The Post Office is confusing me!!!!!

[the kabuki]

Help, I'm so confused I want to ship some Thomas tracks. The total weight is 4.5 lbs. PO has Flat Rate Priority boxes for free. Website states that you can mail in these boxes up to 70lbs for $7.70. But when you look up just Priority rates, it shows that it would be $5.85, so good, that's cheaper. But can I use the Flat Rate Priority Boxes that they give you for free to mail it just plain old Priority Mail for the $5,85? Or do I have to supply my own? Is the Flat Rate box only to be used for the $7.70 rate???

Oh, and one more, can the Tyvek Priority Envelopes be mailed for the $3.85 Flat Rate Priority Envelope Rate?? I have a Tyvek Priority Mail Envelope here that I want to use, but it doesn't say Flat Rate on it, only the smaller cardboard envelopes say that. Is this making any sense?????

And what the heck is the difference between Priority Mail and Parcel Post. When calculating shipping , they give you these options, but both say they take the same amount of time to get there, but Parcel Post is cheaper

I'm so confused
I only hope someone here can help me........

 

[DianeV]

OK first of all you have to use the flat rate box to get the flat rate amount so if your items would actually be cheaper using regular Priority rates then yes you need a different box. The post office should have Priority boxes that are free or you can use your own box. Sometimes depending on where its going the flat rate can end up cheaper then the regular Priority rate.

The only envelope that is Flat Rate is the cardboard one. The tyvek envelopes are based on weight and where its going.

Parcel Post is cheaper because it usually takes longer and is loaded on the trucks slower then Priority mail. Mine sometimes sit at a processing center for a couple days before they head on. Now if you are sending something that is not real far from you (like in the same state) it can sometimes take about the same amount of time as Priority and cost less.

Hope this helps!

Help, I'm so confused I want to ship some Thomas tracks. The total weight is 4.5 lbs. PO has Flat Rate Priority boxes for free. Website states that you can mail in these boxes up to 70lbs for $7.70. But when you look up just Priority rates, it shows that it would be $5.85, so good, that's cheaper. But can I use the Flat Rate Priority Boxes that they give you for free to mail it just plain old Priority Mail for the $5,85? Or do I have to supply my own? Is the Flat Rate box only to be used for the $7.70 rate???

Oh, and one more, can the Tyvek Priority Envelopes be mailed for the $3.85 Flat Rate Priority Envelope Rate?? I have a Tyvek Priority Mail Envelope here that I want to use, but it doesn't say Flat Rate on it, only the smaller cardboard envelopes say that. Is this making any sense?????

And what the heck is the difference between Priority Mail and Parcel Post. When calculating shipping , they give you these options, but both say they take the same amount of time to get there, but Parcel Post is cheaper

I'm so confused
I only hope someone here can help me........

 

[poohj80]

Help, I'm so confused I want to ship some Thomas tracks. The total weight is 4.5 lbs. PO has Flat Rate Priority boxes for free. Website states that you can mail in these boxes up to 70lbs for $7.70. But when you look up just Priority rates, it shows that it would be $5.85, so good, that's cheaper. But can I use the Flat Rate Priority Boxes that they give you for free to mail it just plain old Priority Mail for the $5,85? Or do I have to supply my own? Is the Flat Rate box only to be used for the $7.70 rate???

No, but the post office has regular, non flat rate priority mail boxes for free as well which are to be used when your package will not cost $7.70. The flat rate boxes are for packages that woudl normally cost at least $7.70.

Oh, and one more, can the Tyvek Priority Envelopes be mailed for the $3.85 Flat Rate Priority Envelope Rate??

No, only USPS flat rate priority mail packages can be shipped for the flat rate price. Otherwise, it's weight based. If your package is under 1 lb, it will only be $3.85.

And what the heck is the difference between Priority Mail and Parcel Post.

Priority mail is quicker than parcel post usually (unless you're not shipping far). You might think of it like UPS offers air and ground service. Priority mail would be air and parcel post would be ground. If you are shipping Christmas presents, I highly recommend priority mail at this busy time of year.

 

[the kabuki]

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!! THE DIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!


Can't thank you enough for the explanation, was going over the USPS site and getting really goofy looking through it!

 

[poohj80]

Glad I can finally help someone else out after so many have helped me here!

Good luck!