General Forum

This can not be overstated.

Before I moved last year I went to a "post office" counter that was in a grocery store.  The clerks were employees of the store, not the post office so they had no incentive to upsell.  One time I brought a box and they suggested throwing it in a bag, which saved me 2 or 3 bucks.

I recently went in to a post office here and the clerk felt the envelopes and asked if it could bend.  I made the mistake of answering "I hope not".  She charged my a couple bucks for each envelope that should have been 70 cents.

Finestkind wrote:

It also depends on what kind of attitude the postal clerk has. Some are very helpful. And some not so much. I go to the post office in the next city over from me for that reason. 

For hundreds of cards, Regional Flat Rate boxes are generally the cheapest depending on how far it's going. BUT, they do have a weight-limit. Another way to ship hundreds of cards for the cheapest is a Priority Mail Flat Rate Bubble Mailer (9x12). A 600-count card box will fit inside of one with room for more smaller packages of cards. I've sent as many as 900 cards in one and had room for a bit more.The bubble mailer is the same price as the Small Flat Rate box and holds 4x more cards! The BM is slightly more than half the cost of shipping a card box alone based on weight.

For larger trades in a bubble mailer or box, I have been using pirateship.  Kind of like PayPal, link a credit card, enter address you are shipping to and the box/bubble dimensions and weight and they find the best discounted rate. I can usually get a  6 x 5 bubble mailer (cut to size if you need to, the smaller the cheaper) that may weigh 2-3 oz. shipped for $2.77 and some boxes, depending on wt and destination for less than $4. You purchase the shipping label and can print from home.  Only a trip to the mailbox instead of having to go to the P.O.

With a name like Pirate Ship I was a little wary, but I just checked the site and it's completely legit. They have an official partnership with the USPS.

Also good to know is that Pirate Ship doesn't charge any monthly fees. I might give them a try.