Today is the USPS Busiest Day of the Year!

Thinking of going to the Post Office today to ship your packages? 960 million pieces will be processed today, making it the busiest day of the year, according to the USPS.

Wednesday, December 17, will be the busiest delivery day. This validates that the average delivery time for USPS Priority Mail is two days.

If you want to avoid the lines, try shipping online. You can even save some money.

The following are some sites that you can process postage online, obtain discounts, and get free Delivery Confirmation with Priority Mail—a $.65 value.

For about $15 a month, and a 30 day free trial, you can get a subscription at the following:

www.endicia.com

www.stamps.com

and for no cost, with limited options, you can try

www.usps.com

Get Lower Rates from the US Post Office

I am here in Orlando at the National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment (NCOF). This event is focused on helping catalog, online, and multichannel operations cut costs and improve their operations.

I had the opportunity to speak with Vivian Li, Product Manager at Endicia, and she shared in this video, some ways that small business shippers can save on postage by simply processing their postage online. (My company, RedRoller, partners with Endicia to provide PC Postage to our customers).

Parcel shippers that process postage online qualify for lower rates from the United States Post Office.

• Free Delivery Confirmation on Priority Mail—a savings of $.65 compared to going to the Post Office.
• Delivery Confirmation is only $0.18 for First-Class Mail parcels, Media Mail, Parcel Post, Bound Printed Matter, and Library Mail, a savings of $0.57 per package.
• Signature Confirmation for $1.75 saving $0.35 per package.

On May 12, the new changes in the USPS rate structure will provide different rates for retail and commercial shippers. Commercial shippers will save an average of 3.5% on Priority Mail, 3% on Express Mail, and up to 10% on international mail. See my post, USPS Rate Change Includes New Discounts: Do You Qualify?