Here's the story... because the members of the PiTrex team are all in different countries, at this point before we're properly organised for commercial sales, we are in the unfortunate position that the main PCB is shipped from Australia and the shells from Texas - and you have to find a Pi Zero somewhere on your own, so that's three sets of shipping that frankly cost almost as much as the hardware you're buying.
In the long term we'll find a way to ship from the one place and reduce shipping to the rate that you're accustomed to paying on any Vectrex purchase, but for the moment I felt pretty bad about charging full USPS parcel rates for a single cartridge shell and so for an experiment with half a dozen willing volunteers I'm trying to work out the cheapest shipping method I can find, and for this one-off experiment, I'll ship at cost. We can work out payments when they arrive ... if they arrive in once piece.
That's the why ... now the how...
I started off looking at ways to see if I could send a shell in a regular letter envelope at letter rates,
and actually came up with a method that used a sandwich of cut-to-fit
coroplast slices to completely encapsulate the cartridge (split into
its two halves to keep the thickness down). That would have worked,
but then I found out that there's a 1/4in thickness limit on regular
envelopes.
So since that was exceeded anyway, and the next boundary
was on 3/4in, I switched to using padded bubble mailers (that were the
same shape as regular letters).
With that, only one layer of stiffening
was needed, and I switch from cutting coroplast with a CNC mill to
cutting cardboard with a laser. (btw the coroplast came from discarded
election garden signs, and the cardboard was from shipping boxes such
as Amazon, of which we have more than the normal amount at the moment
due to Covid lockdown... So you can either look on that as being
environmentally friendly or just being cheap; either one fits...)
I also tried some 'paper craft' folding of card stock neatly around
the two shell halves, which worked pretty nicely too. I had planned
to try sending all three types of packaging and see which ones
survived the trip best.
Then the trouble started... I actually went to the effort of reading the postal regulations. It turns out that there are a few considerations which cause them to reclassify something that looks like a letter as a parcel instead. Size is an obvious one... but we're good there ... the bubble mailers are within the size limits ... but the killer is 'rigidity'.
You are supposed to be able to bend the envelope across the center line
in both the horizontal and vertical axes, and the end has to bend in by
at least one inch. Clearly something whose entire height is taken up by
a side of a Vectrex shell is not going to bend in that direction, even
though it might bend on the other axis in the gap between the two shell
halves.
But then I had another idea... by switching up one size of envelope,
from regular to what the Post Office calls 'large envelope',
I could
position the two shell halves at diametrically opposite corners, leaving
room to bend the mailer envelope and pass the rigidity test. There's a
slight increase for 'large envelope' format and a slight surcharge for
weight in some cases, but those are trivial in comparison to parcel
rates. And note that parcel rates would apply to the same lightweight
envelopes - we're not talking about big cardboard boxes here.
mind you, there's still a catch - the package is supposed to be of roughly equal thickness throughout, so I've also padded the other two corners of the package with foam or bubble-wrap as available.
So that's where I'm at now... I've packaged everything up in larger
bubble-mailers, I've tested by folding a little in both directions,
and as far as I can tell from a close reading of the Post Office regs,
there's no remaining justification for them to categorise these as
parcels.
First-Class Mail International (240) Price Group 5
Refer to Notice 123, Price List, for the applicable retail price:
https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c334
First-Class Mail International
Retail Large Envelopes (Flats)
Price Groups
Weight Not Over 1 2 3-5 6-9
(oz.) Canada Mexico
1 $2.40 $2.40 $2.40 $2.40
2 2.63 3.12 3.39 3.34
3 2.85 3.82 4.37 4.26
4 3.06 4.54 5.36 5.19
5 3.28 5.25 6.34 6.12
6 3.50 5.95 7.32 7.05
7 3.72 6.67 8.31 7.98
8 3.94 7.38 9.29 8.90
12 5.03 8.90 11.26 10.83
15.994 6.12 10.44 13.23 12.74
Pieces that are rigid, nonrectangular, or not uniformly thick pay package prices.
Weight Limit: 3.5 oz. for letters and postcards; 15.994 oz. for large envelopes (flats).
The First-Class Mail International classification encompasses all categories of international mail that before May 14, 2007, were categorized as airmail letter-post and economy letter-post, postcards, printed matter, and small packets that were formerly categorized as LC (letters and cards) and AO (other articles).
