Silk Road forums

Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: TylerDurdensPenis on May 06, 2013, 08:55 pm

Title: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: TylerDurdensPenis on May 06, 2013, 08:55 pm
I see a lot of vendors charging $7-10 for priority shipping, which sucks for small amounts of cheaper stuff. So I thought I would start a discussion about first class mail in the US. First class mail cannot be opened by ANYONE other than the recipient without a warrant: the postmaster, the police, the President of the US. Caveat: I don't know about the Patriot Act and suspected terrorists - I guess if they suspect you are sending ricin or something, they can open it, since it seems like if they suspect you of being a terrorist, they can do ANYTHING without a warrant or paying attention to the Constitution. But for regular suspicions, they can't open it:

Quote
First-Class letters and parcels are protected against search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and, as such, cannot be opened without a search warrant. If there is probable cause to believe the contents of a First-Class letter or parcel violate federal law, Postal Inspectors can obtain a search warrant to open the mailpiece. Other classes of mail do not contain private correspondence, and therefore may be opened without a warrant

Source: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/faq.aspx

First class mail ships at exactly the same speed as Priority mail. Source = my local postman + experience.

First class mail packages cost from $2.07-$3.37 for 3oz and under - 13oz source: http://postcalc.usps.com/

So there ya go, if you are shipping anything 13 oz or under, you can save a good bit of money shipping First Class, and it is even safer than Priority. If it's something on blotter paper, of course you could just ship it FC wrapped in plastic and a few sheets of typing paper in an envelope for whatever a Forever Stamp costs. I THINK that you can send any FC package (up to 13oz) with stamps, with or without a return address, and drop it in any mailbox.

True tracking isn't available on First Class mail, but Delivery Confirmation is almost just as good and is only a few cents extra.

Just food for thought. Hoping to help lower prices a tad on smaller items.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: InfiniteSource on May 06, 2013, 10:10 pm
I ship Priority only and charge $5. Shipping without tracking or delivery confirmation on Silkroad is like giving away free drugs.  So after you pay for D/C thats a total of 4.37. Pay the extra dollar and get your package quicker.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: NW Nugz on May 06, 2013, 10:14 pm
This seems to fit better in the "shipping" section of the forum. I would also change the title to mention 1st class vs Priority shipping charges.

I generally like the idea you bring up and think it is good to discuss it. I think Priority packages go faster than First Class most of the time. Envelopes, maybe not? I also think it would be hard to get any kind of tracking that you have to pay extra for on 1st class dropped in a box (not at the counter). I could be wrong about that. I'm sure I would not want to try to skip the return address as I think that would be asking for trouble. I only offer Priority and only do small boxes or larger. I would be happy to offer customers a cheaper method if I thought it was what they would want.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: NW Nugz on May 06, 2013, 10:19 pm
I did see something on the USPS site about something like "private correspondence" and documents are required to go as first class. Maybe they are trying to take protections away from the other classes of mail? Seems like it would be hard to truly require priority mail not be used for documents and ....
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: Mcrad on May 06, 2013, 11:13 pm
I see a lot of vendors charging $7-10 for priority shipping, which sucks for small amounts of cheaper stuff. So I thought I would start a discussion about first class mail in the US. First class mail cannot be opened by ANYONE other than the recipient without a warrant: the postmaster, the police, the President of the US. Caveat: I don't know about the Patriot Act and suspected terrorists - I guess if they suspect you are sending ricin or something, they can open it, since it seems like if they suspect you of being a terrorist, they can do ANYTHING without a warrant or paying attention to the Constitution. But for regular suspicions, they can't open it:

Quote
First-Class letters and parcels are protected against search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and, as such, cannot be opened without a search warrant. If there is probable cause to believe the contents of a First-Class letter or parcel violate federal law, Postal Inspectors can obtain a search warrant to open the mailpiece. Other classes of mail do not contain private correspondence, and therefore may be opened without a warrant

Source: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/faq.aspx

First class mail ships at exactly the same speed as Priority mail. Source = my local postman + experience.

First class mail packages cost from $2.07-$3.37 for 3oz and under - 13oz source: http://postcalc.usps.com/

So there ya go, if you are shipping anything 13 oz or under, you can save a good bit of money shipping First Class, and it is even safer than Priority. If it's something on blotter paper, of course you could just ship it FC wrapped in plastic and a few sheets of typing paper in an envelope for whatever a Forever Stamp costs. I THINK that you can send any FC package (up to 13oz) with stamps, with or without a return address, and drop it in any mailbox.

True tracking isn't available on First Class mail, but Delivery Confirmation is almost just as good and is only a few cents extra.

Just food for thought. Hoping to help lower prices a tad on smaller items.

awesome thanks man im going to use this method now:)
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: SolidRain on May 06, 2013, 11:42 pm
Don't forget to take into the account of bubble mailers, tape, packing, priinter ink, and labels. That shit adds up. I do ship things at $3 but I also try to take into account ALL my costs, time and effort for shipping. NOT just the stamps.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: Mcrad on May 06, 2013, 11:48 pm
Don't forget to take into the account of bubble mailers, tape, packing, priinter ink, and labels. That shit adds up. I do ship things at $3 but I also try to take into account ALL my costs, time and effort for shipping. NOT just the stamps.

i had my shipping listings at 7-10 because of how far i live from the PO/shipping costs. im going to change it later today if it seems to much
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: jameslink2 on May 06, 2013, 11:59 pm
My shipping is set around 5$ a package (Spore syringe)

From the $5, $3 of it is postage & delivery conformation. The rest covers the box, Bubble wrap, labels, ink, and my gas to take them to drop them off some where.

