Greetings all,
I'm prepared to wager (shameably) I've probably spent more on postage alone in the last two years than almost any collector has spent on their whole collection. It's a bit late in the piece to be asking for tips on how to save in postage but the last round of nz post price hikes have made it easy for subtle changes in dimensions to significantly bump up the post price.
When items are not packed to dimensions it's easy to pay for empty space when post prices jump from $8 to $12, then to $22 or to $31.50 for being a centimeter off. Most post shops will umm & arr when items look to be a millimeter over or just on their size guidelines if you don't get the right person.
Some sellers aren't too concerned, or perhaps are just unaware, so how to try minimise your costs as a buyer is my question when it's the seller who mostly determines the postage price, post purchase, by their packing and choice of method of posting.
To give an example to illustrate the wild price variances, with nz post as the service used. I have just bought some items that if packed into a single box of :
50cm x 50cm x 60cm x 23kg - it would be $150 via courier post. It is an over-sized item and won't go by standard post.
Now if it were packed to 50cm x 50cm x 50cm and at 25kg, it would be $50.50 and be postable at standard nz post rates.
Anything over 50cm makes the price jump for any courier/freight service who go by volume and not always weight as well.
So finding the offending item, a boxed C64 or Vic 20 (lets say minus power supply to keep the weight down)
58cm x 27cm x 12cm and 5kg weight would be $12.50 postage
with wrapping :
60cm L x 13cm H x 30cm D x 5kg = $12.50 (1cm more H and it's $22)
or
60cm L x 14cm H x 29cm D x 5kg = $12.50 (1cm more D and it's $22)
anything more in weight or centimeters and it would jump from $12.50 to $22 with nz post. (Assuming <=5KG)
So $50.50 + $12.50 is massively less than $150. Just by sending two parcels which you think should cost more than just sending a single item.
There are so many occasions where packing to fit the dimensions of the items, or splitting up into more than one parcel makes all the difference. Unfortunately it's an effort that is too great for most sellers which is also fair enough as they shouldn't have to think about these things.
Have people saved money by having an account with a courier? Some do door to do, others require drop off and pick up at depots. Any experiences to tell about?
C.