The weight limit for a letter-size First-Class Mail International mailpiece is 3.5 ounces. Letter-size items exceeding 3.5 ounces are charged the First–Class Mail International flat-size price.
Letter-size mail must be rectangular and must meet the following dimensions:
Note: For the purpose of determining mailability or machinability of a letter-sized piece, the length is the dimension parallel to the delivery address as read, and the height is the dimension perpendicular to the length.
Light-colored envelopes that do not interfere with the reading of the address and postmark must be used. Brilliant colored envelopes are not authorized.
Envelopes and packaging materials must be constructed to be strong enough to withstand normal handling. Highly glazed paper or paper with a design that affects readability or processing is not acceptable.
Envelopes and cards that have green bars or red- and blue-striped borders may be used for the sending of First-Class Mail International items.
Address windows for letter-size envelopes must be used under the following conditions:
Regardless of a letter’s weight, a per-piece surcharge (see Notice 123, Price List) applies to a First-Class Mail International letter that is nonmachinable for any of the following reasons:
Each postcard claimed at a card price must be rectangular and must meet the following dimensions:
Note: Unenclosed cards exceeding the size limits for postcards are mailable at the First-Class Mail International letter price if they do not exceed 4-3/4 inches high or 9-1/4 inches long.
Light-colored cards that do not interfere with the reading of the address and postmark must be used. Brilliant colored cards are not authorized.
Cards must be constructed to be strong enough to withstand normal handling. Highly glazed card stock or card stock with a design that affects readability or processing is not acceptable.
To claim the card price, postcards must meet the following conditions:
The right half of the address side of a card must be reserved for the address of the addressee and postal notations or labels.
The left half of the address side of the card and the reverse side can be used for a message or permissible attachments. If a return address is used, it must appear in the upper-left half of the address side.
The following attachments may be applied to a postcard as noted, provided the attachment is made of paper or other thin material and adheres completely to the card:
The following attachments to a card are not acceptable:
Folded (double) cards must be mailed in envelopes at the First-Class Mail International letter price.
The weight limit for a First-Class Mail International large envelope (flat) is 4 pounds.
Large envelopes (flats) must meet the following dimensions and characteristics:
Note: The length of a large envelope (flat) is the longest dimension. The height is the dimension perpendicular to the length. A First-Class Mail International large envelope (flat) that does not meet the standards in 241.23 correct is not eligible for the large envelope (flat) size price and is charged the applicable package (small packet) price.
Light-colored envelopes that do not interfere with the reading of the address and postmark must be used. Brilliant colored envelopes are not authorized.
Flats must be constructed to be strong enough to withstand normal handling. Highly glazed paper or paper with a design that affects readability or processing is not acceptable.
Large envelopes (flats) must be uniformly thick so that any bumps, protrusions, or other irregularities do not cause more than a 1/4-inch variance in thickness. When determining variance in thickness, exclude the outside edges of a mailpiece (1 inch from each edge) when the contents do not extend into those edges. Also, exclude the selvage of any polywrap covering from this determination. Mailers must secure nonpaper contents to prevent shifting of more than 2 inches within the mailpiece if shifting would cause the piece to be nonuniform in thickness or would result in the contents bursting out of the mailpiece.
Large envelopes (flats) must be flexible. Boxes with or without hinges, gaps, or breaks that allow the piece to bend are not considered large envelopes (flats). Tight envelopes or wrappers that are filled with one or more boxes are not considered large envelopes (flats). Customers have the option to perform the tests described below and illustrated in Exhibit 241.236a–Exhibit 241.236c on their own mailpieces. When a Postal Service employee observes a customer demonstrating that a flat-size piece is flexible according to these standards, the employee does not need to perform the test. Test flats as follows:
Exhibit 241.236a
Flexibility Test — All Large Envelopes (Flats)
Exhibit 241.236b
Flexibility Test — Large Envelopes (Flats) 10 Inches or Longer
Exhibit 241.236c
Flexibility Test — Large Envelopes (Flats) Less Than 10 Inches Long
The weight limit for a First-Class Mail International package (small packet) is 4 pounds.
Packages (small packets) other than rolls must be within the following dimensions:
Rolls must be within the following dimensions:
Packages (small packets) must be constructed to be strong enough to withstand normal handling.