AGCube

Services & Fees

Before looking at our fees, learn more about User / Member status with "Peter":

Peter wants to use agCube's services during the 3-week trip he is planning. While away, he is not expecting much mail: one invoice and three or four other letters. With agCube, he will enjoy many free services: free account set up, free online access to his private mailbox (PMB), free email notification of PMB update, etc. But he will have to pay for mail handling costs and therefore has to choose a customer category.

If Peter registers as a User, and he receives only the five items expected, he will pay $12.30 for agCube services (shipping postage not included):

$7.50 for mail registration (5 items, $1.50 each),
$2.00 for the opening and scan of the invoice,
$2.80 for handling and packaging, when he decides to have all the mail items shipped together.

If Peter registers as a Bronze Member, he will pay $15.00 for one month and this amount will cover the registration of 10 mail items, five single shipments (shipping postage not included), 1 opening and scan.

Peter chooses to register as a User hoping to save $2.70 ($12.30 - User, compared to $15.00 - Member). But if Peter's estimation of the expected volume of mail was wrong and he gets 9 pieces of mail, he will have to pay a total amount of $18.30 as a User, whereas the Bronze Member status would have covered the same services for $15.00.

Why wouldn't everyone choose to register as a Member?
User status is designed for situations where the mail volume is very low or irregular. A User pays only when he or she gets mail, while a Member has a monthly plan which covers a given volume of mail: the Member monthly fee is due even if the volume is not reached.

Services: what is free, and what isn't?

agCube's services are provided either when needed (mail registration, mail storage) or upon customer request (forwarding, scan, trash). The pricing is based upon unit prices (ONE mail item registration, ONE page scan, etc.) and the corresponding units are called basic services. Below are the terms we use to talk about our services. When appropriate, the service codes used in our rate charts are indicated.

Mail item: A letter, a postcard, a magazine or a package.
Basic mail item: A postcard or a letter with a weight not over 1 oz.
Mail item registration (PMreg): When a piece of mail is received for a customer, this item is identified, analyzed (size and weight), registered in agCube's database, and then stored in the customer's physical PMB (Private Mail Box). The service code is PMreg.
Mail item physical storage (PMsto): When a piece of mail is neither forwarded nor deleted and remains in the customer's PMB for more than one month, a monthly storage fee applies (for a basic mail item, physical storage is free for the first month). When fees apply, the service code is PMsto. There are different fee levels, depending on the weight and dimension of the item.
Single shipment (PMfwd): This service is performed when a mail item is sent alone to a particular destination address. The service code is PMfwd. The corresponding fee covers the handling and packing but does not include the carrier costs (which depend on carrier, carrier mode, destination address, weight and dimensions).
Grouped shipment (GRfwd): This is the service for packing up two or more mail items together and forwarding them to a particular destination address. The mail items involved can be letters, postcards or magazines. Packages cannot be grouped. A grouped shipment fee covers the handling and packing, but does not include the carrier costs (which depend on carrier, carrier mode, destination address, weight and dimensions).
Letter opening and scanning: When a customer requests the opening of a letter, we open the mail item and scan the different pages of the content. The resulting images are grouped in a pdf file which the customer can view online.
Basic scan (SC1pg): A basic scan is a single page side scan. The service code is SC1pg. Scanning a page printed on both sides implies 2 SC1pg fees.
File storage (FIsto): When the content of a letter has been scanned, the resulting images are grouped in one pdf file which is kept in our secured database. The storage of this file is free for the first month. After one month, a fee applies which depends on the number of pages scanned. The service code is FIsto.
Mail item deletion (PMdel): Deletion can only be requested for postcards, letters or magazines. Packages cannot be trashed. Deletion is performed with a shredding device. This service is free for basic mail items. For items of more than 0.5 lb, a fee applies. The service code is PMdel.

The following services are free of charge:

Account setup
Account cancellation
Online access to your PMB: viewing, ordering services, viewing content of scanned mail
E-mail notification of new mail
E-mail confirmation of shipment
Online shipment tracking (when carrier issues a tracking number)
Basic mail item deletion (when item weight is not over 0.5 lb)
Mail item physical storage for first month (a fee applies if the mail item is kept longer than one month)
File storage (file resulting from a mail item scan) for first month (a fee applies if the file is kept longer than one month)

The other services are priced according to the customer status (user or member). They are described below.

On demand services: user fees

The following table lists the main conditions and fees for Users. When a fee depends on mail item weight, the rate given here is the fee for a basic item (postcard or a letter with a weight not over 1 oz). For a complete description of all User fees, click here.

Service or Rule	User fee
Account setup	Free
Minimum contract length	None - you may cancel anytime
Basic mail item registration	$1.50
Basic mail item physical storage	First month is free of charge, then $0.40 per item for each started monthly period
Single shipment	$1.20 + carrier costs
Grouped shipment	$2.80 + carrier costs
Basic scan (one page side)	$2.00
File storage (scanned document with up to 20 pages)	First month is free of charge, then $0.50 per file for each started monthly period
Basic mail item deletion (Packages cannot be deleted)	Free

Monthly plan: member fees

With their monthly fee, Members get a package of prepaid services: the cost of these services (carrier costs excluded) is covered by the monthly fee. The package of prepaid services includes only standard services. Standard services are services for basic mail items or document files with up to 20 pages.
The following table describes the three Member categories (category name, monthly fee and standard services included in monthly fee).

