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Shipping Internationally From The U.S. Without Spending A Fortune

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Shipping Internationally From The U.S. Without Spending A Fortune

I think this might be a concern if you just drop the envelope in a mail box, but once it's accepted and stamped at a post office it shouldn't be sent back at a hub. According to the USPS person I spoke to, these issues are for the local post office to assess.
 


I always mail in person at my post office, BUT, I have received sooo many pins with postage due when they arrive at MY post office. Not just pins dropped off in the outside boxes by the other trader, but pins accepted across the counter/in person at their US post office. Because one US post office says go, doesn't mean the rest on the trip will.
 
90% of the packages I receive here in the UK, were posted using the higher postage rate, so it seems that many people are not aware of the large letter rate. Thanks so much for posting this useful information, to help our US friends save some money!
 

If the item clearly fit within the USPS criteria for the lower rate, I would argue that with them as far up the chain as I needed to go, but I'm extraordinarily stubborn and I'm a lawyer (bad combination I know). You can find all kinds of things in the USPS criteria that make it clear you can have small rigid items in a Large Envelope - I haven't even posted them all here.

...now I recognize that you might choose to send as parcel for other reasons...I haven't looked into the insurance issues and someone said you can track parcels (as opposed to Large Envelope) internationally - that would be news to me, but I haven't had cause to test it.
 
Just an extra bit about international postage prices and tracking (plus I'm bumping this thread): paying more to mail internationally as a package rather than a "large envelope" does not get you tracking. I recently received one which the other trader sent as a package (and therefore paid $6.55 instead of $2.25). The tracking on the USPS site shows the "package" leaving Montana and going to a Los Angeles sorting centre (where it was processed as an "international letter" by the way). The tracking stops there. I called 1-800-ASK-USPS and they don't have tracking either - it told me to "contact the sender for more information".

I'm curious to know whether anyone is trying to get their post offices to send as "large envelope" and, if so, how it's going.
 
As I posted in another thread- my PO said ANY bubble wrap in a lge envelope disqualifies it as a lge envelope- even if it bends width & length wise. "Has to be able to go thru the machines"
 
I made my first jump back into this non-sense known as international shipping! (also apparently is my first pin mailing of any kind in close to 3 weeks :eek2: ) Hopefully this knocks the funk off for good ... I fought the USPS, and I won. :hsd:

I went in with a very small 1 oz package barely over 6 inches in length knowing the cost for the large envelope ($2.05) and the cost for a package ($6.55). Oh yeah, I also had a printout of this. Yup ... I was THAT guy!

As soon as I saw the $6.55 pop up on the machine, I politely said, "ok, now I got to know why you are calling this a package". She immediately pulled out her little board with the 1/4 inch slot, and I stopped her pretty quick saying that it can be up to 3/4 of an inch. So she immediately fell back on ... "well, it's non-uniform ... it's non-uniform" while pinching all around the edges.

I know enough to go in making sure this thing was about as uniform as you can possibly make it, so I quietly pointed to this paragraph ...

Large envelopes (flats) must be uniformly thick so that any bumps, protrusions, or other irregularities do not cause more than a 1/4-inch variance in thickness. When determining variance in thickness, exclude the outside edges of a mailpiece (1 inch from each edge) when the contents do not extend into those edges.

​
Once we got past the whole crazy concept of variance, she says, "ok ... well I'll let it go this time". :facepalm:
And as for the other points made above, yes ... I did already have a customs declaration filled out and she had no problems slapping it on my LARGE ENVELOPE!! :salute:
 
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starry_solo said:
especially when you're dealing with an employee of the post office.
Click to expand...
well ... since you put it that way, I'll say the chances of a package getting lost are the same if you're stubborn or if you tip everyone in the room a twenty and give 'em a pat on the :nono:

Seriously, everything was very cordial and the whole "debate" was over in less than 30 seconds.

I gladly pay the package price when it is a borderline case, but for a 1 oz package, I just couldn't bring myself to pony up. Figured it was a good time to run the drill on 'em.
 

LOL. It seems to be dependent upon the employee but I don't like to push a lot of stuff at the post office I go to.
 
All the US mail I receive is marked $6.55 postage, even though I forewarn the sender about the large letter rate. One person told me today that they were encouraged by the postoffice to send a trade as "merchandise" and to mark a value of $15 down as $60 on the customs form "for insurance purposes". Needless to say this incurred me $25 customs fee, for which I have no come back on the fact that the PO gave bad advice to the sender!

Here in the UK, the large letter rate is only available for internal mail, so all overseas has to go as small packet. Seems like we are stuck with these high postal rates, what I hate the most though is that it means far less buying and trading for me, I just cant justify the expense. So in the end the PO will actually get far less revenue, because the prices are keeping us away!
 
The postal system here in the UK is really random! My first couple small packs I sent to the USA cost me £3.50 each, but I went to the post office to send 3 packs the other day and 2 cost £2.50 and the little one cost £1.30! As they were light enough to go letter rate! Talk about inconsistently!
 

