{"id":11070,"date":"2020-09-09T08:49:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T15:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/?p=11070"},"modified":"2020-09-15T19:47:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T02:47:45","slug":"usps-post-office-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Politics aside, there are changes happening at the United States Postal Service that affect ecommerce sellers. The USPS is a cost-effective, reliable service (despite mainstream perception) that people rely on daily\u2014from individuals mailing a single item, to small businesses shipping out small package goods, to large carrier companies leveraging the USPS infrastructure to get thousands of packages to doorsteps for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/last-mile-delivery\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">last mile delivery<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Here is an overview of what changes have occurred at the USPS this year and what companies and their customers can expect in the next few months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>USPS 2020 Holiday Surcharge\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summer <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/newsroom\/national-releases\/2020\/0814-usps-announces-temporary-price-increase.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">USPS announced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that they will institute surcharges for commercial domestic packages (including Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, Parcel Select, and Parcel Return Service). The USPS announcement cites the increase is to keep their services competitive and give them a much needed boost in revenue. This price increase will be effective through the peak season this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it\u2019s understood that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ups.com\/assets\/resources\/media\/en_US\/2020_UPS_Peak_Surcharges.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UPS<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedex.com\/en-us\/shipping\/current-rates\/surcharges-and-fees.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FedEx<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have holiday surcharges each year, this is the first year USPS has announced higher rates. Some speculate it\u2019s to counterbalance the lost revenue the service saw this summer or possibly because of pressure from the current White House to raise USPS postage rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quick facts about the USPS surcharge:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Affects commercial domestic parcels\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All competitive packaging services\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The cost ranges from 24 cents a parcel up to $1.50<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Runs from October 18 through December 27, 2020<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does this mean for sellers? Depending on the type of shipping, it may mean slightly higher postage rates, but it\u2019s likely to affect larger companies more. While the surcharges may deter some sellers from using USPS this holiday season, the Postal Service still has one of the lowest cost mail postage rates in the world which is of great value to sellers, particularly small businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>FedEx Discontinues USPS Support for SmartPost\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FedEx has noted that starting this October, they will discontinue using USPS for their SmartPost service. This is a substantial move for FedEx as they relied on the USPS delivery network for the last mile delivery. The SmartPost program will fully remain in place however, the FedEx Home Delivery network will manage all shipments from origin to destination.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SmartPost parcels will be prioritized behind Home Delivery parcels\u2014any room left in a truck will get filled with SmartPost packages. Experts believe customers are going to see a decrease in transit times initially. FedEx says they will be leveraging the excess room in Home Delivery trucks for SmartPost parcels. For example, if an Home Delivery truck is at 85% capacity, the remaining 15% will be filled with SmartPost, so they\u2019ll likely be delivered sooner. Long term, it should be back to the two to seven day transit interval, which is the normal range.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DCL Logistics Director of Transportation, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jeremiah-pomerleau-0b1384\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jeremiah Pomerleau<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recommends, \u201cIf you\u2019re new to shipping, it might be beneficial to look into the DHL ecommerce and UPS SurePost. For existing SmartPost users, don\u2019t change your carrier immediately. There\u2019s no need to disrupt something that\u2019s working just based on this new information. The companies may decide to pivot again sooner than you can keep up. Ultimately packages will still be getting to your customers in the predicted range.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>USPS Changes and Possible Federal Funding\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summer there were many operational changes made at the USPS which led to significant mail delays around the country. Changes included leadership restructuring, eliminating employee overtime, removing mail sorting machines, and discarding thousands of blue mail drop-off boxes. While Congress had originally included federal funding for the USPS within a larger stimulus package, the US House of Representatives segmented out USPS funding in a bill they passed in early August. This new bill will give $25 billion in federal funding to the service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bill is currently pending review in the Senate. Many believe it is unlikely to pass there, but there are still talks of adding some funding (likely not as high as $25 billion) to an upcoming economic stimulus bill, which may not pass until 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Who Uses the USPS?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truly everyone does, from small businesses to big brands. What makes the USPS different is it\u2019s reliability\u2014it statistically has the best transit times of any carrier service for domestic small parcel shipping.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus it\u2019s often the more accessible, cost-efficient carrier option for small businesses just getting off the ground. Most data analysis of ecommerce growth in the last decade focuses on the revenue of larger companies and the benchmarks of huge companies like Amazon, Zappos, Warby Parker (same-day delivery, free shipping, easy RMA). What\u2019s missing from that conversation is that a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/04\/24\/if-we-let-the-us-postal-service-die-well-be-killing-small-businesses-with-it\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tremendous number of small businesses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have started during the recent bull market\u2014and collectively they rely heavily on USPS services to get their products to customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Postal Service has a huge advantage above other services because it delivers to a wider breadth of zip codes than any other carrier\u2014literally every doorstep in America. In fact other carriers, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/ups-fedex-and-dhl-comparing-domestic-shipping-options-for-small-packages\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">including UPS, FedEx and DHL eCommerce<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, rely on the USPS infrastructure for a more efficient and cost-effective last mile delivery. Sellers of all sizes rely on the USPS daily.