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