Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Things I Do Not Understand
I went to the Post Office today. The lady behind the counter was very nice. I understand that.
I had a couple of packages to mail, both of which contained the same things. One I packed in a used Amazon box, the other in a box I cobbled together myself out of a larger box I'd saved. The first (Amazon) box went for about $10 and the second, which weighed, if anything, a tad less than the first, was clocked for way more coin. So the nice lady (see above) says, "You can put it in a flat rate box and save some money." Um, yeah, OK. I can put my box in another box and save money. How exactly does my shipping more cardboard and a greater volume of package result in a savings for me?
It did, mind you. But I don't have any conception of why that is.
Yakked up by BlogDog at 9:35 PM
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gummint... Maybe if you put it in a *really* big gummint box, they'd ship it for free...

3:41 PM
BobG said...

Don't try to make logic out of government policy, that way lies madness.

3:15 PM
Kris said...

The postal carrier who lives here says it has nothing at all to do with weight. It's the size of the box. The flat-rate boxes fit predictably into whatever they're using to haul them, so that there's no wasted space.

7:18 PM
BlogDog said...

Aha! An actual reason that makes sense. Apart from the fact that my box puffed out the flat-rate box to a non-standard thickness.
Not that I'm complaining mind you....

10:07 PM
Peter said...

Actually it's even more simple. Amazon started out a bookseller. Someone not particularly into internet shopping would think that an Amazon box contains books. Book rate is a lower rate than Parcel Post. My wife retired from the Postal Service, we know more about that stuff than is good for us.

3:24 AM

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