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>USPS Isn\u2019t Going Anywhere\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The current funding issues and politics surrounding operational decisions at the Postal Service are definitely not new. The Postal Service has been around since before the US Constitution, and it\u2019s always been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/08\/16\/902977021\/the-history-of-political-interference-in-the-usps\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tangled with politicians with various agendas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Sellers need to understand and factor in the new USPS holiday surcharges, but these costs are relatively small compared to other shipping options. The Postal Service is definitely not going away, and companies who rely on it likely won\u2019t see any big operational changes or disruptions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The network of USPS offices (there are 31,322 in the US), distribution vehicles, unionized staff, and operational infrastructure is more vast than any other carrier. In 2019 the USPS reportedly delivered 143 billion pieces of mail\u2014that\u2019s over 11 million pieces every month. Although other carriers may come in and out of partnership with the US Postal Service, it doesn\u2019t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are looking for support with your domestic ground shipping strategy, partnering with a good 3PL can help. You can read <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/services\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DCL\u2019s list of services<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to learn more about what we offer, or check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/resources\/integrations\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the many companies we work with<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to ensure great logistics support. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/company\/get-started\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Send us a note<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to connect about how we can help with your transportation and shipping needs. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politics aside, there are changes happening at the United States Postal Service that affect ecommerce sellers. The USPS is a cost-effective, reliable service (despite mainstream perception) that people rely on daily\u2014from individuals mailing a single item, to small businesses shipping out small package goods, to large carrier companies leveraging the USPS infrastructure to get thousands [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[2021,2022,2018],"class_list":["post-11070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shipping","tag-shipping-strategy","tag-united-states-postal-service","tag-usps"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers? - DCL Logistics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Overview of 2020 holiday surcharges at USPS, FedEx discontinues USPS as part of the SmartPost service, and is the Postal Service in trouble financially?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers? - DCL Logistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Overview of 2020 holiday surcharges at USPS, FedEx discontinues USPS as part of the SmartPost service, and is the Postal Service in trouble financially?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DCL Logistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-09T15:49:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-16T02:47:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maureen Walsh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maureen Walsh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers? - DCL Logistics","description":"Overview of 2020 holiday surcharges at USPS, FedEx discontinues USPS as part of the SmartPost service, and is the Postal Service in trouble financially?","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers? - DCL Logistics","og_description":"Overview of 2020 holiday surcharges at USPS, FedEx discontinues USPS as part of the SmartPost service, and is the Postal Service in trouble financially?","og_url":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/","og_site_name":"DCL Logistics","article_published_time":"2020-09-09T15:49:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-16T02:47:45+00:00","author":"Maureen Walsh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Maureen Walsh","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/"},"author":{"name":"Maureen Walsh","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/#\/schema\/person\/310ca73aa55dd4ac955b95e62b9d3ce5"},"headline":"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers?","datePublished":"2020-09-09T15:49:01+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-16T02:47:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/"},"wordCount":1101,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["shipping strategy","United States Postal Service","USPS"],"articleSection":["Shipping"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/","url":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/","name":"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers? - DCL Logistics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-09-09T15:49:01+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-16T02:47:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/#\/schema\/person\/310ca73aa55dd4ac955b95e62b9d3ce5"},"description":"Overview of 2020 holiday surcharges at USPS, FedEx discontinues USPS as part of the SmartPost service, and is the Postal Service in trouble financially?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/shipping\/usps-post-office-changes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Changes at the USPS\u2014What do They Mean for Sellers?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/","name":"DCL Logistics","description":"Logistics and Fulfillment Experts","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/#\/schema\/person\/310ca73aa55dd4ac955b95e62b9d3ce5","name":"Maureen Walsh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92a8327f195b45b2998fbb72af53feaf6cd55207b691df23673cd0c3fc9dbb10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92a8327f195b45b2998fbb72af53feaf6cd55207b691df23673cd0c3fc9dbb10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Maureen Walsh"},"url":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/author\/maureen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11070"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11114,"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11070\/revisions\/11114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}