Did USPS Discontinue Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes?

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


Comments

UPDATE 1-13-22

A USPS spokesperson is still looking into this issue for me, but has confirmed as of today the Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes are back up on the USPS website and available to order.


Some astute sellers have noticed USPS appears to be out of stock and possibly discontinuing Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes.

This previous link to the flat rate padded envelopes is no longer active and loyal reader FidoMaster reported this is what they see when looking at their saved favorites.

Sellers in the community are discussing the issue, with some suggesting it may just be an issue with the restock date being extremely far out.

Are USPS Padded Flat Rate Envelopes out of stock or no longer available? Can’t even find them on the
website. I have heard about USPS free supplies being delayed or out of stock but I can’t even find the Padded Flat Rate envelopes listed. If I am missing something please let me know. If not what alternatives are you using if these were your go to for certain orders? Luckily, I can usually just buy…

Generally, if you no longer see something listed, it would be a good indication that they will no longer be supplying that type or that the restocking will be so far out, they don't want to hold orders.

The clear envelopes for customs forms were also "discontinued" with a "page not found" about 2 years ago. They suddenly appeared back in the USPS store a couple months ago. I'm not counting out the PFREs just yet.

I've had a difficult time getting certain box sizes for a few months now (sizes 7 and 4).

A reddit user on this thread speculated the change may be in reaction to years of abuse by sellers using the free mailers as packing filler.

Are USPS Padded Flat Rate Envelopes out of stock or no longer available? Can't even find them on the website. from Ebay

I have a feeling they’re gonna do away with all this free packaging soon because people feel the need to misuse this stuff because they’re too cheap for packaging- same thing happened with the free tape they used to have

I'm seeing some chatter on Twitter as well, though so far no responses from USPS.


I've reached out to USPS for comment and will update as more information becomes available - in the mean time, if you do have USPS Priority Mail Padded Envelopes on hand, you may want to use them sparingly. 😉

NewsShippingUSPS

Liz Morton Twitter Facebook
LinkedIn

Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.

Avatar Placeholder
Senoritanunez
I just went to my local post office and they gave me some, but it looks like they may also be short on this item.
31

Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholderJaeLynnYesterday
I've had this happen a few times, and it confused me. One seller alleged that they had to use Amazon's services to make sure I got my item in time. I recently bought something simple, and the seller made a mistake. They'd sent me 3 different messages, one of them too early, telling me they hoped my item arrived in perfect condition. The next day, the item was marked as shipped, and I got an official Ebay shipping email. The seller was using direct messages to give me item updates. If I wanted Amazon, I'd have used them myself! lol
Avatar PlaceholderlessthanthreerecordsYesterday
Happening to me too. On my active listings page (with the full list) it looks fine, but when I click on them, many have the random characters. I reported it, and that's when one glitch led to another! As I was typing the message after clicking the "?", letters were repeatedly not coming up (usually one or two at the end of a word). I was finally able to get the message entered, but how tedious!
Avatar Placeholderbritishsoeedw-02 days ago
I'm having the same problem, Vat has ben added to my listings and sales have literally stopped.