Remember, this is not like driving down to the post office with a bunch of boxes and mailing them. The vendors go to great lengths to distribute packages out amongst different mail boxes and locations so that it is not easily traceable as to where they are coming from. That means different prop points in distant enough locations that they do not all go through the same post office. That alone takes time and gas.

Some vendors have higher stealth requirements which take more time and more packaging. Meaning there is a difference between mailing an 1/8th of weed, an 1/8 coke, an 1/8th of shrooms, or a spore syringe.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: Fah-Q on May 07, 2013, 12:42 am
I prefer priority mail because it is more reliable. I have across some issues with vendors using first class. They will usually put a first class stamp on it and make it too thick to go through the mail machines and it get sent back for insufficient postage because the vendor neglected to add a "non machinable" fee to the postage. Priority is not as scrutinized for that.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: tabun on May 07, 2013, 02:54 am
Good points. I've quit using Express Shipping because of where I live Priority Mail gets here just as fast.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: Jack N Hoff on May 07, 2013, 03:51 am
First class has always been protected as priority and express isn't.  I thought this was common knowledge.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: NW Nugz on May 07, 2013, 04:05 am
My Common knowledge is that USPS is protected and that UPS and Federal Express are not. I am very interested to know If I'm wrong. Would like to hear more opinions of people who really know.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: moxycotton on May 07, 2013, 04:14 am
I see a lot of vendors charging $7-10 for priority shipping, which sucks for small amounts of cheaper stuff. So I thought I would start a discussion about first class mail in the US. First class mail cannot be opened by ANYONE other than the recipient without a warrant: the postmaster, the police, the President of the US. Caveat: I don't know about the Patriot Act and suspected terrorists - I guess if they suspect you are sending ricin or something, they can open it, since it seems like if they suspect you of being a terrorist, they can do ANYTHING without a warrant or paying attention to the Constitution. But for regular suspicions, they can't open it:

Quote
First-Class letters and parcels are protected against search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and, as such, cannot be opened without a search warrant. If there is probable cause to believe the contents of a First-Class letter or parcel violate federal law, Postal Inspectors can obtain a search warrant to open the mailpiece. Other classes of mail do not contain private correspondence, and therefore may be opened without a warrant

Source: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/faq.aspx

First class mail ships at exactly the same speed as Priority mail. Source = my local postman + experience.

First class mail packages cost from $2.07-$3.37 for 3oz and under - 13oz source: http://postcalc.usps.com/

So there ya go, if you are shipping anything 13 oz or under, you can save a good bit of money shipping First Class, and it is even safer than Priority. If it's something on blotter paper, of course you could just ship it FC wrapped in plastic and a few sheets of typing paper in an envelope for whatever a Forever Stamp costs. I THINK that you can send any FC package (up to 13oz) with stamps, with or without a return address, and drop it in any mailbox.

True tracking isn't available on First Class mail, but Delivery Confirmation is almost just as good and is only a few cents extra.

Just food for thought. Hoping to help lower prices a tad on smaller items.

Overall I think first class is fine, and it's great for cheap stuff, but I disagree with a couple things.

First off, since January 27th (I think), you can't use those Delivery confirmation stickers and add the two extra stamps. They got rid of that, and you need to either print labels or go to the post office to get tracking.

Second, I swear every postal employee ever has also fed me the bullshit about priority being "the same speed as FC." There's no fucking way they are correct, though. After shipping thousands of packages, priority takes 2 days like 75% of the time in my estimation. It obviously depends if you're near a major city or not, but priority almost always takes 2 days, and occasionally takes 3. Almost never takes longer.

FC, on the other hand, almost NEVER gets there in 2 days. Gets there in 3 fairly often, but 4 is not uncommon at all. They also sometimes inexplicably take like 10 days or just get completely lost.

Priority packages almost never get lost. Like... wayyy less than 1% it seems. FC gets lost like 1% of the time, it seems.

Anyway, just what I've noticed in that respect. Appreciate the heads up on the security aspect, though, that's good to know. I still think express is quite safe just because of the sheer speed they move that shit. There's no way they're checking those packages lol.
Title: Re: Info for vendors about shipping inside the US
Post by: tabun on May 07, 2013, 12:26 pm
My Common knowledge is that USPS is protected and that UPS and Federal Express are not. I am very interested to know If I'm wrong. Would like to hear more opinions of people who really know.

I believe that is 100% correct. This is from the USPS website:

All matter that is mailable by air transportation can be mailed as Priority Mail. Some things MUST be mailed as Priority Mail (or First-Class Mail), including:

Handwritten or typewritten material.
Bills, statements of account or invoices, credit cards.
Personal correspondence (a letter to Grandma), personalized business correspondence (a handwritten letter to your customer).
All matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection