USPS shippers beware!

The occurrences are random but it's being reported that as of June 2015, the USPS has added a new service for packages marked "fragile". Apparently, though, like any new service, no one has a clear idea of how it works and people are getting caught in the payment crossfires.

If you declare a package as "fragile" a ten dollar fee is added to the postage. In some cases people have written fragile on packages, mailed them and nothing happened. In other cases, the receiver of said package was required to pay the unexpected fee. And in other incidents, postal workers warned people to black out the words if they did not want to pay the fee. Google "USPS fragile fee" and a ton of conversations, blogs and random site conversations discuss incidents.

Has anyone else experienced this? I know some people mark pins as "fragile" and I'd hate to see someone become fee-sniped by the postal service.

This is first I've heard of this. I've had several packages received that had fragile stamped but no fee. I won't pay that fee, especially knowing - one its a $10 fee, and - two I know they do not handle with care. The USPS has gotten so ridiculous.

wow, I've never heard of that fee. I know there's a "special handling" fee but a "fragile" fee now??

I agree, Tbryson880. Most of the time the USPS doesn't handle packages very well, even simple envelopes. I think the unexpected kicker here, though, is that people don't realize a fee has been/will be applied (in some cases) so when the package shows up and it hasn't been paid, some postal workers turn it into a hostage negotiation for payment. And if you refuse and they send it back to the original shipper, that person has to pay the original shipping cost all over again plus the fee, depending on what worker waits on you.

Starry_solo, I think it's a reformulation of the original special handling fee and as usual, however it is really supposed to be implemented, there was never a clear guideline explained to workers so every post office will have a different story and tactic in dealing with it. It sucks and with the holiday season for shipping fast approaching, I hope no one gets unexpectedly stuck with these charges. As if the holidays at the post office aren't stressful enough! Geez...

Holy schlamoley. I hadn't heard about this. I've received some LBEs with "fragile" written on and not been charged the fee, but as usual if the decision-makers don't actually provide info to the carriers and clerks, then anything can happen.

I've never noticed stamping it "fragile" making any difference anyway; bubble mailer and careful bubble wrap are the important thing. I think I'll just make sure to steer clear of that word appearing on my LBEs!

Oh boy. That is crazy! I usually write "Please handle with care" on my packages, though I don't think it really makes a difference, since my postman always literally throws boxes and packages onto my porch. I wonder if that is safe to write on them, or if I should refrain from any such requests. :dunno:

I noticed this on their website a couple days ago. There was a new check box asking if the item was fragile. I checked it thinking it was like all those questions they ask you about what's inside the package. Then the price was crazy high like 16 dollars! I think them charging for writing on the package is not legal.

This should be handled just like priority mailing. The post office has a specific sticker that designates an item in the special classification if that is on the package put there by the post office then the charge is added if not then it is not officially "Priority Mail". The idea that someone writes something on a package and then is magically charged later is just not legal to my thinking (but i'm no lawyer). Also what does the $10 get you? do you get special handling? i doubt it, special insurance? tracking? i mean you get alot with priority mail and it costs less so what is this fragile thing? sounds like a scam rip off.... but i could be wrong.....

This is interesting...I was at the post office last week & the person ahead of me reused a box for shipping. The employee saw the fragile stamp & asked if the contents were fragile. She said 'no' & said he could cross it off. He replied that it didn't matter either way & just left it on. Hmmmm...

Vixy said:

Holy schlamoley. I hadn't heard about this. I've received some LBEs with "fragile" written on and not been charged the fee, but as usual if the decision-makers don't actually provide info to the carriers and clerks, then anything can happen.

I've never noticed stamping it "fragile" making any difference anyway; bubble mailer and careful bubble wrap are the important thing. I think I'll just make sure to steer clear of that word appearing on my LBEs!

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Scary, right? It's like something a person does automatically and now we have to be concerned about possible hidden fees.

sharayahlynn said:

Oh boy. That is crazy! I usually write "Please handle with care" on my packages, though I don't think it really makes a difference, since my postman always literally throws boxes and packages onto my porch. I wonder if that is safe to write on them, or if I should refrain from any such requests. :dunno:

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I've seen our multiple postal people do this also, throwing and kicking packages. Between that and the fact that they refuse to park in our driveway and instead tear up our lawn when they stop and I'm ready to tear down the mailbox and refuse all postal deliveries. The savages!

GoofyinMadison said:

This is interesting...I was at the post office last week & the person ahead of me reused a box for shipping. The employee saw the fragile stamp & asked if the contents were fragile. She said 'no' & said he could cross it off. He replied that it didn't matter either way & just left it on. Hmmmm...

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It's not funny but now I have this horrible mental image of the postal worker being told a package is not fragile and he throws it over his shoulder, across the room where it sits in a cart while they continue to dump heavy objects on top. Then it's taken to a back room where a chorus line of postal workers do a river dance, kicking all of these none fragile packages onto a loading truck.

noone said:

I noticed this on their website a couple days ago. There was a new check box asking if the item was fragile. I checked it thinking it was like all those questions they ask you about what's inside the package. Then the price was crazy high like 16 dollars! I think them charging for writing on the package is not legal.

This should be handled just like priority mailing. The post office has a specific sticker that designates an item in the special classification if that is on the package put there by the post office then the charge is added if not then it is not officially "Priority Mail". The idea that someone writes something on a package and then is magically charged later is just not legal to my thinking (but i'm no lawyer). Also what does the $10 get you? do you get special handling? i doubt it, special insurance? tracking? i mean you get alot with priority mail and it costs less so what is this fragile thing? sounds like a scam rip off.... but i could be wrong.....

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No, I think that's the way it's supposed to be, where instead of being able to charge just because it says fragile, it's supposed to be when a shipper specifically asks for extra care, the postal worker then adds a specially designed sticker and charges the ten dollars for the supposed kid-glove handling. But of course corporate never explains the entire situation or procedure to the workers so everyone has their own take on how the fee is supposed to work and us customers get stuck in the middle.

I feel horrible for the lady who sells on Etsy and one of her customers was forced to pay the unexpected extra fee because a worker saw the word and didn't see any extra postage paid. Just imagine the horror of excitedly buying a pin and then when it arrives you have to pay even more before the postman will hand over the package. :eek2:

Following up. - Recieved a package today with Fragile written in red all over it. No fee to be seen. Hope it stays that way, I ship and receive many packages so I hope they realize I give them plenty of money already.

Just seems like an excuse for them to be rough with normal packages now to be honest.

At least there is no need to pay for that if things are packaged well, eh? Gotta love the double-boxing method when things are truly fragile!

Yeah, went into effect May 31st:

Special Handling

The Postal Service has redesigned special handling service by eliminating the weight threshold associated with special handling fees and creating content-specific identifiers. Only the Special Handling — Fragile category will include a fee. The Postal Service added the following content-specific handling service codes under the special handling umbrella:

- Hazardous Material Transportation.
- Fragile.
- Perishable.

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It is a special handling category. In theory, these packages won't get tossed around, won't have heavy packages dropped on them, etc...
It's probably just a tactic to get people to not put priceless glass heirlooms loose in a box and ship them across the country. But, in all honesty, the post office is not a shipping service you want to use for truly fragile/valuable items... There's specialty companies for that. Otherwise, just pack things well, and ship them. (Nothing that you would ship in a padded envelope should be considered fragile anyway, there's pretty much no protection in a package like that...)