Low Cost Shipping, Great Delivery Times with USPS

There is no question that considering several carriers’ service options for each package you ship can save money and increase your customers’ satisfaction.  With the right shipping software, this process can be easily automated. 

Likely, you also know that putting all your eggs in one basket with a single carrier can greatly restrict your ability to be competitive in your marketplace and even cause you to lose sales.  For these reasons, USPS should be one of the many carriers you consider in your decision mix.

In the past USPS shipping rates, even though they were price competitive, may have not been considered as reliable as other carriers when it came to package tracking and reliable delivery times, but that is changing rapidly.  USPS tracking is now very competitive and they are working very hard to greatly improve the reliability USPS delivery times.  For these reasons, we feel USPS is becoming a very viable choice to consider for normal daily shipping.

The following are a few reasons you should consider including USPS in your shipping choices to optimize your daily shipping needs.

Excellent Pricing for Residential Delivery and Lighter Packages is One Good Reason

For lighter packages, especially those going a residence, this is a sweet spot for the Post Office.  For the lightest shipments, those under 13 ounces, the prices for USPS First Class with USPS Delivery Confirmation are hard to beat.  Look more at their prices and you'll see that for packages over 13 ounces and up to 5 pounds or so, Priority Mail service with Delivery Confirmation is extremely competitive, especially for residential deliveries.  Plus, when you use Internet postage (or USPS eVS) to ship your packages, Delivery Confirmation for Priority Mail and First-Class is free.  Finally, use a shipping software system like those Powered by CPS and the shipping choice can be selected automatically with rate comparisons you define so you'll always get the best price for the delivery time you have chosen.  Let's face it, that's reason #1.

No Address Correction Fees is Another Good Reason

Sure, you can give the post office a package with an address to which delivery cannot be made.  But, free delivery to a forwarding address is part of their service, with no additional charges incurred.  Sometimes (granted, not every time), they even deliver a package when the address is close but not 100% accurate.  Both of these can put you dollars ahead of the additional charges for address correction you'll see from other carriers when address mistakes happen.  This is another good reason to ship with the Post Office.

This last reason is both good and bad.  No address correction fees are great for the occasional mistake, but why even chance your USPS package getting lost, over charged or mishandled in the first place?  When the right shipping software system like those Powered by CPS, address verification can be added for a very low cost and be used for every package, if you wish.  The correct addresses on your packages saves you time and money, satisfies customers with timely delivery and is best done at the time of shipping, right before the package leaves your business.

Many companies price shop each package to lower shipping costs.  The better address verification programs, like those found in shipping software Powered by CPS, tell you if the destination is a commercial or residential address so the right type of delivery service is used for price comparisons.  If you use the USPS in combination with other carriers, this becomes key to maximizing your savings on several fronts.

So, the next time you ship, make sure you consider all the options.  Do this right, and you can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars per month!  For a good example of the savings you might see by utilizing all the options when you ship with a true multi-carrier software system, visit http://www.HarveySoft.com and check out the Estimated Savings Calculator at the top of the page.  It allows you to enter in how much you ship and give you an idea of how much you can save using more than one carrier and all the right tools.