Sending very small items via International letter rate now banned

[masterstroke.eng]

I have been selling a number of very small  3d printed  items aimed at aircraft modellers ( weighing 25 grams) to international customers ,the items are flat and comfortably fit inside a standard envelope . I have just received 11 packages returned through Australia post with a sticker saying needs a customs declaration filled out and sent as a parcel .This was implemented on the 1st April  apparently . So I took them into the PO today only to find they want to charge $24 -$29  for a tracked parcel  upto 1 kg  . So pretty well stuffed my enterprise  .Im also annoyed that some of these packs were posted early April and the post office  have been sitting on them for over a month  needless to say I will cop bad feed back when I contact my customers  

[digital*ghost]

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@masterstroke.eng wrote:

This was implemented on the 1st April  apparently . 

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Of last year (not exactly, it's just actually been in place for a long time).

If you've been able to send letters with merchandise successfully until April of this year, you've actually had a much longer run than most as letters with merchandise were officially suspended last year, when lockdowns etc started taking place and most flights were being cancelled.

Enforcement of the rules was pretty much all over the place, though, and a lot got through, so the widespread enforcement is new(ish), letters being returned in bulk started happening earlier this year. 

That is not to say I think AP has handled it well, and I definitely understand the implications it has on a lot of businesses who had strong markets OS by being able to provide low postage rates (I did that for years myself, now I only send tracked parcels internationally, postage is nearly 5 x what it was, and sales are about 20% of what they used to be). 

If it's of any interest or use, the cheapest to the US is $15.75, if the package is under 250g, and if you can build up a good discount via My Post Business (by sending 20+ parcels a week on average). 

[recovertoy_usa]

Hi All

I am surprised that this is not creating more comments. I have just had a long conversation with my local LPO owner. We normally send 100 small packets per week to the USA and have had two large tubs of USA addressed packets returned today. Yes, I was aware that they wanted to stop this but the logic of it makes no business sense. The items we send are worth around $3 - $5 and weigh less than 10grams - the packaging weighs 30g! - and buyers will not pay $25 for 'parcel post' or even $16 if that 'under 250g' rate does apply. So rather than allowing the merchandise in small packets, AU Post would prefer to not have this business at all and eBay will be impacted as well. I think they are only concerned about servicing the parcel market for shoes and clothes. Surely, there are more ebay sellers impacted by this than myself and masterstroke.eng ?

[digital*ghost]

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@recovertoy_usa wrote:

Hi All

I am surprised that this is not creating more comments. 
....
Surely, there are more ebay sellers impacted by this than myself and masterstroke.eng ?

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Yeah, but like I said, this was put in place about a year ago - most sellers have been barred from sending anything except tracked parcels this whole time, already complained about it, then either found alternatives, increased their prices, or just stopped sending overseas.

There are a few people who are still angry about it, I see petition proposals and Facebook groups dedicated to trying to harass Aus Post into changing it from time to time, but I doubt they will; if just  because they tried to do this a few years ago and there was so much backlash they walked the policy back after only a couple of days (which in turn suggests there's something other than consumer backlash that matters more this time).

My international sales are a fraction of what they used to be, no doubt about that, but that isn't all down to the pricing (delivery time is a large factor, too). The same things are affecting Aussie buyers (increased shipping costs + longer delivery time), so more are buying local than ever before, and I've found that's more than made up for it (just speaking for myself of course), plus I get OS buyers purchasing a single $5 item and then selecting express international (over $30), so never assume that no one would be willing to pay $16-odd shipping for something they want, they're out there, so there's generally no harm in keeping stuff available (though on eBay you do have to factor in the FVF on postage, that'll take up a lot more as a percentage of the total price on a small sale, which means you'll have to account for that).

[heihachi_73]

Yes, Australia Post is possibly now the only postal company in the developed world which does not offer an international mail service. Conveniently, it was hidden under the COVID-19 carpet, but we all know that even if/when COVID-19 becomes a thing of the past, Australia Post will keep the same rules and profits. However, the blame should be directed toward the federal government which allowed this to happen in the first place, axing a public asset (international mail service) to allow a for-profit parcel business to make more money despite Australia Post already making a fortune. There's literally nothing stopping Australia Post from axing untracked parcels either and charging over $40 to send something overseas.

[eol-products]

Don't forget guaranteed next day delivery express post. Plus they cut the parcel pickup times by 1 hour.

[digital*ghost]

A lot of the services would be under review at the moment - the suspension was (officially) until July 1st, so some of them may be reinstated or the suspension could be extended; though letters with merch do appear to be done for. 

I held on to the 150 priority labels I purchased not long before they announced that was suspended, as they assured me they'd be fine once priority is brought back, I'm hoping that at least we'll go back to 5-day letter delivery with priority reinstated before the end of the year, but they wanted the current set-up before covid so even that's a bit iffy. 😕

[evilspyboy]

I found this thread but the same is happening to Etsy. I had 2 items that were sitting 20 minutes drive away from me for 3 months before being returned and I just got another 3 that were nearly 2 months today.

I've been raising complaints as to the handling but it's pretty much killing off all small ecommerce within Australia

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

The EAD issue was only enforced in January 2021 - not "a year ago"

[davewil1964]

Or 'about a year ago' to put your post into the context you are replying to.

And January might have been the case for you, but can you guarantee it applied only from then for every Post Office? And that it wasn't policy about a year ago?