Parcel - June 2008 - (Page 30)

on the mark The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced a change in postal prices, which took effect on May 12. With every change, there is opportunity. This is an opportunity for parcel shippers. For the ﬁrst time, USPS will offer two sets of rates: one for retail customers and one for commercial customers. The latter has rates that average 3.5% less for Priority Mail and 3% less for Express Mail than the retail customer will pay. Do you qualify for the lower commercial rates, or do you have to pay retail? The good news is that you can obtain the lower rates by shipping online! According to the USPS website, commercial rates are “available to customers who tender payment via an authorized online service, Express Mail Corporate Account or speciﬁcally authorized third-party postage vendor.” By shipping online, you’ll save: • • • • • Priority Mail 3.5% average Delivery Conﬁrmation: Free vs. 65¢ (14%) Express Mail 3% International Mail Global Express Guaranteed 10% by mark taylor, MBA, DLP • Express 8% • Priority 5% • Flat Rate Box 5% In plain words, if you set up an account and process your shipments online, you qualify for the lower commercial rates. If you have a few parcels a day, you can sign up for a USPS Click-N-Ship account or you can obtain authorized solutions from companies that represent PC Postage solutions. Some PC Postage providers offer solutions that value-added resellers can integrate and customize with your shipping software. This would provide the capability to compare USPS rates with services from your other carriers and select the best service based on business rules that you specify. I recommend that every shipper compare rates and services amongst multiple carriers. The U.S. Postal Service has some niches where the other carriers can’t compete on price. There are other signiﬁcant opportunities from the change, as well. Express Mail will become a zone-based pricing system, similar to the other carriers. This means that the cost will decrease for nearby destinations. For example, an eight-ounce Express Mail envelope was priced at a ﬂat rate cost of $16.25 to any ZIP Code. Under the new pricing, if it is sent to a near- 30 May 2008 www.PARCELindustry.com http://precisionsoftware.com http://precisionsoftware.com http://www.PARCELindustry.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Parcel - June 2008

Parcel - June 2008 Contents Editor's Note What Would Augello Say? Success Means Never Being Satisfied Moving from Manual to Automated Fulfillment Regional Carriers Move to the Forefront Understanding Warehouse Management Systems Negotiating Carrier Contracts It’s All About the Data! How Long Will The East-West Trade Imbalance Last? Educate the Shipper, or Fix the Software? Product Profile On the Mark New Products & Services Advertiser Index Wrap Up

Parcel - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.