geekhack
geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: feng on Tue, 29 January 2013, 15:35:19
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Seems like the international shipping prices went up a lot these days! :confused:
It used to cost about $6 for a 104-keyset to Europe via USPS first class, and now it's above $12!
Shipping for a single keycap, it was only $3, and now it's $6.55! What???
Not to mention the USPS priority small flax rate box raised from $16.95 to $23.95.
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Another rate hike... This one seems to be one of the worst.
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Not to mention the USPS priority small flax rate box raised from $16.95 to $23.95.
WTH!
Going to need the check the shipping on the LZ-GH T_T
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Yuuuup.
I'm having to do adjustments with klaxon, too.
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So, going to the PO I'ma get bent over for those 4 international orders I invoiced and got paid on last week... :(
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This makes me very sad, going to make it even harder and more costly to get any good stuff :(
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Sadly if this is because of USPS and not another party or whatever in the world, it's fair to say this is political. USPS is in the hole billions of USD. Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
lame. and if it isnt because of of just USPS and because of some other international bs, then its still political bs.
hope you guys don't end up stop doing group buys and stuff. :(
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It boggles my mind at how they can even do what they did. They are going to kill alot of small online business that have Canadian/International customers.
The shipping prices to US/International haven't changed here in Canada thankfully.
I sent a small bubble mailer to the US last week with 2 keys in it and it cost me $2.43. Under these new USPS shipping rates for someone to send the same thing back to me (Us to Canada) it would cost over $8.
That's absolutely insane.
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Although they have doubled postage costs, they are not going to lose half of their posting business, therefore ... profit!
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Would using UPS, Fedex or DHL instead work out cheaper now?
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nope, ups/fedex (dhl is owned by ups iirc) is a lot more expensive than usps.
and there are certain places they don't deliver to.
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Hmm thats a shame, I guess these new postal costs are just something we have to accept.
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
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nope, ups/fedex (dhl is owned by ups iirc) is a lot more expensive than usps.
and there are certain places they don't deliver to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Post
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dhl is handled by ups is what i meant, sorry.
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
well the usps is not a tax-funded enterprise...
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
well the usps is not a tax-funded enterprise...
damn it sth, i was enjoying the misinformation and talking out of their asses now you went and ruined it :(
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oh also jabar:
On December 5, 2011 the USPS announced it would close more than half of its mail processing centers, eliminate 28,000 jobs and reduce overnight delivery of first-class mail. This will close down 252 of its 461 processing centers.[47] (At peak mail volume in 2006, the USPS operated 673 facilities.)[48] As of May 2012, the plan was to start the first round of consolidation in summer 2012, pause from September to December, and begin a second round in February 2014; 80% of first class mail would still be delivered overnight through the end of 2013.[49]
-wackapedia
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Hey remember that one time I ran a group buy and right before I started shipping, costs doubled?
Yeah..... : (((((
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so glad i was able to send out those stickers again before this happened.
it would have been almost double of what i paid
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
well the usps is not a tax-funded enterprise...
damn it sth, i was enjoying the misinformation and talking out of their asses now you went and ruined it :(
i never said it was tax-funded, i guess Jabar kind of said that, but its problems are political and that's not misinformation.
US Congress is required to authorize things like further reducing pension payments and reducing the number of delivery days; neither of which have occurred yet, though i am sure it's on the agenda. Congress also can authorize things like "bailouts" to prevent the usps from folding completely and those "bailouts" could indeed come from taxpayers though no one is suggesting that at this time except some blogs may bring it up. Hopefully it never comes to that.
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
well the usps is not a tax-funded enterprise...
damn it sth, i was enjoying the misinformation and talking out of their asses now you went and ruined it :(
i never said it was tax-funded, i guess Jabar kind of said that, but its problems are political and that's not misinformation.
US Congress is required to authorize things like further reducing pension payments and reducing the number of delivery days; neither of which have occurred yet, though i am sure it's on the agenda. Congress also can authorize things like "bailouts" to prevent the usps from folding completely and those "bailouts" could indeed come from taxpayers though no one is suggesting that at this time except some blogs may bring it up. Hopefully it never comes to that.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think congress runs the Post Office's pension plans and work days.
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
well the usps is not a tax-funded enterprise...
damn it sth, i was enjoying the misinformation and talking out of their asses now you went and ruined it :(
i never said it was tax-funded, i guess Jabar kind of said that, but its problems are political and that's not misinformation.
