Flat Rate Boxes from the Post Office

[MarieB]

I don't think you can just hand your mailman a package anymore. I would check on that. I think that is why you have to call. I want to say that it changed after 9/11. I don't think you're even supposed to deposit them in the regular blue mailboxes

[migtig]

Originally Posted by MarieB

I don't think you can just hand your mailman a package anymore. I would check on that. I think that is why you have to call. I want to say that it changed after 9/11. I don't think you're even supposed to deposit them in the regular blue mailboxes

My mailman hasn't had a problem picking up the flat rate boxes. Maybe it depends on whether your mailman is your regular carrier or something.

[my-thyme]

Flat Rate Boxes - take them home, fill them up, pay postage when you mail - box is free.

If you print postage at home from your computer, you may arrange pick up, and your carrier will pick it up. Or you can simply leave it at your mailbox and they will pickup.

If you have stamps at home and you put enough of them on it to cover the postage, you have to take it to the post office and present it to a window clerk. Same applies to any piece of mail weighing over 13 ounces.

If you use frequently (or even if you don't), you can order them online - the boxes and the shipping to you are free. You can always drop extras off at your local post office ad they will make them available to others.

[SoMdDude]

Originally Posted by Freefaller

The cost of the box includes the shipping cost. It is a FLAT RATE so the weight does not change the cost. As long as it fits in the box, the Post Office will deliver it. You can take it home, pack it and the Postman will pick it up from your house.

They do have weight limits posted on the boxes. I save them when I get things delivered to me in my garage so if I ever have to ship something, I already have the boxes.

[RareBreed]

Went to the post office to look at the boxes. Couldn't visualize which size I'd need so I went home and packed the stuff in different sized boxes to get a feel for which one would work best. Found one and took it to the post office yesterday to transfer into one of those flat rate boxes. The lady behind the counter saw me and came over to offer some help. She asked to weigh the stuff in the box I brought, just to make sure the flat rate would be cheaper. Turns out, it wasn't. So, I just used the box from home and sent it off. But at least now I know how those flat rate boxes work now, for the next time!

[frequentflier (Premo)]

Originally Posted by migtig

My mailman hasn't had a problem picking up the flat rate boxes. Maybe it depends on whether your mailman is your regular carrier or something.

Where I live, they are contractors; not USPS employees and OMG, I am hardly comfortable with them being capable and trustworthy of delivering my mail...no less trusting that they will pick up my packages and/or seeing they get sent out. One of my employees has a trooper for a neighbor and was recently told that their neighborhood contractor mail delivery person has a loong rap sheet and has even been busted for drugs from this "trooper" neighbor.
Sorry, didn't ean to hijack this thread, but this doesn't give me the warm fuzzy feelings I would like to have about the credibility of the mail carriers in this area.

[migtig]

Originally Posted by frequentflier

Where I live, they are contractors; not USPS employees and OMG, I am hardly comfortable with them being capable and trustworthy of delivering my mail...no less trusting that they will pick up my packages and/or seeing they get sent out. One of my employees has a trooper for a neighbor and was recently told that their neighborhood contractor mail delivery person has a loong rap sheet and has even been busted for drugs from this "trooper" neighbor.
Sorry, didn't ean to hijack this thread, but this doesn't give me the warm fuzzy feelings I would like to have about the credibility of the mail carriers in this area.

That wouldn't give me warm fuzzies either.

I love my mailman and think he's the best. But he's been our carrier for years. The only time I've ever had a problem with our mail delivery it's because an ordered package was "lost" at the Brandywine facility. Everytime I've tracked a missing package it was "lost" there.

[TPD]

So when the postman comes to your house to pick up the box, is he required to ask you the long list of questions required for shipping a package? If you put the flat rate box in the blue receptacles, who asks the questions of you then? Sounds like a way around shipping those hazardous materials....there is a loophole in every system!