New shipping rates
 

USPS increased rates, effective today. Today I contemplated buying 2 1-gallon tropical plants from a business in Florida from which I have previously bought. The shipping would have been one hundred three dollars. I didn't buy the plants.

Are the rates for UPS and FedEx just as bad? Certainly the USPS 2 day service has been a complete joke the past year.

I don't know. This place uses USPS.

feel you there ES, things going up everywhere, they say this year, public transport, energy bill, petrol, taxes and shipping rates are going up. My dog food has just increased by 10%.
Since leaving the EU we have additional hurdles, I actually looked into what I would need to do to buy an orchid from abroad. First I would need to register as a business, then I would need to register as an importer and enrol in the plant import system. And in order to do that my company would need to be not just a sole trader but a limited ergistered company which is a lengthy application procedure.
Who knows what the importing process is like. Applying as a limited company just to buy an orchid is a bit offputting!

Do you know which USPS service they are using [ie Priority, Priority Express]? Priority Flat Rate prices increase as of 09 Jan, by about 3%--though I'm betting whatever you were attempting to order wouldn't fit in large flat rate boxes...

3 day express. They won't use slower methods in winter. Two shrubby plants in 1 gallon pots. But it wasn't this expensive before. About a year ago I bought 5 plants in 1 gallon pots from them and shipping was around $60.

From stamps.com

*Rate increases for Zone 8 are increasing significantly. A 1 lb. package traveling to Zone 8 is increasing by $2.30 (5.8%), and a 10 lb. package traveling to Zone 8 is increasing by $5.45 (5.8%).

*Rates for packages weighing 5 lbs. or more traveling to Zone 5 or higher are increasing by at least $2.55 (4.9%).

*NEW – STARTING APRIL 2022: There will be a $1.50 fee for packages that are greater than one cubic foot or have a box length greater than 22 inches if the customer did not provide dimensions or provided inaccurate dimensions inside the online postage provider (e.g. Stamps.com).

*NEW – STARTING APRIL 2022: There will be a new “nonstandard fee” for packages that must be sorted manually by the USPS when the dimensions of the package exceed sortation requirements. Rates will be adjusted based on box dimensions. Packages with length over 22 inches will have a $4.00 surcharge, packages with length over 30 inches will have $15.00 surcharge and packages over 2 cubic feet will have a $15.00 surcharge.

Thieves! They're thieves, I tell you!

I wonder how much they'd make if they simply did away with bulk rate mail... I think it's like $.23/item for 500pcs, even less when you're in the 10kpc+ range...

I read a while ago the bulk mail pays for all the rest. A large part of the problem is the miniscule rate charged for the very enormous number of packages from China to the US. The USPS is subsidizing Amazon and Ali Baba to ship products to the US.