Tag: ups

Or…You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! You want how much to ship that package????

In case you can’t tell, I just returned from the Waterford Post Office where I shipped two boxes on my Black Moon Candles to Texas. One box had 4 candles in it. 2 were 6oz glass jars

That’s the jars.

The other 2 were 4oz metallic holders. Very lightweight. Like…really lightweight.

That’s them. Tiny. Good for the tub but the glass ones are better. (Yes, I know the Precious Moments figurine is filthy, she’s sat on my desk for 30 years without moving.)

Ok, first off I didn’t have a box for this shipment. I’m usually really good about saving boxes. So good that I had to throw a bunch of them out recently because there were just too many of them and most of the small ones hit the recycle bin. I had to buy a box at the USPS.

This tiny, self sticking box.

$3.59

Excuse me?

Umm…..is that due to tariffs or something? Because, ya know, honestly, this thing in my hand isn’t worth any more than $2. If that.

So I paid $3.59 for a box.

This package, according to the USPS, weighed in at a hefty 2lb 1.1oz.

Damn! That’s heavy, huh?

Not even a bag of sugar.

That will be $16.55 for the shipping.

Are you fucking serious?

Yep.

I had charged my customer $10 for the shipping fee.

Grand total at the USPS was $20.14. For shipping. Only.

The chick behind the counter could just not understand that there were candles in the boxes so, yes, they are fragile. She kept trying to tell me it wouldn’t be their fault if they were broken.

The box in question had FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE written ALL over it because it was the box that those lovely 6oz glass holders arrived in.

Having worked in the mail room at Connecticut College I know just how much those 4 words mean to every mail/letter/package carrier.

Nothing?

You got it. Remember the arrival of my busted-in-half trees?

Ummm…yes. Even though it read LIVE TREES on it. I remember. You were upset.

That’s the one that beats the time a package arrived at Connecticut College with a boot mark on it. It had been stomped. Flattened by a heavy work boot. It too read FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE.

Anyway, I left that box open because, when I arrived at the Post Office in Waterford, I wanted to be sure it was packed well enough. It was a big order. 4 of the 6oz glass jars, 3 of the 4oz metallic holders, and 2 large round 14oz holders in “Dead East Coast Ocean” Scent. (That’s a joke between friends.) The others were honeysuckle and cinnamon.

The Postal Worker was very rude and I didn’t want to ask her opinion.

Instead, I simply asked her to finish packaging it….put the large sheet label on it that I made because I don’t have proper shipping labels and because they no longer print a shipping label for you…even though, yes, they are going to print a big sheet of something and stick it on there. Oh yes, and please, put one long strip of tape over the top to hold it down.

I swear to you if she said “it’s not my job” one more time I was going to bounce her head off the counter.

It seems the USPS does not deal in packing and shipping any longer. Just in taking your money. She wanted to buy a roll of tape because, Gods forbid they just have some available for you to use while you’re standing in line, it wasn’t her job to take a strip of packing tape that was right next to her and put it on the box.

I come from the 70s and the words “not my job” (usually followed by the pseudo word ‘mang’) went up my parents’ asses sideways and it still causes the same reaction in my good self when in such a simple…even menial…situation.

Oh well, you remember what happened to him.

Everyone cheered.

They did. I was among them.

Anyway, back to my trip to the Post Office.

After she went to the monumental lengths of putting some tape on the box I was charged $24.50. According to my receipt it weighed 7lbs 6.6oz.

All I can say to that is thank the Gods this is an order for a friend who overpaid by $25 because I drastically underestimated this shipping cost too.

Admittedly, I don’t ship a lot of stuff…anymore. When I did go to the Post Office quite frequently, the Waterford Post Office mind you please. I hate the New London Post Office. The line is always long. Finding a place to park can be a nightmare. So I go out to Waterford. I used to send out a lot of paperbacks and merchandise (t-shirts mostly). I took advantage of “book rate” you may know it as “media mail”. I don’t know what that looks like anymore but Back in The Day it was a good deal. Totally not unreasonable at all.

The staff was courteous and kind and helpful. Not only did they smile as they put a piece of tape on, often they would suggest that a little extra reinforcement…via a simple piece of tape…was probably a good idea. Then they just put it on there.

Wow.

Right!

AND THEN…I would say something like “Oh, thank you very much, I appreciate that.”

No!

Yes!

So strange, right?

Given the cost of shipping and the lack of customer service I reminded myself that Staples exists. It’s a nice place. I like it. As the Crow Flies it’s probably about equidistant. At Staples I can compare prices between USPS and UPS so I get the best deal for my tiny dwindling dollar.

This all leaves me with the question; Is shipping even worth it?

It’s nice to offer but at those prices it’s not exactly a selling point and I can’t do anything about it. The cost is the cost. I never have a good idea of what that cost is going to be on the final order. What the final weight (including box and packing materials) is and the size, don’t forget the size. I have to guess when I charge the shipping price. I’m not Amazon Prime. I’d like to be one day but I’d have to sell a great deal more books, candles, salts, and such first.

With my novels I get away with “free shipping” (US only) because it is “media rate” both ways. It’s basically a fixed rate. I know what it’s going to cost me…pretty much every single time…to get and send out a book. So I just roll it into the price.

Oh, please. Everybody does that.

I really wanted to be able to ship my stuff but I don’t want my customers or myself feeling a bit ripped off. If the shipping cost is roughly what the customer paid for the candles themselves….I mean…WTF?

That’s like ordering a $10 pizza and paying a $12 delivery fee.

Or like Eversource. You know. Let’s not forget our local ‘distributor’ of electricity and gas.

I don’t want to be like that.

Oh bother.