USPS Rates Increasing!!

[Dan McEntee]

   If you ship by Pirateship, then you probably got the notice from them that USPS rates are going up, and it ain't even Christmas season yet!!! Here is a link to their information page on the new rates:

    https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/11648947-usps-rate-change-july-2025?utm_source=intercom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2025-07-13_RateChange-USPS

   Rates keep going up and service still sucks for the most part. I still have lots of issues, and just have to be diligent about what and when I send something, whether it just be a bill or check to someone, or shipping a larger package.  Way back in March, I asked Dave Trible for a sample of the teabag paper that he got from overseas so I could compare it to some other stuff I had found locally, and he sent out some in a large manila envelope. I saw Dave at Jim Lee's fun fly at the beginning of June and asked about it, as by that time, I had not received it. On July 2, 2025, guess what turned up in my mail!! The big yellow envelope that had a March 22 postage mark stamped on it!! It was in good shape, no damage, but it only had to come from Kansas City to St. Louis, so where in the hell was it hiding all that time, more than 3 months! My biggest issue with the USPS now is stuff like this. I have an account with them and use their "Preferred Mail" feature that sends me an email each morning with what I can expect in my mail that day, and quite often it still takes an extra day or more sometimes for what I see in the scans to get to me!! Just absolutely pitiful!! But judging from what you will read on that linked page, it will be more expensive to send large packages like kit boxes, but at least Pirateship can soften the blow and they also offer UPS rates now also, and sometimes they blow the USPS out of the water, and sometime not. But it's worth looking into.

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Gerald Arana]

   If you ship by Pirateship, then you probably got the notice from them that USPS rates are going up, and it ain't even Christmas season yet!!! Here is a link to their information page on the new rates:

    https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/11648947-usps-rate-change-july-2025?utm_source=intercom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2025-07-13_RateChange-USPS

   Rates keep going up and service still sucks for the most part. I still have lots of issues, and just have to be diligent about what and when I send something, whether it just be a bill or check to someone, or shipping a larger package.  Way back in March, I asked Dave Trible for a sample of the teabag paper that he got from overseas so I could compare it to some other stuff I had found locally, and he sent out some in a large manila envelope. I saw Dave at Jim Lee's fun fly at the beginning of June and asked about it, as by that time, I had not received it. On July 2, 2025, guess what turned up in my mail!! The big yellow envelope that had a March 22 postage mark stamped on it!! It was in good shape, no damage, but it only had to come from Kansas City to St. Louis, so where in the hell was it hiding all that time, more than 3 months! My biggest issue with the USPS now is stuff like this. I have an account with them and use their "Preferred Mail" feature that sends me an email each morning with what I can expect in my mail that day, and quite often it still takes an extra day or more sometimes for what I see in the scans to get to me!! Just absolutely pitiful!! But judging from what you will read on that linked page, it will be more expensive to send large packages like kit boxes, but at least Pirateship can soften the blow and they also offer UPS rates now also, and sometimes they blow the USPS out of the water, and sometime not. But it's worth looking into.

  Type at you later,

Why am I not surprised?

GA
   Dan McEntee

[Rusty]

   If you ship by Pirateship, then you probably got the notice from them that USPS rates are going up, and it ain't even Christmas season yet!!! Here is a link to their information page on the new rates:

    https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/11648947-usps-rate-change-july-2025?utm_source=intercom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2025-07-13_RateChange-USPS

   Rates keep going up and service still sucks for the most part. I still have lots of issues, and just have to be diligent about what and when I send something, whether it just be a bill or check to someone, or shipping a larger package.  Way back in March, I asked Dave Trible for a sample of the teabag paper that he got from overseas so I could compare it to some other stuff I had found locally, and he sent out some in a large manila envelope. I saw Dave at Jim Lee's fun fly at the beginning of June and asked about it, as by that time, I had not received it. On July 2, 2025, guess what turned up in my mail!! The big yellow envelope that had a March 22 postage mark stamped on it!! It was in good shape, no damage, but it only had to come from Kansas City to St. Louis, so where in the hell was it hiding all that time, more than 3 months! My biggest issue with the USPS now is stuff like this. I have an account with them and use their "Preferred Mail" feature that sends me an email each morning with what I can expect in my mail that day, and quite often it still takes an extra day or more sometimes for what I see in the scans to get to me!! Just absolutely pitiful!! But judging from what you will read on that linked page, it will be more expensive to send large packages like kit boxes, but at least Pirateship can soften the blow and they also offer UPS rates now also, and sometimes they blow the USPS out of the water, and sometime not. But it's worth looking into.

