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The US Postal Service recently added some new boxes and envelopes to their Priority Mail line-up. I primarily use Priority Mail to ship my eBay and Amazon packages.
They are now offering a Regional Rate box, well 2 of them actually. These boxes provide the speed of Priority Mail while allowing you to ship heavier items at a lower cost, similar to the flat rate boxes.
You have 2 choices; Regional A box which has a 15-pound limit. The Regional B box has a 20-pound limit.
The cost to ship is a flat rate based on region. Like regular Priority Mail, it will cost more to ship from one coast to the other, and less within your own region.
Here is the cost to ship using these boxes:
Box Zone 1&2 Zone 3 Zone 4 Zone 5 Zone 6 Zone 7 Zone 8
A $4.97 $5.08 $5.58 $7.15 $7.83 $8.36 $9.37
B $ 5.81 $6.88 $8.06 $10.51 $12.29 $13.12 $14.62
What is the benefit of these boxes? For example, if you live in Zone 1 and are shipping a 15-pound widget to Zone 4 you would pay only $5.58 for shipping if you use Box A. If you used standard Priority Mail, that same package would cost $20.12 to ship and using the Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate box the cost would be $10.95.
USPS also introduced a new flat rate padded envelope which I love! The shipping cost is only $4.95 and it's stronger then the cardboard envelopes that are meant for documents. The padded envelope works great for anything you can fit inside! This week I used it to mail a bed sheet that weighed just over 1 lb. It would have cost over $7 to ship, but with the padded envelope it was only $4.95. I bet you can be very creative in what you ship in these!
The ONLY immediate issue is that Paypal does not have these new boxes and envelopes programmed into their shipping. Thank goodness I also subscribe to Endicia for online shipping. Endicia also allows you to print First Class International postage from home, which I use daily and I don't have to go to the post office! Now I'm also using Endicia for these new boxes and padded envelope. What a time saver!
Happy selling,
Jackie
Great post, Jackie! I ship soap all over the place too! I can fit 4 soaps in the small flat rate box, which has saved me a lot of money. Thanks for the heads up on these new boxes - I hadn't heard of them yet! I'm also needing a good shipping option besides paypal, so appreciate the recommendation for Endicia. Are those affiliate links?
ReplyDeleteHi Amy, I was wrong! I just shipped my packages and Paypal does have the new boxes in the line-up!
ReplyDeleteAs for Endicia, I still love it for First Class International shipping, and for shipping with insurance. Endicia offers their own insurance and it's much cheaper the USPS.
Endicia is also much easier if you have non-Paypal transactions to ship. Hope that helps! Oh and yes they are affiliate links:-).