USPS is in so much trouble not just because of Congress, but how they work in general. You don't have to look far to see that their system is a bit flawed. They give away all of their supplies freely and then go through what was probably a multi-million dollar+ re-brand, effectively removing their existing stock and replacing it with the new boxes. Recycled paper or not, it still comes at a cost.
From a shipping depot, boxes normally cost $0.25-$0.75 a piece for nearly the same sizes as USPS gives away. I can go to USPS.com right now and order 500-1,000 boxes and not pay a dime. That'd cost me a pretty penny elsewhere and it leaves a gaping hole that allows for abuse - it welcomes it. People unhappy with USPS can easily take those boxes, flip them inside out and use them anywhere without a second look. And you don't have to be a business to do this.
The only way I know this is because, as a business, I only needed a few boxes to get a few dozen orders out (non-vaping related) and at the time, Stamps.com didn't make it clear that boxes came in packs of 10-20, so when you entered 1, you were really ordering 10-20 boxes, 2 meant 20-40 boxes, etc. So I ordered 10 of each across all box sizes, padded envelopes, document envelopes, etc. I had an entire USPS truck full of boxes being dropped off and they *would not* accept them as a return. So they won't take them back and I'm not going to let them sit hear and take up space, so they are used for all shipping needs, not just USPS. So there's money right out of their hands and into another shipper.
Now if 1,000's of businesses did this every week, how hard do you think that's going to hit their bottom line? 1,000 boxes @ .25 = $250 wholesale through a depot. Multiple that by 1,000 businesses and you have $250,000 retail cost in shipping supplies going out at zero cost and with zero guarantee of return on investment. Sure, USPS probably pays a fraction of that, but a loss is a loss and a major gamble on ROI.
Last edited:
