I Ordered Shipping Supplies from the Post Office

And you can too

Photo by Alex Perz on Unsplash

Since I’ve started reselling on Etsy in a bigger way than ever before, I need more shipping supplies.

My go-to “store” is the recycling dumpster behind my local True Value hardware store. I mean, I can generally find small and large boxes, sometimes I snag bubble wrap or other packing materials to pad breakables, and every once in awhile I find new stuff that they throw away. Score!

But when I need postal supplies that the U.S. Postal Service gives away, duh, I’ve always gone to the post office.

Well, I’ve learned that they don’t stock everything in the post office locations. So now I order shipping supplies from the comfort of my home. And you can, too!

You Can Get Those Supplies At Home! Who Knew?

I love using the Priority Mail flat rate options. The Priority Mail flat rate envelopes and boxes are a guaranteed price no matter the weight, as long as you can seal the sucker. For really heavy items, I use the flat rate option every time.

For instance, I recently mailed three vintage flower frogs that weighed a ton. Well, not a literal ton, but they were heavy. They fit in a small Priority Mail flat rate box so that cost just $7.90 to ship. If I’d used my own box, it would have been probably double that price.

I also especially like the legal size flat rate envelopes. They are longer than the regular Priority Mail envelopes and let me fit quite a few items in there, like a couple of vintage bath towels and other items.

But the two post offices I frequent never have the legal size envelopes in stock. When I asked about this, the clerk said I should call and order them.

So, I did!

When I was talking to the very helpful postal employee who took my order (I had to call because I couldn’t figure out how to order the supplies online), she told me about padded Priority Mail mailers. Who knew such a thing even existed? Not me!

I ordered 36 of those bad boys, too, along with the legal size envelopes.

Then I was recently at the post office to mail several Priority Mail boxes and envelopes and joked to the…