USPS Expedites a New Shipping Service

eBay, Amazon and Walmart Stores have recently a new same-day service in selected cities. (eBay Now serves some of the Manhattan and Brooklyn areas of New York City. Amazon offers same day in many cities throughout the country, including Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC. Walmart To Go is covering Chicago and San Jose/San Francisco.) Now a new company has thrown its hat into the same-day shipping ring, the United States Postal Service.

As you may know, the USPS has been dealing with mounting losses for years. This move may help to rebuild the USPS as a viable player in the delivery/eCommerce services market. The new service, called Metro Post, is slated to begin testing in the San Francisco market on December 12. For a fee of $10, the USPS will deliver purchases in that area from major retailers the USPS has partnered with. At this time, there is no list of retail partners available. That will be announced closer to the December 12 launch date.

According to the documents the USPS filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission, here is how the program will work:

Through this market test, buyers can request same-day delivery in one of three ways: 1) utilizing a qualifying online e-commerce platform to purchase items online; 2) purchasing items at the retail stores that have partnered with test participants; or 3) visiting a test participant’s website to purchase items. Eligible buyers must live in a specified area within a selected major metropolitan area.

The daily cut-off times for making any purchases of items delivered via Metro Post service will occur between 2:00pm and 3:00pm. Package pick-up will then be scheduled to take place at participating locations after 3:00pm, by Postal Service-uniformed delivery personnel. The Metro Post packages may be exchanged between agents, and dynamic routing tools will be used, in order to ensure efficient delivery; at this time, the logistics have not been finalized. Same-day delivery will occur between approximately 4:00pm and 8:00pm, as determined by the Postal Service.

The USPS is projecting that it will earn between $10 million and $50 million in new revenue in the San Francisco area alone. If the test is successful, the USPS plans to roll Metro Post out to 10 other large cities and believes it would increase its earnings to $500 million with the expansion.

This could be the program to help rebuild the financially struggling USPS. Last week, it reported a $15.9 billion annual loss for the last fiscal year. It will not resolve the entire budget issue but it could be a profitable move.

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Amazon.com Rolls Out its Locker Service to the Nation’s Capitol

 

Image courtesy of Zatznotfunny.com 

To help its customers receive its packages, Amazon has its Locker Delivery Service. With this service, customers can choose to have his or her order delivered to a locker location instead of their home or office. The service, which was originally offered in Seattle, New York, and London, is now available in Washington, DC, as well. The DC area lockers are being placed in 7-11 convenience store locations throughout the Northern Virginia area.

With this offering, a customer in the serviced areas can choose to have the package sent to a locker location during the checkout process. Once the package has been delivered to a locker location, an email confirmation is sent to the customer. That email will include a pick-up code that is unique to that particular order. When at the locker location, the customer will enter the pick-up code on the locker’s touch screen and the particular locker that holds the package will open. The customer has three days to pick up the package or the order will be returned to Amazon and the customer will receive a full refund.

Below is a video of this service in action. (This video was taken during the pilot phase of the program in October 2011.)




As a seller, you may want to know what items are eligible for locker delivery. Here are the requirements:

       1. The item must be sold or fulfilled by Amazon.com
       2. It must have product dimensions smaller than 11.8 x 11.8 x 11.8 inches
       3. The item must have a shipping weight that is less than 10 lbs, and
       4. The order cannot require special handling.

The shipping speed for the package will vary based on the locker’s capacity and the number of orders scheduled for delivery time frame. For details on the service, click here.

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USPS Rate Changes May 2012

The United States Postal Service will be changing their rates starting the first week in May 2012. Their first-class service is being reclassified from expedited, (which delivery time is between 2 to 3 days) to standard shipping service (with an estimated delivery time between 2 to 5 days). The name will be changed from First-Class Mail to First-Class Package.

All vendors who have online stores need to be ready when these changes occur. Please warn your customers of the upcoming changes, and reset your online store items with the new shipping options. If you sell on eBay, you will have a little help in updating your listings.

E-Bay will automatically make these changes on the listings that have First-Class Mail as a shipping service option during the first week in May. For those who list expedited shipping, it is required that the wording is changed in your shipping descriptions. For customers who want a true expedited delivery of your products, you may use a different service that offers a 2 to 3 day delivery time.

Take a moment to review your stores and your listings to make sure you are still able to meet the shipping time frame as show your customers. Click here for more information.


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Free eBay Shipping Guide

Shipping can be a confusing issue for newer sellers. Miscalculating shipping can also cost you money. If you are having trouble getting the hang of figuring out how much to charge for shipping, and which way to ship your items, this guide will help. It contains a flow chart that shows the steps for shipping, and answers to common shipping questions.

Click here to download this free guide. Feel free to pass it on, post it on your blog, share it in your groups, etc.

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