Yet another really stupid USPS question.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Laugh it off, but English isn't my first language, so I'm having a bit of trouble with this.

I just sold an item. However, the buyer wants me to send it to him ASAP... so I thought, instead of shipping it on saturday, I'll just stick the CDs in a small box, print out a label, and drop it off at a mailbox in the city.

Problem is, I don't know the size or weight restrictions for mailing stuff through mailboxes. And by mailboxes, I mean the big blue metallic boxes with USPS written on them that are all over cities in the US of A, just like these (http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=11807&productId=10905&langId=-1).. I know there's restrictions, because I've seen the stickers on the boxes themselves... but I tried searching the USPS for info and I can't find ANYTHING on the blue mailboxes I want.

Any help? Thanks.

[kevin_psx]

instead of shipping it on saturday, I'll just stick the CDs in a small box, print out a label, and drop it off at a mailbox in the city. Problem is, I don't know the size or weight restrictions for mailing stuff through mailboxes.


Don't think there's any restriction except it has to fit through the door. ----> I suggest you drive the package to a local post office to be safe.

What kind of shipping did the buyer pay for? Media Mail? It will take 2-3 weeks no matter how fast you send it.

[XianXi]

Laugh it off, but English isn't my first language, so I'm having a bit of trouble with this.

I just sold an item. However, the buyer wants me to send it to him ASAP... so I thought, instead of shipping it on saturday, I'll just stick the CDs in a small box, print out a label, and drop it off at a mailbox in the city.

Problem is, I don't know the size or weight restrictions for mailing stuff through mailboxes. And by mailboxes, I mean the big blue metallic boxes with USPS written on them that are all over cities in the US of A, just like these (http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=11807&productId=10905&langId=-1).. I know there's restrictions, because I've seen the stickers on the boxes themselves... but I tried searching the USPS for info and I can't find ANYTHING on the blue mailboxes I want.

Any help? Thanks.


From what I remember this morning the opening is about 6"x10" so if it can fit that then you're good.

[scooby105]

Shortened Link (https://hdusps.esecurecare.net/cgi-bin/hdusps.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6699&p_created=1106688676&p_sid=48sxSt1i&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfc m93X2NudD0zNyZwX3Byb2RzPTUzLDAmcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PTE uNTMmcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJja F9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ)
(What's this? A shortened link. Click here to see how to do it.) (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79717)

I think you can put a package of any size in the blue mailbox if it is metered, so labels printed online would qualify for this. It the item is stamped, it must weigh less than 16 oz.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Don't think there's any restriction except it has to fit through the door. ----> I suggest you drive the package to a local post office to be safe.

What kind of shipping did the buyer pay for? Media Mail? It will take 2-3 weeks no matter how fast you send it.

Shipped through Priority (I don't ever ship through Media Mail unless it's a book) and I can't drive to a post office because I don't have a car. :P That's why I take two trips to the post office on wednesday and saturday.

Edit:
ACK! SCOOBY! USE THE URL TAG DAMMIT!

[XianXi]

If you print your labels using paypal shipping you can give them to your mailman when he comes to deliver your mail or put them in your mailbox.

[Kitsune Sniper]

If you print your labels using paypal shipping you can give them to your mailman when he comes to deliver your mail or put them in your mailbox.

Slight problem...

I don't live in the US. I live in Mexico, a few minutes away from the US border. I only have a PMB as my address over there. Eheh.

[XianXi]

Change your location on your profile man. LOL

[scooby105]

Edit:
ACK! SCOOBY! USE THE URL TAG DAMMIT!

bah!

i answered the question. i don't have to figure out how to do everything right =)

[Kitsune Sniper]

Change your location on your profile man. LOL

Technically, I live in Calexico. My California ID, US Passport, Social Security info, and US Citizenship papers (I'm the son of a US Citizen) all have the same Calexico address. It's totally legit; I just live in Mexico because it's much cheaper to do so.

