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Anyone ever have to pay extra postage on a pin at delivery?

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Anyone ever have to pay extra postage on a pin at delivery?
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supertank

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I sent out a single pin this last weekend just like I always do: small bubble envelope, pay for shipping through PayPal ($1.64 with delivery confirmation), and drop it off at the PO. The person who received the single, normal sized vinylmation pin said that the postman charged him extra to deliver the package. I've never had this happen before, but he said he was charged an extra $3.95!!!! He wants me to pay for it, as he says this is my error.

I've sent quite a few packages, and I've only had a problem one before where I put two stamps on an envelope (right when I first started) and the PO charged an extra $1 to bring the total to $1.72, which is the price you pay at the PO to ship a thick envelope w/out delivery confirmation. But They're saying I was short nearly $4, so they're calculating a total cost of $5.59 for one single pin? I can only see three options for what's going on here:
1) The guy's lying to me to get some money
2) The mailman lied to him to get some money (though I seriously doubt this... who would risk their job over $4?)
3) The post office made a big clerical error. $5.59 is the price of a package... not a single pin.

Have any of you been in this situation before? How should I handle this? Thanks for your input.
 
This happened to me once. If your package was under 3/4" in thickness it is a First Class Large Envelope, not a First Class Parcel which is what you mailed it as. A First Class Large Envelope is not eligible for DC. So since you can not have DC with the size of your package they are charging you Priority Mail price. Isn't that stupid?
 
According to PayPal, a First class Large envelope is eligible for DC... as that's where I bought the postage from, and it gave me the DC for free...
 
I keep a bag of styrafoam peanuts with my pin packing materials. When I have a single pin in a small (#000) envelope, or even two pins that are very small, I add 2-3 packing peanuts. This adds nothing to the weight, but it guarantees your package will be at least 3/4" thick.

The thickness requirement is due to the automatic sorting machines in the postal system. If the package/envelope is less than the minimum thickness it automatically gets sorted as 1st class mail. If it's over the minimum thickness, it is sorted as 1st class mail parcel. (This now has a new name, but the differentiation from a letter envelope is still the same.)

Your package was too thin, got sorted the wrong way, probably caused the sorters to be stopped, and that is a really big deal for the postal service. When they pulled the offending package, they rechecked it and changed the postage to a priority mail package with delivery confirmation -- as karkura explained -- and that upped the cost, which led to the postage due amount.
 
Thank you for the response. In that case I'm going to agree with karkura when they asked "Isn't that stupid?" Yes. That is very stupid.
 
I make sure of the thickness.

The person who wrote to you should have a copy of what he paid. So, I doubt he would lie to you.
 
I keep a bag of styrafoam peanuts with my pin packing materials. When I have a single pin in a small (#000) envelope, or even two pins that are very small, I add 2-3 packing peanuts. This adds nothing to the weight, but it guarantees your package will be at least 3/4" thick.

The thickness requirement is due to the automatic sorting machines in the postal system. If the package/envelope is less than the minimum thickness it automatically gets sorted as 1st class mail. If it's over the minimum thickness, it is sorted as 1st class mail parcel. (This now has a new name, but the differentiation from a letter envelope is still the same.)

Your package was too thin, got sorted the wrong way, probably caused the sorters to be stopped, and that is a really big deal for the postal service. When they pulled the offending package, they rechecked it and changed the postage to a priority mail package with delivery confirmation -- as karkura explained -- and that upped the cost, which led to the postage due amount.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Wow! Good to know. Need to make sure my packages are fat.....
 
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Happened to me once, but the person just went to the PO and they said that they had made a mistake... I don't really know what happened, but that was my experience.
 
I just have to add this....my DS#2, DieHardDonald, received a pin this week, in a bubble mailer, wrapped in bubble wrap....with a single first class stamp on it. Postage due: $1.50.

I really tried to take this calmly, but she is not a new trader. So let me just say this:

What a freakin' MORON!

Sorry, I just couldn't hold it in. OK. Feeling better now.
 
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