Priority Mail box IS legal in Flat rate envelope!

[MesquiteMan]

Last weekend there was a pretty heated debate here about the legality of using the priority mail box inside of a Flat Rate priority mail envelope. Some posters said it was illegal to use the PM boxes inside the envelope and others said it was not. No one had a definitive answer. I decided to contact the USPS direct to get clarification on the issue. The question below was originally posted at https://hdusps.esecurecare.net/cgi-bin/hdusps.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=y5Hklkni&xssl=1 which is the USPS main website question and answer section. Here is the exchange between myself and one of their customer service reps. My questions are in red and her answer is in blue:

Customer (Curtis Seebeck) - 11/19/2006 12:42 PM
Is it legal to take a 0-1096-LARGE box and insert it into a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope in order to get the flat rate price? This assumes that all of the guidelines for Flat Rate Priority Mail envelopes are followed. Thank you

Response (Karee R) - 11/22/2006 12:24 AM
Dear Curtis Seebeck,

Thank you for contacting us about shipping a free box in a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope.

As long as all items fit correctly in the envelope, we do not restrict a package being placed in the envelope.

If I can be of assistance to you in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you for choosing the United States Postal Service®.

Regards,

Karee R

Customer (Curtis Seebeck) - 11/22/2006 08:41 AM Karee,

Thank you for your reply to the question below. I could use a little more clarification, please. I want to be sure that using the 0-1096-LARGE box inside of the envelope is not misuse of the 0-1096-LARGE box. There has been discussion among some of my colleagues that this would be misuse, therefore against the law. Thank you for any further clarification you can give on this matter.

Response (Karee R) - 11/22/2006 12:17 PM Dear Curtis Seebeck,

Thank you for your reply.

According to our information, free shipping supplies can be used in anyway you see fit. You can contact your local Post Office to discuss this further. For the ZIP Code 78666, you can call:

SAN MARCOS MAIN OFFICE
301 N GUADALUPE ST
SAN MARCOS, TX 78666
512-392-3451

Monday - Saturday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM

If I can be of assistance to you in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you for choosing the United States Postal Service®.

Regards,

Karee R

As I mentioned in the last fight thread on this issue, I had contacted my local postmaster as Karee suggest in this message and they said it was not a problem at all. A certain poster insisted that my local postmaster was wrong and that the postmaster general would have something different to say. I would say this is about as close to getting an answer from the PM General as you can get without directly trying to contact them.

This is being posted in the spirit of sharing information. I was a proponet of the practice but decided I really wanted to know for sure. I had planned to post their response one way or another. So please, if you were on the other side of the debate, don't think of this as a "I told you so" post. It is not intended to be that way.

 

[YoYoSpin]

You did good, Curtis. Thanks for closing this issue in a productive and proactive way.

 

[jeff]

As an employee of the federal government, I already know the USPS is as hosed up as the rest of the agencies, but it's always nice to get confirmation []

A user forwarded me an email exchange with the USPS customer care center and the ultimate answer is the opposite! Here's the last email in the exchange after the member asked if it was ok to put the 0-1096-LARGE box inside of the envelope.

From: USPS Internet Customer Care Center
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 10:20 AM
Subject: RE: Re: Re: Shipping Supplies-Product Questions-General Inquiry

Dear USPS Customer,

No, you need to use either the priority box or the flat rate envelope. You cannot combine the packaging material.

Thank you,

Hazel

USPS Internet Customer Care Center
icustomercare@usps.com
As our customer, your privacy is important to us. Please see our privacy policy at www.usps.com

(0088)

TRACKING NUMBER: A00002015481-00007015378

I'll send the full exchange to anyone who wants it - it's just too cluttered with disclaimers and such to post here. I'm certain that both Curtis' reply and this one are genuine. I guess someone needs to get the big cheese postmaster general on the phone and ask him. His underlings don't seem to agree on a simple question!

 

[ctEaglesc]

Originally posted by jeff
<br />As an employee of the federal government, I already know the USPS is as hosed up as the rest of the agencies, but it's always nice to get confirmation []

A user forwarded me an email exchange with the USPS customer care center and the ultimate answer is the opposite! Here's the last email in the exchange after the member asked if it was ok to put the 0-1096-LARGE box inside of the envelope.

