Postal Problems

[0388631]

"It doesn't seem like much but when you think about sending a hundred or more cards, then you can appreciate how much a difference in price makes." Sound familiar?

And as I said:

I could understand if you were posting out a few hundred, then that .50 would make a big difference, but one card? Jesus.

Instead of whinging and stating I hadn't read your post when I had, I suggest reading carefully. I'm aware I repeated your statement. It's to point out the absurdity. Of course more over X will cost more than just X. You're comparing the USPS to the Japanese postal system. It's akin to me comparing the Royal Mail rates to the US Postal Service. Shockingly, it costs $1.31 to send a letter from the UK to the US, and it costs $1.15 to send a letter to the UK. The Royal Mail is a publicly traded company but that doesn't stop nearly every Briton I know from several other websites that moan about the limited efficiency. Furthermore, companies such as FedEx or UPS are publicly traded and their service quality varies greatly between regions. My USPS delivered mail arrived promptly before 12 PM every day and has for more than 10 years.

So yes, moaning over a few extra cents on something you do once a year is ridiculous. If you sent out 100 cards, provided 100 people could stand you, it would set you back $35. Hardly a large chunk of change to spend once a year. If you find this post as rude as the last one, I simply don't care enough to be nice to someone who's making a huge stink over nothing. People here gladly hand over $10 a month to a Netflix sub, over $2,000 for a laptop they'll use for 2 years before getting another one, thousands for a "Pro" workstation, and they'll spend $35 on a good bottle of wine or two very good beers.

 

[yg17]

You're free to use UPS, I just checked online and it costs $71 to send an envelope from the US to Japan.

$1.15 sounds like a steal.

 

[MechaSpanky]

yg17,

Thanks for the advice, it was very helpful.

 

[A.Goldberg]

It doesn't sound like the Post Office is the "problem" here. The USPS is subsidized by the government to some degree (they say they don't take tax dollars... except when they have to get bailed out every so often). I think this is one of those times you have to look in the mirror and ponder where the real issue is stemming from.

$1.50 or whatever seems incredibly cheap to send something halfway around the world. If it's not worth it to you, send your sentiments electronically.

 

[1madman1]

USPS is expensive? Never lived in Canada and shipped with the Canada Post Corporation I take it. I doubt there is a higher priced postal service anywhere in the world (at least for parcels). It's absolutely brutal for selling things internationally.

 

[JamesMike]

USPS is expensive? Never lived in Canada and shipped with the Canada Post Corporation I take it. I doubt there is a higher priced postal service anywhere in the world (at least for parcels). It's absolutely brutal for selling things internationally.

Drive across the border and mail in the good old USA!

 

[kazmac]

International shipping is ridiculous. $33 to ship 6 dvds to New Zealand. And $22 to return a shirt to my friend in England. But funny how the threat of a post office closing suddenly makes the window clerks much nicer.

Oh and the rude levels are off the chain. Never going to the Rockefeller Centre P.O. again.

 

[MechaSpanky]

kazmac,

I completely agree with you about how ridiculous international shipping is.

I broke down and sent all my postcards to Japan as I don't have much of a choice and wouldn't you know it, the USPS system delivered to me some of my postcards that I sent to Japan (they obviously can't read "to" and "from" nor are they familiar with the postcard format). I draw and paint a picture on every card that I send and both cards that were delivered to me incorrectly were horribly damaged and scuffed up, not to mention they printed some bar code on one of them ruining the post card (why not put it on the back). To top it all off, a friend of mine from Japan shipped a packaged to me and it arrived today. They shipped it in a paper envelope and instead of taking the time to put it in my mailbox (which it would have fit) they decided to leave it in front of my door (and not even ring the door bell). Funny thing is, it is sleeting and snowing here and so by the time I realized that I had a package it was frozen to my front steps. Sure I can imagine it is difficult to deliver the mail when it is sleeting but they choose that job and they should do their job correctly.

 

[mmomega]

I will say that in my area USPS is much, much less reliable than either UPS or FedEx.

I've have numerous shipping delays, even completely lost packages, disregarded email about these issues.
I'll just never choose to go to the post office again to ship out a package.

I don't blame them really or the people that work there. I've just been 'burned' and I leave it at that, learning exp. I'll use someone else.