USPS Priority Mail Envelope "Misuse Statement"

I was recently purchasing some stamps at a local post office during a rainstorm and asked for an envelope. As they didn't have a glassine envelope, they offered me one of their Priority Mail envelopes.

Maybe I'm just a bit slow to have noticed this, but has anyone used US Priority Mail envelopes lately and seen this "misuse statement" added?



Even though these envelopes are readily available at the post office at no cost, I've never known them to be the "property of the US Postal Service" and that misuse may be "a violation of federal law."

(I wonder if anyone was ever convicted of that charge? )

Anyway, it led me to search for the EP-14F envelope, which brought me to this link suggesting that anyone can order up to 600 of these envelopes without charge! That's not a misprint UP TO SIX HUNDRED (600) of these envelopes may be ordered free of charge!

https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/st...ac=P_EP+14-F

Now for major mailers it's a wonderful thing, I'm sure; but what about all of the orders that are placed from people who may never use the envelopes for their intended purpose? Does the USPS track this sort of thing? If not, it seems to me this is an easy thing to cut back on and save the USPS some money.

Granted, it will never make a dent into the USPS's financial woes, but even as a "Go Green" initiative, the waste that must be generated by making these envelopes freely available upon request ... and in such quantities ... has got to be a waste of natural and financial resources.

What happens is that some people use the cardboard of cut up priority/express mail envelopes as stiffeners in their mail. If USPS spots these in your envelope (especially if you use white envelopes), they will confiscate your mail and return it to you with a warning letter. And if you do it again, I am told you something like you get billed the priority or express mail rate, depending on what cardboard you use. It is free packaging, but only for priority/express mail usage. If you use it, you get charged that rate because using that packaging is the same thing as asking the post office for that service. It's like stamping PRIORITY MAIL on the outside of your envelope, except that it's on the inside of your envelope -- USPS doesn't care. I know some people who have argued with USPS about this -- but bottom line, your mail WILL be seriously delayed if you get caught.

I know some sellers who still feel the need to recycle used priority/express mail envelopes (those that have legally been used and gone through the mail system). They always fold the used cardboard inside out, so that the outer logos and color schemes cannot be seen.

Regarding the business end, I operate a non-profit organization. I can tell you that USPS advertises heavily toward businesses to attract them to use priority mail. USPS bends over backwards to try to make priority mail supplies easily accessible and as "free" as possible. Don't worry about it being a "waste" of financial resources. Like any other business, it is a part of advertising and its costs are paid for by increasing the priority mail rate. My understanding is that priority mail service is a major money-making operation, so when you visit the post office, you often see the clerks peddling priority mail service as much as possible.

The 3 major business problems for USPS remain labor costs, retirement benefits, and shrinking first-class mail volume. I'm all for cutting costs; but I can understand USPS's approach toward providing priority/express mail supplies. Are there going to be people who abuse? Yes. But it's a trade-off in terms of how profitable that particular operation can be.

This used to be very common however USPS has been printing various markings on the inside of flat rate boxes for a couple years now. People were taking flat rate boxes, turning them inside out, and using them to ship items parcel post or even UPS or FedEx. Pretty blatant theft if you are using new boxes with a different carrier. There have been a couple iterations such as "Property of USPS" or "Priority Mail Postage Required". I'm not sure of the exact quotes but they are similar. They early printing was done with what looks like a rubber stamp or rubber roller with inexpensive ink. The newer boxes are more professional with a quality similar to the exterior.

Just checked the inside of the Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope I referred to in my initial post. The "brown paper" inside of both the front and back of the Priority Mail envelope have a dot matrix "spray-on" identification that reads:

05/11/11 05:55 110286

Probably some sort of an identifier to avoid misuse.

I still think the entire concept of making these envelopes available so readily and in such quantities is a waste of natural resources, especially for a entity such as US Postal Service that is constantly making headlines with it's "Go Green!" initiatives.

We were actually talking about the cardboard flat rate envelopes, but what you say about the corrugated cardboard boxes is true. I'd never known anybody to turn these new boxes inside out to use until you mentioned it. Seems like a lot of trouble, as you would have to actually rip open the seam, and then reseal the seam in order to turn it inside out. Then again, I've seen people illegally reuse US bulk mail stamps, so I guess nothing should surprise me.

Bottom line, there are always going to be some people who cheat, but there's only so much you can do about it. The only effective honesty is the one comes from the heart.

Kellogs Cornflake boxes and other cereal boxes work just as well..Just about the right size for a number 10 envelope.

There have also been some websites about things you can get "free" ... including these USPS envelopes and boxes. At one time (so I understand) the USPS used to also make the "Priority Mail"-imprinted package sealing tape available for free, upon request, but later had to put a stop to it because of blatant misuse. After all if you think about it, I suspect there were unscrupulous individuals that would order rolls of the stuff simply to move a house or even a business and the tape would never see any postal use.

I understand you can still get for "free" the "Priority Mail" labels in a roll of 100 or 1000 or so, but that can't really be of much good for anything other than its intended use on a "Priority Mail" parcel, which is why I expect that item is still available.

Very true bobgggg, but then sellers would have to buy the corn flakes!

What they really need to do is to turn these items into postal stationary.

Then the postal worker would say, "That will be $4.95 for that Priority Mail flat rate envelope."

The interesting thing is that the USPS does offer them as prepaid Priority Mail flat rate envelopes at the postage price if one desires to order them that way.

Not in the PO, I take it? They should all be that way.

I have more than once received envelopes from stamp dealers who used cut-up priority mail envelopes for stiffners.

In regards to making them postal stationrey. The PO does and has for several past years offered the small flat rate envelope with printed indicia (not sure of spelling, don't use this word that often!) on it. So, postal stationery does exist. They are usually only sold through the Kansas City Philatelic Dept., or perhaps the larger of the post offices that have a philatelic window. The truely tricky part is getting one used (other than stamp collector to stamp collector). If you want a truely difficult task, try to find them intact and used.

If you buy something of suitable size from the UPSS, they will mail it to you in one of these envelopes. That's how I got my used copy.

What bothers me about the whole process is that if I RECEIVE something in a priority mail envelope, I am afraid to reuse the envelope for cardboard inserts because if the USPS finds them, they will have no way of knowing that I'm not breaking their rules.

So, I'm forced to trash the priority envelope. Not good for anyone.

KirkS

Thomas. Interesting. The only priority envelopes they ever send me are the ones with the printed labels affixed. I have never gotten a preprinted postal stationery item from them. Of course I haven't purchased anything from them in the last few years other than stationery itesm. It gives me something to look forward to.

That's the age old problem. People who abuse the system make it difficult for the others who don't abuse the system. An excellent idea of reusing those USED envelopes as stiffeners goes down the drain because others use NEW envelopes instead of OLD envelopes or instead of spending a few dimes to buy some cardboard.

I have plenty of used stiffeners from incoming junk mail and used manila file folders, so I end up simply recycling the used priority mail envelopes instead of reusing them. Unfortunately, not every place accepts cardboard for recycling.