US Congress is required to authorize things like further reducing pension payments and reducing the number of delivery days; neither of which have occurred yet, though i am sure it's on the agenda. Congress also can authorize things like "bailouts" to prevent the usps from folding completely and those "bailouts" could indeed come from taxpayers though no one is suggesting that at this time except some blogs may bring it up. Hopefully it never comes to that.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think congress runs the Post Office's pension plans and work days.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/postal_service/index.html
last paragraph, just about. they said they didn't want to slim down from 6 days to 5 days
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cost me $14 bucks to ship my ducky yotd from NY to Cali by priority mail (with online discount)
$3.54 to ship a 104 keyset bubble mail from NY to Cali
Haven't done international, but people wonder why i don't wanna deal with international shipping lol.
Because the prices is just ridiculous @@
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cost me $14 bucks to ship my ducky yotd from NY to Cali by priority mail (with online discount)
$3.54 to ship a 104 keyset bubble mail from NY to Cali
Haven't done international, but people wonder why i don't wanna deal with international shipping lol.
Because the prices is just ridiculous @@
+1
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Hey remember that one time I ran a group buy and right before I started shipping, costs doubled?
Yeah..... : (((((
I don't think I have many intl shippers for the b series buy I just finished collecting cash (incl shipping) for, but yeahhhhh, totally glad it happened now if it was going to and not a month or so later after I had gotten SP the money for klaxon.
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Instead of closing unnecessary offices, lowering workforce, reducing number of days of first class delivery, pushing other services, etc they start messing up the ability to send small and lightweight items anywhere in the usa and anywhere in the world for a fair price.
USPS should exist as a subsidized service for Americans on the whole. Any of those options you mentioned would ultimately harm the service USPS should provide to taxpaying citizens. Problem is, instead of reforming their bureaucratic structure, the feds keep squeezing every last drop of blood out until UPS/FedEx are actually the cheapest option. It is disgustingly politicized.
well the usps is not a tax-funded enterprise...
damn it sth, i was enjoying the misinformation and talking out of their asses now you went and ruined it :(
i never said it was tax-funded, i guess Jabar kind of said that, but its problems are political and that's not misinformation.
US Congress is required to authorize things like further reducing pension payments and reducing the number of delivery days; neither of which have occurred yet, though i am sure it's on the agenda. Congress also can authorize things like "bailouts" to prevent the usps from folding completely and those "bailouts" could indeed come from taxpayers though no one is suggesting that at this time except some blogs may bring it up. Hopefully it never comes to that.
operative word is "should", guess everyone missed that.
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This is a ridiculous price increase. Usually increases in the past were like less than a dollar, now it's at least a few dollars higher for each option.
Some group buys are stuck in a position where the shipping prices were already paid for at the lower cost, now comes times to ship the stuff and the GB organizer will probably end up losing money if another mass invoice is not sent out :/
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isn't USPS doing really bad financially? I guess they are pulling a Canada Post on you guys, I think still in terms of price Canada Post > USPS
Though Canada Post is making a lot of money iirc
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Thanks to the new postal costs I have basically ruled myself out of participating in nearly all future GBs, even if people like Kmiller call me a baby for not wanting to pay $26 for a box to be sent with keys in when some of the keys won't even be $26 to purchase to start with. Already dropped out of Klaxon. Now it's also like $80 + to get a keyboard sent here from the US.
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Someone has to pay for the pension play for union USPS employees....
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Someone has to pay for the pension play for union USPS employees....
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 is a study in how a crazed government can sabotage a vital public service. It requires the USPS to fully fund the projected employee healthcare liabilities 50-75 years ahead. USPS was running a surplus until the Act passed.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/30/post-office-cant-pay-its-bills-congress-punts
http://www.ilsr.org/phantom-accounting-destroying-post-office/
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Someone has to pay for the pension play for union USPS employees....
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 is a study in how a crazed government can sabotage a vital public service. It requires the USPS to fully fund the projected employee healthcare liabilities 50-75 years ahead. USPS was running a surplus until the Act passed.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/30/post-office-cant-pay-its-bills-congress-punts
http://www.ilsr.org/phantom-accounting-destroying-post-office/
Yea, I was going to mention this. I'm pretty sure this bill was created to force the Post Office to privatize. They were humming along in their old business model just fine until this ridiculous bill came about.
