Comment by thaumasiotes
2 days ago
> I rarely need to use a scale for postage. If I have a standard envelope (~5g) and 3 sheets of paper (15g), I know I'm at 20g total. It turns physical shipping logistics into simple integer arithmetic.
...was using a scale for postage a concern? If you're shipping things on the order of three sheets of paper, you're way below any conceivable threshold. USPS charges a flat rate on letters under 370 grams!
If you're sending 1,700 pieces of looseleaf paper in a box... just weigh the box.
German postage for letters is under 20g, under 50g and under 500g so I had this issue a few times so far when sending a few letters a day over a few weeks. You can see it here for international letters for example: https://www.deutschepost.de/en/b/briefe-ins-ausland.html
Thankfully I just had a scale, but I can see this being helpful when you don't.
Given that we are talking about A4 papers and grams, I'd bet this wasn't in the US.
In Europe, the typical flat rate is up to 100g for standard letters. And that's 20 sheets, which is not a particularly unusual letter to send.
But 20 sheets do not fit in a regular DL or C5 envelope so you already have an hint that you may check the limits, you usually send them in a reinforced C4 enveloppe.
French "La Poste" sets the first threashold at 20 g.
You will be using Aerograms soon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogram
On a related subject I just discovered that sending a letter in Denmark now costs a minimum of $4.50.
>USPS charges a flat rate on letters under 370 grams!
In the UK the limit for a letter is 100 grams:
https://www.royalmail.com/sending/uk/1st-class
And as that link eventually shows there are limits on the dimensions as well. I sometimes think a simple table might be better than these interactive pages, but I suppose it has to work on a phone.
24 by 16.5 by 0.5 cm for the standard 1st class letter. So you could send an A5 booklet made of less than 20 sheets of A4 (80 g/m^2) paper as a standard letter.
If the postage is short, our lovely privatised Post Office holds the letter and makes the recipient pay the excess.
Back on thread: Repeatedly fold an A0 sheet of paper in half. How many folds can you do? A ream (500 sheets) of 80 g/m^2 paper is about 2.5cm thick. (good when teaching geometric progressions).
In Sweden, the lowest postage (one stamp, 22 SEK or around $2) is for max 50 grams.
A first class forever stamp only covers 1oz (28g).