That's the way to do it. If you get angry or upset you've already lost, because they aren't listening any more... and the poor clerk is only applying what (s)he was told because someone misinterpreted the rules at some point and the misinterpretation stuck. You can just politely take them through the USPS rules and see where you get. Yes, you won't convince them all, but you lose nothing by trying.
 
UM. okay I really hope this doesn't come off as rude, but...

Why is the Canadian lecturing us on our postage?

1-You can send FLAT items in a 'large envelope.'
Large envelopes must be flat because they send them through machines. These usually bend the envelopes and often times flatten them out, ,much unlike packages that are well.. not.
This ups the risk of damage to the pin like woah.

Also if you send your pins in a large envelope, you do not have a customs # meaning proof of sending is now gone.

2-While yes this x-amount thickness rule, is a RULE it DOES NOT mean it applies to everything. There are always exceptions to the rule, and pins/small items that are meant to be packages anyways will be on that rule.

3-While some post offices may let this slide, a lot of this won't no matter how much you argue with them.

I'm sorry I'm not trying to be rude, I'd just hate for this to be stickied only to for problems to arise later.
 
Disclaimer: this is NOT a "drama" post, just a response to points raised.

I'm sorry if you interpret my thread as "lecturing" you. Because I am "the Canadian", I receive USPS international mail constantly. When the USPS rates went up dramatically, I noticed that a number of U.S. traders were still able to mail pins to me at a much lower price, so I did the research. I spent a lot of time going through the various USPS rules and I thought that I would share that information with others, both here on DPF and with traders I deal with through Pinpics. Some people find it helpful, some don't...it's all good . I offer the information, and people do what they want with it. I don't intend to be confrontational. I have responded to people's arguments/concerns so that whoever wants to use the information is armed with the answers to those arguments/concerns. Again, I'm offering information and options. If you don't personally find this helpful, that's OK. If you don't want the hassle of trying to convince your local post office, that's OK. If you prefer not to trade internationally at all, that's OK too ...bottom line: I'm OK, you're OK...to each her own...que sera sera...

And in the continuing interest of providing information, I'll respond to your 3 points:

1. Yes, large envelopes are required to be "machinable" (which is the basis for the rules about 1/4" variance and flexibility), but ultimately it doesn't matter, because the USPS sorting centres put all the envelopes through the machines whether they're mailed as packages or envelopes. I've received only 2 damaged pins, in envelopes that looked like they'd been through a meat grinder ...both had been sent as "packages". In fact, if you check the tracking # of a bubble envelope "package", it will sometimes state that it was processed as an "International Letter".

Also, ALL pieces of mail with a customs declaration, including "Large Envelopes", have customs tracking #'s ...and on this point I have an update: I previously posted that the tracking #'s of neither "Large Envelopes" nor "Packages" tracked past the border, which was correct at the time. Recently, however, BOTH types of mail are tracking across the border. I assume this is because Canada Post has started scanning the U.S. Customs barcodes; whatever the reason, we now seem to have cross-border tracking from the U.S. to Canada for both "Large Envelopes" and "Packages" ...YAY!!!

2. The "Large Envelope" rules specifically refer to "nonpaper contents" and to "rigid inserts".

3. Agreed - if you can't make your post office understand the rules properly, there isn't much else you can do unless you have another post office reasonably nearby and want to try there. You've lost nothing by trying, and you just might save yourself $4.30 on each trade with your friendly Canadian neighbours!
 
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My post office clerks know me by sight and know that I trade disney pins... I wonder how they'll react if I go in and say "so I learned a new thing about large envelope rules..." who knows, it might work. They're pretty nice there. But, as has been said, we're at their mercy.

I recently traded with a DPF member in Italy, who requested that I send in a regular envelope to avoid customs fees. What we both did: wrap pin in a single piece of bubble wrap, wrap that in a white piece of paper, put in regular letter envelope. I sent it with regular international postage and added the amount for non-machinable (I have a postage meter at work that pulls up the latest rates for me). No customs form; my postman just picked it up.

I received my pin from him already; last I heard he hadn't received mine yet, but it hasn't been returned to me either, so we'll see. This obviously would only work with one pin, and I would only do this if the person I'm trading with wanted to, because of the lack of bubble mailer.

Anyway, if you're doing large envelope, has anyone tried just adding the amount of postage for the non-machinable fee? Or is that only an option on small envelopes?
 
Also-- personally I don't find anything wrong with someone from Canada providing this information; all the info is out there and public, and if the person who happened to learn it and wanted to share it was from Canada, that's fine. Just being here in the US doesn't mean we automatically know more about the postal service-- as is evidenced by how many of our postal workers don't seem to know it! :rofl:
 

Thank you Vixy!
 
Since this thread is becoming so long and convoluted, I was considering creating a new thread with a boiled-down version of the various issues, but maybe everyone is sick and tired of this subject ...I'd welcome any input on whether people would find it useful.
 
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