Cutting Apart USPS Priority Mail Supplies To Use For Packing

They don't for "walk-in" customers, at least not where I live. I got charged for a box at FedEx fairly recently. I don't remember the exact cost, but it was more than just "nominal".

We may also be forgetting the fact that, in suitably vast quantities, the envelopes & boxes really do cost next to nothing, let alone having a measurable impact on the cost of service.

A quick FOIA request could get us some data on the boxes/envelopes distributed versus boxes/envelopes used, but I doubt that the cost of policing their use would be worth any benefit.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The USPS likely buys these things by the warehouse full. Their cost on even the largest box is likely a just a few pennies. Transportation and distribution costs are likely higher than the manufacturing cost. Not that I'm defending the practice of stealing them...

I`m uncomfortable saying that the boxes and envelopes cost next to nothing. If that were the case, wouldn`t my mailperson be regularly delivering them to me here at home in the hope that I would use them for mailing something.

The USPS is very free with their "shipping supplies" orders. Just look at the link advertising the seemingly unlimited number and sizes of boxes and shipping labels that you can request for free. The USPS will even deliver them to you -- at no cost. Sure, they expect that you'll use them for the service intended, but I don't see any effort on the part of the USPS to limit distribution. In fact, there are many cases shown in the link below where the USPS won't even ship less than quantities of 10 or 25 boxes or envelopes of a given size. In the case of labels, some require that you "order" 100, 200, 600 or even 1,000 (at no charge). If the USPS were worried about their bottom line in making these shipping products available for free, they could easily curb the distribution of these free products ... however, I suspect they chalk it all up to "the cost of doing business" and the vast quantities they produce probably means that the bottom line cost to the USPS is insignificant as compared to the postage rates they can charge to users of their services.

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...viewAll=true

last week my postal clerk handed me three fat rolls of priority sealing tape. I live out in the sticks here in the mountains of NC, I work from home, and the PO is only a couple of miles away. Fed ex and UPS drop off is much further away. There's rarely a line at the PO and everyone is on a first name basis. Works for me!

You never bought a mint sheet from me.

I use the clear sheet holders and place inside
a large stay-flat envelope (with US stamps as postage)

Well, sounds like I need to buy my sheets from you, then.

If someone doesn't like the fact that a shipper pirates the free shipping materials, isn't there a way to make this concern known in the ebay seller rating system?

My wife got one of those usps sticky notes that she needed to pick up a package at the post office, postage due. Turns out an ebay seller used a priority box wrapped with brown paper to pay the cheaper rate. The brown paper ripped, someone at the post office noticed the box, and my wife had to pay the difference for priority shipping. Of course she went to ebay and was reimbursed by the seller. So the post office does have a policy in place, it's just that in most cases they would never know.

I would say if it really bothers you, report it to the post office and see if they will charge you the priority rate. Then report to ebay to be reimbursed by seller.

Personally I probably wouldn't bother with it, but if I thought it rose to that level, I'd just leave it in the feedback comments. Again speaking for myself personally, I wouldn't give them negative (or even neutral) feedback, but a note to that effect in the comments would suffice.

Interesting that the USPS accepted the parcel for mailing in the first place ...

... hasn't there been a ban on wrapping & string since, like, decades ago?

Taped brown paper wrapping is still ok. Not sure if anyone would still use string or USPS's stance on that.

I reuse the USPS envelopes to ship stamps and don't see an issue doing so. They have already served the purpose and I just re-purpose them. How would someone know the difference between one unused as designed and those having been cut up which I've re-purposed? I receive several of these type USPS, Fedex and UPS mailers weekly and they do make good mailers for stamps.

I quite admire that, actually. I'm all for reuse, repurposing, and recycling. But what I described in my original rant was unused envelopes with the flap cut off or a side slit open. One can easily tell that, as there is no address nor postage on the envelopes.