Price increase on prepaid envelopes

[wheelie-great-magazines]

The price increase on January 4th for C4 and B4 prepaid envelopes will be considerable, You'd better stock up while there is still time. C4 now $3.60 is being increased to $4.35. B4 will go from $4.15 to $5,25 according to http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/pricing-updates.html which lists the "proposed" changes. 

Remember the P.O. will only be open Tuesday and Wednesday this next week.

[kopenhagen5]

But when the envelopes are posted after the price rise aren't we supposed to put the extra stamps on to make up the difference?

That's what usually happens with other articles.

[wheelie-great-magazines]

No, not with prepaid envelopes as they are good to go with no additional stamps needed unless you want to add the 50c priority stamp.

[beautbots01]

The price of the C5 and C4 prepaid envelopes went up just under $1 for 10 only recently .  I have bought up but will still end up having to pay the full cost eventually.  It is the price of stamps going up to $1 for standard post which is going to be the cruncher.  With an extra 50c if you want Priority.  Huh!!!

[clarry100]

... and priority mail is only the same service you have been used to up until now for a 70-cent stamp (or two as the case may be).

So for a large letter with 2x stamps to get the same service as we get now the extra cost will be 2x 30-cents + 50-cents = $1.10

And don't forget that ebay take their fee on the extra $1.10 so thats an extra 11-cents (depending on a few variables).

And of course PayPal will dip in for an extra 3-cents or so on top of that too because its in your payment.

So almost $1.25 extra all up. And that's just to keep the same service you have been used to.

So we are thinking what we will do is increase our prices across the board by 70-cents as the vast majority of our items are free postage and use two stamps. Then add a 55-cent priority mail option that the buyer can select during checkout, much like we do now for the express mail option. The buyer will then have two postage options they can choose, either priority or express. We just hope they dont think they will get express for the extra 55-cents. Somehow we have to make that clear in the choices or in the description or both.

We will also extend our handling times out from currently 0 to 3-days to thry to fend off this late delivery defect we will get if our buyers answer NO to the delivery date question.

[beautbots01]

Yes, but who is going to guarantee that that Priority Mail will get delivered any quicker than Standard Post.  Not AP I'll bet. Some buyers are confused enough just reading the item description so how are they going to decide whether they want standard, priority or express post. Whew even I'm confused just thinking about it.      I can see this whole thing being a major issue with AP before too long.

By lifting postage by 70c across the board would be a good option when you are increasing handling time and only offer Express on request. 

[misterforgetfulsbooks]

be good if that priority mail had a better reason to pay the 50c other than any 5 days of the week instead of just 2 - 3 days a week.

ie: include tracking number so we get a little insurance on where the item is and if the buyer got it

[heihachi_73]

Ausfailure Post would never put a tracking number on regular mail, it would ruin their Registered Post profits!