Things are complicating with USPS

Hi everyone, 

This may not be a breaking news to the american members but I just found out by Canada Post that USPS no longer accept letters that dont't only contains paper.  They said that even printed photos won't make it.  I've been warned a few times lately, but today a letter came back, or should I say was refused by Canada Post under USPS's new rule.   Anyone experienced this?   It's there for good?  I hope not but I have a bad feeling.

Yes, you're 100% right. USPS regulations state that first-class “letters” may contain only paper and a fastener (ie: staple, paperclip). No coins, seeds, buttons, pills, or whatever you might send.

If a “letter” contains any object other than paper and fastener, the "letter" is now a “parcel” and must be shipped by a parcel rate (including the new “Ground Advantage” rate). This starts at about US$5 depending the weight, thickness, girth, etc. The counter clerks have a cardboard sheet with slots that they pass the envelope thru to determine its girth and flexibility etc and they're supposed to bend the envelopes looking for objects to determines the envelope's class…

But it gets better! I once sent a “parcel” that was TOO LIGHT to qualify as a parcel but contained an object (a coin) so it couldn't go as a letter either. The clerk rejected my letter / parcel altogether!! So I put 2 stamps on the envelope and dropped it in a mailbox. The letter and coin were safely delivered a few days later.

The regulations are not new but have not been enforced till the last few years. So in addition to the possibility of theft when mailing coins in a first-class letter (it's not secure), you now have to worry about your letter being returned - if you're lucky enough to ever see it again. Whew!

Moral of the story: I'll send one or two low-value coins by 1st class mail and cross my fingers, but anything worth more than a few bucks goes by Ground Advantage or Priority Mail, both of which include insurance and tracking info. But the USPS and EU are really hurting our hobby.

PS: back in the 1800s book publishers forced the USPS to create Media Mail with discount shipping rates. If only we could band together and force the USPS to adopt a poor collector hobby rate??

Um, so I can't send a birthday card then! Too heavy to be a letter, too light to be a parcel!

(On more than one occasion I have posted a banknote inside a ‘birthday card’ to the US.)

Banknotes are considered paper and are allowed in first-class mail. In fact, currency is automatically insured up to US$15 which is a nice surprise!

As for greeting cards, those which include baubles like googley eyes or ribbons etc can be rejected from the mailstream. All first-class mail is sorted by machine and anything with “objects” can clog the rollers and are thus rejected. In theory, you can write non-machineable on the envelope and add a postage surcharge and HOPE that the letter is processed by hand but in practice thats not guaranteed.

It has been like this for some years now and not only with the USPS.

I often send philatelic material to buyers around the World and as long as the letter seems to contain only “documents”, i.e. paper, the letter is handed without problems by the postal service. This also means that the letter must be in a paper envelope (with/without single stiffener), but as soon as the letter is “bulky” or a padded envelope is used, the letter becomes a “shipment of goods”.