General Forum

I go to one of two post offices.  Nearest one has been hosing me dependent on the clerk behind the counter.  So I went to the one around 2 miles further out.     I was mailing 2 envelopes "non-machinable".   I haven't done this in a while so I asked  if there was an increase in the prices of non-machinable costs.    In all seriousness, she replied "that's a good question.  I'll have to ask somebody".     So she returns and calculates it as $1.15 per envelope.  That was fine.   The again she says in all seriousness "you know everything has to go through "the machine" regardless what it says on the envelope".      I paid and left.

I think I pay 70 cents Joe

What sucks is that every clerk has their own set of rules and rates.   LIke it's run by the Three Stooges or Marx Brothers.

Sounds like you got stuck with Zeppo!

Yup, $.70 Yellow butterfly. 

As I mention in another post, it should be our duty to report to the seller any cards that arrive postage due or obviously any cards arriving destroyed. Due to reading another post, I've refrained from stamping DO NOT BEND, if the PO purposely do bend these envelopes. We'll see. 

NJD - That lady didn't know what machine she was talking about. Non-machineable envelopes of any type do not go through the sorting machine that can bend what's inside it. There are many machines that the PO uses for sorting mail. Non-machinable go on conveyor belt machines while regular letters go through a machine vertically that sends them around all kinds of corners to sort them by state and zip code. Also, box packages go on a different conveyor belt than the non-machinable envelopes (of any type) so they won't knock any envelopes in the floor. The USPS is a well-oiled machine for processing letters and packages. But the employees are not that type of machine though. The bottom of the chain is desk clerk! Desk clerks also rotate through various PO's on a regular basis until they get the experience to be a regular at one PO. Your regular mail carrier was a substitute for any route he/she knew for 10 years before they got a regular route. Carriers start as a package-only person in the area closest to the PO and slowly expand their area. Then they start to learn actual mail routes in segments. Once they know one route, they start learning a new one. And so on until they know a few of them and become a sub for those routes. Then they are stuck there until someone quits or retires. My Mom has had the same route for over 20 years now and has 2 subs. They work for her on Saturdays and any day she requests off for any reason. They also work in place of other carriers if they know the route.

I just had a postal worker bend my envelope and look at me and say "its too rigid".

No, I will not pay $5 to mail a simple envelope, not even a legal size at that.  Cash grab, pure and simple.

If it doesn't pass their flexibility test then it's a semi-rigid surcharge is 15¢.

Splinter_9 wrote:

I just had a postal worker bend my envelope and look at me and say "its too rigid".

No, I will not pay $5 to mail a simple envelope, not even a legal size at that.  Cash grab, pure and simple.

It did flex that much... and the charge was a hell of alot more than 15 cents.  I have no problem with 15 cents.  A $4 surcharge I have a problem with. 

I find that the rules and prices are not uniformly enforced throughout the system. I received a "package" (a bubble mailer) from NY the other day and the postage paid for it was $1.20 which is the price of a large envelope. The bubble mailer I sent out from my P.O. cost me $3.90 which is the correct price for a small package. So yes, it depends on the knowledge of the desk clerk what you pay for it if they don't ask someone else.