Ebay Shipping is killing me

Alloro is right on, using USPS boxes without using the service is theft. The cost of those products is embedded in the price of shipping. Ebay shippers are infamous for shorting us on postage all the time, so it is not surprising that some think stealing postal products is fine.

Alloro is right on, using USPS boxes without using the service is theft. The cost of those products is embedded in the price of shipping. Ebay shippers are infamous for shorting us on postage all the time, so it is not surprising that some think stealing postal products is fine.

Yes, it is theft (probably theft of services) but on a scale so small I would consider it next to miniscule.  My comparison to the "legal" theft by gasoline companies on price gouging and by banks on the allowing of no-down-payment loans is by way of saying this box issue is really a tempest in a teapot.

And my comment early on in this conversation that I doubted it was a felony still holds up IMO. It may be a misdemeanor. Don't really know or care.

The fact that that the post office got smart and put wording on the brown surface of the boxes says it all IMO. They knew there was no reasonable point in going after the few people who misused the boxes and they made the logical choice to eliminate the problem at the source...their design of the package.

The misuse of these boxes no more added to the deficit running of the post office than pouring even a gallon of water in the Pacific ocean. If they would stop the use of third class mailing by advertisers and the bulk mailings of other advertisers at reduced rates they would not only free up the service for its orginal purpose but would save millions (maybe hundreds of millions) in dollars and trees by not delivering "mail" that goes dirctly from the mailbox outside our doors to the wastebasket inside our homes.

The fact is that the use of first class mail has diminished so much due to email, texting, social networks that it is hardly a viable way of communicating at all. Bill paying online has cut into it too. All my opinion....yours may vary.

Yes, it is theft

Here is an article on the subject of the boxes, including turning them inside out for reuse.
thedenverchannel(dot)com/news/reusing-cardboard-postal-boxes-illegal

.If they would stop the use of third class mailing by advertisers and the bulk mailings of other advertisers at reduced rates they would not only free up the service for its orginal purpose but would save millions (maybe hundreds of millions) in dollars

The fact is that the use of first class mail has diminished so much due to email, texting, social networks that it is hardly a viable way of communicating at all. Bill paying online has cut into it too. All my opinion....yours may vary.

Post office is the same as Amtrak.  Lose of millions, they are blamed, but congress and past legislation have tied their hands......
feature=youtube_gdata_player

No one lives their life to a letter of the law, no one.. Period.

Let's get real here, hey "Bob What are you in for?", I killed 50 people, and you "I used a USPS box for something it wasn't intended for"

When you put metal on the curb for the sanitation company to pick up and some scrapper rolls by in their pick up and takes it. (That's Illegal)

When you buy something on ebay or amazon, and you don't pay sales tax on the item, regardless of the state. (That's illegal)

When you sell something on Craigslist, Garage Sales, Flea Market, Ebay and don't report the profit as income (That's Illegal)

When you "Dumpster" dive for boxes and supplies (That's Illegal)

Let's not get on some moral ground of what's legal or not. It's just called a "Loophole" in the system.

You here politicians talking about closing loopholes etc.  When you close a loophole, all they do is make it so it's harder to abuse without a penalty and enforce it (if it's worth the $$ enforcing). 

Did you know if you get a ticket for going 1- 14 mph over the speed limit, the judge normally frowns upon that? That's why most tickets are written for people going 15 mph or over. (Unless it's a school zone - they become a little stricter their)

Also, to the person that buys the plastic label holders, just walk into fedex, you can get those for free, no need to spend money on it.

Also get yourself an industrial shredder, I got one from a locker, I bought it just for the shredder. Anyway, as we all know their's plenty of papers you can shred in just about every locker to last a long time. If not, just shred all the advertisement mail and newspaper you get.

Like I said, I don't condone anything illegal.  I just recognize it as fact and that people do it. You do whatever makes you feel morally special inside.  But the original posted wanted to know why shipping kills him and and not others and I answered that question.

No one lives their life to a letter of the law, no one.. Period.

Speak for yourself. Yes I've done things that were illegal out of ignorance for the law, but if I know something is illegal I don't do it. (My one exception being breaking the speed limit. But even then I only do that to keep up with the flow of traffic, which I relate to being more safe than holding back traffic and forcing people to weave around me.)

