USPS Flat Rate boxes for egg shipping?

[LoneCowboy]

Ok, I have a dumb question. I'm kind of discouraged because the price of hatching eggs is so high, that DH can't see why I would hatch when I can buy sexed pullets for less.

I understand that people have to make enough to cover feed and time and everything, but is there some reason why they don't use the Flat rate priority mail boxes?

The eggs I got, cost $12 in shipping, but the box was smaller than the fat flat rate boxes (not the skinny ones) that ships any weight for $8.95. Just wondering cus $3 could make a difference for me, or do people just hike the shipping price to compensate for the low price of the eggs?

I'm not talking about people here, I'm taking about Ebay etc.

 

[Redfeathers]

I sell on ebay and though the flat rate boxes are the best for shipping heavy items, you sometimes want a smaller box to keep items maybe like the eggs, more secure with less room to bounce around. The handlers for the postal service are less then gentle. It's not always a matter of trying to get more for postage, sometimes it just depends on what zone you are mailing to. If I mail a package that weighs over a pound to the east coast, they will charge me a lot more than something closer to home. The benefit of the flat rate can't be beat, you know exactly what you are going to pay. I've had small items cost far more than heavy items in a flat rate box. It's strange but true, I'd love to re vamp the whole USPS system to something that actually makes sense, but of course I have no say at all.

 

[speckledhen]

I can mail a half dozen in the $8.95 flat rate box, but not 20 eggs like I sometimes do. If it's cheaper and they'll fit with all the packing materials, I will. If not, I use the box that will keep the eggs the safest and fit the number of eggs I'm sending.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Have you looked at what the hatcheries charge for eggs? It's very high.

Personally, the shipping for the eggs I got here and on Ebay was very fair.
Even if someone adds $3 to the shipping it is still a deal for the amount of work
it takes to pack them. No one is getting rich selling eggs. People here sell eggs
for the satisfaction of it, not the profit. They are lucky if they cover feed costs.
I mean c'mon. $25 for 15 eggs, including freight. I won't get in my work van for less
than $100. I do sell my chicks for $3 each, just to cover some of my many expenses.
It's a hobby, not a job.

Hatching eggs is a totally different experience. Plus you are usually buying
high quality breeds when you buy eggs. It is by far the most expensive, short
of buying grown birds and paying $50 for shipping.

Hatcheries have a cost of pennies per bird. It's all volume. It's the same with
factory farms. I can buy chicken at the grocery store for a lot less than I can grow
it.

If $3 makes a difference to you then buy hatchery chicks or wait until your local
feed store has them.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Yeah, I've priced hatchery eggs. Sky High. I think people on here are really reasonable, but I don't think they are in a lot of cases on ebay. I got to figuring what I paid for my eggs, and it was $2.83 ea. EEK Now, $25 a doz is only like $2.08 that's .75 an egg difference. I guess I wasn't paying close attention to what I was doing. And still it's not horrible, I'm willing to pay it, but DH isn't.

So I was wondering, why this lady didn't use flat rate, when her box was smaller. I was wondering if there was a postage regulation that forbid it or something. Really, I'm not critizing anybody's prices on here, besides the fact that on here I know I'm getting good quality well kept birds, just from reading about their history etc.

I'm looking at it from this point of view. For $2.83 an egg, I got RIR's but for $2.08 I could have had Blue Orpingtons. Excuse me if I feel just a little taken (besides there was a lot of bad history in the deal, like weeks late etc)

But thanks for letting me know there isn't a regulation that doesn't allow it because at some point I want to sell eggs too. (DH willing)

 

[speckledhen]

How many eggs did she put in that little square box? I have one here and there's no way I could get over a dozen in that box with the way I wrap my eggs. I think PC could attest to that.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Once your flock starts laying you will have FREE EGGS. I have 20 or so of my
own chicks in my brooders. Their dad was a white Leghorn and their moms could
be anything from an Australorp to a buff. They are all white mutts but technically they
were free. It felt really good to hatch our own babies too.

 

[speckledhen]

So true, PC, so true.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Speckled's eggs come in a fireproof vault mounted to a skid.

Oh, almost forgot the lead shielding.

 

[speckledhen]