Why does USPS.com not allow you to calculate the cost of mailing a 3x5 postcard using their postal calculator (and what is the cost)?

http://www.usps.com/prices/first-class-mail-prices.htm

@jaytkay: So what does it cost?

the minimum size of a postcard is 3½“x5”. You can’t send something smaller than that.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/PopUps/pop_up12.htm

@MrItty: Maybe, where do you see that you are not allowed to send something smaller?

@jaytkay‘s link tells the price to send a postcard and also the minimal allowed size. Check it out for answers to your questions.

@laureth: I did check it out and if it answers my question I don’t see where. You tell me, does it answer the question? I don’t think it says you can’t send it… I just think it says the USPS will not give you the post-card rate. It may also be true that you cannot send it but the link doesn’t provide this information either way.

@malevolentbutticklish why aren’t you reading the information on the links provided? That’s really very rude, when people are trying to help you.

From my link:
=====================================
Dimension Minimum Maximum
Height 3–½ inches 4–¼ inches
Length 5 inches 6 inches
Thickness 0.007 inch 0.016 inch

Any item smaller than the minimum dimensions is not mailable.
=====================================

Removed by me, MrItty answered the question

Straight from @jaytkay‘s link, too:

Postcards – $0.28
Size limits:
Minimum: 3–½ inches high by 5 inches long by 0.007 inch thick
Maximum: 6 inches long by 4–¼ inches high
Additional postage required for larger postcards

A postal calculator is something you’d use to find postage rates if your package is unusual in its dimensions – say, you have a box size that’s unique and want to know how much it will be, or if it has dimensions that are outsized or a weight of more than the standard ounce. When one would not use a postal calculator is when you’re mailing a postcard, or a standard one-ounce letter, because those things have set rates and don’t need to be calculated from scratch each time.

When something is defined as the “minimum” size, it means that you can’t send anything smaller.

@MrItty: You didn’t provide a link. Next you said I was rude for not reading your provided link. Your original post in its entirety:
”

the minimum size of a postcard is 3½“x5”. You can’t send something smaller than that.

”

Can you confirm or deny this?

@laureth @jaytkay: Mritty posted the response without the link, then he went back and added the link and said I was rude for not having read it when it wasn’t even there.

I never said a word about @MrItty‘s link.

@laureth: “Straight from @jaytkay‘s link, too:”. I assumed that the “too” was a word referring to @MrItty‘s link.

Nope, it meant, “You say you can’t see the information that is right there, front and center, completely obvious if you look. I copied it straight from there, too.”

@laureth I edited my post to include the link well before you posted your response.

@laureth: It is not completely obvious that something which is too small to be a postcard couldn’t be mailed as something else. For instance, there might not have been a minimum dimension for a package.

@MrItty: Thank you very much. And thank you for the link too!

That’s fine, @MrItty – I have no beef with you or your link. And now that this thread is long past its utility and into petty nitpicking, I’m moving on, too. :)

@laureth that was supposed to be directed at @malevolentbutticklish. My bad.

@MrItty: I believe you have a misunderstanding about how fluther.com works with edits. It doesn’t matter how long before my post you edited it because I already had the page open with your original posting. This is how I was able to quote your original in its entirety. Edits do not appear in real-time for other users.

@malevolentbutticklish fair enough. Regardless, the question has been answered, multiple times. Continuing this discussion is pointless.

@andrew: This is the question.

I once wrote a letter to a girl on a lonnnnnnng piece of adding machine tape. (She told me that she liked long letters; the one I sent to her was about 8’ long.) I folded it into a 2” x 2” square, put a stamp on the side with her address, and my return address on the other side.

She enjoyed it. That was over a third of a century ago. It’s amazing that I can recall that. Even more amazing, I can remember her name. (You always remember the ones with the big… brains.)

@CyanoticWasp: It is amazing how 30 years ago the postal service could handle this and now with all the improvements in technology they are not able to. It is amazing to me how simple determining postage once was and now with the “improvements” determining the cost of mailing your 2” x 2” square is a chore.