Did you know that if you send a parcel from the UH post office located inside the University Bookstore at the University Center, you might be charged three times more than what you would pay at a nearby post office?
That is exactly the situation I faced last semester. I tried to send a tiny package (2.5†ounces)†to Corona, Calif. The shipping cost for the package would have been $4.50, and that is for regular postage, not priority.
I did not want to pay that much so I went to the nearby post office at Palm Center,
5514 Griggs Rd., (less than three miles from campus) and tried to send it again.
This time I was asked to pay only $1.47.
I never knew that the UH postal service could set a different price from another post office for the same item.
Based on my experience, I do know that Kmart or Sears can set different prices because of competition (this is announced in their advertising), but postal service is not the same.
Interestingly enough, a long time ago I was a UH postal service worker for two summers, and my supervisor never said that there was a price difference between UH postal service and other places. Thus, this has become†a big mystery to me.
It is outrageous that the UH postal service is allowed to set its prices three times higher than other post offices and this cannot be justified.
I think the UH community should be aware of such differences, and someone should solve this outrageous price problem.
†
Guo-Yin Xu
Former UH graduate student
