tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9146215066182995239.post1497766659943547774..comments2024-03-27T22:25:44.006-05:00Comments on Ennyman's Territory: The USPS 13-Ounce RuleEd Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12703797864648081829noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9146215066182995239.post-43588791231858780712013-08-30T21:25:53.010-05:002013-08-30T21:25:53.010-05:00I recently ran into this idiocy. I belong to a Pap...I recently ran into this idiocy. I belong to a PaperBackSwap.com, a book swapping club. Books are swapped between members for the cost of postage alone. For the past 6 months I've been setting out books in my home mail box, hanging on to my house next to my front door, for my carrier to pick up and take back to the post office. Each package has my name and return address, and I usually mail several a week. I've been living in my house for over 20 years and have had the same carrier for at least 10. My carrier has even picked up and shipped packages containing 2 or 3 books weighing well over a pound.<br /><br />Today, however, one of those books was returned to me with the idiot label explaining the 13 oz rule. The package had been unsealed and the contents inspected, and was returned to my mailbox in an opened condition, so that I could take it to the post office and wait in line.<br /><br />I am partially disabled by arthritis. I walk with a cane, and experience pain when waiting in lines. When I shop at grocery stores, I take advantage of the motorized scooters they provide. In years past I didn't mind going to the post office and waiting, because I could take a ticket and sit on a bench until my number was called. A couple years ago, the numbers were removed as a "cost saving" measure. So I began to purchase stamps online directly from usps.com. <br /><br />What's truly idiotic about the 13 oz rule is that usps.com offers a wide array of stamps of all denominations, including $5, $10 and even $20 stamps. What kind of package under 13 oz requires a $20 stamp?!<br /><br />In the past 6 months I have spent several hundred dollars buying stamps online and mailing books all over the country. I feel I'm doing my part to keep the US postal system alive. <br /><br />There are services one can purchase to print labels and postage - at an extra fee. The post office could easily provide such a service. Amazon.com provides that service to its sellers at the low cost of 7 cents per transaction. If I take my package to a retail clerk, it's going to cost the post office at least that amount to ask if my media mail package actually contains only a book, or if I'm also including some hazardous material. And, ironically, as you state in your blog, he or she is simply going to take my word.<br /><br />If I were a terrorist, I might be sending a coded message to my henchmen using the old page, line and word number system. However, even then, the post office is not going to figure that out and then trace the book back to me simply by having me hand the book to a retail clerk. In any case, I would be smart enough to use a book that weighed less than 13 ozs!<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com