115 - Cheap Postage

#860

I used to sell lightweight, frivolous stuff on eBay. When I did, the items were so lightweight I could ship them first class.

In point of fact, anything that weighs less than a pound can be shipped first class, not just letters in envelopes, but you wouldn’t know that now if you used eBay’s shipping calculator. Nor would you if you went to the post office’s website either, as I found out today.

I needed to return an item that literally weighed 1/2 of an ounce. Neither eBay nor the post offices’s own website allowed me to purchase 1st class postage. My ONLY option was to purchase parcel postage at just shy of $5 to ship this trifle (it was a single backgammon checker).

The only way to ship the item first class was to either drive to the post office and stand in line or use one of the numerous online service that charge an average monthly subscription fee of $20. What a swindle.

Or, as I ended up doing, slap a regular stamp on the package and put it in the mail. No tracking number this way but too bad. One stamp is good for up to one ounce.

And that’s the way it is now. It’s impossible to buy something online that’s small and insignificant and not be charged the same shipping rate as if it was a three pound package.

It’s a racket.