[Elecraft] Postal Price Increase

[Don Wilhelm]

i agree that International shipping is expensive (BTW, that does not 
include Alaska, Hawaii or US possessions such as Puerto Rica).

Domestic shipping is not as bad.  USPS has raised the rates on their 
Flat Rate shipping by a substantial amount, but the rates on USPS 
non-flat rate has not been increased as much.  Before shipping a 
package, weigh the package and check the USPS.com price calculator to 
see if your package is less expensive via normal Priority Mail or by 
Flat Rate - if the distance is short or the weight is small, regular 
Priority Mail may be less than the Flat Rate prices.
I do check and give my customers the benefit of whichever the lower rate 
may be.  Flat Rate is not always the most economical.  With non-flat 
rate, the package size makes a difference - if the dimensions do not 
exceed 12 inches in any direction, it will garner the lowest cost.  I 
use many of the 12X12X8 boxes that are provided by USPS at no cost for 
shipping when the Flat Rate shipping costs more than regular priority 
mail.  That size is adequate for the Elecraft K2 and smaller 
transceivers that I repair.

Still for international shipments, USPS may be less expensive than UPS 
in the long run.  UPS charges a "brokerage fee" for international 
shipments that may be anywhere between $30 and $100. That must be paid 
by the recipient.  USPS does not impose those same fees.  In other 
words, even though the USPS international rates are high, it may be much 
less than UPS to the customer.  I do not know of such fees for DHL and 
FedEx international shipments because I have no experience with them.

I have not done comparisons with the new USPS Priority Mail rates, but 
with the prior rates, USPS Priority Mail was only a bit more than UPS 
Ground, and delivery times (domestically) were 2 to 3 days.  UPS Ground 
rates were a bit lower, but delivery times were 5 to 7 days.  UPS 3 day 
select was more expensive than USPS Priority. So if delivery times are a 
criteria, then USPS Priority Mail may still be the choice.

73,
Don W3FPR


On 1/20/2016 7:06 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
>> I have had some international orders for just the K3 sides at 49.95
> > but they get hit with over 60 bucks in shipping fees before this fee
> > increase.
>
> International shipping was absurd *before* this last increase.  I had
> foreign customers pay nearly as much to ship a cable as the cost of the
> cable itself.  USPS may be pricing themselves right out of business.
> With Regional Rate packages no longer available to small shippers
> (those who do not mail more than 50 pieces at a time or pay a monthly
> fee to a third party like Stamps.com, Endicia, etc.) and the absurd
> increases on international, it's just getting out of hand.
> 73,
>
>   ... Joe, W4TV