by 
Spixxy
ANSWERS: 2
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The post office doesn't provide "free boxes" just for eBay sellers. Anyone can get them. And it's not just boxes, but large envelopes, mailing tubes, and stickers. The catch is that these supplies are only for mailing items through the USPS via Express Mail, Priority Mail, Global Express Mail and Global Priority Mail... all high-end services. And the penalties for using the free mailing supplies to mail something other then through the Post Office can be steep. So what the post office gets is more people shipping with them rather than using some other means of shipping, since they provide supplies to individuals and businesses free of charge.
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Merry's answer is correct. I'm not sure what the penalty for misuse of a Priority or Express Mail box is, but I THINK it's something on the order of $300 PER OCCURENCE. The Postal Service has caught businesses sending hundreds or thousand of shipments using Priority Mail boxes turned inside out and sent at bulk rate, 30-90 cents, instead of $4.00 or more. When they catch that, the usual practice is to retroactively bill the company for the difference in postage going back at least one year... VERY expensive for the company. You will find that many Priority and Express mail boxes now have the letters "USPS" printed in big black letters on what is supposed to be the inside of the box, hopefully to reduce the instances of misuse.
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