YAUSPST: Why does the postal service charge $1 to MAIL you STAMPS!?

Try it yourself: go to the USPS website, click on Buy Stamps and Shop, and add ANY booklet/coil/pane of stamps to your cart. When you check out, shipping and handling will be $1!!

I can understand some sort of reasonable 'handling fee' (even though the stamps are already bookletted and/or coiled from the factory), but all they have to do is stick the stamps in an envelope and mail them out. They don't even have to go to the post office - THEY ARE THE POST OFFICE!

I would totally order large numbers of stamps at a time if they were shipped free. But I can't see spending $1.00 on shipping when I'm buying POSTAGE, directly from the postage authority. :|

 

[MacBaine]

So walk your ass to the post office and buy them there.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: MacBaine
So walk your ass to the post office and buy them there.

 

Originally posted by: MacBaine
So walk your ass to the post office and buy them there.

That's what I do. There's no way I'm paying shipping on stamps. I'm just wondering why it's more expensive for the USPS to ship stamps to your home than it is to have a customer service person sell them at the counter at an actual building. It's not like the USPS has to pay postage to mail the stamps to you.

 

[rootaxs]

Have you tried ordering free tape or boxes? They just might bundle the stamps in there. Since the don't charge for shipping on those (go figure).

 

[TwinkleToes77]

I actually had to order stamps online from the USPS site. But it was because I was in canada and I needed to stamp some wedding invitation reply cards with US stamps so that people could return them to me.

 

[Engineer]

When gas is almost $2.00 (or more) per gallon......sometimes $1.00 seems like a better alternative...especially if all you're driving for is to get stamps. Depends on how close you are to the post office....but many stores (Kroger, etc) sell stamps at face value so you could just pick them up while shopping for other items.

 

Originally posted by: Engineer
When gas is almost $2.00 (or more) per gallon......sometimes $1.00 seems like a better alternative...especially if all you're driving for is to get stamps. Depends on how close you are to the post office....but many stores (Kroger, etc) sell stamps at face value so you could just pick them up while shopping for other items.

Yeah, I usually just buy stamps at the PO when I go there to ship something, or at Meijer when I'm there for groceries (but they only have the flag stamps ). I just think it a bit odd that the USPS charges higher-than-normal postage rates to mail something that will undoubtedly fit in a regular-size envelope. And it's postage, to boot! You're paying postage to get postage from the postage authority!

 

[Siddhartha]

The post office needs all the money it can get and it has to pay people to process your order.

 

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
The post office needs all the money it can get and it has to pay people to process your order.

Then why don't they charge a premium when you buy stamps at the counter? They need to pay people to staff the counter!

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
The post office needs all the money it can get and it has to pay people to process your order.

Then why don't they charge a premium when you buy stamps at the counter? They need to pay people to staff the counter!

Because you go to the post office, buy stamps, then buy something else you see, and they make their money off the other things you buy.

Doesn't always work if people go in solely for stamps.

 

Well, the above poster was right - the USPS doesn't charge anything for shipping supplies (tape, envelopes, etc.). I think I'll order 50 boxes and 4 rolls of tape, and one book of stamps. Then $1.00 for shipping doesn't sound so bad.

 

[Zee]

there's a United states Postal office "retail store" van around my house. It looks like a small version of the ice cream truck that sells stamps and stuff instead of ice cream. They park at a busy corner and sell stamps all day.