Annual Postal Rate Increase • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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Annual Postal Rate Increase
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Badmike
Grandstanding Collector
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Last Visit: Jun 24, 2026
Location: DFW TX

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:41 pm

Unfettered by having to ask for rate changes annually (they can now raise rates each year), the USPS has again raised rates that will go into effect at the end of the month. Those shipping/buying using Priority mail can expect to pay a little more, but international customers are hammered (again). I can't see most of you from out of the US continuing to buy American. From what I am seeing, it seems flat rate envelopes are going up $8-$10 (to $21 Canadian and $24 International) while flat rate boxes are going up (gulp) to $44 for Canadians and $60 for other out of the US. Here is the email from Noble Knight that I received, this extravagant raise in prices is also screwing their bottom line. BTW I don't like either of the cheaper methods NKG advocates using (although I see why they have to do so) because they do not have tracking (so I would never personally offer them on ebay sales).

Mike B.

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately as many of you have heard our US Post Office has lost billions of dollars this past year and have decided to raise prices in 2013. Unfortunately also international rates will see a dramatic increase, in some cases almost double the previous rates. This increase will take place on the 27th of January. If you have an order you were thinking about placing I would encourage you to do so now before these rates go up. The good news is that NKG will continue to offer two much lower cost options - International Surface Air Lift and FIMS (Swedish Post). Very few e-tailers offer these methods because they are a little erratic (and a lot of work for the shipper) but I've always felt the need to try and keep shipping prices reasonable at any cost, especially for our loyal overseas customers. These methods typically arrive in 2-3 weeks but the trade off is that sometimes they do take a long time to arrive (8 weeks or more on about 1 out of 20 packages). So we're happy to offer these and would encourage you to use them, but do ask for your patience in delivery (if they go missing we do replace them after sufficient time, no charge!). Domestic prices are also going up (as usual) but we'll continue to offer most of the same pricing including the flat rate $9.95 shipping.

"THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT WHY i DONE WHAT i DONE THE MORE i LAUGH" Cougar
"The Acaeum hates fun" Sir Allen
"I had a collecting emergency" Nogrod
Co-founder of the North Texas RPG Con
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TheHistorian
Sage Collector

Posts: 2589
Joined: Aug 02, 2006
Last Visit: Mar 11, 2023
Location: Seattle, WA

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:36 pm

Badmike wrote:I can't see most of you from out of the US continuing to buy American.

Sounds good in theory, but sourcing items in the country they were published is usually a lot a easier.

Areas of interest/knowledge: Harn, WFRP, Ars Magica, anything BRP based such as CoC, Runequest, Pendragon and all their related games

ashmire13
Long-Winded Collector

Posts: 3549
Joined: Oct 10, 2006
Last Visit: May 16, 2026
Location: Wandering aimlessly on the 8th level down...

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:15 am

I'll admit, it's put me off from joining a couple of KS projects or buying from NKG recently because of the shipping costs.

Rolls a '3'

"Did I hit.....?"

DiscoDadda
Prolific Collector

Posts: 208
Joined: Mar 22, 2011
Last Visit: Jun 15, 2026
Location: Steeler Country

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:56 pm

The thing that really pisses me off about the postal situation... Is our Congress in their infinite wisdom is FORCING the postal service to PREPAY future retiree benefits NOW... My business would lose money if I had to prepay say the next 25 years of health and retirement benefits that have not yet been incurred... This is Ludicrous !!! The postal service is a massive business and our government is helping to make them unprofitable.... Many regular folks do not know this factoid.... and blame "inefficiency" of the postal service for losses and increased postal rates. The older I get the more I am absolutely dumfounded by Congress...

TERM LIMITS NOW

Rant Over

Tom aka DiscoDadda

JasonZavoda
Long-Winded Collector
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 3823
Joined: Jul 12, 2007
Last Visit: Dec 17, 2021

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:13 pm

DiscoDadda wrote:The thing that really pisses me off about the postal situation... Is our Congress in their infinite wisdom is FORCING the postal service to PREPAY future retiree benefits NOW... My business would lose money if I had to prepay say the next 25 years of health and retirement benefits that have not yet been incurred... This is Ludicrous !!! The postal service is a massive business and our government is helping to make them unprofitable.... Many regular folks do not know this factoid.... and blame "inefficiency" of the postal service for losses and increased postal rates. The older I get the more I am absolutely dumfounded by Congress...

TERM LIMITS NOW

Rant Over

Tom aka DiscoDadda

"You get more with a kind word and an excruciator than with just a kind word."

