I just got back from dropping off a bunch of chips at the Post Office. Now, shipping chips at my local Post Office is a little like playing roulette. You have know way of knowing where that ball will drop once it start spinning. To mail a single chip in a 000 bubble mailer (roughly 5 x 7), I have been charger various amounts between .80 and $1.60. I don't even bother arguing anymore. I have learned to embrace the Postal Insanity.

Today, one of the clerks who used to charge me $1.13 (that is how I know them, by how much they charge me!) told me "We all had to attend a class last week, and we have not been classifying these correctly. The price to ship this 1st class/non-machinable should be .58." She said this would be the price from now on, even after the scheduled rate increases kick in.

58 cents? A new low! Will it last, I dunno! Is anyone else paying that rate? Seriously, though, I charge $2.25 to ship on my eBay auctions. I am not looking to make money on shipping, just want to make sure I don't lose out. After the postage, cost of the mailer and gas there and back (I am 8.5 miles one way to the Post Office) and the time to put it all together I felt like $2.25 was fair. If I knew I would always be charged .58, I would drop my shipping to $1.75 or so. Problem is......who knows? Lets see what Clerk .80 charges me on Friday!

Anyway, the glee over my Post Office good fortune was ruined 5 minutes later, when I got a fill-up at the gas station for $10. Problem was,
I filled up the John Deere mower. Ouch. In the suburbia grass wars, I am no longer the green.....I am the ruff.