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Postal Arbitrage

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Re: Postal Arbitrage

#261

Post by slumberlust »

systemtest wrote: post #225
sudobash1 wrote: post #19

I feel I should point out that USPS has a lower rate for postcards (currently $0.61), so the threshold might be a bit lower. I know that this is tongue-in-cheek and would be pretty funny to receive, but it isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. The experience of getting a little message printed on receipt paper is nothing like the experience of receiving a note or card in the mail. Through the mail you receive somethi…

How can it be that low? The Netherlands has a stamp rate of €1.40 for 20 grams and you can traverse that country in three hours. 20 to 50 grams is €2.80. If you have to cross a border that goes up to €4.22 Can you send a letter thousands of miles for only 61 cents? That's amazing!

Economy of scale. By the time it gets sorted and on a truck, 100 miles is roughly the same cost as 1000.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#262

Post by OrderlyTiamat »

eru wrote: post #202
OrderlyTiamat wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is already taken into account: Shagie's table is based on [1], which is per kilogram-kilometer [1] https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/freight-transportation

I suspect they are underestimating how efficient ocean shipping really is.

Do you have any basis for that which I could refer to in discussion?

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#263

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

ileonichwiesz wrote: post #220
fuzzer371 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have fun when no one wants to deliver food to you.

The army of faceless delivery gig workers can’t exactly pick and choose. They deliver the food or they get banned from the platform and replaced by the next guy.

>replaced by the next guy.

There is a loser born every minute. (The loser has no choice in been born, though)

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#264

Post by alibarber »

TrackerFF wrote: post #214

I used to import a lot of stuff from the US to Norway. I lived all the way up in northern Norway, so parcels would take roughly 5 working days from Oslo to where I lived. Domestic overnight mail / express mail was prohibitively expensive, something equivalent to $150 for small items. However, if I ordered something via USPS International Express, those items would automatically be shipped as overnight / express mail…

It's similar here in Finland - I can get stuff from DigiKey with all taxes paid and whatnot, free shipping over 50eur and it'll arrive by DHL in less than 48hrs from the States.

If I order something locally, maybe it'll have made it to the departure sorting office in that time.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#265

Post by cortesoft »

mhink wrote: post #39
_trampeltier wrote: post #28

This story comes to my mind. A pizzeria owner made money buying his own $24 pizzas from DoorDash for $16 https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/18/21262316/doordash-pizza-p...

Note: the Verge article links to this blog post, describing the situation in more detail: https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage

The pizza owner from that article is my wife’s cousin!

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#266

Post by Imustaskforhelp »

pruetj wrote: post #258
Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you also start providing the 0.25$ lime feature as well (by making use of the amazon prime itself as well?) xD?

"Special offer: 80% off if you send a lime with a note attached instead of a letter!"

This might actually blow up on the internet lol, very innovative ngl. GP should try to do it if its legally allowable xD

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#267

Post by royskee »

pruetj wrote: post #90

Funny seeing this. I've been working on a site to allow people to send a letter as cheaply and conveniently as possible. I actually think letters (physical) are a great way to make an impression, often times much more so than an email. Had never considered sending an actual object lol. At current scale (which is very small), the cheapest I can get it down to without losing money is $1.55 per letter (postage, paper, p…

That's pretty neat. It's a little oblique to your project, but you might be interested in the QSL bureau system https://www.iaru.org/on-the-air/qsl-bureau/

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#268

Post by pdonis »

Terr_ wrote: post #200
pdonis wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> for something like the local pizza place, customer behaviour doesn't match that of a market participant. I'm not sure why you think that. "Market participant" doesn't mean "always takes the lowest priced deal". People are willing to pay higher prices for food from local restaurants, as opposed to chains, fast food, etc., because they feel that the extra value they are getting (better quality, knowing the people who…

> What is not a free market is A bit of a tangent, but price transparency is another factor. At least when economists publish their "it's the bestest and most efficient option" analyses their definition involves perfect information: No secret prices, no non-disclosure agreements, everybody knows what was paid for inputs and labor, etc. I bring this up because there is an unavoidable conflict between "the market that…

> price transparency is another factor

Yes, agreed. One obvious place in the US where that is a huge problem is health care.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#269

Post by nzealand »

Looks like they already closed this arbitrage opportunity?

When I try to ship a lemon to a friend I get "There was a problem with some of the items in your order (see below for more information): Sorry, Lemon can't be shipped to the address you selected. Please remove the item or select another address."

Pity, my friend needed a lemon, to know I was thinking of him.

Edit: I can ship a lemon for $3 shipping if I select my friends address prior to adding the lemon to the cart, but with no option for a gift note that I can see.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#270

Post by phyzome »

mattmaroon wrote: post #135
ryanjshaw wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could have made another $5 per 10 pizzas after order #1 by just delivering the pizza to themselves and sending the same boxes back out in the next delivery, and so on.

An actual DoorDash driver had to do the delivery though. So you risk being reported and also, if they take awhile, pizza gets cold. But they also could have just raised prices on everything but the cheap one DoorDash was using for pricing.

Risk being reported? To the company that you don't want interacting with you anyhow?
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