Not to say the Post Office isn't inefficient in other ways. They certainly need to close some outposts, and I hear it's hard to reduce the workforce.
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Peter Orszag, vice chairman of corporate banking at Citigroup, was a Bush-appointed director of the OMB where he helped create this crisis. Now this Wall St. banker says he wants to "save" the USPS by privatizing it completely (which would, I think, be unconstitutional).
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Peter Orszag, vice chairman of corporate banking at Citigroup, was a Bush-appointed director of the OMB where he helped create this crisis. Now this Wall St. banker says he wants to "save" the USPS by privatizing it completely (which would, I think, be unconstitutional).
Absolutely unconstitutional, but when has that mattered to the government or corporate interests?
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now no more saturday delivery, unless it was overnight? i think
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No more First Class Saturday delivery. Priority/Express are still delivered.
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first class just means postage mail, right?
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first class just means postage mail, right?
yup normal mail = first class
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what the heck would second class be, those pamphelts and junk mail?
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now no more saturday delivery, unless it was overnight? i think
We don't have weekend delivery here in Australia, even for over-night things, so am sure America can deal with not having that :p :p
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what the heck would second class be, those pamphelts and junk mail?
second class is periodicals mostly
third class is bulk (read: junk mail)
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Do we have any US members that live on the Canadian or Mexican border? Start mailing them all the international mail, and they can load up and make a trip over the border... What is your purpose for visiting? The post office of course.
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I think they would take one look at the return address and refuse to ship the packages.
The USPS price hike is affecting my international sales as well... But luckily for me I started collecting money for my Krytox GPL 200 GB just after they increased the postage. I was just barely saved by my own laziness.
I was just going over my numbers and freaking out a little... Until I realized I donated €10 to DT...
EDIT: All orders were rounded up to the nearest 50cents so there should have been a few dollars extra. Especially with the gift payments by some people. But I was negative $1.85 because I donated €10 to DT. I should have added 50cents more to every order. :))
No profit for Ed...
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Do we have any US members that live on the Canadian or Mexican border? Start mailing them all the international mail, and they can load up and make a trip over the border... What is your purpose for visiting? The post office of course.
I'm pretty sure Canada post international is still more expensive then USPS
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Do we have any US members that live on the Canadian or Mexican border? Start mailing them all the international mail, and they can load up and make a trip over the border... What is your purpose for visiting? The post office of course.
I'm pretty sure Canada post international is still more expensive then USPS
I'm not sure it's that bad for smaller items. But to add tracking here, a $8 package becomes $40+
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I think it's unfair and unfortunate for those already committed to shipping at a lower rate to have a postage increase without ample notice but it's to be expected in our changing world. We will get use to the increase. There will be more in the future. We will continue to complain. Our habits will adjust to the changes. Even more efficient processes will be developed. And of course the US Government will continue to practice a double standard.
How the same entity which manages to amass a $17,000,000,000,000.00 debt plus another est. 30 to 60,000,000,000,000.00 dollar future debt for promised entitlement programs can require the USPS to fund there retirement for the next 50+ years is beyond reason.
I use to wonder why the U.S. Government, who prides itself on green initiatives, would allow junk mail, which generally goes directly from the box to the can, to be delivered through the USPS. By volume, I think 90%+ of the mail I receive is unsolicited junk mail. I must conclude that the practice continues because the revenue stream generated by 3rd class postage subsidizes the cost of 1st class postage. With that in mind I suggest that we give a hearty thank you to all those companies sending those ads via USPS. Yes, thank you Pottery barn. Than you Ikea. Thank you local merchants. Thank you political advertisers. But most of all thank you US Gov't.
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That junk mail is what has kept postage rates as low prior to that crazy health care / pension change. Also the decrease in the amount of junk mail has contributed to to the need to raise prices. So yeah, thanks for the junk mail but it'd be nice if it was very clearly labelled as such so we could all just throw it in the recycle bin.
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dante, I think you need to read what I wrote again.
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I think they would take one look at the return address and refuse to ship the packages.
i don't think they can refuse to ship packages... they're still making a lot on postage and their overhead is reduced by not having to deal with int'l shipping departments.
but would it really be cheaper to have somebody load up all these packages, drive over the boarder (including sitting in traffic for however long at the crossing), then get their currency converted and then go to the post office and pay domestic prices in the destination country? you'd have to have a LOT of packages to make up for the gas money.
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Over 6 bucks to Canada, was surprised.