Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Flat tubs for sale

Our flat tubs are hot items. You see them in garages, at flea markets, in hospitals and even in the backs of our competitor's vehicles. (see this post from last month for the evidence.)

But here's an idea that's been suggested by others. Why not offer our flat tubs for sale?  They are well-made, perfect for not only mail but also for car parts, books and garden supplies, and could sport a little USPS advertising.

The ones for sale would be colored or stamped differently than the workroom variety so they could be easily distinguished.

Good idea? If so, how much should they sell for? Comment here.

(By the way, in case you missed it. If you see large amounts of equipment, you can call the special phone number 866-330-3404 or email hqmte@usps.gov.)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

No

Anonymous said...

The ones that I saw at a store called Fleet Farm were selling a tub of the same style for $6.95!!

Anonymous said...

How much? It's always about the price.

The Half Insane Man said...

Yeah...why not...try it and see what happens...could they be sold for $5 with a profit?

Anonymous said...

SOLD ..... for $5....

Anonymous said...

It's a good idea. Go for it!

Anonymous said...

$2.00 over our cost. Good deal
for consumer, but GREAT PR for USPS.

R.K. Hudson

Joan said...

As long as they are a different color, with good USPS advertisizing, at our cost Plus a couple of bucks why not. We might even get the ones back that are out there in private use.

grannybunny@hotmail.com said...

In order for the price to be competitive, we would probably have to sell them at our cost -- since I know we pay alot for them -- but it would help cut the loss from people keeping ours and give us free publicity, to boot.

Anonymous said...

I talked to several retail managers and asked them what their mark up % was. All stated between 30% and 33 1/3% above cost. If we are a retail supplier then we should follow the norm.

Anonymous said...

Yes we should as long as we make a decent profit off of them.

Anonymous said...

I saw a lawyer walk into court with one of our tubs last week.

Beth said...

To begin with the USPS pays over $6.00 per tub so any markup would make them more then most consumers would want to spend. And I will tell you that upper management in the PO must not be terribly worried at the amount they are losing. Over a year ago I was approached by an employee of UPS, I am a carrier that delivers to their facility, and they asked me how they could get rid of all that they have. I went to management with this and all I got was the run around. The truck drivers will not go pick them up if they have to load them by hand. After several months of waiting I was approached again. No one had called them back. I began picking them up a few per day and in all of last year I picked up over 4000 tubs. At the cost of $6.00 per tub, you do the math, that is over $24,000 dollars that I have saved the PO in just 2010 alone. If they were at all concerned they would contact all UPS facilities and figure out a way to get them back.