LOL! Post Office PSA

[meresal]

First the story-
I NEVER have letters weighed before mailing them. I know they don't check it, and as long as it's in a regular envelope and can be picked up without a back harness, it will get to it's destination. My envelopes are "5.5x5.5". I told my mom we should just go with the oversized stamps ($.61), and not bother weighing it, because they will just try to screw us out of $.40 more cents. She insisted on taking it in, and did so today:

My Mom just took my full envelope to the PO, to get it weighed. SA said, "It'll be $1.05" My mom asked why in the world it was so much, and she replied, "Oversized and overweight, M'am. Your envelope is over 2oz." My mom, asked for the envelope back, walked to the other side of the store to the self-weighing machine, where it came up and said, 1.62 oz.
She rounded up almost a full HALF of an ounce!

The PO is becoming a huge scamming machine! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE weigh your own envelopes before trusting them at their word.

 

[brooklyngirl]

That''s interesting! I wonder if the lady at the PO didn''t weigh your envelope properly, or maybe her scale wasn''t calibrated.

 

[meresal]

Date: 5/15/2009 3:49:42 PM
Author: brooklyngirl
That's interesting! I wonder if the lady at the PO didn't weigh your envelope properly, or maybe her scale wasn't calibrated.

It's the closest one to our home. The PO is know for being very rude and short with customers, and my mom said that's exactly how she was. My mom asked to see her scale, but she removed the envelope and practically threw it back across the counter.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Whoa! Is this an actual post office, or a privately owned business that accepts mail for the post office?

If it''s the former, call the supervisor next time. If the latter, unfortunately there''s not much you can do.

 

[sunnyd]

Holy moly!

Thanks for the warning.

 

[Clairitek]

Good grief. I wonder if I got scammed then. My envelopes cost $0.88 each to send. I wonder if it was the fact that I have a knotted ribbon in there though. He kept trying to flatten it. I should have weighed them myself as well instead of taking his word for it but I was in a rush.

 

[meresal]

Date: 5/15/2009 4:44:51 PM
Author: Clairitek
Good grief. I wonder if I got scammed then. My envelopes cost $0.88 each to send. I wonder if it was the fact that I have a knotted ribbon in there though. He kept trying to flatten it. I should have weighed them myself as well instead of taking his word for it but I was in a rush.

I don''t know if you remember my STD''s, with the bow at the top. We sent those with a regular $.42 stamp. I refused to have them weighed because I knew they would tack on extra just because of the bow.
A coworker of mine, who goes to the PO religiously, even tried to convince me they would all be sent back and ruined.

Just out of curiosity, how did they come up with .88?

 

[Morgie44]

Honestly, I have square invites too and I was planning on doing the same thing, but now I am not so sure. I have heard several horror stories about the post office in the past two weeks, that I would take them to another location and have them weighed by another attendant to make sure, or send a few out to your bridal party to make sure that they go through without a problem before going against what the PO says for all your invites. 2 girls on my local knot board have had major postage problems in the last few weeks.

1. One girl had her invite weighed, they told her 59 cents, she put 2 regular stamps on, so 84 cents or whatever it is now and sent them out. All of her DIY pocketfold invites were returned to her doorstep and left in the rain! Not even in a plastic bag like they normally do... She took an extra one BACK to the PO and they again told her it would be 59 cents.

2. Another girl had her invites weighed as well, put the amount of postage that they told her was required on the invite and sent them out. She later had guests calling her and telling her that they received their invites postage due.

 

[Blair138]

I had mine weighed before I put in the SMALL paper map...it was 62 cents. Just on a whim, had it re-weighed with the map, now 79 cents because it was square (6 x 6) AND now over one ounce

Sorry meresal-it''s a REALLY good thing you weighed yours! I stuck 2-44 cent stamps on mine and called it a day...

 

[musey]

I hate the post office.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I did receive a square note from someone recently and it had postage due because of the envelope''s shape. So I''d be very careful about sending invitations without having them weighed at the PO. And if you think they are in error, then go to another PO to see what they say. We have scales at home so we pre-weigh most things.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Meresal, they gave her the rate for oversize and between 1-2 oz. $1.05

I think the square shape might put it in that category.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 5/15/2009 4:49:04 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 5/15/2009 4:44:51 PM

Author: Clairitek

Good grief. I wonder if I got scammed then. My envelopes cost $0.88 each to send. I wonder if it was the fact that I have a knotted ribbon in there though. He kept trying to flatten it. I should have weighed them myself as well instead of taking his word for it but I was in a rush.

I don''t know if you remember my STD''s, with the bow at the top. We sent those with a regular $.42 stamp. I refused to have them weighed because I knew they would tack on extra just because of the bow.

A coworker of mine, who goes to the PO religiously, even tried to convince me they would all be sent back and ruined.


Just out of curiosity, how did they come up with .88?

I think it was actually 0.82 but he rounded to 2 first class stamps. I intend on weighing one of my invites here at work (with really accurate scales) to find out how much it would have been without the whole knot thing. I was intending on dropping them in the mail today.

 

[meresal]

Date: 5/16/2009 1:16:04 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
Meresal, they gave her the rate for oversize and between 1-2 oz. $1.05

I think the square shape might put it in that category.

Thank you DS. She had told my mom that it was over 2oz. That is where the confusion came in. I will be sure to let my mom know.

 

[Clairitek]

I weighed my invitation and then went on usps.com and the postage that it told me was $0.81. Eh. Pretty close to what the guy told me. I ended up selecting the "rigid object" option online because of the ribbon and the fact that with the full pocketfold its pretty thick and rigid.

 

[meresal]

Date: 5/16/2009 3:15:58 PM
Author: Clairitek
I weighed my invitation and then went on usps.com and the postage that it told me was $0.81. Eh. Pretty close to what the guy told me. I ended up selecting the ''rigid object'' option online because of the ribbon and the fact that with the full pocketfold its pretty thick and rigid.

Thank you for coming back and sharing!

DS- Can you help me find the link that you used to come up with the $1.05? I can''t seem to find it?

 

[EricaR]

The square shape pushes it into the "oversize" category - they are much more difficult for the automated machines to handle.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 5/15/2009 5:36:29 PM
Author: musey
I hate the post office.

+1. I use it as rarely as possible.

Ugh, all this talk just makes me dread invitations. Or just get normal sized ones.

 

[Clairitek]

What are your invites like? Do you have a bow or knot on them? Or is it just a stack of cardstock and the reply envelope?

I went on USPS.com and selected the square envelope option and got $0.81 as the postage for your invites. $1.05 seems a little extreme.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/