Shipping your CDs and other small things first class is getting a lot more expensive

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by kwadguy, Jan 19, 2019.

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  1. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    First class mail is going to be priced according to zone (distance traveled), like Priority mail. And some of the jumps are quite substantial. Example: Shipping a 5 oz package across the country (e.g. a CD) goes up $0.84!

    [​IMG]
     
  2. ScramMan2

    ScramMan2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland OR
    Starts 1/27/19. Good luck to all!

    For you album sellers, Media Mail rate is going up also.
     
  3. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    You call that expensive? No wonder the USPS loses money :D:cheers:
     
    Audionerd, eelkiller, E.Baba and 2 others like this.
  4. I wonder how this will impact the volume CD sellers on the low end. The market was already drying up and rising postage is going to cut into sales even more.
     
  5. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I really miss GoHastings for their crazy low priced CDs. Once they collapsed, everyone else raised their prices.
     
  6. Grey Alien

    Grey Alien Forum Resident

    0.84 US cents to ship a CD across country?

    That is incredibly cheap compared to what we pay for postage in Australia.

    Having said that, I know of two people who are suddenly wanting to return to Australia from the USA ( :rolleyes: ) due to rising cost of living, so something is going on.

    A scathing report has slammed Australia Post’s customer service
     
    Harvey Rickenbacker and E.Baba like this.
  7. Spitfire

    Spitfire Senior Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    It's an increase of .84 not the total price.
     
    scobb, darbelob and spanky1 like this.
  8. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    You should try getting anything sent to you *from * the US internationally.

    I've stopped trying to bother.
    $30 postage for one LP.
     
  9. Grey Alien

    Grey Alien Forum Resident

    HAHA!! Yes I'm very familiar with insane postage quotes from American sellers.

    Try something like $30+ US for one COMIC... :laugh:

    Here we go! US $35.25 to send. One. Single. Comic.

    RED SONJA:Atlantis Rises #1 (Dynamite/2012)*1st Collector's Issue! | eBay
     
    E.Baba likes this.
  10. Grey Alien

    Grey Alien Forum Resident

    Ahhh I see, thanks... :doh:
     
  11. Jimi Bat

    Jimi Bat Forum Resident

    Location:
    tx usa
    I wonder if that's the real USPS price or if there is a bit of gouging going on?
    Either way USPS prices are way too high. Its actually embarrassing. I keep hoping someone will address the issue but non of the powers that be seem to have the slightest concern about it. And I think they're a bit distracted at the moment.
     
  12. Pretty much the entire used media (CDs and DVDs) market shot up in price after GoHastings disappeared. I still have no idea how GoHastings was making money at those prices.
     
  13. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    They couldn't have been (part of the problem). They didn't aggregate shipping, and CDs shipped individually from different stores. Example: You'd buy a bunch of $1 CDs with cheap or free shipping. And you might get each CD shipped via USPS from a different store. Shipping was more than you'd paid.
     
  14. Grey Alien

    Grey Alien Forum Resident

    Possibly there's also a bit of not particularly wanting to ship overseas. I have seen many American sellers stipulate no overseas shipping over the years, which I can understand, personally.

    I mean there MUST be a cheaper option to send one small comic overseas. I get multiple magazines from a relative in Ireland and it costs them usually between 4-6 euros ($7... $8 Australian... :sigh: )
     
  15. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    I see a lot of US sellers and buyers worried about dealing with the rest of the world. There's usually enough supply and demand within the US for them not to need to.

    EU was cheaper than the US and I think still is. It's got more recently.

    Only a few months ago I got a 12" vinyl from France to AU for 2.5 Euro !!
     
    Grey Alien likes this.
  16. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    One of the big reasons is nearly every other first world country's budget air mail has tracking available. The USPS doesn't even offer tracking to all countries on the premium and quite expensive Priority Mail (it's available to Canada and some European countries). So any buyer can claim something is lost and Paypal will force the seller to refund their money.

    You can pay an additional $15.50 on top of the postage cost for registered air mail which will show delivery to the buyer.

    Additionally in my experience for people abroad buying expensive items they will usually ask to mark the item's value down on the customs, which as of a few years ago USPS will only let you insure something for the customs declared value.
     
    chazz101s and ellingtonic like this.
  17. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Don't worry, ours is insanely expensive without tracking too. Makes it practically impossible to return anything for refund. I've lost $100 when I tried.
     
  18. SJP

    SJP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Anaheim
    Looks as if the media mail rate only went up negligibly to $2.75, at least for the 4 to 5 ounce CD packages. This makes media the rate of choice when it comes to avoiding some of those sizable zone increases.
     
    Rodz42 likes this.
  19. ScramMan2

    ScramMan2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland OR
    Yes $2.75 on the Media Mail. I haven't done any zone FCM yet.
     
  20. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    I don't get the whole distance-based concept. An item flown from coast to coast must cost the USPS less to transport than one that has to be driven by truck to a nearby state.

    I'm guessing that the former will be subsidizing the latter, but this is easier to explain to the public.
     
    ScramMan2 likes this.
  21. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
    Shipping one CD that would've cost $3.75 first-class Chicago to Seattle last week cost me $4.69 today! :crazy:

    And that's setting aside the fact that not that many years ago first-class shipping to the U.S. for one disc was only around $2.25. No inflation? Don't tell that to the USPS...

    Midwest-only buyers need apply for me. :winkgrin:
     
  22. Jimi Bat

    Jimi Bat Forum Resident

    Location:
    tx usa
    I ordered a disc from Experience Hendrix last week and what I assume was first class shipping was $6.28. Then for the first time ever they charge sales tax of $1.51. Meanwhile I order a Salsa disc from Germany and the entire order including shipping is under 9 bucks. :rolleyes:
     
  23. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    I suspect delivering to rural locations will cost the most. Chicago to Seattle, for example will probably cost less than delivering 30 miles to rural farm simply due to economies of scale and the number of items being sent. It's not just the cost of transport, but the time paid out to staff delivering the item.
     
  24. Rodz42

    Rodz42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    that's why they died
     
  25. ScramMan2

    ScramMan2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland OR
    The new GoHastings is Decluttr Store.
     
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