Speaking of good deals on office supplies…my fellow work from home folks may want to print the packing tape coupon found on the Duck Brand site. I also found coupons on bubble wrap and mailers as well as other products.

Tis the season to save when we can!

Have you used the longest flat rate box yet? I didn’t know there was such a thing! I just happened to see the size when ordering regular priority boxes on the USPS website.  I don’t know how often I will have a game or puzzle that will weigh enough to warrant using flat rate shipping, but it is nice to have the option – especially for military addresses. 

The box measures 23 11/16″ x 11 3/4″ x 3″ and postage is $14.95 in the U.S. or $12.95 to APO and FPO addresses. ($14.20 and $12.20 through Click and Ship.)

It took several clicks to find the most recent update on usps.com, but I did find it. If you have been holding packages for Canada then you probably already know that our U.S. postal service began accepting regular packages to Canada again today. I already have an order for a cookbook. I am glad that I can ship it right away. Postal strikes hinder customer service – and make me appreciate the mail service even more than before.

Here is a copy of what I found online:

Canadian Postal Employees Return-To- Work Tonight – USPS To Begin Accepting Mail Destined For Canada Tomorrow

The Canadian government passed back-to-work legislation Sunday night. Canadian Postal employees will return to work beginning June 27 at 8:30 p.m. USPS will begin accepting mail for Canada starting June 28. Mail held in the USPS network since the work stoppage began is being released and transported into Canada.

Due to the large volumes of mail held by countries, customers may experience slightly longer transit times. USPS is working closely with the Canadian Postal Service to hold delays to a minimum.

I was a little surprised to receive an inquiry about a Canadian First Class International shipment that was shipped less than 2 weeks ago.  I politely reminded my customer of the postal worker strike going on in their country. The package isn’t late, even if all things were flowing as normal it would almost always take much longer than 10 days.

It was a friendly communication, but I didn’t expect to be explaining the strike delay to anyone in Canada. Am I naive to think everyone in Canada will be expecting package delays? What are you hearing from your customers? We all want to help our buyers as much as possible, so please, share any suggestions you might have.

The postal strike in Canada is sure to effect businesses in the United States. I know I won’t be able to ship to Canada at all because our postal service is not accepting regular packages.

This announcement was in our local newspaper today and on the USPS site:

Due to the expectation by Canada Post officials that the strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will last until at least sometime next week, the U.S. Postal Service will suspend accepting mail destined to Canada on Saturday, June 18, 2011, 11:59 p.m. CDT — with the exception of Global Express Guaranteed shipments.

I have many puzzle customers in Canada. I assume they will not be buying from me while the strike is in effect. I am concerned about our Canadian eBay selling counterparts.  They must be feeling the pinch this week.  They cannot sell because they cannot ship. Let’s hope the postal service works through problems quickly so the strike ends soon.

I was so impressed with the delivery of chocolate to my doorstep yesterday!

My son and daughter-in-law sent me two very thoughtful Mother’s Day gifts this week.  The first to arrive was an antique book that was obviously chosen with care and shipped from their home in Germany. (More about the book later this month.) The other gift was delivered to my doorstep via UPS.  The box, with its bold lettering “KEEP CONTENTS COOL” and a return address that read: 1 Fine Chocolate Place, begged to be opened immediately.

How did I ever manage to overlook Lindt chocolate until now? They make wonderful candy and wrap it up so nicely it is almost a shame to unwrap – almost.

They made an impression on me with their attention to detail.  The lovely box of candy was wrapped in a thermal bubble-wrap bag with ice packs and appropriate packing material to keep the contents from moving around in transit.

My family made me feel special when they took the time to send a nice gift.  Lindt made me feel that I was worth the trouble to make sure the candy arrived safely. As a mother I took note of the fact that my son and his wife got the good service that they paid for. 

The company included little inserts telling me about their products. I am sure their marketing department worked hard on those ads, but I haven’t read any of them yet.  It was the shipping department that recruited a new customer this time.

Earlier this year I wrote about the regional flat rate boxes now available online through USPS.  I had eBay shipments in mind at the time, but I am finding many personal uses for these money saving boxes.

Do you have relatives that live in nearby states? I do.  Most of our family lives in Illinois.  Today I shipped 3 pound boxes to both mothers – and it cost me the 2 pound rate.  Of course, purchasing online also saved me the cost of delivery confirmation and gave me a small discount on the postage, too. 

I used the regional boxes for birthday presents last month.  $4.97 to ship the regional box A from Indiana to Illinois is much cheaper than a tank of gas!

You should check for this savings if you are shipping your gifts instead of driving to see Mom this year. The less you spend on postage the more you can spend on her gift, right?

Postage rates increased Sunday, April 17th.  I went to the usps website for details.  I found what they call “A convenient listing of our domestic and international prices and fees.”  I am sharing the link with you, but I would hesitate to call a 52 page document convenient.

I ship books every week, so I am especially interested in the Media Mail increase.

 Though First Class did not increase for the regular one ounce letters, the second ounce does cost more now.  Be careful if you are mailing your tax return today.  You do not want it coming back to you because of postage due instead of making it to the IRS on time!

EBay has added the option of printing First Class International shipping labels. Until recently I have had to fill out customs forms by hand and take packages to the post office. We shoveled snow on some of the bad weather days this winter just so my First Class International shipments would ship quickly. Now all my packages can be scheduled for carrier pickup, which will save a lot of time and fuel cost.

There are drawbacks to shipping via First Class International. It takes a long time for packages to be delivered in some countries and the tracking is poor at best. I am not recommending the method to anyone but it is an option that helps many of my customers that live in other countries.  As long as they continue to be patient and understanding of the long wait time - I will continue to do my best to help them save money on postage.

I am thankful that eBay found a way to make it possible for me to print the labels in my home office.  This is one change that is working out very well for me!

EBay recently announced support for the new United States Postal Service packages – Regional Flat Rate Boxes as well as the Padded and Legal Size Flat Rate Envelopes.  I do not think they have covered all their bases just yet, though I am quite happy to see them moving in the right direction.  Hopefully they are working to update the rest of the processes involved.

It is my understanding that the only place the new package sizes have been added is to eBay shipping – not to eBay shipping calculator and not to PayPal multi shipping.  I use PayPal multi shipping, print my labels, and then print my scan form to be scanned by USPS at the time of mail pickup.  It is not going to be user friendly for me to have to delete some of the automatically imported transactions in PayPal, print labels for the remaining, and then process the deleted transactions elsewhere. 

As a full time seller on their site I would prefer to see uniform eBay processes for all shipping options, including First Class, Priority, Parcel, etc.  I should NOT have to use different shipping label procedures for different size boxes.  I will do whatever I need to do for my customers, but I will be watching for eBay to make more updates.

I would like to see eBay:

• Make the new shipping options available in the shipping calculator so I can add the options in my listings when appropriate. 
• Carry the new options over to Blackthorne, the eBay owned third party listing service.
• Make the new options available in PayPal Multi Shipping, also an eBay owned service. 

When I wrote about Regional Flat Rate Boxes earlier this week I felt like I was sharing a new toy.  I am excited about having options that will save my customers money.  I already have all of the boxes and envelopes in stock and I plan to use them whenever possible.

Perhaps you don’t agree with my wish list or want to add to it?  I look forward to hearing from you!