In the last newsletter, I mentioned the United States Postal Service rate hike, and figured that we would be able to keep our old shipping charges. Wow, how wrong was I? I hadn't studied the new rate schedule until it came time to mail a package. Not only did they raise the rates for weight (which is expected), but they also now take package thickness into consideration. Any flat package that is more than 3/4" thick is considered a parcel rather than a flat, and is subjected to a much higher rate. Some of these fees don't make much sense. One day, I shipped a small bubble mailer with a single marble in it, and a larger bubble mailer with lots of bags of beads in it. Despite being larger AND heavier, the big package of beads cost LESS to ship than the marble did, because the marble's thickness put it into the "parcel" category! I am thinking of investing in the larger sized bubble mailers, because spreading several bags of beads thinly out over a larger mailer costs less to ship than cramming them into a smaller mailer!

At any rate, we've regrettably had to raise our base shipping fee from one dollar to two dollars, to accommodate the new USPS rates. Our add-on costs (the amount added on per item) stays the same.