Postmaster Ginette Simpson sees a lot of transient faces at her small post office in Hostetter, Unity Township.
"They come in with a lot of packages at any given time," she said.
They are part of the growing number of eBayers who have increased the volume of parcels in post offices all over the country, from tiny rural sites to metropolitan offices.
According to eWeek Enterprise News & Reviews, the popularity of Internet communication put a dent in first-class mail handled by the U.S. Postal Service.
However, the rise in eBay commerce picked up that decline in volume. The Postal Service handled 90.1 billion pieces of mail in 2000, then only 87.2 billion pieces in 2002. In 2004, the volume dramatically increased, to 95.6 billion pieces, eWeek reported.
"According to eBay officials, at any given time, there are more than 25 million items for sale on eBay," said Diana Svoboda, a communications specialist with the Postal Service in Pittsburgh.
That includes the ordinary to the strange, items that a decade ago would have been sold at flea markets or yard sales, or even thrown away. Now eBayers are shipping it all across the country and around the world.
Linda Noel, postmaster at Forbes Road for 12 years, has about a dozen eBay customers who come in once every week or two.
"I love the stories they tell," she said. "One woman mailed a pair of nylon stockings -- not pantyhose -- with seams, and got $25 for them. Another customer paid $5 for an old Bundt pan at a flea market and sold it for $300. Another bought a vintage pink canister set for 50 cents and sold it for $80."
Then there was an old high school varsity jacket that was purchased for 50 cents and sold for $60.
Someone even unloaded a mint-green polyester suit with pearl buttons. The local hawker advertised it on eBay as perfect for a Texas oil tycoo, and sold it to an oil company executive who collected oil memorabilia.
Some of Noel's customers ship old books and used CDs, but more recently, she sees fewer of them as they opt for more convenient USPS services.
"I used to have a customer who shipped out glassware on a regular basis, but now she uses home pickup," said Simpson, who has been at Hostetter since 1993.
They started working with eBay in September 2003, and shipping is now easier for people who don't want to stand in line or wait while their parcels are being processed.
"They have teamed up to offer sellers one-stop shipping that currently includes fully integrated shipping solutions on the eBay Web site," Svoboda said.
Sellers can calculate rates on their own scales or use one of the Postal Service's priority flat-rate envelopes or boxes. Then they print out mailing labels and charge the postage to their credit cards, or pay through the PayPal, an online payment service. The service also includes free tracking.
Sellers can take their readied parcels to any post office, drop them into mailboxes if they fit, or contact their local post office for next-day pickup.
"Carrier pickup has become quite a big thing," Greensburg assistant postmaster Jeff Gogets said. "And it gets bigger and bigger every day. One local business that advertises on eBay has 20 to 25 packages picked up daily, and we're seeing more and more of this throughout the county."
Priority boxes and envelopes are free at local offices, and customers can order certain other free supplies that are shipped directly to their homes. There are even boxes that carry both the Postal Service and eBay logos.
"People can get free priority boxes, free delivery confirmation, and combine that with carrier pickup, and that's hard to beat," Gogets said. "We are helping customers, and they are helping us."