DiscoDadda
Prolific Collector

Posts: 208
Joined: Mar 22, 2011
Last Visit: Jun 15, 2026
Location: Steeler Country

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:19 pm

congress is making the post office cover pension costs just like any other business. These are debts that have already been contracted because of the hefty benefits package that comes with the job of postal worker. What they need to do is cut off the rotting limb already and leave mail delivery to private industry. The postal service is a massive boondoggle that our government doesn't need to run.[/quote]

These are over funded...

http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/1 ... -woes?lite

A couple blurbs from the above piece:

There's a long and a short story to the tragic tale of Postal Service financial trouble. I'll start with the short one. Right now, the Postal Service is being forced to pre-pay health benefits for the next 75 years during a 10-year stretch. In the past four years, those prepayments have totaled $21 billion. The agency's deficit during that time is about $20 billion. Remove these crazy pre-payments â€” a requirement that no other government agency endures and no private industry would even consider â€” and the Postal Service would be in the black.

"It is clear that these prepayments for future retiree health care benefits are â€” at this point â€” the primary reason for the U.S. Postal Service's financial crisis," Ralph Nader wrote in a letter to Congress last week. "In fact, simply looking at the numbers reveals that the Postal Service's â€˜financial crisis' is in fact an entirely manufactured crisis."

Disco

TheHistorian
Sage Collector

Posts: 2589
Joined: Aug 02, 2006
Last Visit: Mar 11, 2023
Location: Seattle, WA

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:31 pm

USPS is in this weird quasi-independent/government agency state. It needs to be one or the other.

Areas of interest/knowledge: Harn, WFRP, Ars Magica, anything BRP based such as CoC, Runequest, Pendragon and all their related games

Chainsaw
Prolific Collector

Posts: 214
Joined: May 22, 2011
Last Visit: Jun 29, 2025

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:33 pm

I do all my bills online and either UPS or FEDEX tends to deliver my online orders... but hell, I do love all the damn junk mail I get from the USPS. Definitely worth every penny. :lol:

SimperingToad
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1382
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Location: My Pad

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:04 pm

Funny, I don't recall getting any junk mail from the USPS. Everybody else it seems, but not them.

Art of dragons doing what dragons do. Site of a friend. Dragonstuff

Invincible Overlord
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Posts: 1624
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Location: Chicago, IL

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:51 am

Of all the government agencies, quasi or otherwise, the Post Office can still get a letter from New York to LA in two days.

I love the Post Office

And besides my buddies wife works for the post office. And if she gets Saturdays off, that would be another day he would have to spend with her and not play cards... :lol:

RPGâ€™s, D&D in particular has had a major influence in my life. Itâ€™s bonded me together with life long friends...itâ€™s that bond in life not just as friends, but in our jokes, our mannerisms, and what we find funny. Invincible Overlord

Badmike
Grandstanding Collector
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Posts: 8079
Joined: Jun 23, 2003
Last Visit: Jun 24, 2026
Location: DFW TX

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:36 am

Today is the first day of higher international shipping. Remember out of US friends and collectors when you buy from America.Priority envelopes went up about $5, flat rate boxes $10, and a typical 1st class envelope $3-4. Make sure your seller combines shipping.

Mike b.

"THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT WHY i DONE WHAT i DONE THE MORE i LAUGH" Cougar
"The Acaeum hates fun" Sir Allen
"I had a collecting emergency" Nogrod
Co-founder of the North Texas RPG Con
NTRPGCON

benjoshua
Long-Winded Collector
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Posts: 3718
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Last Visit: Aug 04, 2026
Location: USA Georgia

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:48 am

And there's no Parcel Post available through the computerized check out system until March. It's now called Parcel Select, and it's only available at the Post Office.

Truth is worth finding and life is too short to work for money.

NMilty
Active Collector

Posts: 96
Joined: Feb 27, 2008
Last Visit: Aug 02, 2026

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:01 am

I shipped a bunch of items last night and I sure noticed the difference. US rates were not too different. Priority rates are about $1.00-1.50 higher than before. Media mail was about .50 to .75 higher. The biggest difference was international rates. A package weighing 1.5 pounds used to ship for under $15.00 for first class international. It costs $20.41 now!! That is a huge increase. I now have to go and change all of my Ebay listings!!

Hopefully this does not eliminate my international sales!! :cry:

Scalydemon
Prolific Collector

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Joined: Dec 12, 2012
Last Visit: Apr 09, 2024
Location: Seattle WA USA

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:42 pm

I shipped one of the fanzines I produce to a guy in Sweden today. I was expecting the worst. But, it still only cost me around $6.50. The zine is about 50 total pages (doublesided), so - 25 pages of weight and a cardstock cover. I was pleasantly surprised and didn't have to charge any more than I had been (I sell the magazines postage included in the price)

Well, we land in barren fields
On the Arizona plains

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