posted on October 13, 2006 07:22:47 PM
USPS Flat Rate envelopes are under serious scrutiny. My postman told me 2 weeks ago that many of the over stuffed ones are now getting returned to sender. Seems the post office is cracking down and using the new Terrorist screen laws as an excuse to reject your packages.
I was told that if you over pack the flat rate envelopes and cause the package to bulge that it may be returned when it reachs a mail sort facility. They may also open it before forwarding it, so be sure to package it carefully and have it well labeled both inside and out.
When he told me this I just assumed he was just being a pest because I had taken one to the counter. I usually mail them from home with no problem. But that week I had one that needed special handling so I took it to the PO. Luckily it made it through ok.
But this week I had a small Global Priority flat rate that seems to have caused some concern for the PO. They have not returned it, but it did get stuck in US customs for 8 days!
I have written my buyer and updated her on the tracking and asked her to let me know how the package looks when it arrives. I'm willing to bet that it has been opened. It was a half ounce bottle. Fits easily into a GP small flat rate but does cause a buldge in the package.
posted on October 13, 2006 07:26:39 PM
Yikes I used them to ship up to 20 yards of elastic in and it bulges big time. No one has said anything to me just said what ever fits and no exterior tape can be added. I add glue.
I will have to ask them if this is so at my post office. Maybe you have a post office clerk that just wanted to pull your chain? I hope.
************** Check it out
posted on October 13, 2006 07:27:09 PM
OH NO! I just sent two bulging flat rate envelopes to my daughter who is now in Thailand (Studying in Asia this term) this afternoon - they only had candy and Halloween junk in them but I'll bet Customs will wonder!
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posted on October 13, 2006 07:29:32 PM
Irked - odd thing - my Post Office has been a stickler about no added tape (i use the flat rate to ship heavy postcard sleeves) and at one time they told me they actually had to be FLAT!
Just last week the clerk who had been giving me the hard time all along told me that they got the word that as long as long as there was a crease on all four sides you can stuff them full AND use tape to secure!
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posted on October 13, 2006 07:44:49 PM
I've never had a problem with mine and I do use tape! I don't trust the glue that holds the flap down on Global Priority envelopes. In fact, my postal clerk said that it's okay to use the tape. I've been doing this for two years now. I guess it depends where you are. My GP packages always get to where they're going fairly quickly.
posted on October 13, 2006 08:32:52 PM
I've always used tape to close my bulging flat-rate envelopes. My postal clerk said it was OK just as long as the "Flat Rate" words weren't hidden by the tape. Guess it depends on where you mail the packages. I have the luxury of having 3 post offices close by but hardly EVER go to one in particular because the clerks there are MOST unhelpful and persnickity.
posted on October 13, 2006 09:28:31 PM
This may or not be true, but the one thing that is true about the USPS is how much misinformation gets passed around. I keep up on USPS issues, both as someone who mails a lot of packages, and as a hobby with stamp collecting. I can tell you I know nothing of new "terrorist screen laws" - New procedures went into place after 9/11 of course, but there hasn't been anything new that I've ever read about anywhere (and I read a lot) - Overstuffed packages won't be returned, they can't me machine sortable, but will be processed by a human. It may slow it down, but if it is sent back, it is because you have a pissed off clerk. I got into a pissing match with some wanna be know it all in Sacramento, sent my package back twice because they claim it was a first class package with eDC that was not 3/4 inch thick (it was, I measured it) - They sent me a long letter too the second time, at this point I actually filed a complaint of harassment against them.
Also, the only thing priority mail and global priority have in common is that they have the word "priority" in the title. Unlike domestic priority, there is a weight restriction on foregin global priority.
Like I said, they may or may not be reviewing it, but based on what your contact told you, I would say it is a bunch of nothing.
posted on October 13, 2006 09:42:44 PM
Mr. God, my favorite postal clerk, told me tape is okay if it's just on the two edges of the flap. I always take them to his window because of that--on the other hand, I don't overpack those envelopes, but sometimes they have a slight bulge.
posted on October 14, 2006 02:17:28 AM
I just mailed a small jewelry box to Japan in the small global envelope. The postal clerk put it in the pouch for me and didn't say a word. Of course, sometime the postal clerks are the last to know????
posted on October 14, 2006 07:36:53 AM
My least favorite postal clerk insisted that the first class envelope had to be 3/4 of an inch ALL the way across to get DC when I gave her a padded envelope that was more than 3/4 in the center but not on all the edges. I augured with her and she took it but told me it would not be tracked. I sweated that sale but it was tracked with no problem.
If I am standing in line and Ms Monster is the next clerk available I will suddenly discover something I have to check on my packages and let the person behind me in line go first. Does not always work but I try.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on October 14, 2006 07:37:24 AM
I thought the clerk was "pulling my chain" too until the GP FR got stuck in customs.
That particular clerk/PO who told me this is always trying to tick me off when I go in. I usual do not go there unless I am absolutely down to the wire on shipping and do not have time to drive to the other PO.
As for tape on FR, I use it all the time. Never have a problem unless I take it to THAT po. Last time I went, I printed out the manual page that says it is ok to secure the envelope with tape.
In another instance, at another PO a few weeks ago, I took in a small GP FR that was bulging. I had secured it sufficiently but the clerk apparently did not think so. You should have seen it after the clerk smothered it in tape. I was shocked. I would have never taped an envelope that way.It looked like it should have had a bomb inside but it made it to its destination in record time.
That was also a typo about "Terrorist screen laws". I could not remember the exact words he used, but I meant to say "screening". It has something to do with the new airline rules about shipping liquids. Go figure. Package weighs 3 ounces and has .5 ounces of actual liquid in it. I seriously doubt it could bring down a plane.
posted on October 14, 2006 08:45:00 AM
photosensitive: I'm with you on bad-clerk-avoidance. There's one I just can't stand, so I allow people to go ahead of me until it looks as though the timing will allow me one of the two nice clerks. "I have so many packages, and you have just one thing/just a pickup notice/etc. Just go on ahead; I'm in no hurry." The p.o. people think I'm awfully generous!! but I'm just into self-preservation.
