I went to my local P.O. today and mailed out ALL the packages of chips that I sold in the Valentine's Day Sale last week.
I know all the clerks and they said "You've been busy Mr. Birl" as I stacked parcels up on the counter. Chip packages went all over the Country - From New York to California. from Oregon to Georgia, from Texas to Iowa and all points in between. I felt like I was on a virtual cross country trips !!
Then the fun really began as the clerk processed all the parcels. The postage charges were all over the place ranging from $3.66 minimum to $5.66 and almost every price in between - thanks to the new postal "zone" charges.
I had a few parcels containing from 1 to 4 chips remaining after the larger parcels had been calculated. I put one #10 envelope with a single chip in a brown cardboard mailer inside up on the scale and asked "How much does this weigh and what will it cost to ship". The clerk replied "It's a parcel - weighs less than 2 oz. - that would be $3.66". My brain began to whirl as I asked her a series of questions about "Non-machinable", large envelopes, extra charge per oz. etc, etc. After a prolonged exchanged I said "Thank you". and walked out of the Post Office. I knew this was probably going to happen. So I got in the van and drove about 4 miles to the next closest Post Office. I put two 55 cent stamps on each of the 9 parcels with 4 or less chips in them. I marked them all non- machinable and put them in the mail slot and left. The total postage on each envelops was $1.10 that easily covers the 2 0z. base charge plus the non-machinable charge. There was no way I was going to pay $3.66 to send out a single chip that only cost $2.14 in my Sale !!
Moral of the Story - the Postal Service has no idea what they are doing - so just smile and do what you have to do to deliver the Chips !!
Selling the Chips and dealing with Chippers is Fun - dealing with the Postal Service is NOT !!
Take care,
Jerry "Bring back the Pony Express" Birl