It is widely understood the most cost effective way to ship overseas from the USA is via the United States Postal Service’s First Class International (FCI) mail service. There is nothing comparable when it comes to cost and allows many commerce shippers the ability to open the borders for International commerce. The main drawback of FCI, besides its relatively slow delivery times, is the lack of true package tracking. It is true that FCI does not have [...]

It is that time of the year again. The weather is getting colder, festivity is in the air, and the holiday shipping season is among us. If you are an internet retailer or retail shipper, this is the time of year to buckle-down and show your customers what you are made of. As always, we have some tips that you should keep in mind when dealing with your holiday shipping rush. You may recognize some [...]

Below are the holiday shipping schedules for the major U.S. based shipping carriers. United States Postal Service - http://about.usps.com/news/service-alerts/2011-federal-holidays.htm Saturday, January 1 - New Year’s Day Monday, January 17 - Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday Monday, February 21 - Washington’s Birthday (President’s Day) Monday, May 30 - Memorial Day Monday, July 4 - Independence Day Monday, September 5 - Labor Day Monday, October 10 - Columbus Day Friday, November 11 - Veterans Day Thursday, November 24 - Thanksgiving Day Monday, December 26 - Christmas Day (Observed) [...]

Yesterday, EquaShip took the wraps off of their new shipping service. The startup is looking to compete with UPS and FedEx by offering shipping discounts to small to medium sized business shippers. At its basis, the service provides for packages to be picked up by a consolidator, and ultimately delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The main benefit of the service is the shipping rates. They claim a 26% – 77% savings compared to FedEx [...]

The United States Postal Service will be raising the prices of First Class Mail beginning January 22, 2012. The cost of mailing a letter will raise $0.01 (one penny) to $0.45. Additional ounces will remain at $0.20. The overall average price increase across all mailing services is capped by law at 2.1 percent. The new prices were filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Oct. 18, 2011 and the Commission has 45 days to review the prices. [...]

Shipping Internationally via the United States Postal Service is often the most economical way to fulfill orders if you are based in the United States. Their First Class Mail and Priority Mail services are great options with reasonable pricing. The main problem with these services are their lack of tracking once the packages reach the postal service of each destination country. Once they are out of the USPS’s hands, it is up to the foreign postal systems [...]

Provide Postal Service financial relief and undertake reform. The Administration recognizes the enormous value of the Postal Service (USPS) to the Nation’s commerce and communications, as well as the urgent need for reform to ensure its future viability. USPS faces a long-term, structural operating deficit that has been exacerbated by the precipitous drop in mail volume in the last few years due to the economic crisis and the continuing shift toward electronic communication. Absent legislative [...]

We have been seeing some disturbing trends for overseas shipments and we thought we would let you know to keep you on the lookout. We will use shipments sent to Germany as an example. We are not picking on Germany, but we have seen an increased amount of lost shipments sent there. After analyzing the losses and speaking with some of our insured’s, the conclusion is that German customs is holding packages for an increasing long time. It [...]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service will resume accepting mail for Canada starting Tuesday, June 28, as a result of legislation passed yesterday by the Canadian government requiring Canada Post employees to return to work tonight. Mail that was held in the U.S. Postal Service network since the work stoppage began is being released today and transported to Canada in stages. Customers will experience some delays in service due to the large volume of mail [...]

Due to the expectation by Canada Post officials that the strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will last until at least sometime next week, USPS will suspend accepting mail destined to Canada — effective Saturday, June 18, 2011, 11:59 p.m. CDT — with the exception of Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) shipments. “As a convenience to our customers and to minimize service disruptions, we arranged to accept mail destined for Canada as long as [...]