[Milsurplus] Shipping again

[Facility 406]

> but it has to be on a pallet.  Somehow, folks get some really cheap ship 
> rates on epay, I have seen some milsurp in the 80 pound range get 
> shipped almost cross country  for like 50 bucks, not sure how they do that.

I shipped two teletype machines in boxes roughly 1 cubic yard each, 
legit USPS was was something like $30 and change half-way across the 
continent, which has nothing to do with what someone SAYS it will cost. 
Honestly, I expected it to be about four times the cost, and it was UPS, 
and FedEx that made it cost prohibitive, in the triple-digit range, so 
postal service was used.  The counter girl even apologized for the high 
rate.

Ebay allows people to put in whatever they want.  For example, I'm in 
the middle of an investigation regarding a misdelivered ebay purchase. 
A 9x10x32 in parcel at ~50# was about 20 bucks from IL to NV.  That's a 
LOT less than what I was actually charged, because sellers can just mash 
the keyboard until a number they like comes up.  Padding shipping costs 
has been the go-to in online fraud for about 20 years now, and ebay is 
probably #1, due to volume.

Other things...  Check USPS for services they ACTUALLY provide, not what 
a local PO offers, as it can vary by up to a few dozen services.  Local 
PO's push what they think they can get with higher markup services.  Our 
PO has something like a dozen options in the way of boxes, et cetera, 
out on the floor, but behind the counter is a giant rack, and several 
cabinets filled with other cheapo, flat, heavy, bulk-rate options, et 
cetera, some cutting shipping costs to a fraction.  A typical PO may 
offer 1/10th of what the service actually has.  If someone doesn't know, 
and if someone doesn't ask, the cheaper option isn't dredged up, and the 
people at the counter generally only offer the first three items of up 
to a few pages of options on their terminals.

Don't forget to check online at USPS, for more miraculous insight into 
shipping.  I ship various smaller radios, gadgets, and collectables 
fairly often, and cost rarely hits double digits through the most 
violently insanely psychotically over-priced service to ever exist, the 
Postal Service, and when it does, ~$20 is extreme.

Kurt