I took this photo when I was mailing bikenber73 flashlight today. Please notice I only had three shipping choices. $26.40 for next day, $7.85 for including a tracking number, and the tried and true First Class for $1.60. That is a huge $6.25 charge for a tracking number. So when I ask for $5.00 extra for a tracking number it is a real fee. I am cutting you guys over a $1.00 break.
Peace and please buy lots of flashlights.
Are you going to one of those shipping offices that will ship your package with USPS, UPS, FEDEX, DHL etc. Or is this an actual Post Office. Anything I ship under a pound First Class is $3.75 including tracking. Priority $5.75 I think including tracking. $50 and $100 insurance included. If it’s heavier than that and will fit in a small flat rate box it’s still $7.25 if I remember correctly. I will stop into my post office and take a picture of the prices on the board. At no time are we charged any extra money for tracking.
I use to stop into those little ship it all stores, they have lots of different names and try to mimic post offices or UPS offices but, they all pedal the same exaggerated shipping prices. They have to add to the cost of shipping so they make a profit.
Yeah, bulk shipping companies have access to much lower shipping rates.
I ship small items USPS parcel post for $2.66 $3.18. It includes tracking.
Where did you get that price? I’ve never seen First Class postage for a small parcel or padded envelope less than the ~$2.75-$3.00 range, and I thought First Class Parcel always included a tracking number now.
It does here in my neck of the woods.
yep
$3.18 last two I sent
w/tracking #s
Do you not see the two different delivery dates as well? Are you sure the $7.85 is not priority not just +tracking?
Yes, the $6 dollar and some change price increase reflects a 3 day difference in shipping time. I see where the extra charge is coming from. Makes no sense to me, I haven’t heard of anywhere else charging $5 for tracking.
First-Class Flat/Large Envelope service ($1.60 quoted) is dirt cheap, but doesn’t include tracking nor insurance.
First-Class Package service ($3.66 and up) includes tracking.
Priority Mail ($7.85 quoted) includes both tracking and $50 insurance, as well as being faster, which accounts for the price difference.
It’s all outlined here.
The rates went up recently, but the structure hasn’t changed.
I completely understand. I am just confused as to how 264’s options aren’t the same as everybody else’s. I haven’t found any option for package service where the tracking number is $5 more. The Flat large envelope option has to be fairly flat. They have a test slot at the post office, if it don’t fit it don’t ship for that price, at least at my post office. I’m there 2 to 3 times a week shipping stuff.
It is at the United States Postal Service Kiosk inside the United States Postal Service building's lobby. Where they service P.O. Boxes. Tracking used to be included for free if the weight of your package was below 13 oz. At 13 oz and above Priority 2 day service kicked in which used to include $50.00 of insurance. Yes at the $7.85 it is 2 day priority service but that is the only way to get tracking. 
USPS Address Above.
Welcome to unregulated business practices. When the post office was still part of the government they had to charge everyone the same. Now they do not.
Also if someone buys a flashlight and does not want to buy a tracking number and insurance and the item is lost in the mail or damaged I am considered the bad guy. And now let’s talk about shipping lithium ion batteries. While most of the rest of the country could still mail them with no problem here in Michigan I could not. Signs in the actual United States Post offices said the consumer could not mail Lithium ion batteries. I pointed this out at the time that their online rules said I could indeed mail them. I was told here in Michigan I could not.
Well just out of curiosity I searched a bit on these kiosk. I didn’t know they even existed. Highly doubt they ever will where I live. Look up Foley, MO post office and I think you would agree. 
Anyway, seems to be a problem with the kiosk not offering all of the shipping options available and leaving out tracking numbers unless requested, then upgrade the shipping to the more expensive priority option. Rest assured you can receive the same prices as the rest of us get by going inside and seeing a living and breathing clerk. This is my understanding anyway.
Whatever the reason I can only chose the shipping options offered to me by my local P.O. if that is how I decided to ship the flashlights I sell. One can not argue to much with the post office staff. Being overly grumpy and argumentative with a postal official is a one way ticket to jail. I value my freedom. If other people are offered the choice of a tracking number at different rates, ounces, whatever. Thats cool. Peace to all and to all good night.
To be blunt, I think the USPS has too many product options, and for anyone who isn’t familiar with them, and their requirements and idiosyncrasies, it can be daunting.
Each service option has weight, or dimensional limits, optional add-ons, and can be restricted to certain channels, whether online, or retail. Then retail and bulk shippers each get their own pricing.
I think that’s why the flat rate boxes became so popular, at least with consumers. As long as you can jam whatever you want into one of those boxes, and it’s not weighted like depleted uranium, they’ll ship it for one flat fee, end of story. But, the USPS caught on, and they’re not as good of a deal as the used to be.
Another quirk was that their website used to hide some of the shipping options unless you spotted and marked the checkbox at the top of the page to display them all. Whether that was to try to simplify the choices, or drive people toward certain options, I can’t say. The site doesn’t appear to do that any longer, but perhaps the lobby kiosks still do. For whatever reason, the first-class package was omitted from that list, which left the gap between the flat and Priority options.
I’m not a frequent shipper, but I have done my fair share, including internationally. In my experience, your best friend is a veteran postal counter clerk, who knows the options, can suggest the best one, and knows what one can get away with if it’s an edge case (like how thick a flat can actually be). But it’s not always easy to get one.*
I’ve also found that if you step up to the counter prepared, with forms filled out, item properly packaged, or other signs of at least having made an effort to help them out, they’ll return the favor. People who do none of the above, and have to be sent away to do remedial work, then come back, must be a PITA for them, and disruptive to the whole queue.
If you are fortunate enough to receive a kind clerk that is willing to offer the best price then it is a win. The postal clerks in my part of the world are told to push for the highest shipping amount they can get from the customer. I am sure the postal workers are much nicer in rural America. Peace.
Something is off, then. As TheIntruder pointed out, there is a First Class Parcel option that usually comes in around $3 for small packages and includes tracking. I don’t know why it’s not showing up on that screen, but it might be hidden in a menu. I also suspect that he is correct that the $1.60 option is for flat, large envelopes, which I’d think that most flashlights would be too thick for. On all the electronic kiosks I’ve used, the first or second screen has always asked what I was shipping: a letter, large envelope, package or flat rate. Picking “package” should cause the prices for untracked large envelopes to not display, so I think that’s why most of us are confused at what we are seeing.
You are absolutely right on everything you said but, this particularly. My post office has only one clerk. Open to close 6 days a week, she is it and, she’s has been there for decades. We know each other fairly well and we both know each others family and see them around our little small town events in the area. She goes the extra distance to make sure I get the best shipping option and cheapest prices. Your quote above reminded me of having to deal with the bigger city post offices many years ago. They didn’t care, they were just there for a paycheck and preferred not to be bothered by any kind of customer. I made a terrible assumption that everyone had it the same way I did. Guess I got stuck in my own very small world there for a minute.
Not all big cities are equal. I used to live in Salt Lake City and service was exemplary at the post office. They even had a partnership with one of the grocery stores so you could ship packages right at the grocery store. I now live in St. Louis and it’s like a third world country by comparison. From misdelivered mail to post office workers not willing to even come to the counter, I’ve seen so much unpunished bad behavior it makes my skin crawl. The latest shenanigan is a mailman who apparently likes to go home early, so when there are still packages to deliver, he marks them delivered online and brings them the next day. Maybe.