USPS rate increase to be effective May 14, 2007
Andrew Norton
Stamps will cost $.41 instead of $.39 and a "forever" stamp has been introduced. The "forever" stamp can be purchased at the new $.41 rate and will be valid against future increases. Unfortunately (for businesses that heavily rely on shipping - like us) they also raised their rates across the board for everything including Priority Mail. We will be evaluating our shipping rates over the next couple of months and most likely we will have to raise at least some of our shipping rates. We generally lose money on shipping as it is and with this Postal Service rate increase we will be forced into raising our rates in May.
For Example: Our most popular gift baskets weigh approximately 8-10 pounds and generally fit into the $9.95 charge for shipping. Currently to ship one of those gift baskets to Texas it would cost $12.60 so we lose $2.65. On May 14 when the Priority Mail rates increase it will then cost $15.60 to ship that same basket and if we do not raise our rates at least marginally - we will lose $5.65.
Now, this in no way means that we will charge $15 for shipping instead of the current $9.95 for gift baskets in the $50 to $74.99 range. We will run some calculations based upon current shipping destinations and the basket types that are shipped most often and come up with new shipping rates.
Again, we will not raise our rates until the new Postal rates take effect on May 14, 2007. Until then our current shipping rates will still apply.