More nannying -- the US Postal Service

[tubelab.com]

Note that if you use priority mail they don't ask any questions.

That depends on which untrained idiot you happen to find behind the counter.

Yesterday my wife goes to send two Tubelab PC boards to Canada in a Priority Mail Envelope. Customs form #2676 was properly filled out and attached. Idiot #1 says that you can't send these to Canada. My wife gets me on the phone and I try to explain that I have been shipping these to Canada and the rest of the world for 8 years through your branch of the USPS. She then tells me that I need a different Customs form because the two PC boards weigh more than 4 POUNDS. Yo!....Idiot!....what does your scale say????? 8 ounces? Yes, what do I declare on the customs form?.....yeah, it says 0 pounds 8 ounces. Have you ever done this before? Then she tells me that I don't need a customs form because the declared value is $8.70. Hello!!!!...Idiot!!!!....that is the 8 from the weight in ounces column next to the 70 in the declared value column. She decided that she needs to get her supervisor.......

Idiot #2 and supervisor for Idiot #1 appears. This one tells Sherri that she does not need customs forms because there are only documents inside the envelope. I tell Sherri to explain that there are circuit boards inside...NO documents other than the invoice. The circuit boards are declared at $35 USD each and weigh 4 ounces each, for a total of $70 USD and 8 ounces. This is all explained on THEIR customs forms. Supervisor gets on the phone and I realize that I have dealt with her before. I ask her if she remembers an argument with a blonde guy who was not happy when she ripped the customs forms off the envelope and trashed them. You, me, and your boss all got out your IMM (international mail manual) and read the rules. UHHHHH. How did that turn out......Yeah, you wound up rewriting my customs forms.....Just send the damn envelope PLEASE! 45 minutes later Sherri successfully sent one Priority Mail envelope to Canada.....we think.

The people that are hired at our local post office are mostly loosers that couldn't cut it at the DMV office! There are a few exceptions.

[jackinnj]

Most of the time, my letter-carrier picks up the priority and express mail stuff. If I see a certain gal behind the counter when I take the packages down there I will go to the post office in the next town over.

I once made the mistake of putting a "Static Sensitive" sticker on a Priority Mail envelope and the USPS returned it here.

[hags]

Originally Posted by SY

No, but three of those are illegal to posses in any case.

This is all about states being able to collect their taxes rather than nanny-ism. There is already a large underground business of smuggling cigarettes from low tax states to high tax states via truck, so this is just an extension of those already-existing laws, Expect that there will also soon be mechanisms for states to force collection of sales taxes from all sorts of e-commerce as well.

Exactly the point(s) I was going to make. It seems the US government will stop at nothing to confiscate all of your labor/private property.

[theAnonymous1]

I mailed a couple small packets via first class international the other day and was informed of the new "manual entry" requirement.

The 80 year old clerk must have asked me at least 10 times if the packages contained lithium batteries. She asked what kind of "electronic components" the packages contained, to which I replied "operational amplifiers"..... she then asked again if that was any kind of lithium battery. :/

[tubelab.com]

Saturday I went to the same post office to send a board to Canada. The lines were much longer than usual. I went to the same clerk that I have gone to for 3 years. He is a ham radio operator who knows what a circuit board is. Well, guess what.....he gives me the same $&@% about customs forms. After everyone in the post office heard my WTF moment, the clerk turned his screen so I could see it. It suddenly became obvious. The efficiency EXPERTS have totally redone the computer systems. Those customs forms that we must hand print (3 layers thick, won't go through a printer) must be manually entered into their new computer systems. No wonder the clerks don't like international shipments and want to rip the customs forms off. Look for another rate increase next year to cover this crap.

[sofaspud]

Simple answer: Lie.
"This is an album of snapshots from our family vacation. Aunt Louisa doesn't own a computer so I have to send them this way."

[theAnonymous1]

And the bull**** continues....

No more online printing of Parcel Post postage (called Standard Post now). First-Class Mail International (now First-Class Package International Service) 1oz rate has doubled to $6.55.

So now I have to stand in line at the post office for all the domestic 1oz small envelopes I used to so easily just place in my mailbox for the postman to pick up. I imagine the lines there will be out the door now with this change.

[jackinnj]

Originally Posted by tubelab.com

The efficiency EXPERTS have totally redone the computer systems. Those customs forms that we must hand print (3 layers thick, won't go through a printer) must be manually entered into their new computer systems. No wonder the clerks don't like international shipments and want to rip the customs forms off. Look for another rate increase next year to cover this crap.

Best technique is to take the international packages to the post office around 5 to 10 minutes before quitting time.

One of the guys behind the counter said that the computer asked him "what kind of transistors" to which I replied "silicon".

and you're right -- the new CN-22 customs form does not "through-ink" even if you press down hard with a ball-point.

[tubelab.com]

First-Class Mail International (now First-Class Package International Service) 1oz rate has doubled to $6.55.

Tubelab has lost money in all but one of its 7 years. About half of my sales WERE international. The USPS has raised the cost of sending a single PC board from $12.95 to $23.95 in two years. I think that this is now the final nail.

Game Over......

[Bizarroterl]

The US postal service has been losing money. They have to raise their prices in order to turn that around. If you check what it costs with the competition the USPS is still a bargain.