This took me by suprise and so I thought that I'd pass it on to the rest of the folks here. When the USPS raised the rates recently, they went up disproportionately on things like media mail. What I never knew was that they have completely eliminated the ground transportation option to other countries. This was the low cost method used to ship things like books. To ship one years worth of Numistmatists to Romania would now cost over $45.00 at the cheapest rate. WOW!!!!

Watch those auctions and sales.........

Yeah their rates are a little screwy.

They changed quite a few things with their shipping options. Something about flat packages being a certain thickness (really pee'd off some people over on CU) could only be shipped a certain way now.

We might start seeing more and more people go with other companies. Out of my last 5 packages I've got, only one has been from USPS.

Yes, I have started looking to UPS Ground for shipping heavier items.

The package I'm looking at is 8.5 lbs of books. No commercial value. No customs value. UPS charges $234.85. I can probably get an airline seat for less.

Wow. What about FedEx or DHL?

WOW!!

Wow insane prices. No such thing as ship mail or some sort?

There's Turtle Mail, or I think there is. Still waiting on a package from Japan. It's been in route for 3 years.

My metal detector Im selling. Ups shipping to Germany $622 dollars for 25 pounds. USPS $125 dollars for 25 pounds.

For smaller packages you can send up to 70 lbs in the USPS flat rate boxes for about $9.00. And apparently they can be sent worldwide for the same cost. The boxes are now "flat rate for domestic and international" on the side. Although the box is only about a foot long and about 8-10 inches wide, it is plenty big for most of the things I have to send that are over 5 lbs.

All surface mail has been eliminated from the USPS offerings as of April of this year. It may still work coming into the US but you cannot mail out that way.

I didn't see the flat rate boxes on UPS's website. I'll ask my UPS driver about it today.

Not UPS, USPS. I don't see them on the website, but I didn't look real long & the site's got a lot of stuff on it.


EDIT: Here's a little bit about it http://www.usps.com/communications/news/pr...06/pr06_069.htm

I just sent out four boxes of plants/fish food yesterday and was quite amazed.

Amazed at how much the workers complain about packaging. I reused an old box (it was only being sent across town, no need for Priority) and the lady started whining about my packaging job. Apparently thick, 2" wide, clear tape is something they frown on. I told her that's pretty odd considering the guy before me used Scotch tape to seal his box. Mine was securely taped and super glued the edges (I dare you to get in it without using any kind of tools). Maybe it was too secure. There was lots of room for the postage sticker, nothing was in the way, and no old shipping labels could be seen. I had flipped the box inside out. She even rolled her eyes at my Priority shipping boxes.

That was my first package I've sent since the new shipping changes. Did they change packaging rules and I missed it? Or was she just having a "bad day"?

Good news is the package cost less to ship than actually driving to the woman's house. Would have been about $3 in gas compared to $1.50 for shipping.

USPS has combined Global Priority Mail, air parcel post, and economy parcel post into Priority Mail International. Fewer options, but hey - at least we're paying more.

Flat-rate boxes with a maximum weight of 20 lbs (or the maximum allowed by the destination country) are $23.00 to Canada & Mexico and $37.00 to all other countries.

Flat-rate envelopes have a 4-lb limit and are $9.00 to Canada & Mexico, $11.00 to other countries.

There's no way to send 8.5 lbs of printed matter overseas via USPS without paying at least $35.15 (if you can fit everything in a flat-rate box and get the 5% on-line discount). Turtle mail is no more.

Actually it is $8.95 for flat rate now. Used to be a lot cheaper and more sizes available. Now at our post office only two sizes available. I just sent my son one package in Tennessee that weighed 37 poundsand that is what it cost. Then a few days ago I sent a large package to him in Tennessee via UPS that weighed only 26 pounds and that cost a little over $21. However, since it was about 2'x2'x3' full of toys I guess it was worth it. They appartenly go by weight, not size.