Thursday, October 7, 2010

Ship your bags before you fly


Benny here.
If you've flown lately, you would notice that airlines are starting to charge fees for luggage.

It started with minimal charges for second bags. Now, even first bags are getting charged.
(See chart of current fees here.)

Then there's the checked baggage fees, carry-on restrictions, overweight or oversize bag charges too. What a hassle for travelers.

It wasn't this way in my day!  Just throw as many bags as you could into the carriage and off you went!  Although Mrs. Franklin packed enough for the Revolutionary Army, we still had room.

Maybe there's an opportunity here for the Postal Service. For example, maybe we could have three specifically designed Priority Mail boxes of different sizes with flat rate tiered pricing systems for simplicity.

Is this a market we should tap into? Comment here.

13 comments:

Phil Terrana said...

You are absolutely right. This past year as the airlines began charging to carry bags on planes I was thinking about all the people who go on sking trips. Couldn't the Postal Service allow them to mail their equipment a week or so before their trips. If enough people did this the USPS could handle it separately as they do NETFLIX, possibly have a tube-like box for skis, boots, etc. You asked for personal stories in your blog. I wrote a whole book of them. If you could mention my novel, "Postal Service" in your blog I would appreciate it. Thank you,
Phil Terrana

Anonymous said...

Maybe. I've mailed parcels before in order to not have to check them. I believe the first bag is usually $25.00. Not sure how much the second bag costs. We would have to be able to beat those prices. If I had a choice of $25 with USPS and $25 with the airline; I'd select the airline because the bag would be with me. It all boils down to price.

Anonymous said...

Why not? It can't hurt.
Go for it!!

Anonymous said...

I think it's a great idea! We could offer a "suitcase" box for a flat Priority rate and market it to travelers. It would save them money and time, as they wouldn't have to wait at the luggage carousel. Their belongings would be waiting for them at their destination.

Joan said...

I've already done this. I took a two week cruise and sent back several boxes from FL rather than try to fly back with them.

Francis said...

If we are allowed, we don't have to restrict to any baggage, we could get into Container Shipping. For this we need to have strong in Railways besides Air and Roadways. We maybe stepping on toes with UPS and Fedex. We can pass the legislation to allow us to do it if it is not already there. Anyway they are not helping us with what we have asked for, they should let us atleast grow and make this a profitable organization (not-for-non-profit anymore).

Anonymous said...

Absolutely we should be tapping into this market! What's the hold up? Customers are mailing some of their stuff now instead of paying the airline's fees. UPS introduced one why aren't we? Let's get on it.

Anonymous said...

When I traveled in Japan by train, we would ship our suitcase ahead of time and it was at our hotel upon arrival. I remember we took our suitcases to a shipping service, they shrouded them in a specially-made bag that fit the suitcase. I remember this as more of a logistical solution to hauling luggage up and down stairs, from train to bus, etc. However, there may have been a cost factor that I was not aware of.

Anonymous said...

Definitely. I also think we should have APCs/kiosks at major airports for people to mail items that they forgot were in their bags that can't go on the airplane but are safe to mail as well as items they may buy as presents/souvenirs in airports. With flat rate shipping, we should be able to offer these services.

Anonymous said...

I just wish we had the ability to ship internationally at a less expensive rate. I am going to NZ and would love to lighten my load.

Anonymous said...

I agree with putting APCs in airports. What about another version of the large flat rate Priority box with an airplane on the side?

Anonymous said...

UPS already has a "suitcase box". Where did we go wrong?

Anonymous said...

Where did we go wrong?

Don't get me started...