USPS® Price Changes — Now I Love Priority Mail® Even More

So did you hear about the recent United States Postal Service {aka USPS®} price changes?

It’s one of those good news / bad news situations. Some people’s costs went up, while others went down. It all depends on what you ship and to where.  My smaller flat rate packages stayed about the same, but the savings can really add-up on heavier/larger shipments that can’t fit into a flat rate box.

Even for the packages that stayed the same in price, I’m happy because it’s still the cheapest way to get what I want!

You do want to know what I want right? Ok, I’ll tell ya…

• Free Tracking (so I can make customers happy!)
• Fast Delivery (so I can make customers happier!)
• Predictable Cost (so I don’t lose money!)
• Flat Rate Options (so I don’t have to worry about throwing in an extra gift!)

USPS Priority Mail® gives me all that and the prices for shipping with Priority Mail have mostly held steady or gone down IF you print your shipping labels online using a service like Endicia.

Priority Mail Price Changes As of September 7, 2014

It’s all kind of complicated and I think you might need to call Charlie Eppes from the TV show Numb3rs to figure it out, so I’ll just copy over what Endicia says on their page about the price changes:

Notable savings included in this USPS rate change include:

Commercial Base Pricing*:

• 25% average savings over FedEx/UPS Ground for Priority Mail packages weighing 5-10 lbs sent to zones 1-5
• 39% average savings over current rates for Priority Mail packages weighing 10-15 lbs sent to zones 1-5

* Commercial Base pricing refers to the discounted postage price for certain mail classes available to electronic postage users. Endicia customers automatically qualify for CBP pricing for applicable Competitive mail classes.

I Go Flat Rate Whenever Possible

I ship 90% of my orders in the regular flat rate envelope which costs me just over $5 bucks no matter what it weighs or how far it’s going (inside the USA).

The predictability of the flat-rate pricing makes it much easier for me to price my shipping on Etsy, and if I want to offer free shipping, I know right where I’ll stand. No other shipping option I’m aware of offers this kind of assurance and I’ve asked repeatedly at FedEx and UPS if they have anything like it. They didn’t have flat rates, only a flat no.

Shipping is Fun! {well… almost}

While I admit shipping is still pretty close to my least favorite part of selling online, it has certainly gotten easier over the last year or so… almost {almost} to the point of being enjoyable!

It wasn’t always this way.  I distinctly remember what it was like to wait in post office lines and fill out address labels by hand, over and over again. Bad times.

All of that changed when I started printing my shipping online. It made life SO much easier. Things took another step forward when Etsy incorporated Endicia’s shipping software into its platform. As Etsy sellers, that was nice.

We soon heard the buzz about the versions of Endicia you can install right on your computer and print your postage from there. This worked really well for me for a few reasons:

• I could do all my shipping at once – for Etsy orders, non-Etsy, and even personal
• My postage costs were kept separate from my Etsy fees
• I was able to keep a mailing list of all my customers automatically
• Best of all… I was able to build my branding on the postage label with a logo

As if that wasn’t all good enough it all jumped light years ahead when I started using the DYMO® LabelWriter 4XL label printer.

It’s a little bit of investment for one of these, and I was doing just fine before that printing labels on plain paper and cutting them out and taping them on, so you can certainly get-by without one. But WOW! it really took a whole bunch of the pain of shipping away in one shot.

Now I just hit print and out pops a single 4×6 peel-and-stick shipping label with my shop logo and my shop URL printed right on it.  I peel it off and stick it on a priority mail envelope and I’m done.

Oh, that reminds me… One More Reason I love Priority Mail®…

I don’t have to wait in line at all.  I can have my packages picked up by the regular mail carrier, I can just drop them in a mailbox, or (this is the one I use most) I can walk them into the post office which is just a few blocks down the street and walk right up to the counter and drop all my packages off. No waiting needed.

Caution: It can induce delusions of grandeur when you walk past all the little people in the post office line and drop off your big box of orders! Good times.

~ Kim

Easier, Faster, Less Costly Shipping with Endicia!

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