Yesterday afternoon, the Postal Service dropped an early 4th of July bombshell, and announced some dramatic reductions-yes, you heard right-in Priority Mail rates available to shippers. The new rates will be effective on September 7th, and the reductions are targeted to zones 2 through 5-which covers shipments that travel up to 1,000 miles-and weights between 3 and 40 lbs. Why the change? Currently, most Priority shipments are very light, averaging just 2.3 lbs. The Postal service is now clearly targeting heavier, lower zone UPS and FedEx Ground shipments, particularly in light of the new dimensional weight changes which will be effective at the end of the year, when all UPS and FedEx Ground shipments will be subject to the 166 dimensional factor. For Priority Mail, only zones 5 and up are subject to a dim factor (and a more favorable factor of 194), and that's only if the package exceeds 1 cubic foot in size. Zones 2 through 4 are not subject to a dim factor, regardless of size.
Some of the rate reductions are huge-well over 50%. In fact, many of the new rates are actually lower than the 1991 Priority mail rates for many weights and zones. Lets look at the current rates for a 15 lb Priority shipment to zone 2:
Compare those rates to the 1991 Priority Mail rate for the same package: $8.30. Let's look at the changes for each rate category:
Retail Rate-this is the rate you pay if you walk up to a USPS retail window, or if you use stamps or a meter strip (remember those?). Overall, these rates are increasing by 0.9%, although some rates are up, and others are down. If you are still using the retail rates, we suggest you switch to either click-n-ship or an internet postage provider, such as Stamps.com or Endicia. All three of these options immediately qualify you for Commercial base rates.
Commercial Base-come September 7th, the difference between Retail and Commercial base will be huge-in some cases, more than $20 per package higher. If you are still using the retail rates, we suggest you switch to either click-n-ship or an internet postage provider, such as Stamps.com or Endicia. All three of these options immediately qualify you for Commercial Base rates.
Commercial Plus-If you ship around 200 packages per day, you can qualify for Commercial Plus.
To take advantage of these new rates, shippers will want to rate shop against your current UPS and FedEx Ground rates. You will want to factor in weight, zone, current ground discounts, package dimensions, Residential, Rural, and fuel. For many shippers, even those with decent discounts, you may find that a very substantial percentage of your current ground shipments can be switched to Priority, at a lower cost, and in most cases, one to three days quicker delivery.
We reached out to Amine Khechhfe, co-founder and general manager at Endicia. "This is a great move for ecommerce sellers-the Postal Service already offered good options, but it's now getting even better for shippers. We recommend that every seller examine their shipping options, and know that Priority Mail just became even more compelling -- there's a lot of money to be saved, while still getting great delivery service."
For a cell-by-cell comparison of the new rates, contact Doug at doug.caldwell@afms.com, or at 1-800-246-3521.
Some of the rate reductions are huge-well over 50%. In fact, many of the new rates are actually lower than the 1991 Priority mail rates for many weights and zones. Lets look at the current rates for a 15 lb Priority shipment to zone 2:
Compare those rates to the 1991 Priority Mail rate for the same package: $8.30. Let's look at the changes for each rate category:
Retail Rate-this is the rate you pay if you walk up to a USPS retail window, or if you use stamps or a meter strip (remember those?). Overall, these rates are increasing by 0.9%, although some rates are up, and others are down. If you are still using the retail rates, we suggest you switch to either click-n-ship or an internet postage provider, such as Stamps.com or Endicia. All three of these options immediately qualify you for Commercial base rates.
Commercial Base-come September 7th, the difference between Retail and Commercial base will be huge-in some cases, more than $20 per package higher. If you are still using the retail rates, we suggest you switch to either click-n-ship or an internet postage provider, such as Stamps.com or Endicia. All three of these options immediately qualify you for Commercial Base rates.
Commercial Plus-If you ship around 200 packages per day, you can qualify for Commercial Plus.
To take advantage of these new rates, shippers will want to rate shop against your current UPS and FedEx Ground rates. You will want to factor in weight, zone, current ground discounts, package dimensions, Residential, Rural, and fuel. For many shippers, even those with decent discounts, you may find that a very substantial percentage of your current ground shipments can be switched to Priority, at a lower cost, and in most cases, one to three days quicker delivery.
We reached out to Amine Khechhfe, co-founder and general manager at Endicia. "This is a great move for ecommerce sellers-the Postal Service already offered good options, but it's now getting even better for shippers. We recommend that every seller examine their shipping options, and know that Priority Mail just became even more compelling -- there's a lot of money to be saved, while still getting great delivery service."
For a cell-by-cell comparison of the new rates, contact Doug at doug.caldwell@afms.com, or at 1-800-246-3521.
