Shipping - good and bad

[Runscott]

I'll save the bad for last, but felt the 'good' guys deserved a positive comment regarding shipping.

I've scratched my head three times over shipping lately from auction houses. In one case, I called Hunt and they said that they could ship via a different carrier if I chose. I let it ride and I give them an A+ for customer service. Their customer service is really superb. I sent Mears an email after receiving what appeared to be a wacky mistake invoice for shipping, simply asking them to take another look at the invoice, because it must be wrong - they did, they revised it - another A+. The single 4x6 photo arrived in a GIANT box, super-duper protected. At first I thought it might contain the COMPLETE '33 Goudey set I recently won . Okay, now I get it. MEARS PROTECTS!!!

Just one more The last one was for a single cabinet card. The insurance looked right, but the shipping was $13.50. I assumed it would be going UPS or Fedex with ultra-protection in a giant box, as some auction houses like to do (like Mears), so I didn't even ask. No. It arrived today in a 3 oz 1st class USPS bubble-mailer, marked as 'commercial rate'. For me that would have been $1.81. I'm not complaining about the packing - $1.81 was all it needed.

How do they get off charging $13.50 (plus insurance) and then sticking the item in a 1st class bubble-mailer?