Around a year ago the Post Office added a $4 added fee for all tubes up to 30" long and a $15 fee for tubes over 30" long. At the time, we did not think that much of it, because we had already advised all our U.S. customers to switch to UPS, because their service was SO much better than the Post Office.

But then, several months ago, UPS added even worse added fees, of $29 and $31 to long tubes. That WOULD have been catastrophic, but our UPS representative, was able to get us special relief from this, reversing all those charges, and saving our customers a massive amount per tube. But two weeks ago, with no notice, UPS announced that, starting immediately, we would have to start paying those added massive tube fees!

This was especially bad since we had just had our all-art print auction with over 2,400 prints! Unlike UPS or other auctions, there was no way we were going to simply tell our customers that they would have to pay these massive added fees. So instead we searched for the best possible solution.

The reason the fees were added solely for tubes is that all the shipping companies are shifting to automation, and packages and tubes are moved on conveyor belts, and tubes often fall off and then sometimes hit employees in the head (bad) or roll on the floor and sometimes get caught in the gears of the machinery, getting crushed, and damaging the machines.

So they have added these massive surcharges so they can be handled separately, which costs them more, and also helps explain why so many more tubes (and packages) are being delayed, because having two systems is time-consuming, and the automated systems have many bugs in them.

So the only answer is for us to send rolled posters in a "non-roll-able" way! One answer would be to use triangular or rectangular tube boxes, which DON'T roll, but the problems is they get bent or crushed at a FAR greater rate than our gorilla proof tubes. SO THEY ARE NO ANSWER.

So the only answer is for us to buy custom-made rectangular boxes that we can put our tubes in, and that solves the problem (and adds an EXTRA layer of protection to our tubes, making them better than they were before.

But naturally it takes time to get these manufactured, and in the meantime we are having to custom make our own boxes one at a time, which is VERY time-consuming, but there is no better answer.

SO IF YOU HAVE A TUBE ORDER FROM US, PLEASE BE UNDERSTANDING IF IT TAKES LONGER THAN USUAL TO ARRIVE, AND DON'T BE SURPRISED TO SEE THE TUBE INSIDE OF A BOX, BECAUSE NOW YOU KNOW WHY THAT IS!