Choosing the US Postal Service? Don't forget the free packaging!

When you're shipping, you already know that the cost of packaging adds a little to every order, and that the "little things" add up. Anytime you choose the USPS® Priority Mail service, you can always take advantage of their free packaging. Priority Mail is used for a lot of business shipping, especially for business to consumer shipping. And whenever you reduce the cost of packaging, that's money saved that is headed for your bottom line.

Visit the United States Postal Service® web site and you will find over 20 types of free packaging for Priority Mail shipping. These are divided into boxes and envelopes for their flat rate services, and boxes and envelopes for general shipping. For the flat rate services, put in as much as will fit without bending the box and pay just one price for shipping. If a flat rate service is not the best choice, over 50% of the free packaging is for general Priority Mail shipments, so you have a generous choice of packaging and services to choose from.

Most carriers will provide some type of packaging for their premium/express services. The Post Office is unique in providing packaging for more than just the express services. And, again, with over 20 choices, it's a wide range of free packaging. The Post Office is the only carrier that delivers to Post Office boxes and to military (APO/FPO) addresses, plus there is no dimensional weight to consider and no fuel surcharge to compute with their flat-rate boxes. You know how much it costs to ship right when you label the package.

Can you use these boxes for every package? Maybe not, but when you can use them and look at other factors in addition to the actual cost of the box, such as using a flat-rate service and avoiding a fuel surcharge, your smart use of these can add up to real savings! The important thing is to do the math and check the rates between all the carriers, including the flat-rate services, before you ship. And be sure to check out using Internet postage through Endicia®, which gives you immediate discounts on many Post Office services and makes it very easy to use the Post Office. Our CPS shipping software (and others) can do this all automatically for you.

More information about carrier supplied packaging materials click here. For additional information about CPS, visit http://www.HarveySoft.com.