	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Monthly fee	$15.00	$29.00	$49.00
Minimum contract length	One month	One month	One month
Account set-up	Free	Free	Free
Basic mail item registration	10 included in monthly fee	20 included in monthly fee	34 included in monthly fee
Basic mail item physical storage (up to one month after registration)	Free	Free	Free
Basic mail item physical storage (after one month)	2 included in monthly fee	3 included in monthly fee	4 included in monthly fee
Single shipment	5 included in monthly fee	10 included in monthly fee	17 included in monthly fee
Basic scan (one page side)	1 included in monthly fee	2 included in monthly fee	4 included in monthly fee
File storage and access (scanned document with up to 20 pages)	1 included in monthly fee	2 included in monthly fee	4 included in monthly fee
Basic mail item deletion (Packages cannot be deleted)	Free	Free	Free

Note that a monthly period for membership does not necessarily match with a calendar month. If a customer starts membership on day D of a particular month, each monthly period for this customer will start on the same day of each month.

If not totally used during a particular month, unused services covered by the Member's monthly fee are not carried forward to the following month. Each new membership month starts with the package of prepaid standard services as described in the above table, no matter what services went unused in the previous month.

If, during their monthly membership period, members use more services than offered by the package of prepaid services or if they use services in a form which depends on mail item weight or file size, these additional services are charged to the Member account according to the calculation rules described in the following table.

Excess items: member fees

In the following table, the abbreviation BW stands for Billable Weight, which is in most cases the actual weight of a mail item. For an exact definition of Billable Weight, click here.

Service	Member fee
Mail Item Registration (PMreg) if Billable Weight not over 0.5 lb	PMReg fee is $1.20 (BW not over 0.5 lb)
Mail Item Registration (PMreg) if Billable Weight higher than 0.5 lb	PMreg = $1.20 + ($1.00 x BW) ($1 per pound of BW)
Mail Item Physical Storage (PMsto) if Billable Weight not over 0.5 lb	First month is free of charge (bW not over 0.5 lb) After first month PMsto is $0.30 for each new monthly period started
Mail Item Physical Storage (PMsto) if Billable Weight higher than 0.5 lb	PMsto = $0.30 + $1.60 x BM ($1.60 per pound of BW)
Single Shipment (PMfwd)	PMfwd is $1.00 + carrier costs
Grouped Shipment (GRfwd)	GRfwd is $2.00 + carrier costs
Basic Scan (SC1pg)	SC1pg is $1.50 (one page side is scanned)
File storage (FIsto) (scanned document with up to 20 pages)	First month is free of charge (document up to 20 pages) After first month FIsto is $0.40 for each new monthly period started
File storage (FIsto) (scanned document over 20 pages)	FIsto = $0.05 x number_of_pages - $0.60 (scanned document over 20 pages, $0.05 per page from 21st page)
Mail item deletion (PMdel) if Billable Weight higher than 0.5 lb (Packages cannot be deleted)	PMdel fee = $1.00 x BW ($1 per pound of BW)

User fees (non-Members) detailed rate chart

In the following table, the abbreviation BW stands for Billable Weight, which is in most cases the actual weight of a mail item. For an exact definition of Billable Weight, click here.

Service	User fee
Mail Item Registration (PMreg) if Billable Weight not over 0.5 lb	PMReg fee is $1.50 (BW not over 0.5 lb)
Mail Item Registration (PMreg) if Billable Weight higher than 0.5 lb	PMreg = $1.50 + ($1.20 x BW) ($1.20 per pound of BW)
Mail Item Physical Storage (PMsto) if Billable Weight not over 0.5 lb	First month is free of charge (bW not over 0.5 lb) After first month PMsto is $0.40 for each new monthly period started
Mail Item Physical Storage (PMsto) if Billable Weight higher than 0.5 lb	PMsto = $0.40 + $2.00 x BM ($2 per pound of BW)
Single Shipment (PMfwd)	PMfwd is $1.20 + carrier costs
Grouped Shipment (GRfwd)	GRfwd is $2.80 + carrier costs
Basic Scan (SC1pg)	SC1pg is $2.00 (one page side is scanned)
File storage (FIsto) (scanned document with up to 20 pages)	First month is free of charge (document up to 20 pages) After first month FIsto is $0.50 for each new monthly period started
File storage (FIsto) (scanned document over 20 pages)	FIsto = $0.10 x number_of_pages - $1.50 (scanned document over 20 pages, $0.05 per page from 21st page)
Mail item deletion (PMdel) if Billable Weight higher than 0.5 lb (Packages cannot be deleted)	PMdel fee = $1.20 x BW ($1.20 per pound of BW)

Mail item weight

Most of the services and fees depend on the weight and / or volume of mail items.

Mail items for customers are usually weighed when received at agCube's location. However for a letter or postcard item which obviously does not exceed one ounce, the weight is only sized up as "less than or equal to 1 ounce" and called the default estimated weight (DEW). For all these letters, the weight is entered as such: "<= 1oz" in agCube's database.

All other items are weighed upon reception: the result of the operation is called the actual weight (AW) and is expressed in lbs.

For all packages and for letter items with an unusual size, dimensions are measured. From the resulting figures, three different weights are derived:

The calculated dimensional weight (CDW) is computed in lbs with the following formula:
CDW in pounds = (length_in_inches x width_in_inches x height_in_inches) / 166
This is the formula to compute dimensional weight (UPS, Fedex, etc.) for international shipping.
The dimensional weight (DW) is obtained from the CDW:
the CDW value increased to the nearest full pound gives the DW.
The billable weight (BW) is the higher of AW and DW: BW = max (AW, DW).
For items with default estimated weight, BW is always 1oz (0.0625lb).

2008-06-12 your mail forwarding service