General Forum

Hey all

Am i doing something wrong?  I have been sending out international trades for a while now at the same post office without issue.  My packing method is no more than 21 cards in a pwe with a slice of cereal board and some painter's tape.  i've had no issues and maybe payed a premium on occasion to ship a "thicker" envelope but never had any issues until today.  all 4 of my envelopes were rejected and she told me i would have to fill out customs and at minimum would be $10/envelope to ship!!!

i'm about to cancel my trades altogether with recent postal issues. i shouldn't have to take my trades to multple post offices to find a clerk that will abide by basic principles and i hate to stop international trades but i dont know what to do.

thanks for the rant and any advice would be appreciated.

Avoid postal clerks and find a post office with a kiosk. If not, then buy some international stamps, and regular stamps to add to those heavier than 2 ounces.

Bottom line is get out of line at the post office.

There have been more inconsistencies with postage the last 2 months. I know that here, they were short-staffed due to Covid and had to bring in new peeps or some from out of state. Thus, some things I sent and received that would usually be ok with some stamps arrived postage due. This may be one of those cases, unless it's a person you've seen at the PO before. I also wonder if there aren't some new rules they are supposed to try and enforce to get more $$$. 

I have some intl and domestic forever stamps, extra ounce stamps, and a smal scale I bought on Amazon. I do all my postage and labels here at home and then drop them in a box or give them to my postman to avoid the randomness of all the new clerks, long lines, etc.

I can't echo Joshua any louder.  I buy international stamps and additional ounce stamps.  I simply put them in my own mailbox and put the flag up.  This is what I do for about 95% of my trades.  The bubble mailers and smaller boxes that can fit in my mailbox go there also as I buy and print my own postage through either Pirateship or PayPal/Shipstation.  There are several post offices that I simply avoid because of ignorant or rude clerks.  My favorite is when I got yelled at by a PO clerk for using the Informed Delivery App on my phone to scan the bar code of a label I had purchased at the PO.  She told me it was federal law that I couldn't take a picture inside a post office.

Get out of line. Buy stamps and postage online. The delivery drivers and mail handlers are the best.  The clerks on the other hand have no understanding what customer service means.

Good luck!

I have mentioned before, I try not to complain too much about the Post Office. 99.5% of my trades and purchases arrive safe and sound.  I am frustrated with my carrier and the eBay tracking. For the third time I've had eBay send me a notice that my PWE has arrived when it didn't.  I did eventually receive all 3, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.  All 3 arrived 3-4 days later which leads me to believe they were put in someone else's mailbox and then returned and then put correctly in mine during a second delivery. These envelopes are supposedly scanned when put in the mailbox.  You would think that the process of scanning would mean the carrier is checking the address.  I guess not. When I called the PO they said they need a tracking number.  I gave them the eBay tracking number and was told that's not a valid number. I tried to explain that was what the tracking number was but the lady insisted that the envelopes could only be tracked with postal assigned numbers.  I guess my next question should be to eBay about what good is a tracking number that the PO won't recognize?   
Has anyone else experienced this?  Any eBay sellers here that know more about the tracking system?

This is my saving grace.  I love the kiosk.  And nothing comes back returned or lacking correct postage.  

And not just clerks at usps.  I have taken mail to UPS store as well and sometimes get qouted a crazy amount.  I then go to the kiosk and pay a tiny amount.  

I've experienced similar issues in Canada here recently. I was mailing cards in tiny bubble mailers that were shipping as regular mail. This worked well for a few weeks and in the last couple of weeks everything I sent from the post office has been returned to me and now I have to reship. I was told that they are cracking down at the central location on what constitutes letter mail and bubble mailers don't count anymore. About to mail some PWE's with cereal boxes and hoping that works.

And maximum thickness is 1/4 inch on letter.  I can usually fit up to 34 standard thickness cards in 9-pocket page folded into a business envelope.

Yes? lol I've been told that eBay tracking is internal (not valid for PO) and most sellers know it. (so they don't give a hard time when telling them it wasn't delivered) It appears a way to scam ppl whether it's a seller or buyer. Got a card off eBay today, that wasn't marked as delivered and have gotten others 10 days after being marked as delivered, I've also have had several cards that were delivered but still haven't been marked as delivered. I've only asked for a refund once and it wasn't an issue (was marked delivered) but my brother has never gotten a package and the seller refuses to refund since eBay marked it as delivered.

so for international shipping, according to what i'm reading on the post office is basically the same "forever international" stamp for the same 1oz letter...so i understand the largest of my 4 weighed 3.5 oz.  i dont have a problem with $4 to ship a PWE overseas.  

has or is anyone using Pirate Ship .com?