bearisgray

Priority Mail Boxes from USPS

Have you noticed that they now have "Priority Mail" printed on the inside of the boxes, too.

amma

When I got busted by the PO for reusing a Priority Box for NON Priority use, they said they were doing this for that reason. These boxes are free, people were taking them, turning them inside out and using them for cheaper mailing fees.
If the PO notices the PRIORITY words under a brown paper wrapping, or the words while xraying/scanning them...and you have NOT payed the Priority fee, they will return the package to you, and then you have to pay AGAIN to remail it.

The PO told me that the only way to recycle these boxes is in the recycling bin :roll:

quiltsRfun

Can they be re-used for priority mail?

Deb watkins

I re-used mine for priority mailing........there wasn't any question by the clerk about it.

bearisgray

How can one turn a box inside out? I've received a couple that had been - and the box didn't look mangled. (This was over a year ago)

amma

All they told me was that I could not reuse them for any mailing purpose but Priority Mail. The punishment is you have to pay twice to mail that package LOL There is fine print somewhere on using these...and they COULD do more and they might...if they really wanted to. She pointed out the signs all over the PO regarding this service and the use of the boxes.

They can be reused over and over with the PO's blessings as long as they are ALWAYS mailed as Priority :wink:

amma

You can pull the boxes apart and reglue them. Which is what I did, because this box had been used twice for Priority Mail already. You can do this on other boxes too, not all companies use strong glues, remember how easy some of the bottoms come loose when you tear them down to flatten them out?

I used my glue gun to reglue them :wink:

amma

This is how it was explained to me by the PostMaster...the PO provides the boxes free, but only for the Priority Mail deliveries...they SELL boxes for everything else.

I take open packages to my PO and they tell me the cheapest way to mail them/tracking/insurance included in the different options. Sometimes Priority is cheaper, sometimes it is First Class, or bulk prices...

amma

It's like in the thread that I posted when this all came to my attention... It's a gamble you take mis-using these boxes... My package was late getting to a board member because it was returned, and I had to pay TWICE to mail it...

The PO looks at it like stealing... You are stealing a free box to be used for a purpose that it was never meant to be used for....

bearisgray

It pays to ask. Sometimes priority mail is actually less than parcel post.

Or maybe only a nickel or so more.

I bought an electronic scale that is fairly accurate (maybe to within 1/4 of an ounce) - I weigh what I want to send and then look up the USPS rate calculator to get an approximate cost.

(The scale cost around $30 if I remember correctly - this was purchased during one of my diet phases)

I use it often enough to be glad that I have it. It only goes up to about four pounds, though.