C5 Domestic Letter With Tracking

[digital*ghost]

I searched to see if this had been posted earlier but only found threads on the older sizes, so hopefully this is good news for some.

This month Australia Post released a "medium" size of the domestic letter with tracking (C5, or 162 x 229mm). Their single retail price is $4.95, but I purchased 10 today and was given a 5% discount ($47 for 10, but if you buy 50+ they are 4.46 each).

Unfortunately they are paper envelopes, not the sturdy card that the larger ones are, but they are classed as a large letter so can hold up to 500g and be up to 2cm thick.

I've been watching since late Feb, to see if they appear in the eBay store or their own online store, and they actually have appeared now, so if you've got a good eBay discount code and could use this size, they may be worth picking up (to note: they're only being sold in packs of ten here, but the discount for higher quantities is available on their own store). 

[curraone]

 so why would we be better off, when we can buy the cardboard variety for approx the same price?

[digital*ghost]

Do you want the math, other possible advantages (which are likely seller-specific), or should I just guess at Australia Post's reasoning?

I'll start with the math.

The cheapest price of a large one is $5.36, the cheapest price of a medium one is $4.46, so if you have smaller items that you want tracked, you're already 90c better off per envelope (assuming no other discounts such as an eBay code).

Advantages (from my perspective) - size matters. This one will at least fit in the vast majority of letterboxes, and therefore there will be less potential for something like being stolen after delivery.

My guess at Australia Post's reasoning...

I dunno, I posted on their FB page last year asking for a tracked envelope of this size, because the large ones were a waste of resources for a lot of my items (in terms of paper usage), and I was concerned about their exposure to theft after delivery since they wouldn't be secure at a lot of properties. I even said I wasn't necessarily looking for a reduction in price, just a safer size, so if there are no advantages in this size for you, I guess you can blame me.  

Spoiler

No, I don't genuinely believe my post was directly responsible, I do however believe that I was one of many people asking for a smaller size, purely for the advantages I mentioned.

[curraone]

Thanks for the clarification (and the math)

I bought a huge amount of the larger ones when they first came out for $4.90 each, and they have been great.

I understand what you are saying, but am not impressed they are only paper, I would be more interested if they were cardboard like the others.

So for the lighter smaller items I can use ordinary C5 envelopes for $2.46 but no tracking.

[digital*ghost]

I'm disappointed they're not card as well, I really like the sturdiness of the bigger ones. I used one of the medium ones today, with a bubble mailer on the inside, but it's about 4-5cm shorter than the envelope and just taking my mail up to post in a bag there were already some folds and creases, so I'll probably use some clear tape around the edges just to reinforce them and ensure they're a bit more durable.

[11dustyattic]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

I'm disappointed they're not card as well, I really like the sturdiness of the bigger ones. I used one of the medium ones today, with a bubble mailer on the inside, but it's about 4-5cm shorter than the envelope and just taking my mail up to post in a bag there were already some folds and creases, so I'll probably use some clear tape around the edges just to reinforce them and ensure they're a bit more durable.

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I'm also disappointed they're not card. It just wastes time having to stabalise inside the envelope, when the sturdier card quite often eliminates the need for that. Regarding clear tape around the edges, I used to always do that when posting standard untracked letters. Used to sell a lot of books and found that helped secure the edges, stop tearing