i know, they are so annoyingly weird! where i used to think this was unintentional, just a lot of confusion about the confusing rules, now i think they are doing this intentionally to get more money. which is just wrong, to cause so much annoyance to people just to get more profit....while they have the rules spelled out and its publically accessible, they have to then follow their own rules and make it clear to the public what those are..

although maybe quite a bit of it is unintentional, by the clerks, but the postmasters should know better and i think its them who tells people to overcharge.

i had to raise a huge fuss to get them to allow me to mail properly packed flats, like for months and months solid i argued with them a couple of times a week. that didnt work, and they just acted like i was being this problem person instead of had a legitimate issue, being grossly overcharged, have them not complying with their own rules, and then have them not listen to me, and basically say it was either pay it, or not get the mail, or have my properly packed flats returned, like several times a week. it felt like being extorted, because they would just refuse to acknowledge what i was saying and it was down to either pay more than i should or have my mail returned.

then i looked up the postmaster in this area, and then her boss, and then even that persons boss, like the regional post master. i think i maybe went one higher up than that too....and i found a general customer service address. then i wrote a very detailed letter and made four copies, along with copies from the mail manual with the relevant parts highlighted.saying i had explained this to them many times and they were refusing to follow the rules as established by the USPS, and were making up their own rules, to overcharge me. that the only way my issue would be solved is if someone higher up than them told them i was right, and to stop overcharging me.

i highlighted all the sections that applied to flats, the 1/4 inch variation in thickness rule (this was the thing they kept saying it had to be flat like paper, instead of the stated rule of being able to have 1/4 variation in thickness and excluding the edges where nothing is) and all the sections where they were not following the rules. then i mailed all those out to every higher up i could get an address for. this eventually worked. my post office now has a 3/4 inch slot for measuring flats -before they only had a 1/4 inch and would try to put my flats through that, when they werent supposed to be under 1/4 inch, and would act like that settled it, which was BS...

since then, they got several calls from people higher up than them, and now allow me to mail properly packed flats (with a slight bump from where the seeds are taped down) and dont hassle me with postage due notices. but it was extremely annoying to have to do that, just to get them to do what they shouldve done from the beginning and not overcharge me. but i suppose i am happy enough now that i dont have that hassle anymore and just try to be extremely polite to them and they are finally more polite to me as well.

the 71 cents thing is interesting, thats the "non machinable surcharge" price. i have considered trying to use that to save my seed envelopes from the machines, but i am not sure it will work. theoretically it should. any envelope that is outside of what they consider normal (it has something to do with ratios of length to height, if its too square or just too large like big greeting card envelopes) and they cant put it in the machine. so they have to hand cancel it, which is so preferable to me.

thats when the charge is 71 cents, and they even make a special non machinable stamp to use for that purpose. the thing is most envelopes are made to conform to what the post office considers a normal size envelope, so i dont where to source odd sized envelopes that would be non machinable. i could maybe make my own envelopes that are a non machinable size, but its tough to figure out what that is.

again back to the ratio of length to height, and some confusing things. because theres some sizes that the post office considers completely non mailable at all, because they are too weird ratios, or too tiny. ah maybe i will figure it out or try to source some large greeting size envelopes, just to use those stamps and not have it put through the machine. this would be cheaper than a flat, and not be put through the machine, so less likely to get crushed.

I can mail the same envelope full of seeds cheaper in Ga than I can in Fla. My mail lady will let me affix the amount of postage I think is due and put a money envelope in my mailbox with postage due if I didn't put on enough stamps. This works great for me. I live 12 miles from the post office.

I work at a grocery store and get all the old Hallmark envelopes when the Hallmark lady comes and also those white cards that go behind and say what kind of card they are. Anyone could ask the Hallmark lady for envelopes that are sometimes more square and thicker. Nice post Leila.

well have to rant it out sometimes! and they deserve it, it was really annoying to get postage due notices a few times a week, when the proper postage was paid. plus they returned a lot of my mail during that time and even still once in a while they return to sender my mail. so i lost out on a bunch of stuff in trades and just whatever else...this also happened with things i bought on ebay and other places. they are the ones who disappeared those magic molly potatoes you sent me once! i was rather psyched to try those....

i am glad i finally got it ironed out with them.

i also think i figured out the size thing. it needs to be less than 1.3 ratio...of the height and length. they could just simply say square, that approaches 1, being the same length as height. one can address a regular envelope sideways too, address the envelope parallel to the short side of the envelope. or put something loose in there, like an object. also making it rigid, makes it non machinable. the best would be to be able to get a lot of large sized square envelopes, or greeting card envelopes.

and the only sizes that are non mailable are shorter than 5-6 inches or so.... too small...

i live out in the middle of nowhere. i think they say that like 99% of america lives within an hour drive of a walmart, i am in the 1% only there! 3-4 hours to a store of any significant size, across vast passes and mountain peaks. there are only a few small stores within an hour drive from here.....

I like the square envelopes idea, some traders do that.

I've gotten an envelope with a beautiful "non machinable surcharge" stamp, and most everything inside was crushed with pressed mark on the card. Don't trust the POs they'll sell the surcharge stamps and still send the envelopes through the mail sorter, if they can.

Do your due diligence to pack the seeds the best way you can. A standard bubble mailer without too much bulk can be sent with 2 stamps. If there are several packs, I use the largest bubble mailer I can find (through Free Cycles) and tape everything down flat.

Husband always does the print postage thing and it does stuff like that for him too. He has also bought it 3 times for one package.