To get back on topic, I don't have a mailman... I get stuff delivered to my PMB, which is like a post office box, except it's run by thieves. If I send something from there they usually tack on huge charges for no reason. So you understand, a normal stamp costs 60 cents there. :angry: So I go to the post office, which is a few miles away, by bus. But the bus costs a dollar, so I only go twice a week. La.

[XianXi]

Thats sucks man but at least you got a plan for these things.

[unwinddesign]

If you print the labels online, then you should be fine in sticking them in the mailbox. So long as the package fits, of course.

Are you using one of those rectangular boxes that are approximately the size of a DVD case? Both types of those (small and larger) fit through the slots.

If it's one with a square base (these are taller than the rectangular ones), those don't fit through.

[philosophyst]

Edit:
ACK! SCOOBY! USE THE URL TAG DAMMIT!

bah!

i answered the question. i don't have to figure out how to do everything right =)

It's not rocket science scooby105, and there's actually not much to "figure out". Just go here:

CLICK FOR HOW TO HOTLINK (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79717)
(use it, live it, love it)

[The Brown Eye]

I'm pretty sure you can't stick anything in a mailbox that weighs more than a pound. I might be wrong about that so you might want to double check.

[unwinddesign]

I'm pretty sure you can't stick anything in a mailbox that weighs more than a pound. I might be wrong about that so you might want to double check.

You can, so long as you place a shipping label or a meter sticker on it, as opposed to slapping a bunch of regular stamps on it.

[Berserker]

bah!

i answered the question. i don't have to figure out how to do everything right =)

When your post destroys the entire readability of someone else's thread on account of sheer laziness, I think it's probably time to change that. Feel free to stretch out the width margin of your own threads if you want, but for other folks' threads, use the URL tag.

For god's sake, I put the instructions right in the subject line of a sticky at the top of this forum. So please read it and use it. Thanks.

[scooby105]

bah!

i answered the question. i don't have to figure out how to do everything right =)

When your post destroys the entire readability of someone else's thread on account of sheer laziness, I think it's probably time to change that. Feel free to stretch out the width margin of your own threads if you want, but for other folks' threads, use the URL tag.

For god's sake, I put the instructions right in the subject line of a sticky at the top of this forum. So please read it and use it. Thanks.


yeah =) the board could autoformat it too.

thinking of this post and several other recent posts in the forum, i think it would be useful to make some sort of shipping / ebay / other sticky / faq that would answer many of the questions everybody seems to ask. how to ship using paypal / what to do when a paypal dispute happens / who to contact for what / etc. the questions seem to be way too frequent.

[The Brown Eye]

I'm pretty sure you can't stick anything in a mailbox that weighs more than a pound. I might be wrong about that so you might want to double check.

You can, so long as you place a shipping label or a meter sticker on it, as opposed to slapping a bunch of regular stamps on it.

You're right. If you have stamps on it and it weighs more than one pound, then it has to go to the Post Office. If it has a label or meter sticker than it's fine. Oops! :monkey:

[philosophyst]

thinking of this post and several other recent posts in the forum, i think it would be useful to make some sort of shipping / ebay / other sticky / faq that would answer many of the questions everybody seems to ask. how to ship using paypal / what to do when a paypal dispute happens / who to contact for what / etc. the questions seem to be way too frequent.

That's funny seeming how you are the one who can't link properly despite the sticky in this very forum solely devoted to it.

Perhaps you think others would benefit and actually use these "sticky" posts you suggest more than say, yourself.

[Berserker]

First of all... philosophyst, chill out man.

Secondly, to scooby... I understand where you're coming from on the autoformatting thing. I'm pretty good at problem-solving, and the most logical approach really is to just make this stuff happen automatically. The problem itself though is phpBB. For every mod that's introduced to solve relatively minor problems like this, there's a chance it just opened up a few security holes to be exploited and bring the boards down. It's annoying when people don't hotlink, but not so annoying that I'd want to put the entire forums at risk in trying to solve it.

