 46 cents to send a letter?!!! Rediculous!!

Yup, this is why everyone uses email.

I don't actually get a lot of things shipped in via the post office but I ship out a ton of things via the post office because for a pack of wicks or a sample it still is cheaper to use flat rate boxes/envies to ship orders versus UPS.

[doglover]

Shipping has become freakin' ridiculous!!!

I try to pay all bills/orders online, can't see paying the stamp fee.

As long as my customers will pay the shipping costs, I will continue to ship.

[annie123]

Well the prices keep going up while the quality of the service keeps going down...shipping packages with them is already too expensive...plus they have damaged my packages too many times so now I use Fedex and pay bills online.

[mrsposey]

If you sign up for a UPS account online the rates are cheaper. I was going to a local place and paying for each shipment as I went and UPS driver kindly told me about this one day. Also, if you ship often and have a pickup service, which has a weekly charge depending on how much you ship, they will give you 30% the published price. They also supply the labels for free. I would have never known about these services had it not been for my UPS driver. I just print everything online and get a weekly bill.

[Bernadette]

Same thing applies with Fedex...if you open an account, they give you a discount off published rates. The more you ship, the more you save. They have free labels and boxes, although the boxes are not practical for larger orders.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Bernadette

[funkymonkey66]

Shipping kills me, I just paid my Fedex invoices today. It goes up every year and every year I freak out. I guess we have no choice but to accept with it. But we don't have to like it. Let's hope email stays free.

Wax used to cost 15-16 bucks to ship to me, now it's around 22-25 per box. I miss the good old days LOL

[Judiee]

If you sign up for a UPS account online the rates are cheaper. I was going to a local place and paying for each shipment as I went and UPS driver kindly told me about this one day. Also, if you ship often and have a pickup service, which has a weekly charge depending on how much you ship, they will give you 30% the published price. They also supply the labels for free. I would have never known about these services had it not been for my UPS driver. I just print everything online and get a weekly bill.

We used to have UPS daily pickup but cancelled that to save the fee and now just drop off shipments at a UPS store a mile away. Recently opened a FedEx account and found that shipping rates are just a little cheaper so depending on where the shipment is going we check both for the best rate. Of course on some shipments flat rate USPS can't be beat.

Also used to pay a monthly fee for the LP2044 label printer but found we could just pay for it and own it. Certainly helps that UPS provides free labels.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Judiee