My local post office just charged me $9 to mail a cd, in a padded envelope. The total weight was not even 5oz. How do you ship? I'm fed up with USPS arbitrary rates.

Did they use their "Media Mail" option? For a CD it should have been far cheaper. Anytime I need to ship anything like a CD I make sure to ship it by USPS Media Mail

I was a game and they told me that it may contain ads. Any media with ads can not be shipped as media mail. They did the same thing to me, when I tried to ship some magazines.

The rates really aren't arbitrary but there are a lot of little "fine print" type things that can bump up the rate or the type of shipping method being used.

There are Priority Mail Flat Rate padded envelopes that you could have used, and they should have told you about, to ship for under $6.


I usually use USPS Priority Mail, tracking and up to $50 insurance is included. If it's going to be a heavy item or travel all the way across the county I'll opt for the flat rate boxes.

A few things I've learned from experience:
-Eduard sized PE sets can be sent in an envelope via first class mail but if you write "DO NOT BEND" or something similar it will require special handling and incur an extra cost.
-Same deal if you try and ship something rigid...like a CD...they can price it as a package rather than an envelope.


There are actually very few things that can be sent via Media Mail. Here is some info from the USPS site:

"Media Mail® shipping is a cost-effective way to send educational materials in 2 to 8 business days1. This service has restrictions on the type of media that can be sent. This includes a restriction on sending video games and digital drives.

•The material sent must be educational media. It can’t contain advertising, video games, computer drives, or digital drives of any kind.

•Media Mail® can be examined by postal staff to determine if the right price has been paid. If the package is wrapped in a way that makes it impossible to examine, it will be charged the First-Class™ rate."

The post office I use never attempts to inform me of the least expensive shipping option. Actually, they always try to charge me more. One of the employees refused to accept my payment, because the change was "for customers, only".

To put it simply, Matt, unless the disc was going out of the country or you put added services on it, your post office screwed you. A 5oz package from Florida to Oregon runs $2.68 by 1st class mail. Heck, you could have used a small flat rate priority box for only $5.25. So unless there's something you failed to mention, you need to take that receipt to the PO and get a partial refund.

Here's a link to the USPS calculator: http://postcalc.usps.com/Default.aspx?m=0&dz=97101&oz=32201&pob=0&MailingDate=8/18/2014&MailingTime=8:00%20AM&rgt=0&live=0

In this case, media mail wouldn't have helped a bit. It's benefits don't really kick in until you break the 13oz 1st class limit.

By the way, the USPS rates aren't arbitrary, and are quite affordable if you compare them to UPS or FedEx on smaller items.

Want to know how much something is going to cost to be shipped USPS, go to their website. All your options are listed. Secondly, the clerks at my PO always ask how I want something shipped...I almost always reply least expensive.

I just calculated a non folding 5 ounce large envelope first class from West Springfield MA to San Diego Ca with expected delivery in 3 days and it came up $2.68. The last two packages I sent out had Monday expected deliveries and arrived on the Saturday before.

Sounds like the OP is doing something wrong or not giving us all the information.

This is not the first time my post office has screwed me. As for asking for the cheapest method, I always do. They punch in something and claim that they can only charge me what their computer says.

Find a different post office.

I've tried both local branches and one is not any better than the other.

Matt, can you post a picture of the receipt for the shipment you talked about in the original post?

That's why you pack it at home and then take it to the PO.

I do agree the pricing seems arbitrary. I have been selling quite a few of my kits off on eBay and packing them myself. I just shipped 6 kits in groups of two to three different people and in similar boxes. Got two very different prices.

The in addition to weight, the Post Office uses a zone system to determine rates. If you're shipping one package to the next town over and another all the way across the country you're going to get two different prices even if they're identical in all other respects.

The rate calculator on the USPS site will help factor in all these variables.

The receipt is long gone.




It was the same package, shipped to the same state. The only difference was the label. I accidentally bought two of them and sold one.