From: USPS Internet Customer Care Center
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 10:20 AM
Subject: RE: Re: Re: Shipping Supplies-Product Questions-General Inquiry

Dear USPS Customer,

No, you need to use either the priority box or the flat rate envelope. You cannot combine the packaging material.

Thank you,

Hazel

USPS Internet Customer Care Center
icustomercare@usps.com
As our customer, your privacy is important to us. Please see our privacy policy at www.usps.com

(0088)

TRACKING NUMBER: A00002015481-00007015378

I'll send the full exchange to anyone who wants it - it's just too cluttered with disclaimers and such to post here. I'm certain that both Curtis' reply and this one are genuine. I guess someone needs to get the big cheese postmaster general on the phone and ask him. His underlings don't seem to agree on a simple question!

BUSTED!
This is starting to sound like the Lazlo letters.[]
Here is how I worded my question
The original answer seemed ambiguous.
Please note I am making this reply with a smile on my face only because the "offarcial" answers contradict eash other.
Being a woodworker and not wanting to waste wood products by using two items even if it means it saves me money I believe it is better to not waste wood, a precious commodity.Any argument that the materials provided by the USPS are post consumer goods holds no water with me,If you use two items to ship one package it will need to be replaced from somewhere.
Being a woodworker I choose not to waste.

This is how I worded my question
"AS I understand your last answer.
I can put 10 pounds of widgets( a legal item to ship via USPS) in a priority box#0-1096 large, and put it into a flat rate envelope so as to not have to pay the rate for the increased weight(9 pounds).
May I please have your name or some one I can quote.
I received a warning in the last message that stated I cannot forward this message.
I would like to be able to verify where I got the information.
Thanks for your timely replies."
this is the reply I got.


No, you need to use either the priority box or the flat rate envelope. You cannot combine the packaging material.
Like I said the Lazlo letters.
This thread almost came close to making my day.
The 7 pen Wart hog casing pen order complete with custom boxes MADE MY DAY!

 

[Ron Mc]

Very interesting!
I wonder what they will tell me if I want to stuff a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope into a 0-1096-LARGE box and ship it?[]

 

[ctEaglesc]

Originally posted by Ron Mc
<br />Very interesting!
I wonder what they will tell me if I want to stuff a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope into a 0-1096-LARGE box and ship it?[]

They'll tell you they don't know where the package shipped from S.C&gt; on the 7th of NOvemeber is.
They know it got mailed from Camden S.C&gt; but that's about all my $.50 buys.[]

 

[Ron Mc]

LOL...They'll probably tell me that the pony died and there are not sure where it dropped![]

 

[DCBluesman]

Does anyone REALLY expect a definitive answer. The Postmaster General of the United States is essentially the CEO of th US Postal Service. There have been 9 of them in the past 30 years. None of them rose through the ranks. That means that their average time "on the job" was a little over three years. Can any of you (other than those who are self-employed) imagine how well your company would be run if the man in charge came into the position with NO experience and left in about 3 years. All-in-all, I say we just do what they let us and don't do what they won't let us. []

 

[jeff]

I shouldn't poke fun at the USPS, especially about losing things. We lost the Mars Global Surveyor satellite this week. Those martians ruin everything!

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

I kept out of the first discussion for a reason.

I deal with the post office on a regular basis with my business. The one thing I learned is if you ask 10 different postal workers the same question, you will get 12 different answers.

 

[DCBluesman]

Originally posted by jeff
<br />I shouldn't poke fun at the USPS, especially about losing things. We lost the Mars Global Surveyor satellite this week. Those martians ruin everything!

I heard that was "Pluto's Revenge" for being demoted! []

 

[martyb]

Or was it a unit of measure error? Now was that in mm or ft?

 

[jckossoy]

I'm going to put in my two cents[]. This happens no matter what government entity you talk about. What needs to happen is that we need to have the postal code that either says one way or the other. If they can't give it or find it, then bump it up to the next level manager who may be able to find the code. Then if we go to the PO and they say you can't do it, show them the postal code that says you can.

Again, just my two cents[].

Kol Tov and eat lots of turkey[],