So for now, all I ask is that everyone take the few seconds of effort to manually hotlink their long links. Not ALL links, just the ones that are so long that they stretch out the width margin of the page and make the entire thread difficult to read. I don't think that's too much to ask. I manually edit long links I come across, since not everyone is going to pay attention to me blathering on about this stuff, but really, having easily-readable threads around here is for the benefit of everyone here, including YOU, so why not just do it?

[philosophyst]

First of all... philosophyst, chill out man.

Buzz off Berserker. :bareass:

[Kitsune Sniper]

Instead of making another topic, I thought I should bump this instead.

I'm selling some SMS carts, and some European/Canadian buyers are interested. I want to ship them inside 8x8x8 boxes, since there's no way the items will arrive intact inside bubble mailers and Global Priority Mail may be more expensive.

But see, I have a problem: Girth. Rather, the conflicting information between my post office and the USPS site.

I've read online descriptions of girth as: "The sum of the length of all four sides of a package." So say, the girth on an 8x8x8 box would be 8+8+8+8 = 32. But I've also read that girth is the area of the square/rectangle being shipped. So in that case it would be 8x8 = 64.

And this (http://pe.usps.gov/text/Imm/immc2_017.html#gRJDw246wats) isn't very clear either. "Maximum length, height, depth (thickness) combined: 36 inches." It doesn't say girth, and it's making me go nuts! One person could interpret it one way, and others another way. And I'm the one getting stuck with the bill. :P

I need to know so I can see which is cheaper: Airmail Letter Post or Global Priority Mail. On a 1 pound package to Canada, GPM costs 8.50, and Airmail Letter Post costs $3.95 (plus the cost of the box to ship it in, if I have to buy one).

Can anyone help me with this?

[XianXi]

Instead of making another topic, I thought I should bump this instead.

I'm selling some SMS carts, and some European/Canadian buyers are interested. I want to ship them inside 8x8x8 boxes, since there's no way the items will arrive intact inside bubble mailers and Global Priority Mail may be more expensive.

But see, I have a problem: Girth. Rather, the conflicting information between my post office and the USPS site.

I've read online descriptions of girth as: "The sum of the length of all four sides of a package." So say, the girth on an 8x8x8 box would be 8+8+8+8 = 32. But I've also read that girth is the area of the square/rectangle being shipped. So in that case it would be 8x8 = 64.

And this (http://pe.usps.gov/text/Imm/immc2_017.html#gRJDw246wats) isn't very clear either. "Maximum length, height, depth (thickness) combined: 36 inches." It doesn't say girth, and it's making me go nuts! One person could interpret it one way, and others another way. And I'm the one getting stuck with the bill. :P

I need to know so I can see which is cheaper: Airmail Letter Post or Global Priority Mail. On a 1 pound package to Canada, GPM costs 8.50, and Airmail Letter Post costs $3.95 (plus the cost of the box to ship it in, if I have to buy one).

Can anyone help me with this?

Some sites use Girth(L+W+H+D) and some use Linear Inches (L+W+H). So I would say you are covered both ways since one is 32" and the other is 24".

[Mayhem]

Girth to me is the circumferential distance... so twice width and depth (or twice length and depth, depending on which way around you look at it).

So if the package is 10 inches long, 8 inches wide and 4 inches depth, then girth is either 28 inches (2 times 10 plus 4) or 24 inches (2 times 8 plus 4) to me.

Most of the airmail letter parcels I get sent from the US only look at individual dimensions being under 24 inches, and the combined 3 dimensions (length, width, depth) being under 36 inches total. Nothing ever considers girth.

[XianXi]

Nothing ever considers girth.

Only UPS I believe.

[Mayhem]

I was about to make a gag after that quote "nothing ever considers girth" but I thought better of it ;)