Latest Intelligence From The Post Office

i went to the post office a couple of times this week to mail out stamps and covers and I couldnt help but notice something I had not noticed before...the clerk would twist and flex my envelope...i asked why and they said that if the envelope was too stiff or bulky a different rate applied...most people request stiffeners in their envelopes when I send something out...have I been getting away with something in the past ????

I've run into this. If it's too stiff, a first class envelope is $.65 instead of $.45. I've never been charged extra if my carrier picks it up, but I've been hit several times at the postal counter.

No doubt trying to damage the contents too

Next thing you know, they will want the envelope empty.

i think you hit the nail on the head Postmaster...if I just put it through the slot..no problem..but when at counter encounter...when I foolishly ask them to see if I have enough postage..thats when the carnage takes place !!

Canada Post was going to do something like this a few years ago but after complaints in never came to be.

At least I asked at one Post Office and she had never heard of it officially and she usually knew what she was doing. They were planning on bending the envelope over the counter or through some device. Horrid. Oh, and charging extra for it as you described Phil.

If you mail anything that is stiff or rigid and weighs 3.5 ounces or less, then a 20 cent non-machineable surcharge is applied wether it be domestic or international mail. If you are paying this extra 20 cents they better not be trying to bend it. Anything over 3.5 ounces is treated as a parcel if rigid (doesn't qualify for flat rates).

Here is the criteria (right off the USPS website) that references the conditions in which a mail piece would be considered "non-machineable". If it meets any of these parameters, an extra 20 cents postage is required:



In all fairness, point 1.2(e) relates to the rigid packaging issue and the fact that it has to be able to support being placed on a belt tension of 40 lbs. with an 11" diameter turn. If it's too rigid and can't be processed in that way, the mail piece is determined to be "non-machinable" and the 20 cent surcharge applies.

I did notice this when I mailed an envelope recently. In relation to the "c" section. It was one of those brown envelopes with the metal hold downs. The counter person said that next time to make it cheaper just remove the metal tab.

I got dinged at the counter the other day, too, so I've started putting 65c on routinely for stamps I mail with a stiffener. But I have also noticed many times that my arriving mail usually just has 45c, which makes me just a teensy bit jealous.

Here's an interesting twist to this thread. A post office that admits it made a mistake. Unfortunately, the mistake was at the embarrassment of a soon-to-be-wed couple. A wedding invitation that was assured -- at two different post offices -- that 65 cents postage would be fine -- but some recipients had to pay 20 cents postage due!

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Consu...5537195.html

Their measuring stick must have been off...hope no one missed the wedding !!

I think the postal "service" is trying to generate more revenue by backdoor methods, charging unsuspecting people extra fees. The main guy that works at our local post offcie likes to charge extra for envelopes, even though I make sure they fit the machinable characteristics. Once he even charged extra for a mnila envelope that had the clasp removed, because it had originally had a clasp on it! I now make a point of using another post office if I actually have to go inside to mail something. I haven't had any trouble with stuff I just put into the box.

Okay, the rules say that it has to conform to an 11" radius with 40# of applied pressure.
SORRY, but card stock is EASILY bent to that radius with 40# of pressure!
This is just a grab at revenue. You could challenge this at the counter IMO.

It's true, you could challenge it ... but who would win? My guess is the postal clerk! If you balk at that idea, then you simply place the postage on the item and insert it in a mailbox and side step the postal clerk getting involved in the discussion in the first place. In all probability it will go through.

It's always good to know the postal regulations as I've found a few clerks in the past that want to make their own at your expense. I had one in Albany, NY that believed any letter (even at 1 to 3 ounces) that was marked "Do not bend" had to be mailed at the more expensive parcel/packet rate instead of the letter rate with the nonmachinable surcharge. Today that would mean the difference between $2.12 versus 85 cent for a 2oz. letter. There's nothing in the DMM that regulates the marking of "do not bend". That particular clerk was completely wrong and overcharging a lot of people, but I couldn't argue with that clerk and win. It's much easier to drop it in the slot like wt1 suggested. In this one case, I simply delayed shipment by a day and took the items for shipment to a clerk who knew the rules.

Unfortunately, think of the hundreds or thousands of customers that they rip off every day, occasional mailers who don't know any better! Probably a lot of them are elderly as well, since the older people are more likely to use the post office rather than online shipping. Don't these people have any consciences?