posted on January 10, 2001 11:03:15 AM new
Those new postal rates are gonna be a pain. After each of my auction closes that have winning bids, I pack them in priority boxes. (most of them). All of my auctions that closed the other night have weighed under 2 but over 1 pound. The difference between parcel post and priority is now about 50cents. Basing my thought on previous experiences, 98% of the people will opt for the parcel and I am going to have to repack each box. drat Now I am going to have to start collecting boxes again to send parcel post. double drat. I know that I could just offer priority, but with the rate increase, that 50cents less makes it a little less painful for my customers. So I guess I am between a rock and a hard place, wanting to simplify my life and give my customers a break. ummm I could wrap everything in plain boxes (what a pain to collect boxes and oh all those priority boxes in my basement) and then if they want priority just put the tape on it. I'll do what it takes, but just wanted to whine, whine and whine a little more.
edited cuz I cint spel
[ edited by llama_lady on Jan 10, 2001 11:04 AM ]
posted on January 10, 2001 11:09:29 AM new
llama lady: I have only offered to ship via Priority Mail for the past 2 years and have never had a complaint. I really don't think your customers would complain about paying for Priority Shipping unless you shipped another method to make a profit on shipping. JMO
posted on January 10, 2001 11:09:55 AM new
I appreciate the fact that you want to offer your customers I choice (I do this too, with Book rate---oops I mean media mail---and Priority choices). However, you have to balance that with the fact that sending stuff by Parcel post in your own bought or scrounged boxes is gonna be a LOT of extra work to save your customers 50 cents. How about subsidizing 50 cents of their purchases yourself and just use Priority? It will add up, true, but I would guess that your time is worth more than 50 cents and unless you have a easy source of boxes then you may actually be saving yourself time and time is money. Also, since these rates are NOT going to go down, it seems pointless to do anything but start inuring the customers to the new rates. We can make the transition as painless as we reasonably can, but in the long run, most retailers will be charging the new rates and I don't see why we should be any different. If it were up to me, I would have said, don't raise the rates, but now that the cow is out of the barn, all we can do is get everybody used to drinking soy milk.
posted on January 10, 2001 11:14:28 AM new
I think that unless you are selling items that can go by Media Mail (where there is a significant difference in price) ---you shouldn't bother offering them a choice of methods.
If you are supplying the boxes and tapes for Parcel Post--and not charging anything for this packing material---then it is really not worth your while to offer this choice.
So stop with the choices and order some more Priority Post supplies.
posted on January 10, 2001 11:36:29 AM new
On the infrequent occasions when I've sold something that isn't a book, I haven't offered Parcel Post. I just quote the cost for Priority. In my limited experience, there has always been only a nickel difference. Maybe that has changed. But I would guess the difference isn't as major as the difference between Priority and "media mail."
It's the media mail vs. bound printed that will be hard for me to learn. On two parcels, it was cheaper to go bound printed, but on the others media mail was cheaper, in some cases a lot.
Since bound printed is tied to a zone chart, I suppose it would be more expensive to use it for distant buyers. In other cases it might be cheaper. I guess I should look at it this way: by having a choice I will sometimes pay less than I expect, but shouldn't pay more because media mail is a fixed rate that I can quote in my auctions. But it still FEELS unnecessarily complicated.
posted on January 11, 2001 06:55:27 AM new
Thanks for the advice. I believe I will change my TOS to state actual postage via 2-day priority. If I can send it first class (small items) of course I will offer that. It was a lot simpler when the difference was only a nickel. I could 'guess' they would go priority. Perhaps the postal service will improve with all this 'extra' money they will be receiving. (VBG) I got an email from one of my customers that she had received her items on January 9th. I mailed the box 2-day priority on December 29th!!!
