Shipping Costs

[accousticguitar]

The medium size flat rate box has two different shapes. A lot of stuff will fit into the long skinny one that won't fit into the square one. I would think a 7800 would fit but I would have to check for sure.

[Austin]

For sure if you can fit the items you need to ship into any of the pre-done priority boxes...go for it. The boxes are always free and the prices are static regardless of the weight. The problem I have is that most consoles do NOT fit into the medium or large priority sized boxes to a safe degree. I've had people send me their 7800s in the large box with it in there at a tilted 45degree ange and the like. But there was also no additional bubble wrap or anything around the console since there isn't space for it. So yeah, you can cram some stuff into such a box, but I do NOT trust it to make the second trip home in the same box safely if it just fits in there.

 

Right, I don't generally use these for consoles unless we're talking something smaller like a NES toploader, Genesis model 2, etc. I was mainly just referring to the difference in cost for normal items. The box I had everything prepped in was actually smaller than a medium flat-rate box, weighed just under two pounds, yet the price was considerably more than a larger flat-rate box. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but hey, if the post office wants to lose money making free boxes for me, I guess I won't complain.

[+OLD CS1]

I like to make sure I have a good 3/4 inch or more between the item and the box to give ample padding. You should see the way they handle these packages. I just shipped a couple of video cards. They were not packed as well as I normally would like but they are also not very sensitive to shock, other than the potential of bending the slot bracket. Anyway, he took the box and tossed them into a bin in the back.

 

Hell, I dropped a laptop off at a UPS pick-up point right before the driver came. I watched him throw the laptop, and I mean throw, into the back of the truck. Fuuuuuuuu....

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Yeap...that is why most of the systems sent to me for repair or mods, I don't normally use the same box because they frequently use a box that JUST fits everything with little to no room around the edges.

 

But here is another fun mystery...

 

I just shipped another 7800 out on Saturday. Now I have the label from the sender that shows they paid $16.90 to ship it to me. The PayPal link gave me a price of about $19+ based on the weight and box size plug the extra insurance. But I was curious all the same so I took it to the PO with the original label (That states retail on it so I know it was done at the PO went it was sent to me originally and it is one of their stickers) just in case the price was hugely different to throw some inquires.

 

However, this time it was less than the PayPal online calculator. They ended up charging me EXACTLY the same as the original sender. However, he only put insurance to $100 and I put insurance to $200. So unless there isn't a difference in the price between adding $50 extra or $150 extra on insurance, it would seem it actually costs me a wee bit less. If I hadn't added the insurance and stuck with the default $50, it would only have ran me a little over $13 to ship it priority.

 

This receipt also did not include the dim weight stuff on it like the expensive one before did. So there is definitely something different the clerks are doing to cause this. Also when I shipped it back, it somehow weights 1lb less as well? Weight on the original label is 4lb and 7oz. On my label it read 3lbs and 7oz.

 

I wonder if the PO scales are subject to the same rules, regulations, and routine checks from the department of Agriculture like grocery scales are?