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

The USPS has NO accountability.  They lost my retirement package that was send overnight express mail. It made 80 miles from here and was lost.  Then after that, I mailed 2 registered letters, that were lost and never found.   I went the post office to speak the post master about this and he refused to speak to me. 

[Paul Smith]

I carefully shopped all the options available.  For the same package the commercial carriers: FedEx, UPS and Railway Express were in the $150-$160 range.  USPS was about $45, least expensive way.  For maybe $65 you could upgrade to second class.
The way it appeared to me, if you went cheap, USPS put your package in the meat locker for two weeks to teach you to learn.
When I upgraded to second class, it got there in the promised three days.

[Dan McEntee]

I carefully shopped all the options available.  For the same package the commercial carriers: FedEx, UPS and Railway Express were in the $150-$160 range.  USPS was about $45, least expensive way.  For maybe $65 you could upgrade to second class.
The way it appeared to me, if you went cheap, USPS put your package in the meat locker for two weeks to teach you to learn.
When I upgraded to second class, it got there in the promised three days.

    A lot depends on where you live and where the package is going. Packages are one thing, but regular mail is almost all automated. There should be no excuse for the delays in bills arriving in the mail, often too late to write a check and put it back in the mail box the same day! I have experienced that! The USPS did away with "classes" for mail. It's all Ground Advantage or Priority and that's where this get expensive! The last time I sent anything by 2 or 3 day Priority, it still took 5 days. Ground services are half the cost and take the same amount of time, it seems. It's all a crap shoot any more. Pirateship at least saves me a few bucks and the USPS seems to track better this?way. But still, on several occasions, something sent to me spent 3 days or more bouncing around " distribution centers" and the either dissappears or goes somewhere else out of state. And these are ALL computer generated labels with bar codes that are supposed to make things more efficient. It really seem to be regional. Here where I live, things are horrendous but in other parts of the country, no issues. I still think it boils down to the people doing the job, and whether they give a damn about the customer, which is you and me!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Steve Thompson]

Lost in equipment...

Few years back I mailed off two bill payment letters.  I found out the next month (with late charges) that they never were received.  Three months after I had mailed the two payments, I received them back from the post office with a note.  Said they were found in "equipment", so they were returned to me.  I asked what that meant and was told "equipment" usually means a mail bag they thought was empty.  No refund on stamps and late charges were all mine.  No accountability.  I use bill pay as much as possible since then.  Saves 78 cents for stamp and almost 50 cents for check.   

[Dan McEntee]

Lost in equipment...

Few years back I mailed off two bill payment letters.  I found out the next month (with late charges) that they never were received.  Three months after I had mailed the two payments, I received them back from the post office with a note.  Said they were found in "equipment", so they were returned to me.  I asked what that meant and was told "equipment" usually means a mail bag they thought was empty.  No refund on stamps and late charges were all mine.  No accountability.  I use bill pay as much as possible since then.  Saves 78 cents for stamp and almost 50 cents for check.   

     Yes, exactly!! I mailed a payment to my insurance company a few years ago, thinking that it just had to go a few hundred miles across the state, like I had been doing for many years. I had not noticed that the companies billing center had moved to Phoenix, AZ, but it was still mailed early enough for it to get there on time, plus there is the 10 day grace period like most insurance companies allow. That STILL wasn't enough!! About 3 weeks after the payment was due, I got an email from the insurance company and found out what was going on. I hand delivered another check to the office here in town, and then hand delivered them until I just recently changed companies. What really frosts my my ass is the inconsistencies in daily service. I have an account with the USPS and signed up for their Informed Mail services. This sends you an email in the morning that has scans of what you can expect in the mail that day. I did it at first to help me track packages and deal with those but got to where I liked the little preview. It didn't show things like magazines or anything sent by bulk mail but that's fine. The problem is that fairly frequently I don't get what is shown in my Informed Mail preview on that day. It may be another day or two before it gets delivered. That is a local thing in my opinion and is another indication of poor work ethics by the USPS workers here. They just don't give a damn!! I'm sure there are some good employees but they are far outnumbered.  Things never used to be like this, when regular mail volume was MUCH higher and largely handled all by hand. Sometimes, even if the address on a hand written card had the house number wrong, but the name was correct, you had a regular letter carrier who knew who lived where. And if the name was miss spelled, he still knew where the letter went. I had a letter carrier that once delivered EVERYONE's mail on the street, two doors off!! Now how in the hell does someone do that unless they just don't give a damn!!
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee