When postal rates go up on May 14, many small business owners will be looking for ways to save on their mailing costs.
Many will switch to e-mail and other high-tech methods, while others will opt for smaller envelopes or thinner packages.
And some will take more drastic steps - such as abandoning higher-cost, low-margin parts of their businesses.
Steve Weber, who sells books online, already stopped shipping some lower-priced books in recent years because he simply couldn’t make enough of a profit as mailing costs increased. When rates rise again, he expects to pare his inventory further, discarding or donating books that would sell for $5 or less.
”I’ll probably downsize quite a bit and focus in on the items that are worth more money,” said Weber, adding that he’ll also be shipping fewer books overseas.
Evan Bloom, who co-owns a Sir Speedy printing franchise in Westbury, N.Y., said that while in the past the U.S. Postal Service based its prices on weight and size, now thickness of a letter or package is being thrown into the mix.
He noted, for example, that a business sending out a letter with a complimentary pen to a prospective customer has only had to worry about the weight of the package. But as of May 14, the thickness of such an envelope will figure into the cost because the pen will make it harder for the package to be sorted.
The postal rate hike follows by several months rate increases at package delivery services including FedEx Inc. and UPS Inc. And so the higher cost of mailing and shipping is likely to make many small businesses turn to e-mail and Web-based mail to send out letters, reports, presentations, projects and more.
Photo by MSDesign.
Manos Galounis on February 6th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Reading about ebay hike rise and its’ resulting upheaval , reminded me about some early thoughts regarding the actual nature of these types of sites.
These sites could be considered communities.
It was evident when YouTube was acquired by Google:
Google acquired an actual community not a simple site with a superior number of users. It acquired a community mature enough to exert self consciousness. Thus the statements of the form ‘what will now happen to us’ were openly declared by the users.
Now, with ebay, we have a similar case of direct, one way intervention to a community.
Moreover, in the case of ebay, we have a site that invites and suggests users to establish their own business in it’s domain ie tie part of their well being to the site. Some of these users are depending their entire income to the site, some others their extra earnings and others are just making their first efforts.
Rising the rates at an absurd manner isn’t similar to a local community governor raising the community taxes in an absurd manner?
Is not the same as a community new tax policy forcing small shops to close?
If yes, is there any protective mechanism in place?
Ebay case generates some questions like :
These types of sites, how can be governed?
How a user can be protected?
Can they run as a simple corporation without responsibility towards their users?
Social responsibility issues are not in effect to this type of community?
Only commercial rights and responsibilities govern these type of relationships?
Extending this line of thought further, an ultimate question rises :
Has the right, a site like ebay, to close down?
Manos Galounis,
magalounis@netmocracy.info,
http://www.netmocracy.info
blog.netmocracy.info