Was just wondering if anybody here ships their oversized letter mail orders in boxes that meet the 2 cm rule. I only use bubble mailers at the moment, but my friend works at a company that makes custom boxes. So I'm getting him to look into pricing for me. Or does Canada post not really like boxes for letter mail? I couldn't find anything saying that it couldn't be.

If I could simple fit an order into a box instead of having to nicely package everything (which I find is my biggest time consumer) so that it perfectly fits in the bubble mailer and won't shift and change the thickness, it would be so much easier and faster to package letter mail orders. 

I suspect boxes would be heavier than bubble mailers. Also, I don't think it's possible to have rigid cardboard under 1-2mm, which defeats the point of a box...

Though I agree that packing orders under 20mm is terribly time consuming!

Edited March 9, 20169 yr by Stragus

Here are the guidelines....
https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGletterml-e.asp

Here's some info about machinable mail...
https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/business/tools/advisors/mmadvisor/default.jsf?LOCALE=en&ecid=murl10005866

And even a little more about machinable mail...
https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/supportdocuments/PSMach_SL_Assessment_Tool-e.pdf

It doesn't specifically say no, but if you look at the last link, under Material, it says:

Quote

Must be sufficiently flexible to bend; items cannot be rigid.

Which more or less implies cardboard boxes cannot be used.

I've never personally seen or used boxes for the lettermail/oversized lettermail option. It's possible some allow it or whatever, but what Greg posted seems to be pretty definitive.

If 20mm boxes are possible, I'd be interested in going in on a bulk order. 

Can we do some experiments and get a handful made and ship them back and forth to each other to see how they make out? 

Try CD/DVD mailers, they're basically a thin box.

The snagging issue can be fixed by putting packing tape over the fold/flap seam.

...but they can be as much as $.35 each where as a bubble mailer is $.03 & much less weight.

^ $0.03 each? I'm clearly shopping in the wrong place, do you mind letting me know where you can get them for that price?

In terms of LEGO what would you try shipping in the <2cm lettermail size. Minifigs?

12 minutes ago, CupIsHalfEmpty said:

^ $0.03 each? I'm clearly shopping in the wrong place, do you mind letting me know where you can get them for that price?

;-)    think supernumeraries subsidized by the Canadian taxpayers... but ya gotta be alert & have sizeable vehicular conveyance  :-)

43 minutes ago, lobo1969 said:

In terms of LEGO what would you try shipping in the <2cm lettermail size. Minifigs?

Up to 260g of parts/minifigs, as long as nothing is thicker than 18mm.

It is awfully time consuming to pack, believe me!

And here I am thinking $.45 a piece from Costco was an ok deal.  

53 minutes ago, Stragus said:

Up to 260g of parts/minifigs, as long as nothing is thicker than 18mm.

It is awfully time consuming to pack, believe me!

I thought the weight cutoff was 200g?

500 grams is the max for oversized.