A lot of retailers are drastically overspending on their flat rate shipping when they do not really have to be. A dollar here and a dollar there can add up really fast to become a whole lot of money that could have otherwise been saved and wisely reinvested in one’s business.
In January of this year, the USPS announced that they would be rolling out a postal rate increase across the board. Some services were affected by a modest 2% rate hike. But other more popular mailing services saw as much as a whopping 23% increase in rates.
Naturally, a lot of retailers freaked out and started looking for ways that they could save money on flat rate shipping. But few of them are aware of the simple tricks and methods that we will show you today that can help you save even more money than you ever thought possible on flat rate shipping. So here’s the scoop.
Weights & Boxes
For the retailers that are trying to add that customized, professional look to their packages, a commonly asked question is: can I use my own boxes for USPS Priority Mail and still take advantage of the savings that are offered. Unfortunately, the simple answer here is still no. The postal service has designed the boxes to expedite routing and that means they all conform to a certain size.
But, you can still beat the system if you are using Commercial Plus or Base pricing – which rates were barely affected by the rate hike. However, you will still need to either meet the basic annual volume requirements or you will have to be connected to a discount provider (which we’ll show you how to do later in this article).
How To Find Postal Discounts
You can search for postal discounts, but you will want to look further than just the rates being offered by the premier discount services providers, whose names we shall refrain from mentioning. Rather, explore your options with FedEx One Rate and UPS Mail Innovations and even DHL – which offers a great price on smaller packages, comparable to those that are offered by Priority Mail. But for those of you who are sending out a lot of packages, but still don’t meet volume requirements, there’s another trick you can have up your sleeve, an ace if you will.
Get Connected To A No-Strings Discount Service
A long held secret in the shipping industry is that the smartest retailers are connected to one provider that offers the lowest flat rate shipping prices on USPS Priority and Express Mail with no volume requirements. The catch is that you have to be sending packages 20-pounds or less and that they have to conform to the box sizes and widths, as regulated by the USPS for these two popular mailing services. Search for a service called Flat Rate Select online and you will find out how easy it can be to defeat these rate price increases while helping to get your packages out to customers faster.
