Can someone please tell me what the three ounce letter rate to Canada, from the United States? The envelope is 5 3/4" high x 8.5" long and less than 1/4 " thick. Using the USPS website is a frustrating experience.
Thanks!
David Giles
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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
Are you certain that it is 3 oz and that it will not exceed 1/4 inch thick ? I tried to get 3 oz of paper in an envelope that size and couldn't make it under 1/4 inch thick.
Also remember that it can't be rigid....
It is beyond confusing even mailing here in the states. One of the items on the template is a 1/4 inch slot and depending who is on the window it can't touch going through..... I use photo mailers and they are no go at a measured .027 - close but no cigar.
"Are you certain that it is 3 oz and that it will not exceed 1/4 inch thick ? I tried to get 3 oz of paper in an envelope that size and couldn't make it under 1/4 inch thick. "
Anything over 2 ounces is at the 3 ounce rate, so getting 2.1 ounces into an envelope that is less that 1/4" thick isn't hard if you fold the pages individually and put a sharp crease on them, but if the envelope is only 8.5" wide (instead of 9") then you can't tri-fold an 8.5 x 11" piece of paper so there could be a problem.
If there are rigid objects in the letter then that rate doesn't apply!
(Rigid: corrugated cardboard; Not rigid: Cereal box cardboard).
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
"It is beyond confusing even mailing here in the states. One of the items on the template is a 1/4 inch slot and depending who is on the window it can't touch going through.."
Yup, at my local post office it's possible to get three different rates at the three different windows.
"Yup, at my local post office it's possible to get three different rates at the three different windows."
Indeed - if I remember for awhile it was either around 80 cents, or a dollar twenty or two forty - quite a difference for the same package.
I know if I use a photo mailer it will be two forty or so, a 5 X 8 with foamcore (just under 1/4 inch) will be non-machinable at about a buck twenty. Using a stiffener cut from a file folder will be at the lower rate..... there is some consistency now among the old timers.
And then the new clerk tells me the other day that in class they learned to determine if something was non-machinable by putting the midpoint of the envelope on a table edge and trying to bend it 90 degrees. Try thinking about that one for a minute......
"And then the new clerk tells me the other day that in class they learned to determine if something was non-machinable by putting the midpoint of the envelope on a table edge and trying to bend it 90 degrees. Try thinking about that one for a minute......"
Probably the same class where they're told to never, ever give me a postmark!
"And then the new clerk tells me the other day that in class they learned to determine if something was non-machinable by putting the midpoint of the envelope on a table edge and trying to bend it 90 degrees. "
Such a process exists. It's call "The Flexibility Test". However, 90 degrees is not the test, and it is ridiculous for that clerk to think so.
Here's the test (for large envelopes (flats):
1. place mail piece on a hard, flat surface
2. position the mailpiece by its longest length so that 1/2 of it (5 inches maximum for pieces longer than 10 inches) extends off the edge of the surface
3. push down on the piece
4. if it can flex 1 INCH without damaging the mailpiece, and the piece does not contain a rigid insert, then it is considered to be flexible and not a parcel
As so often we must do, here is the link to the USPS mail manual with the procedure. If you are having trouble with a clerk regarding this rule, print it out and show it to the clerk. Maybe, the clerk will understand...