There will be a significant reduction in cases, but there will still be challenges in the package delivery industry. I foresee more coming down the pike on this ~ tech rules. Evolving and expanding the concept of tracking and tracking numbers is a big deal. Simply having Etsy labels at all is a boon to the USPS ~ crowd sourcing the labor of producing labels and validating postage categories. After reading many discussions, doing a bit of research, and giving the matter some thought, I suspect the big value of this is in "reducing" the number of cases, reducing uncertainty, and reducing anxiety ~ on both sides, for sellers and buyers. understand that question and have seen it asked a number of times in Etsy forums. We all know, the world wants less fraud, abuse, loss, damage, and theft in delivery of packages and letters. I am certain that carriers such as Fedex, UPS, and Amazon (as they develop that part of their corporation) are also investing big in evolving their tracking systems. Ergo, I think my observations and guesses are reasonably on target, that tracking of USPS First Class Mail is going to get better and better. Remember, the USPS offers a service whereby recipients can have their mail photographed in transit so that they can "see what is coming." (I assume that service continues to exist and evolve. That can be done a myriad of ways, but clearly "all packages are in the USPS computer systems based on a tracking number" so why not letters. I suspect that the Pitney Bowes data barcode in the upper right corner of letters references the tracking record for the item in the USPS computer systems. It is my observations and guess (I cannot confirm it in this moment) that Etsy, Pitney Bowes, and the USPS are working together to create better and better and better tracking of both First Class Mail envelopes and all types of packages. Package scanning is handled by a different means, generally speaking. This is what makes letter tracking possible. They run lickety slip through a variety of heavy rollers and scanners in route to their destination. There is a reason that First Class mail and flats have to be machinable. Combined, those two codes contain enough information to run through the USPS delivery system, leaving a trace at each stop along the way. A fair bit of information is contained in that data barcode. Additionally, the Etsy label generated for USPS First Class Mail includes a Pitney Bowes data barcode in the upper right corner. Many businesses apply these barcodes directly to envelopes to save in postage costs. Most of us have seen the odd barcodes that show up across the bottom of letters. So how does it work? The USPS has used IMB (Intelligent Mail Barcodes) for sometime now ~ evolved from previous methods of letter tracking. It is fair to say that this type of tracking is better than "no tracking", by a long shot. Sometimes I get the neighbor's mail in my box and sometimes buyers do not keep their shipping address up to date. Both sellers and buyers can see the transit points for the item on their order transcript in Etsy. For the vast majority of items, this is accurate and true information. The envelope was tracked through each sorting point in transit to ultimately indicate "delivered" at its destination. To accomplish this, I printed the Etsy label directly on the envelope (eventually I will get label pages that are 4 labels per page.) I slipped the envelope with its contents into the slot at the post office the mail was picked up and brought to the preliminary sort in Nashville. One of the most important aspects of this is about the tracking information that records that the item was actually mailed that part is incontrovertible and more than half the issue as regards tracking. The envelope was tracked in transit to its conclusion, "delivered" as recorded by the USPS. I switched to all flats, which involves a slightly larger envelope 6.5" x 9.5" and slightly more postage.) Generally these items require $1.00 or $1.15 in postage.Īn incident, which turned out to be an out of date incorrect buyer shipping address, led me to investigate Etsy labels "First Class Mail Tracking." I will get to the conclusion first. 25" and my envelopes were at that threshold. (Before that I was sending some as letters, but the max thickness for letters is. Heretofore I have used the ordinary USPS First Class Mail Flats format ~ standard postage stamps, dropped in the slot at the post office, no tracking of course. I gave this a try with my most recent sale of lightweight items.
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