When I figure the shipping cost I figure in the postage, the box, the packaging, tape, label printing, etc. So swiping a box someone else is paying for when I'm being paid to supply it is wrong both legally and morally. You can fool yourself into thinking it's okay to do because it's a small crime, but for the USPS it's an expensive crime and the rest of us pay higher postage rate because of it.

Speak for yourself. Yes I've done things that were illegal out of ignorance for the law, but if I know something is illegal I don't do it. (My one exception being breaking the speed limit. But even then I only do that to keep up with the flow of traffic, which I relate to being more safe than holding back traffic and forcing people to weave around me.)

I understand that you would not knowingly break the law, but I would ask if you have ever heard the expression "Ignorance of the law is no excuse (or no defense)" ?  Not seeing a "no parking" sign and parking there anyway is not knowingly breaking the law, but it is still breaking the law as any ticketing officer will tell you.

As to your "one exception" regarding the speed limit. A strict adherance to the law would to be to go the speed limit and let the others "pay" (in whatever manner) for the fact they are breaking the speed limit. To justify or rationalize the fact that you would maintain a higher speed to facilitate traffic flow is just that....rationalization...and your then "interpretation" of what the law means or how it should be applied.

I have been criticized in more than one thread for MY strict use of language...what words MEAN and MY justification of THAT is that words and our use of them are the only thing that either holds together or breaks apart the many daily communications we have.

When we say (or write) something it leads to back and forth communication like we all do here; in writing of course there is a delay in "reaction" time and sometimes a second party will say something like "You know what I meant". My response would be "No, I know what you wrote; YOU know what you meant".

Anyway, civil discourse is what it's all about and name-calling doesn't really come into it for me (and not saying it does for any particular member on these forums, but there are some who are into that).

Each of us is entitiled to our own opinions and what works or doesn't work for us, whether it's posting large pictures, using boxes one way or the other, or speeding down the highway, and I personally have never said "My way is the only way". I would never think that.

I understand that you would not knowingly break the law, but I would ask if you have ever heard the expression "Ignorance of the law is no excuse (or no defense)"?

I wasn't making an excuse. I was pointing out the difference between ignorance of the law and willfully breaking it. You know...doing something while NOT knowing it is illegal, versus doing something that you know to be illegal. The first I can understand, the second defines a person.

This whole line of being entitled to something for free seems to be a prevalent idea these days. Perhaps I'm old school, but I still believe in being responsible for myself, carrying my own weight, and NOT expecting others to pickup my slack or to pay for me to have something.

I sure miss Money4nothing & RockintheRetro; I'm tired of hearing the male "hens" bicker. 

I sure miss Money4nothing & RockintheRetro; I'm tired of hearing the male "hens" bicker. 

Cluck, cluck ! 

Question: Why did the chicken cross the road (quickly)?

Answer: To avoid the drivers maintaining the flow of traffic.

To storme:

My overall point in commenting on big oil and banks (and leaving out dozens of other financial and moral deficits committed in this country and the world) is that the misuse or theft of a cardboard box is like a grain of sand in comparison and is truly (again) a tempest in a teapot.

"2012 Florida statue 316.0083" 

A notice of violation and a traffic citation may not be issued for failure to stop at a red light if the driver is making a right-hand turn in a careful and prudent manner at an intersection where right-hand turns are permissible. "

I wonder how many people got tickets and paid when they thought they were in the wrong, when they weren't

Ignorance works in both directions.

Anyone willing to share how they stay on top of shipping charges? 

Thanks

I charge flat rate shipping. When calculating shipping charges, I have the item in the box I'm going to use to ship and measure box dimensions and weight. I then get a quote from UPS and USPS using my zip code in NJ and 90201 (one of the furthest shipping destinations from me) and round the quote up a dollar or two. That's the shipping I list for my auctions. The Buyer's location usually it ends up being closer and I pocket the difference in price. I prefer UPS, cause the shipping charges are not on the label and the buyer is none the wiser shipping was less then they paid. I have always used this method, I never used the shipping services from Ebay or Paypal. Although from reading here, there's shipping discounts available for power sellers, something I wasn't aware of. 

I prefer UPS, cause the shipping charges are not on the label and the buyer is none the wiser shipping was less then they paid.

USPS hides the hipping cost also.......

USPS hides the hipping cost also.......

In eBay shipping and PayPal shipping, you have the option of the USPS label showing the cost or not.