Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

I know that the USPS site has always said that over 1 ounce requires an additonal ounce stamp.  My first 300 trades, I found that letting it go through the machines it would not get flagged for needing the additonal ounce stamp until it was over 2 ounces.  I sent the vast majority of those trades through with only a forver stamp. I am finding that since USPS raised the price, this is no longer the case and an additonal ounce stamp is now needed for everything over an ounce.

  I have not edited the video I made on the subject a little over a year ago but I added a sticky comment

I think rate is going up again on July 10th.

I usually add the additonal ounce stamp when it's over 1 ounce. If it was 1-1/8 ounce I would not use the additional ounce. None were ever returned, nor did I ever hear from the recipient about postage due. I just figured they allowed a little leeway.

The post office wants to increase prices in July, raising the cost of a Forever stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents. They want a lot of things but that does not mean they will get it. Time will tell. 

3 cents a stamp is not going to offset the price of fuel for them, It seems pointless. 

i have no faith in the post office.  i wish commercial vendors like UPS, FED-EX, DHL would consider delivering letters as well.  Honestly i would pay a bit more for a third party service to send PWE trades without having to go to the post office.

in the past i used a kitchen scale to weigh my pwe trades and added stamps as necessary.  lately i've been getting more returns or complaints of insufficient postage.  to prevent this i have since been using the USPS kiosks to weigh and buy postage for my trades.  While this is a bit cumbersome (there are only 2 kiosks in my immediate area) i'm not handcuffed by the post office normal business hours or getting upcharged by clerks who think they need to know everything. (btw the kisosk will also sell international postage as well).

It's 2 cents for the first oz. and .04 for an additional oz.

I always pay the PWE Non-Machinable rate (0.88 & 1.08) and have the clerk at the counter hand postmark to avoid any additional handling issues.

USPS Postage Rates 

• Media Mail rates will increase by an average of 9% 
• First Class Mail (1 oz.) letter rates will increase two cents to $0.60 from $0.58 
• First Class Mail International (1 oz.) letter rates will increase ten cents to $1.20 from $1.30 

USPS Special Services 

• Priority Mail will now include $100 of insurance free of charge (previously $50 of insurance was provided for free) 
• Rate increases for Domestic and International outbound insurance  
• Signature confirmation will increase $0.20 

eBay Delivery Services 

• eBay standard envelope new rate structure: 
  1 oz: $0.57 
  2 oz: $0.81 
  3 oz: $1.05 

"in the past i used a kitchen scale to weigh my pwe trades and added stamps as necessary.  lately i've been getting more returns or complaints of insufficient postage.  to prevent this i have since been using the USPS kiosks to weigh and buy postage for my trades.  While this is a bit cumbersome (there are only 2 kiosks in my immediate area) i'm not handcuffed by the post office normal business hours or getting upcharged by clerks who think they need to know everything. (btw the kisosk will also sell international postage as well)."

I only go by kiosk now as it just gives me the price, avoids lines and, during these continued days of Covid, avoids people (I send my cards out at night). I spend gas to get there which is a pity, but if a letter doesn't arrive I know it's not on me.