A Simple Guide to USPS Priority Mail
The United States Post Office is not a private company. As a government owned agency it has to run by a separate set of instructions than does civilian shipping companies. The USPS was originally intended to deliver mail. And it does this so well that nobody wants to try and compete in that market. The Post Office is putting forth a lot of time and money to break into the multi million dollar industry of small parcel shipping.
FedEx and UPS have such a stronghold of the small parcel industry the even shipping mega giant DHL was unable to break into the US domestic market. However, The USPS has some distinct advantages that are helping them gain ground and market share. Those advantages may provide your company with some shipping tools that can save you both time and money.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that dealing with the Post office is going to be the same as dealing with a civilian company. There can be a lot of red tape if you have to make a claim or your shipment is lost. The insurance rates that they charge are expensive. The customer service can be less than stellar depending on whom you are dealing with and at what level. But overall the service levels and failure rates are exactly on par with the "other guys".
The Post office was originally designed to deliver letters to every address in the country. It still does this and does it very well. The Post office uses so many trucks and employs so many people in this endeavor that it will forever hold a monopoly in this section of the industry. With so much electronic mailings and transfers there is no reason for anybody else to even attempt a venture into first class mail.
This is one of the many reasons you see such a big push for USPS priority and express mail, especially for the USPS priority mail flat rate boxes and envelopes. The Post office is trying to gobble up as much of the small parcel industry as possible.
In the last decade the largest shipping company in the world DHL tried to enter the domestic US small parcel shipping market and couldn't do it. Reports show that they were losing around $300 million a year trying to compete against FedEx and UPS. They withdrew this attempt a few years ago. The Post Office has some advantages that DHL didn't have.
The first and foremost advantage of the Post Office is the vast size of the existing infrastructure. Nobody operates a larger network or delivery trucks than the post office. It also has the most natural gas vehicles. USPS already delivers to every address in the US everyday. Adding priority mail small parcel services to their quiver is a no brainer business decision.
So how can USPS priority mail help my company reduce shipping costs?
Your potential savings will depend on what you ship. All shipping is based on zones, weight, and dimensions. If you are serious about examining and comparing rates it is fairly easy to compare an existing invoice to posted postage rates. If you want discounted postage rates, you can visit here and see the price comparison. But as a rule of thumb packages under 4 pounds are better to send with the post office. If you are less than 10 pounds and shipping to residential addresses ship with the post office. If you are under 20 lbs and less than a cubic foot in your dimensions the post office may be the way to go. If your commodity fits into any size flat rate box and is heavy and travels a long distance your best bet is USPS priority mail flat rate boxes.
Posted on October 27, 2018
